ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

If I'm a club with pre-ecnl starting at 2015 now? I'm filling that team with q3 q4 kids at tryouts this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By waiting will the clubs now focus on q3 q4 kids at tryouts this Spring and put them on A teams at a younger age for fall?

Take for example a 2013 Q4 kid who will be playing U13 and 11v11 next fall. Take the top Q3/Q4 players from 2013 and combine them with the top players from Jan-July 2014. Play on an U13 team- then you are already ahead of the curve with a team and have the stronger players

Only works if the 2014s are ready. Otherwise you could hurt development/confidence if they end up over their heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the people who want answers are those of current trapped players (rising 8th and 12th grades) who may need to make alternative plans for their kids if ECNL isn’t making a concession for them in 2025. By plans I mean setting up private trainers to fill the 8th trap season, approaching directors about plans for their children, or even switching clubs that provide better options for the crap trapped year position they are in. Parents thinking ahead…

+1…it has nothing to do with raising resilient kids. That was an uneducated comment. If your player is trapped or
in recruiting window and heading into the dead months of misalignment your players plan for how to handle Feb- May shifts pretty dramatically depending on where this nets. So yes they are in limbo —Doesn’t matter either way which way it goes but the path and plans have to change if its path A vs B…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By waiting will the clubs now focus on q3 q4 kids at tryouts this Spring and put them on A teams at a younger age for fall?

Take for example a 2013 Q4 kid who will be playing U13 and 11v11 next fall. Take the top Q3/Q4 players from 2013 and combine them with the top players from Jan-July 2014. Play on an U13 team- then you are already ahead of the curve with a team and have the stronger players

Only works if the 2014s are ready. Otherwise you could hurt development/confidence if they end up over their heads.



Yes- but you could play in a lower division- focus on development and playing as a team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By waiting will the clubs now focus on q3 q4 kids at tryouts this Spring and put them on A teams at a younger age for fall?

Take for example a 2013 Q4 kid who will be playing U13 and 11v11 next fall. Take the top Q3/Q4 players from 2013 and combine them with the top players from Jan-July 2014. Play on an U13 team- then you are already ahead of the curve with a team and have the stronger players

Smart teams would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By waiting will the clubs now focus on q3 q4 kids at tryouts this Spring and put them on A teams at a younger age for fall?

Take for example a 2013 Q4 kid who will be playing U13 and 11v11 next fall. Take the top Q3/Q4 players from 2013 and combine them with the top players from Jan-July 2014. Play on an U13 team- then you are already ahead of the curve with a team and have the stronger players

Only works if the 2014s are ready. Otherwise you could hurt development/confidence if they end up over their heads.

I worry about this for my 2014. Coach thinks they have the potential to play for ECNL but it seems like that will be harder with the change. They are a late Q2 birthday. Not sure what will be best for next year to maximize development and chances of making a team…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By waiting will the clubs now focus on q3 q4 kids at tryouts this Spring and put them on A teams at a younger age for fall?

Take for example a 2013 Q4 kid who will be playing U13 and 11v11 next fall. Take the top Q3/Q4 players from 2013 and combine them with the top players from Jan-July 2014. Play on an U13 team- then you are already ahead of the curve with a team and have the stronger players The best play would be for a U13 team to have say top 9 players from Jan-Aug, 2013 and say 9 top kids from Sept-Dec, 2013. Basically an even split. So you can win in 2025 but stockpile Q3-4 on the bench for next year. Should do the same thing with U14 and U15 also.

As a general guide then next year half the team ages up, half doesn't, and the younger bench becomes the older starters (while repeating the age category) while the kids aging up go from starters to the bench. Pouch and demote as needed on the edges to make sure the fall 2026 teams are mostly Q3-4 kids to take advantage of them being older.

Clubs figured this out already which is why they said the need more than a year to adjust for something that technically could be done just a few weeks before tryouts in April. They need to stop demoting Q3-4 kids and promoting Q1-2 for a year or so and have at least one cycle where they can pouch Q3-4 kids and store on the bench for a full year.

This is why the flipping age cutoffs will could reduce the career RAE for these mid-age categories.

Q3-4 kids would be hot property at tryouts but could struggle to get playing time on the top teams in fall 2025.

That's the slow transition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SoCal going SY fall ‘26

9-1 date

Source?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I like the statement from US Soccer, and it makes sense with states having diffrent school cutoffs. But again why wait until 26/27? Because of one state (California?) Holding tryouts in January? Who holds tryouts in January? Why? Clubs DO NOT need 2 years to figure the registration process out. 8 months is plenty of time to transition into sy or whatever is proposed. Waiting is only going to create one toxic year of soccer 25/26 with poaching, playing time, parent drama, knowing q3 q4 kids are going to be sought after with an impending change to teams switching to sy.

100% agree, waiting until 26/27 doesn’t make sense. 8 months are enough for clubs for making the transition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I like the statement from US Soccer, and it makes sense with states having diffrent school cutoffs. But again why wait until 26/27? Because of one state (California?) Holding tryouts in January? Who holds tryouts in January? Why? Clubs DO NOT need 2 years to figure the registration process out. 8 months is plenty of time to transition into sy or whatever is proposed. Waiting is only going to create one toxic year of soccer 25/26 with poaching, playing time, parent drama, knowing q3 q4 kids are going to be sought after with an impending change to teams switching to sy.

100% agree, waiting until 26/27 doesn’t make sense. 8 months are enough for clubs for making the transition.

It’s because they have NO plan. If US soccer changed the mandate (they didn’t) it would be easier to prepare for Fall 25. Now everyone has to come together and put a plan together of how their leagues want to operate and why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I like the statement from US Soccer, and it makes sense with states having diffrent school cutoffs. But again why wait until 26/27? Because of one state (California?) Holding tryouts in January? Who holds tryouts in January? Why? Clubs DO NOT need 2 years to figure the registration process out. 8 months is plenty of time to transition into sy or whatever is proposed. Waiting is only going to create one toxic year of soccer 25/26 with poaching, playing time, parent drama, knowing q3 q4 kids are going to be sought after with an impending change to teams switching to sy.

100% agree, waiting until 26/27 doesn’t make sense. 8 months are enough for clubs for making the transition.

It’s because they have NO plan. If US soccer changed the mandate (they didn’t) it would be easier to prepare for Fall 25. Now everyone has to come together and put a plan together of how their leagues want to operate and why.

But it’s not 8 months. Tryout is usually March 1 in VA and May 1 in MD. Roster would need to be set before the summer begins. So they need to have all plan laid out BEFORE tryout starts which is 2 months and they still need to wait for direction from ecnl and all. My guess is fall 2026 is to make sure they have enough time to have better planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By waiting will the clubs now focus on q3 q4 kids at tryouts this Spring and put them on A teams at a younger age for fall?

The plan you will see in March is age groups stay the same for 25/26. But tournaments will be able to allow Q3/4 players. So yes players will be recruited and probably split practice times between 2011/2012 teams and play in tournaments with their SY teams. Clubs will start recruiting your kids as hybrid players and get ready for full implementation for 26/27.

[Anonymous]

Get ready for the GA to allow biobanding.
GA/MLSN will be staying birth year and the plan is for them to be the pro path way. ECNL will be college recruitment pathway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I like the statement from US Soccer, and it makes sense with states having diffrent school cutoffs. But again why wait until 26/27? Because of one state (California?) Holding tryouts in January? Who holds tryouts in January? Why? Clubs DO NOT need 2 years to figure the registration process out. 8 months is plenty of time to transition into sy or whatever is proposed. Waiting is only going to create one toxic year of soccer 25/26 with poaching, playing time, parent drama, knowing q3 q4 kids are going to be sought after with an impending change to teams switching to sy.

If you’re this invested in this then seek help. There’s no way they can get this figured out this fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I like the statement from US Soccer, and it makes sense with states having diffrent school cutoffs. But again why wait until 26/27? Because of one state (California?) Holding tryouts in January? Who holds tryouts in January? Why? Clubs DO NOT need 2 years to figure the registration process out. 8 months is plenty of time to transition into sy or whatever is proposed. Waiting is only going to create one toxic year of soccer 25/26 with poaching, playing time, parent drama, knowing q3 q4 kids are going to be sought after with an impending change to teams switching to sy.

100% agree, waiting until 26/27 doesn’t make sense. 8 months are enough for clubs for making the transition.

It’s because they have NO plan. If US soccer changed the mandate (they didn’t) it would be easier to prepare for Fall 25. Now everyone has to come together and put a plan together of how their leagues want to operate and why.

But it’s not 8 months. Tryout is usually March 1 in VA and May 1 in MD. Roster would need to be set before the summer begins. So they need to have all plan laid out BEFORE tryout starts which is 2 months and they still need to wait for direction from ecnl and all. My guess is fall 2026 is to make sure they have enough time to have better planning.

It’s not as easy when you’re dealing with multiple leagues governing bodies all trying to agree on how something should be done. If the plan is out in early March. Tryouts usually in May. That would give clubs about a month or two to plan ahead based off what is decided.