ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who knew there were so many kids soccer experts

I want the change to SY so my November kid can look better, while not actually becoming better.
Keeping it real.

Great, they will be relatively better of course.

And with that they can get on better teams, practice against better teammates, get better coaches and overall be better motivated which can lead to working harder and then them getting actually better.

Congratulations to your kid, they now have a better opportunity in soccer. Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who knew there were so many kids soccer experts

I want the change to SY so my November kid can look better, while not actually becoming better.
Keeping it real.

Great, they will be relatively better of course.

And with that they can get on better teams, practice against better teammates, get better coaches and overall be better motivated which can lead to working harder and then them getting actually better.

Congratulations to your kid, they now have a better opportunity in soccer. Best of luck.

The drinks are flowing early this morning I see

[Anonymous]

Didn't see this posted yet. It's a must watch.

https://youtu.be/Scr1UOywbQI?si=GC9Nno7lCnmasMlQ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid doing the minimum at BY and is middle to low performer not showing high future potential isn't going to become Gavi with a switch to SY

Your statement doesn't make sense.

SY teams would be 6 months older than BY.

What I think you were trying to say is not very good SY players shouldn't expect to become superstars just by switching to BY. Assuming they can play "down" in BY depending on what month they were born.

Overall it would be nice to have different options so parents can't claim RAE as the booyman holding their kid back or giving them an advantage.

How does SY or BY today/tomorrow change who you were/are/will be as a player, especially if you're mediocre or lesser?

It doesn't at the highest levels.

I was just playing along with the RAE/DEI im a victim disciple.

Ironically, you appear to be labeling yourself a victim with the change from BY to SY.

I am convinced that you’re the most terrified SY supporting parent on this thread. What will your excuse be when this switch doesn’t work out in your favor? Will that be the last straw? Will you pull your kid out then?

I don't actually want SY. I want RAE reduced so our adult national teams can have a larger bases to pick from and then actually have shot compete for high level international tournaments.

It’s soo funny reading all the BY parent comments…stop living through your children and let them just have fun…BY parents don’t like the switch to SY because it is to their disadvantage. Yes, we need a bigger base to pick from and more kids involved so SY is better to ID talent….

Makes no sense. Assuming you are referring to identifying talent for the highest competition levels at national or international — but these levels are BY aligned and so the base to pick from stays exactly as is now. SY does not change that base.

One of the benefits is SY (along with decreasing the number of trapped players) is increasing the number of players in the sport, as more kids stay with the sport longer since they get to play with their friends from school in their grade.

That is false.

This is being trotted out as a justification for the switch by ECNL in “solidarity” with their rec partners, USYS and AYSO.

But let’s be clear, there is zero proof that SY will increase or prolong participation. In fact there is plenty of evidence that the 13/14 year cliff is not sport or age cutoff specific. The SY switch will be an experiment in which over the next 10 years or so we can see if there is any sustained uptick in participation - but as of right now it is only a hypothesis.

And I’m pointing this out as SY supporter!

The reports disagree with you. And yes, I of course support the move to SY. You’d have to be a selfish person not to. If only to minimize trapped players. But there are also benefits to moving to SY and most of the rest of the world uses SY (those whose SY is same as BY and those whose SY is similar to the U.S.)

I’m pointing this poster out as a selfish BY honk.

Just because you want something to be so, doesn’t make it so. Are you a child?

Please, point us to the reportS that:
1) show a school year age cutoff increases participation in soccer.
2) shows that a school year age cutoff reduces the early teen sports participation cliff (70+% of kids quoting organized sports between 12&14).

And for clarification, a report is not:
-An article on a forum quoting people who theorize about the effects
-a YouTube / blog / tweet by some rando (official or not)
- a paragraph on a marketing summary that states a hypothesis based on information not contained or studied in the document it’s written

A report has empirical data illustrating the testing or study if the data.

I know what you’ll produce will either be nothing OR something that sustains your ignorance of this subject. But go on, try, maybe you’ll learn something.

2 pieces of factual data were presented in support. No factual data was presented against. Don’t ask for more facts when 1.) some facts have already been presented (even if you don’t like them), and 2.) no facts have been presented against.

Do your own homework and stop whining.

BS. No data has been present showing SY increases participation. No data has been presented showing SY decreases quits. You’re lying, AND, you can’t prove otherwise, so you’re trying to put the burden of truth on other people.

Doesn’t work that way. You made the claim, you put up the proof. Or…you’re just a gaslighting liar…

We’ve now resorted to someone yelling “liar liar pants on fire” as their argument.

There was a post several pages back with facts about youth soccer participation decreasing after the change to BY, and the results of the US soccer survey where over 60% of respondents say that they have some players adversely impacted by being in different school grades.

“Someone said” is where you’re falling down.

Soccer participation has been flat for 24 years, and has been increasing for the past 2.5 years.

The USSF survey is not a study, or a scientific survey, it was about as valuable as a twitter poll. That said, it absolutely is data. And it’s one reason why I support SY. First I don’t think it matters, and bc I don’t think it matters, I’d certainly not want people to be adversely affected even if it was only 30% of people.

Where does it say “someone said”? Which part of that post is not factual? It says survey (not study or “scientific survey”). And it is a fact that youth soccer participation is down since the change from SY to BY.

Yea…you THINK it’s a fact. But it’s not.

Here, maybe this will help you see that what you’ve seen “someone said a few pages back” might not be accurate.

https://www.forsoccer.com/insight/soccer-participation-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=%F0%9F%93%88%2520Participation%2520Shows%2520Significant%2520Growth,40%2525%2520or%2520roughly%25205.7%2520million.

https://www.lakewood.org/files/assets/public/v/1/community-resources/imagine-tomorrow-docs/appendix-c-market-trends.pdf

https://www.statista.com/statistics/982274/participation-kids-soccer/#:~:text=Share%20of%20participants%20in%20kids%20soccer%20in,2021%2C%20up%20from%206.2%20percent%20in%202020.

Was this not posted on page 549?

“At a minimum, we all know:

1. that in the recent survey conducted by US Soccer, “Over 60% of respondents say that they have some players adversely impacted by being in different school grades.”

2. The number of kids participating in youth soccer was down after change to Birth Year. (The latest State of Play report found that regular participation in youth soccer among ages 6-12 has fallen from 9.3% in 2013 to 7.6% in 2023.)”

Yes, you can cherry pick a wider date range than the BY span. But the SOP is also more informing than just cherry picked stats.

“Children are playing team sports less regularly. This trend started before the pandemic, which may have accelerated the change even more. Core team sports participation (meaning playing on a regular basis) for youth ages 6-17 declined 6% between 2019 and 2022. That translates to 1.2 million fewer youth regularly playing team sports, according to data from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA)….For older youth ages 13-17, total and core participation from 2019 to 2022 decreased by 7% and 6%, respectively….”

That means all those SY based sports too; basketball, baseball, football, etc….

“Sports participation is increasing for girls and declining for boys. Boys (40%) still regularly played sports at a higher rate than girls (35%) among ages 6-17 in 2022, according to SFIA data. But the two genders are going in opposite directions. A decade ago, half of boys regularly played sports. Meanwhile, the latest participation rate for girls is the highest since 2013.”

This means that a large portion of the change in participation COULD be due to gender shifts…and suggesting the BY switch was good for girls, and a change to SY could reverse that for girls…but you know…ECNL championed this because of the experience one of the directors had with his son’s experience…and it’s soccer, which is a boys sport…so who cares?

“High attrition rates remain a problem – and free play offers an opportunity. Churn rate, meaning the percentage of youth who stopped playing a sport each year, often exceeds 40% to 50% for sports tracked by SFIA...Soccer was the only team sport with a significant increase among kids 6-12 coming out of the pandemic. “We think we’re approaching the golden age of soccer in the U.S.,”

Same report you’re referencing…but go on…it’s all doom and gloom since BY according to you….

🤣🤣🤣

You are clearly closing your eyes to everything that don't support your position.
Organizations believe that playing with SY would increase participation rates and would reduce trapped problems. That logically makes sense and would likely occur. Every other country in the world organizes their soccer by school year- except the US. There is not a good reason to keep BY. We get it- your kid is born early in the year- and you are extremely worried that he/she cant compete with kids his/her own age, but that's not a good reason to argue against the change. Have your kid practice more- they will be ok.

Exactly! That’s what it’s all about. BY parents are scared…you can tell by how triggered they get and are unable to articulate reasons why it should remain BY except for throwing tantrums.

Yep and SY supporters are excited at the possibility that their mediocre player may get a bump with newly gained RAE and age group.

Your Q1 or Q2 kid is probably average to below average and you know with the change it’ll negatively effect them…just be honest and stop outing yourself like the insecure little person you are…

[Anonymous]

The change is happening no matter what is argued here. Figure out how it works best for you and move on. Everyone gets a whole wasted year to figure out where you will play when it all shakes down. This will be a whole year of positioning your player to the right team and club. Get ready for the real drama to happen!

[Anonymous]

Age groups should just go by high school graduation year. Instead of 2006/2007 (U18) just list them as Girls 2025. Girls who are current juniors would be 2026. So on and so on. Is that not the easiest solution? Sorry if this was said on the 563 pages I refuse to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't see this posted yet. It's a must watch.

https://youtu.be/Scr1UOywbQI?si=GC9Nno7lCnmasMlQ

No one in this thread is going to listen to that guy as soon as they hear him say stop thinking your 8 year old is going pro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Age groups should just go by high school graduation year. Instead of 2006/2007 (U18) just list them as Girls 2025. Girls who are current juniors would be 2026. So on and so on. Is that not the easiest solution? Sorry if this was said on the 563 pages I refuse to read.

It seems lacrosse has figured this out - graduation year with a 15 month span (June/July/August birthdays play up or down with their enrolled grade). Lacrosse is thriving!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't see this posted yet. It's a must watch.

https://youtu.be/Scr1UOywbQI?si=GC9Nno7lCnmasMlQ

No one in this thread is going to listen to that guy as soon as they hear him say stop thinking your 8 year old is going pro.

"We have 2.6 million players and most are playing for fun"

US Youth Soccer is a rec league..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't see this posted yet. It's a must watch.

https://youtu.be/Scr1UOywbQI?si=GC9Nno7lCnmasMlQ

No one in this thread is going to listen to that guy as soon as they hear him say stop thinking your 8 year old is going pro.

"We have 2.6 million players and most are playing for fun"

US Youth Soccer is a rec league..

So true. And now add the expected change to playdate soccer and truly it will be entrenching a rec league mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:562 pages of ya'll bickering amongst yourselves and repeating the same stiff over and over again about an issue that you have no control over is so funny. The powers that be are gonna do what they want when they want and we have little say and our opinion means exactly nothing so not sure why there needs to be 562 pages of discussion.

Yes, the State of Play was discussed 400 pages ago to show there wasn’t a causation with age cutoffs. But look, we’re going for 1,000 pages and that does take the recycling of topics to get there since we have to wait until March to find out we’ll be discussing this until 2026.

Can you set a reminder to repost the same call-out in +/- 200 pages?

Seemingly everyone believes that the switch to BY negatively impacted participation except a couple posters on these forums. They are basically the Flat Earth Society of the SY vs BY debate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:562 pages of ya'll bickering amongst yourselves and repeating the same stiff over and over again about an issue that you have no control over is so funny. The powers that be are gonna do what they want when they want and we have little say and our opinion means exactly nothing so not sure why there needs to be 562 pages of discussion.

Yes, the State of Play was discussed 400 pages ago to show there wasn’t a causation with age cutoffs. But look, we’re going for 1,000 pages and that does take the recycling of topics to get there since we have to wait until March to find out we’ll be discussing this until 2026.

Can you set a reminder to repost the same call-out in +/- 200 pages?

Seemingly everyone believes that the switch to BY negatively impacted participation except a couple posters on these forums. They are basically the Flat Earth Society of the SY vs BY debate.

BY = Performance Posters
SY = Playdate Participation Posters

[Anonymous]

haha... your kids get to play up soon. You should be excited for all of the performance bennifits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't see this posted yet. It's a must watch.

https://youtu.be/Scr1UOywbQI?si=GC9Nno7lCnmasMlQ

No one in this thread is going to listen to that guy as soon as they hear him say stop thinking your 8 year old is going pro.

"We have 2.6 million players and most are playing for fun"

US Youth Soccer is a rec league..

So true. And now add the expected change to playdate soccer and truly it will be entrenching a rec league mentality.

Of course all of youth soccer is rec and playdate soccer as none of the kids in these youth leagues get paid. Its kids playing for fun. Seriously, well adjusted adults know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't see this posted yet. It's a must watch.

https://youtu.be/Scr1UOywbQI?si=GC9Nno7lCnmasMlQ

No one in this thread is going to listen to that guy as soon as they hear him say stop thinking your 8 year old is going pro.

"We have 2.6 million players and most are playing for fun"

US Youth Soccer is a rec league..

So true. And now add the expected change to playdate soccer and truly it will be entrenching a rec league mentality.

Of course all of youth soccer is rec and playdate soccer as none of the kids in these youth leagues get paid. Its kids playing for fun. Seriously, well adjusted adults know this.

No kids/parents with ambitions play youth soccer?
College and Professional players are ready-made adults?