Then, if they don't get recruited on grade, he plays them on age the next year, because he's in the business of getting them recruited and realizes younger kids have different development journey. Tell the whole story! |
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Quick guide for the fall 2026
U19 8/1/2007-7/31, Senior and younger U17 8/1/2009-7/31, Senior and younger U16 8/1/2010-7/31, Junior and younger U15 8/1/2011-7/31, Sophomore and younger U14 8/1/2012-7/31, Freshman and younger U13 8/1/2013-7/31, 8th and younger U12 8/1/2014-7/31, 7th and younger U11 8/1/2015-7/31, 6th and younger U10 8/1/2016-7/31, 5th and younger U9 8/1/2017-7/31, 4th and younger U8 8/1/2018-7/31, 3rd and younger U7 8/1/2019-7/31, 2nd and younger Some kids may be even a grade older if they like as long as their birthday makes them eligible for the age bracket. |
Title should be ECNL Guy Fixes I Hate Soccer Guy's Mistake. I Hate Soccer Guy, "I know a lot of Flash girls are just going to stay in their grad year. What are you guys going to do?" ECNL Guy, "So for us, every single kid is going to where their birth date aligns. Okay? And that includes like no exceptions." Provides lengthy explanation of the benefits. I Hate Soccer Guy, "I've never thought of it like that." |
Keep going. ... ECNL dude: So we actually we spent a lot of time talking to a lot of the top clubs, a lot of like we talked to players, people in the federation, we talked to people in college like what would be the best thing to do because at some point as well you have to rip the band-aid off. It's like if you keep everything as is, you just push the problem down the road. So for us, every single kid is going to where their birth date aligns. Okay? And that includes like no exceptions. So now if we find a situation now where we need to move a kid because they're just unchallenged, right? Then you can move them from there. Yeah. Right. But let's align it all. We'll rip the band-aid off. Right. And now we can truly see things. And not only that, but you look at like if I'm a if I'm a senior and I have the opportunity to play U17 again, I'm doing it a 100 out of 100 times because there's six playoff spots. There's an environment where you're competing for longer, right? right? You got the opportunity to do things and the motivation level is really high. The senior year always curtails unfortunately. Yeah. Um you know with kids. So you know for me it's a lot of people fall into that and as well you get a great benefit of if you're uncommitted you now get to get a redo on some of the exposure that you know you maybe wouldn't have before if you were on a senior team, right? So there's there's a lot of benefits. So for us, you know, we're in a situation where everyone's going into that and then we can move things off of that if it's the right thing. Now then you also have to look at it. Okay, if a player goes into an age younger but their grade level is here, how do you help them with showcasing? So for us, we have made sure that in our kind of roster assembly, we created opportunities so that you know at ECNL showcases or Jefferson Cup or something like that, we have the ability to bring this player with us. So now they still get the best of both worlds, right? If you can develop inside this environment, we can also then showcase you with your grade level, but also if you're maybe a little bit of a late developer, like for example, your typical recruitment, your elite players are getting watched a lot, their sophomore years. Your next tier is mainly the junior year, but let's say you make it to junior year and you've really developed, but now you're on a mainly sophomore team. You get the opportunity to now get re-seen, right, by a lot of those schools that maybe aren't watching junior classes anymore. I Hate Soccer Guy: I've never thought of it like that. |
Good summary |
It's more of a conversation, so not sure if I Hate Soccer agrees. But this really explains many top tier clubs approach to this. They DO recognize how college coaches want to see players against grade, BUT realize not everyone will always fit within that situation on their journey to recruitment and for those who can benefit from playing on age, they will do it. Why not? They're trying to get them recruited. Aug grade guy could say what about the kid who went to school where grade matches age and how these kids are taking their time or whatever. I'm sure these clubs will work within the system to help those kids at the top levels, too. They are ALL their customers. Trying to favor one over another doesn't make sense. They need to help both where possible. Of course, not all will make it OR go to the schools they desire, as there are a ton of individual factors at play as well. In short, stop trying to force kids up into what could be a disadvantage. It's all case-by-case and have the kid work their butt off. |
At our club (one of the large major Texas clubs) the August kids that are a grade up are just playing a year up across the board. I think that’s an easy solution. |
Yea this is what all teams will do after a while. Its just easier for the club to manage and sets the players up to be aligned when being recruited. |
Nah, sorry. |
Once rosters for 26/27 are posted with graduating year details. It will be easy to see which clubs are doing this. No matter what the communicate externally. I predict most top clubs will have Aug birthdays play with their grade. Lower level clubs will see whats happening and copy top club actions. Again, because its easier and makes all players aligned. |
Nah, sorry, it just didn't go your way. ECNL guy's no exceptions logic is the rule of that won the day. |
Appears to be one club in Texas that is playing Aug birthdays with their grade. (Along with all thr NJ PA and Wisconson clubs that announced on their websites) Nah Done.... |
| Came back to see if anyone was still posting the age group chart and wasn't disappointed. You all are completely deranged. I say this as a deranged person myself. Just give it up. |
Still 100% correct. This is for next fall when SY starts. 11v11 = U18/U19 = ≤ 8/1/2007 ≈ Senior 11v11 = U17 = ≤ 8/1/2009 ≈ Junior 11v11 = U16 = ≤ 8/1/2010 ≈ Sophmore 11v11 = U15 = ≤ 8/1/2011 ≈ Freshman 11v11 = U14 = ≤ 8/1/2012 ≈ 8th grade 11v11 = U13 = ≤ 8/1/2013 ≈ 7th grade 9v9/11v11 = U12 = ≤ 8/1/2014 ≈ 6th grade 9v9 = U11 = ≤ 8/1/2015 ≈ 5th grade 9v9 = U10 = ≤ 8/1/2016 ≈ 4th grade 7v7 = U9 = ≤ 8/1/2017 ≈ 3rd grade 7v7 = U8 = ≤ 8/1/2018 ≈ 2nd grade 4v4 = U7 = ≤ 8/1/2019 ≈ 1st grade 4v4 = U6 = ≤ 8/1/2020 ≈ Kindergarten Using U14 as an example what this is saying is... 1. They play 11v11 2. Players turn 14 after Aug 1 3. Players are younger than or equal to 8/1/2012 4. Players are most likely in 8th grade |
So how many clubs do think are in the US? And you found what about 4 clubs that you think are going grade instead of age? These are what are known as outliers. |