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ECNL moving to school year not calendar
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Anonymous
DP. Sure, but if a kid’s enjoyment of soccer is relatively dependent on being able to play with school friends, maybe they aren’t a kid who loves soccer enough to put in the hard work later. I have a 2014 DC born mid year, so in 5th grade. Only one teammate goes to the same school, but is in 4th grade. It doesn’t bother him at all. He gets along well with his teammates and plays soccer at recess with a different group of kids, some of whom play travel elsewhere. He will play soccer with whoever wants to play, because he loves it. I’d be surprised if any team had a bunch of kids from the same school, because there are so many clubs to choose from and that’s not how the teams are picked. Some people drive from further away for a club that they think is best for their kid. |
Anonymous
Not my kid but maybe they are. It's just weird to judge some stranger's 9 year old's lifetime motivations off of liking to be around friends. I just haven't met any anyone that doesn't prefer to play sports with friends, pros included. |
Anonymous
But they are not basing their soccer decisions on their preference to play with friends. I mean DS wanted to leave a team of his friends that he’s played with forever bc he knew he needed higher level competition and teammates. |
Anonymous
Maybe they did at 9...maybe they did at 9. |
Anonymous
You act like 9 is young in soccer years. |
Anonymous
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When did it become a badge of honor to play on a team with zero friends from school? If a kid can accomplish his/her soccer goals while also playing with as many friends from school as possible, that seems better to me. Even having one friend from school on the team can make a positive difference to the experience. That one friend might be the one who keeps you going when you want to quit.
And it's a potential carpool buddy in a landscape where competitive parents are constantly driving around. Even if you're laser-focused on becoming the next Messi in elementary school, you should try to enjoy the journey as much as possible. There seems to be a common attitude that it's friends or soccer, not both. Yes, I understand kids make friends with their teammates from other towns. But especially as they get older, in my observation, they like those soccer friends to overlap with their everyday social circle as much as possible. In my daughter's case, there is only one school friend at the moment at the same soccer level. My daughter plays with no school friends, likes her teammates, loves soccer, and practices hard. Her school friend is two months apart from her, on opposite sides of the current divide. Drives far away in the opposite direction to a different, also great club. When I told her this change is a possibility, her first reaction was excitement that maybe she or her friend could switch clubs and play together. |
Anonymous
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So, IF this were to happen would it be based on specific date ranges regardless of what grade you are in at school? We keep calling it grade year, but isn't it just shifting the age cutoff dates?
For a kid born in say Sept 2013: instead of 1 Jan 2013 - 31 Dec 2013 you are now on a team based around 1 Aug 2013 - 31 Jul 2014? |
Anonymous
It’s not really about what happens at 11,12,13. It’s about what happens at 6. If a kid can’t play with friends from grade there is a much higher potential they will choose another sport where they can. At 6 it’s too early for most to have a ‘passion’ for only a single sport or to be a prodigy… at that age being with people you know has a premium which then begets more training and practice at younger age because it is comfortable and enjoyable. So the kids who are forced to be a grade below their teammates simply choose to stop playing …so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and this is the long term consequence soccer is now dealing with. The data has shown a drop in youth participation in favor of other sports in early years. By the time it doesn’t matter if you are with friends (maybe 10,11) it’s far too late to catch up as those who were playing with friends from grade since age 6 have 3 years of practice/games/coaching on you…. |
Anonymous
I think that’s what they are trying to figure out or finalize. Each state has different cutoffs my guess is they will go with Aug 1/July 31 for the majority of US Club teams. ECNL going to grad year and is building contingency plan for hold backs. More than likely they will be allowed to compete with GY team for Soph to SR year teams. U12-U15 will hold the true SY model. If this all gets approved. |
Anonymous
It’s for Grade Year, not Birth Year. So, now you can really game the system! Think, holding an 8th grader back 1 year, will now get to compete biologically as a 9th grader playing with 8th graders. Think about the Freddy Adu scenario, many folks estimated he was about 4 years behind as a “9th grader.” Your example would make grade year irrelevant and shift to half birth year + half birth year. And it would be hard to make a date determination as that causes new problems. Also, you create another problem, kids born in September -vs- kids born in October. October kids are a grade year behind September kids. So that is not a good cutoff. Not every state abides by the same cut off date. Some it’s 1 September , while others it’s 30 September. And some states are considering moving the grade year standard to birth year. There are some good reasons why it was moved to birth year away from grade year. |
Anonymous
| why can't we just switch the school years to start January 1 ? |
Anonymous
What happens when they use a 1 Aug cutoff, kid was born 31 Aug, and local school cutoff is say Sept 15th for grade? They will be in the higher grade, but miss the 1 Aug deadline and play with younger kids? Is that what you mean by hold backs? |
Anonymous
My guess is they will play with whatever the new cutoff dates are until they get to the GY ages. Or ECNL just goes full GY and you are just with whatever grade you’re in. We will find out soon enough. |
Anonymous
They could play with younger kids in that circumstance. But when this was the cutoff before 2016 those kids, and clubs, tended to have them play up with their classmates. Remember, you can play up, but not down. |
Anonymous
So every school district and college in the country are just going to change to starting Jan 1 is that really your proposal? |