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[quote=Anonymous]Now that I think more about it, here's what I think happened with the age group shift -

No doubt, when U9 travel teams were formed in spring of 2015, there were players who were selected who were "playing up" a year as 2008s, playing with a mix of 07's/06's. A few may have joined in the fall, and a few more may have joined or been recruited in the spring, even if just for training with a travel team if they were very talented. Those were more likely to be players on the older end of 2008 if they could be worked in with an age group one older than them.

Since the birth year change shifted everything, now those players who were playing up a year in the 2015/2016 season are the most developed in their 2008 birth year group (either with the amount of training they've had or just more physically developed), plus they are playing alongside players that are even younger who played their first competitive 7v7 games for the very first time ever this fall.

So relative to the other players, the ones that were training or playing "up" a year have a huge leg up to start with in year's U9/2008 group, even more than they normally would have (there are always a few players playing up anyway).

Some of those players may still be playing up (so there are 2008's playing on U10 teams now for the spring/fall leagues), and when they come back down to U9 for tournaments or scrimmages, it is painfully obvious because those players are 6 months to a year ahead of everyone else on the field in their level of development, skills, and decision-making (not necessarily their size/speed).

But that's part of soccer... I'm sure there are teams out there with kids who all have birthdays within the first few months of the year (an older 2008 team), and then there are teams with kids that fall during the last few months of the year (a younger 2008 team). The development and progress of both of these teams is highly dependent on how good the quality coaching / training is with each team. By spring of U9 (after 1 season), some players progress a lot and some players only improve a small amount.

The difference is most pronounced at U9 and then it reduces every year from there on out. Kids will develop at their own pace and you can't pigeonhole players into tiers when they are younger with any reliability.[/quote]

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