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[quote=Anonymous][quote=FPYCparent]Let me see if I can rephrase my comment regarding 2008s bearing the brunt of the age grouping change.

I believe [b]2008 squads at "small" clubs[/b] (like FPYC) are bearing the brunt of the rule change more than others.  Kids born in the first half of 2008 had the option of starting travel soccer at U9 with kids born in the second half of 2007.  Once the rule went into effect, those kids likely stayed with their team (now labeled 2007s).  We can call that playing up now for the 2008s playing with the 2007s, but these kids were just staying with their current team.  So, when the time came for the 2008s to start travel at U9 (after the rule change), the pool of potential players at a small club was probably limited to kids born in the second half of 2008.  At bigger clubs, there were probably a ton of kids born in the first half of 2008 that started U9 travel with 2007s.  Aside from A-team players staying with a 2007 group, a big club could probably field full 2008 squads with players who already had a year's worth of travel experience.  To my untrained eye, having a team full players with an extra year of travel (at U9 through U11) can make you pretty dominant, particularly against teams from smaller clubs that simply don't have as large a pool of potential players.  For tournaments, big clubs can stack some of their teams with players that qualify by age.  This is something smaller clubs simply cannot do.  We can only play with the ones we've got!

Of the 15 rostered players on this FPYC 2008 team, I believe there is one with May birthday who started with the team at U9.  For the U10 year, I think we've added a January birthday from another other club.  Two other players with first-half-of-2008 birthdays just joined this team for Fall 2018 when their 2007 FPYC team abruptly disbanded after the spring.  The remaining 11 all have birthdays after July 1st.  FPYC didn't garner enough interest to field a 2009 team.  There is a 2010 team that's just completed its first month of games.
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As far as NCSL division alignment at U11, when one division has A teams from two or more clubs and another division has the B/C teams from those same clubs, I think it's natural to assume that the division with multiple A teams is higher/better.  For this particular FPYC 2008 team, we're currently grouped with the B/C teams from those larger clubs.  At this point, we can only hope that the girls continue to develop and maybe win a good share of tournament games.  EDP can wait.[/quote]

08s who elected to play up and stay with an 07 team didn't start travel at U9.  They actually skipped U9 and went straight from U8 rec to U10 travel.  At FPYC, there were 3 08s who initially played with the 07 travel team.  One left and went to another club, and the other two are now with your team.  The 07s didn't "abruptly disband after the Spring."  That is simply not true and not fair to the coach.  He called a meeting to let the team know he was leaving in mid-March.

Most bigger clubs did not allow play-ups when the birth year change took effect.  They just enforced the change across the board.  Smaller clubs had to be more flexible and often allowed teams to stay together, with the younger half of the team playing up.  There was a trade off in loss of competitiveness that came along with that.  Some were OK with that.  Some weren't and those teams have split up.

Most big clubs only put their B/C teams and below in NCSL.  Any club in CCL, CCL II, VPL, or EDP, is going to put it's top team, or sometimes 2 top teams, in those leagues.  The Girls U11 Div C, which is nominally the "top" division, has Alexandria's B team, Arlington's C team, Stoddert's C team, SYC's B team.

Looking at your team's past results, I could see why NCSL would put them where they are, thinking that would give them decent competition, since they'd lost to B teams from McLean and Arlington over the past year.  It sounds like your team has continued to improve and is probably doing better than NCSL expected, but that happens sometimes.  I'm sure the addition of the two older 08s has helped a lot, since most other 08 teams would not be getting that bump right now, and I'm also sure also the team has continued to develop and improve, because you do have a very good coach, and some talented players.  It's likely that NCSL will make an adjustment and put you with more competitive teams in the Spring.

Having experienced both NCSL and EDP, and while I like EDP for a lot of reasons, I don't think it makes sense unless you are at or near the top of NCSL D1, and your team has a little bit to go before you get there.

Good luck this weekend.   [/quote]

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