Reply to ECNL moving to school year part 2

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.kopsc.org/age-group-formation-for-2026-2027-season

USYS set the date range as August 1 - July 31 in order to account for the majority of school cut off dates across the country and to best align players with their grade level peers. The majority of our players attend schools with September 1 cut off dates so in order to best align our players with their accurate grade level, we will be using an August 1 + actual grade year approach.

This change will not impact the Spring 2026 season and our current travel teams will remain as they were in Fall 2025. This change will begin for the Fall 2026 season such that this year's [b]Competitive Academy tryouts will run by August 1 + grade year.[/b]

Example 1 - August 15, 2015 birthday and going into 6th grade - plays with 6th grade team (U12).

Example 2 - August 15, 2015 birthday and going into 5th grade (held back in terms of grade year) - plays with 5th grade team (U11).

This is a significant shift that will impact every Competitive Academy team. The Board has worked tirelessly to determine best handling and will continue to work with our staff, volunteer coaches, and families to make this transition as smooth as possible[/quote]

Yea! It's America ... Nothing wrong with having different approaches like this.... People can/will vote with their feet/pocketbook if they don't like being forced up. ... And that's the tough part about this.[/quote]
What clubs do and what clubs say they'll do are often two different things. If there's an Aug birthday parent thats dead set on playing down. Clubs will do one of two things. They'll let them try out with the lower level team and say darn you didnt quite make the A team but we have a spot on the lower level or correct grade B team (which is the same thing).  Or they'll dual roster the player on two age level teams slowly making them choose the correct grade in school team.

You have to keep in mind that clubs want money so they're not going to turn anyone away. But they want things easy which means no HS players on 8th grade teams. They also want as many college commitments as posdible because they’re free advertising for the club and last an entire year. This is why clubs want Aug birthdays to play on the team thats their grade in school. Even if clubs wont come out and say it.

BTW this is how things functioned pre 2017 before switching to BY

Unfortunately you've got age guy commenting on this thread 24/7 megablasting his black and white interpretation of the rules. He'll just need to experience SY to understand that there's rules about how to play and there's also reality about how the game is played (while following the rules). Things won't function the way he thinks they will at the highest levels and over time lower level clubs will copy what higher level clubs do.[/quote]

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