Reply to Bio-banding rule to plays kids down

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our son is one of the few kids bio-banding in the DMV area. Over the last three years, he has played up a year (on a relatively weak ECNL team), on age, and down a year in MLS Next.  Each year it was what was the best decision for his development and not about the prestige of the league, standings, etc. He is a late spring / early summer birthday but biologically at least two years behind his peers in size and puberty. From that standpoint, even when he's playing down a year, he's still the smallest kid on the field and, in essence, still playing up.   When the system is applied correctly, it is an opportunity given to kids who have potential but lack the size for a fair fight - particularly in the years immediately following transition to full field. One thing that almost all involved with high level youth soccer will agree upon is the tendency to select larger athletic kids who can help a team win now. The US looks at raw athleticism while many other countries look for foot skills and soccer IQ. Not going to say which one is right, but I see fairly small rosters in Argentina, Brazil, and Italy with multiple World Cups and us with none. The US infatuation with size squeezes out the late developers who have the same and often greater up side than the early bloomers. Bio-banding is not without its flaws because there is so little structure, and the US has a rather antiquated club culture of cutting players off by 12/31 vs 1/1 birthdates. However, when applied correctly, it is a great course correction for what is a huge problem of fielding the biggest players coaches can find. [/quote]

It's great to hear from someone whose child has had a positive experience with bio-banding. I have a kid whose soccer trajectory (and overall confidence) would have probably been different if he had the opportunity to play down with other skilled players who were closer to his biological age. With so much discussion about the lack of creativity in American players, there should be more focus on making sure that skilled players with high soccer IQs who might be late developers have opportunities to play on high-level teams. This also benefits early developers on the younger teams because it helps them understand the use of space, making runs, and problem solving that will help their development. I know from personal experience that putting a skilled and creative late developer on a B team doesn't work well.  [/quote]

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