Reply to Important Update: US Soccer Birth Year Change

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]School year increases participation at the youngest ages, which increases the quantity and quality of players later. School year also eliminates trapped players in the MS/HS and HS/college transitions. It was a shortsighted switch to BY and it should be corrected. It will be a headache to correct, but it will be good for players (trapped players) and good for the system in the long run. [/quote]

I understand why folks would want this change for social reasons / convenience, but it will not be good for "the system" in the long run, if what is good for the system is creating high quality players that can compete internationally.

But, I don't know that that should be goal.  It might be the most realistic option that soccer in this country remains a second tier sport in terms of quality of players and popularity.  Making the ties between club soccer and high school and college stronger will certainly make that the reality.  If the goal is to ascend into the top tier of international soccer there need to be more and better professional academies where soccer is not seen as a thing to do with friends in high school and/or the goal is higher than just playing in college.     [/quote]

Having MORE kids playing at the youngest ages means more kids developing, more kids to choose from at the elite level. You do lose the relative age effect benefit for the Jan-Mar kids, as they would be in the middle of the age group in SY - but if they are truly elite then they can always play up instead of just pounding on younger kids.

The international level kids are such a tiny percentage and I would say that having a larger player pool to develop and less attrition would make up for some lost RAE for the Jan-Mar kids. And eliminate the stupid trapped player stuff. No point is screwing 40% of the kids so that 0.00001% can be slightly better maybe by being oldest from the beginning. [/quote]

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