Anonymous wrote:Birthdays really don't play a role at all when this is done right. The kids who should be bio-banding are exceptionally skilled but in the 1-5 percentile of growth charts relative to their age - be that a January or December birthday. Their puberty is also delayed typically. If a kid has gone through puberty and gained significant muscle mass but is still short/small - that would be a factor - as they are peaked out in terms of physical development and no need to make exceptions. Unfortunately, clubs are abusing this waiver system, which is a shame.

such a shame the PP laid out wonderfully clear, intelligent and logical points as to why birthdays play a significant role (one backed up by the research data on relative age effect) .. but you feel the need to reply with your opinion not based on fact and that which isn't supported by the data

Birthdays really don't play a role at all when this is done right. The kids who should be bio-banding are exceptionally skilled but in the 1-5 percentile of growth charts relative to their age - be that a January or December birthday. Their puberty is also delayed typically. If a kid has gone through puberty and gained significant muscle mass but is still short/small - that would be a factor - as they are peaked out in terms of physical development and no need to make exceptions. Unfortunately, clubs are abusing this waiver system, which is a shame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Being a late bloomer or being normal for a December 30th birthday or just being small are all qualifiers

I would hope that birthday is not really taken into account. Calendar age is what the rule intends to level out. It's called the Late Developer rule not the Late Birthday rule for a reason.

Yeah, except birthday compound development timelines. If a January birthday is 9 months developmentally delayed, then they likely still fit in on their age based team. If a December birthday is 9 months delayed, then they likely fit in on a team a year down. Just like a December birthday who is more developmentally advanced fits in to their age based team. Birthdays aren't everything, but they absolutely have an impact.

+1000

Facts and logic

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Being a late bloomer or being normal for a December 30th birthday or just being small are all qualifiers

I would hope that birthday is not really taken into account. Calendar age is what the rule intends to level out. It's called the Late Developer rule not the Late Birthday rule for a reason.

Yeah, except birthday compound development timelines. If a January birthday is 9 months developmentally delayed, then they likely still fit in on their age based team. If a December birthday is 9 months delayed, then they likely fit in on a team a year down. Just like a December birthday who is more developmentally advanced fits in to their age based team. Birthdays aren't everything, but they absolutely have an impact.

Yes. Totally. The rule is affected by birthday because the teams are formed by birthday. But the decision on whether a kid should qualify to play down a year should be based on physical development, whether it's just being small or being small and a late developer. Your two December examples demonstrate it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Being a late bloomer or being normal for a December 30th birthday or just being small are all qualifiers

I would hope that birthday is not really taken into account. Calendar age is what the rule intends to level out. It's called the Late Developer rule not the Late Birthday rule for a reason.

Then it's just coincidence that bio-banding in Europe where it's actually monitored and enforced properly was brought in because the vast majority of players getting left behind by RAE are born in the 4th quarter of the calendar year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Being a late bloomer or being normal for a December 30th birthday or just being small are all qualifiers

I would hope that birthday is not really taken into account. Calendar age is what the rule intends to level out. It's called the Late Developer rule not the Late Birthday rule for a reason.

Yeah, except birthday compound development timelines. If a January birthday is 9 months developmentally delayed, then they likely still fit in on their age based team. If a December birthday is 9 months delayed, then they likely fit in on a team a year down. Just like a December birthday who is more developmentally advanced fits in to their age based team. Birthdays aren't everything, but they absolutely have an impact.

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Ugh... Girls parents are so frustrating.

Playing down is just another opportunity to play. Youre not labeled as a "bio bander" it's just a way for clubs to have more flexibility fielding teams and for players to get minutes.

Looking at bio banding from the opposing teams perspective it's a way to force "playing up"

You have to stop thinking about the results of a single game as the end of the world. Yes, everyone involved in MLSN wants to win. But what's more important than winning is Developing as a player. Development as a player means that you're able to handle different situations and come out on top. Playing up or playing down doesn't matter because the end goal is to play on a professional team. On a professional team age means nothing the only thing that matters is results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Being a late bloomer or being normal for a December 30th birthday or just being small are all qualifiers

I would hope that birthday is not really taken into account. Calendar age is what the rule intends to level out. It's called the Late Developer rule not the Late Birthday rule for a reason.

Anonymous wrote:How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

Being a late bloomer or being normal for a December 30th birthday or just being small are all qualifiers

How does MLSN determine if a kid should be biobanded? How can they tell if a kid is physically immature or just small?

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Anonymous wrote:Do college scouts/coaches consider a kid being bio-banded a negative for recruitment?

The ones who know soccer do not. The ones who are infatuated with size might.

I also guess by college recruitment age, most of the late bloomers have hit puberty and gained some size.

Anonymous wrote:Do college scouts/coaches consider a kid being bio-banded a negative for recruitment?

The ones who know soccer do not. The ones who are infatuated with size might.

Do college scouts/coaches consider a kid being bio-banded a negative for recruitment?

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Anonymous wrote:lol no blood tests. Bio banding is only allowed on the boys side for right now.

Basically, a late developing player (a small kid for his age) can be played down by 1 age group so they have a chance to play more and develop.

A club can do this for only a limited number of players.

Huh. Well, I guess the concept is decent, but seems rife for abuse without more guardrails. On the girls side it would help at the Ulittle ages but I guess people care less about that?

It works with boys involved with MLSN because nobody really cares about wins and losses (at least not the way girls parents do). For boys all that matters is individual development and the end goal is playing professionally not winning local league games.

The end goal for 90+% of families in this area with boys playing MLSNext is playing in college, whatever the stated goals of the league may be. It is true that MLSNext teams win/loss records don’t matter as much as they would for teams in other leagues. If you are a good player on any MLSNext team you will be seen by coaches and have a good shot at college ball.

I never said MLSN players don't play in college. However preference of where MLSN players play is #1 professionally #2 in college.

This is another thing girls parents don't understand about MLSN. Players are considered amateur. This means around HS graduation they have a choice to play professionally (assuming they're good enough) or in college. MLSN is the best of both worlds for boys. ECNL for boys is a one way street, College or nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol no blood tests. Bio banding is only allowed on the boys side for right now.

Basically, a late developing player (a small kid for his age) can be played down by 1 age group so they have a chance to play more and develop.

A club can do this for only a limited number of players.

Huh. Well, I guess the concept is decent, but seems rife for abuse without more guardrails. On the girls side it would help at the Ulittle ages but I guess people care less about that?

It works with boys involved with MLSN because nobody really cares about wins and losses (at least not the way girls parents do). For boys all that matters is individual development and the end goal is playing professionally not winning local league games.

The end goal for 90+% of families in this area with boys playing MLSNext is playing in college, whatever the stated goals of the league may be. It is true that MLSNext teams win/loss records don’t matter as much as they would for teams in other leagues. If you are a good player on any MLSNext team you will be seen by coaches and have a good shot at college ball.