Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:posting here as well: The pathway for an MLSN2 player to move up to MLSN1 has now become significantly harder, almost impossible for some. Because MLSN2 functions as a school year (SY) feeder team, so players would have to skip an age group to join a birth-year-based MLSN1 roster. Realistically, very few Aug–Dec players will be able to make that jump.

In other words, the MLSN system now has virtually NO upward pipeline. If you’re an Aug–Dec player, breaking into the MLSN1 team (where the older Jan–July players compete, some nearly a full year older) will be extremely difficult. And when there’s no real pathway from MLSN2 to MLSN1, players WILL leave.

Families invest in these MLSN pay-to-play academies (not DC United Academy) because they hope their child might eventually reach the first team. That possibility has essentially been removed. MLSN academies will be forced to convince their MLSN2 Aug–Dec players to stay instead of moving to ECNL, where they would actually have a chance to reach a national-level first team.

By “first team,” I mean better coaching, field priority (which becomes a major issue in bad weather; MLSN1 will be training indoors while MLSN2 won’t, as has happened before), access to VEO analytics, and more visibility with recruiters. First team is FIRST TEAM. Second team is always at the back of the line, that’s the reality.

This is a legitimate concern. I have a q4 on a top team at an mlsnext club at the pre-mls ages. He’s doing well and we are happy. We are waiting for guidance from our club as to how they will handle the youth ages. My hope is they keep BY all the way through. The alternative is he repeats his current age group then at u12 will have to try out for a u13 HG with kids who have been playing an age group up. Not a great situation.

If your kid is good enough for the best level you have zero issues.
This is FOMO and paranoia disguised as a genuine problem

If all the kids were good enough there would be no discussion, but development and when puberty hit is different between kids. Playing a kids in the lower age groups and then expecting that same kid to make a jump to an older BY MLSN1 team is not going to work.

The top 1% is the top 1% for a reason
The tool 5% is the top 5% for a reason

It ain't for everyone

Exactly so why not go to ECNL where you have a better chance to play 1st team and enjoy it while it last, because not everyone wants to play pro and be that 1%

How does playing in ECNL guarantees joy over playing MLSN2?

Nothing is guaranteed, but keep in mind that “first team” means better coaching, field priority (which becomes a major issue in bad weather; MLSN1 will be training indoors while MLSN2 won’t, as has happened before), access to VEO analytics, and more visibility with recruiters. First team is FIRST TEAM. Second team is always at the back of the line, that’s the reality.

You're saying the Potomac ECNL teams automatically have better coaching than the Bethesda, Alexandria, SYC, Baltimore Armour MLSN2 teams?

Yes- and they get more college exposure by nature of being the top team at the club. Plus--College coaches go to watch first team players- MLS or ECNL. 30% of college players come from from ECNL. 20% international, 40% MLS. That leaves less than 10% from ECRL, MLS2, USL etc. Not great odds.

Let's not forget--for every Potomac ECNL team there is a West Virginia MLS Next HG team as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a Q4 kid?

For the purpose of this soccer discussion, it is a kid born between 8/1 - 12/31 who will have the ability to repeat a year. Most of Q4's locally play up a grade in school. My 2014 is still in elementary school while 90% of his teammates are in middle school. Q4 is the shorthand also for 8/1-9/30 kids as well although we know they are not Q4.

I have not used Q4 to describe the SY age brackets. I generally use Q2 to describe those kids who will not be at the end of the range in the SY age brackets.

For the purpose of any discussion Q4 is the last 3 months in a 12 month period

Cool. Reference that on the pitch and see if anybody born between April and June know what you are talking about. You're right though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The plan is to change MLSNext to August in 2 years.

The kids on the MLSNext’s clubs’ u12 teams have been clubs’ “A” team players for the past 2-4 years. They have been with the clubs” “A” team coaches for the past 2-4 years. You can’t snap your fingers and make the kids born in August - December automatically better than the kids who have been on the “A” team
for 2-4 years.

Now, this year’s u10 kids? Yep. By switching the younger age groups to the August date the Q4 kids will get sorted out. They will be the best “A” team kids in a couple of years and MLSNext will change to the August date.

Yes - they should say that is what they are doing. But, if you did so you would be confirming the obvious that birthdate matters a huge amount.

Where did this come from? Any reason this was not communicated?

Player registration via Birth-Year remains the optimal structure for the Allstate Homegrown Division, as it aligns with FIFA standards, the global professional pathway and greatly benefits our youth national teams.

That does not present like a temporary decision.

I have same question. If that is the plan, seems pretty incompetent to do this nonsense for two years. Rip the bandaid off now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U12 Q4 kid. Between 2nd and 3rd team. love our club which is MLS, not their fault, but we will now look to move to ECNL. My guess is MLS is gonna have to keep figuring things out and it's not worth potentially wasting a year or two while they do it.

Every Q4 kid will make an attempt to move to an ECNL National team. 1st team is ALWAYS the clubs priority

Every kid that wants to play pro will do MLSN1 or MLSN2 and try to get noticed by a MLS1 team. ECNL players will start getting ignored soon.

Any June-Dec player who wants to play in college will go ECNL with this decision. Those June-Dc who want to go pro will try for MLS BY--but won't stay with Next 2 if they can't make Next 1 because there is now no longer a pathway to 1 given off cycle ages. Pathway was a farce. All those clubs that jumped on the Next 2 bandwagon got bamboozled...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The plan is to change MLSNext to August in 2 years.

The kids on the MLSNext’s clubs’ u12 teams have been clubs’ “A” team players for the past 2-4 years. They have been with the clubs” “A” team coaches for the past 2-4 years. You can’t snap your fingers and make the kids born in August - December automatically better than the kids who have been on the “A” team
for 2-4 years.

Now, this year’s u10 kids? Yep. By switching the younger age groups to the August date the Q4 kids will get sorted out. They will be the best “A” team kids in a couple of years and MLSNext will change to the August date.

Yes - they should say that is what they are doing. But, if you did so you would be confirming the obvious that birthdate matters a huge amount.

Where did this come from? Any reason this was not communicated?

Player registration via Birth-Year remains the optimal structure for the Allstate Homegrown Division, as it aligns with FIFA standards, the global professional pathway and greatly benefits our youth national teams.

That does not present like a temporary decision.

Anonymous wrote:The plan is to change MLSNext to August in 2 years.

The kids on the MLSNext’s clubs’ u12 teams have been clubs’ “A” team players for the past 2-4 years. They have been with the clubs” “A” team coaches for the past 2-4 years. You can’t snap your fingers and make the kids born in August - December automatically better than the kids who have been on the “A” team
for 2-4 years.

Now, this year’s u10 kids? Yep. By switching the younger age groups to the August date the Q4 kids will get sorted out. They will be the best “A” team kids in a couple of years and MLSNext will change to the August date.

Yes - they should say that is what they are doing. But, if you did so you would be confirming the obvious that birthdate matters a huge amount.

Anonymous wrote:My U12 kid has had the chance to play with and against U13s (and even older) in trainings and competition lately. I am honestly not seeing age as some huge advantage in and of itself, at least within a year or two. A mid-level older kid does not have all that much success against a top team younger kid. The technical skills and understanding of spacing and decision making don't seem to be there. Size and speed can only help so much. Now if it's a top team of older kids vs. top team of younger kids, then yes the difference is clear. Probably because the top team kids have had the better coaching and more committed teammates all along. But I think all these people with mid-level Q4 players thinking their kid will automatically move up to a top team once the age group change kicks in may be in for a rude awakening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:posting here as well: The pathway for an MLSN2 player to move up to MLSN1 has now become significantly harder, almost impossible for some. Because MLSN2 functions as a school year (SY) feeder team, so players would have to skip an age group to join a birth-year-based MLSN1 roster. Realistically, very few Aug–Dec players will be able to make that jump.

In other words, the MLSN system now has virtually NO upward pipeline. If you’re an Aug–Dec player, breaking into the MLSN1 team (where the older Jan–July players compete, some nearly a full year older) will be extremely difficult. And when there’s no real pathway from MLSN2 to MLSN1, players WILL leave.

Families invest in these MLSN pay-to-play academies (not DC United Academy) because they hope their child might eventually reach the first team. That possibility has essentially been removed. MLSN academies will be forced to convince their MLSN2 Aug–Dec players to stay instead of moving to ECNL, where they would actually have a chance to reach a national-level first team.

By “first team,” I mean better coaching, field priority (which becomes a major issue in bad weather; MLSN1 will be training indoors while MLSN2 won’t, as has happened before), access to VEO analytics, and more visibility with recruiters. First team is FIRST TEAM. Second team is always at the back of the line, that’s the reality.

This is a legitimate concern. I have a q4 on a top team at an mlsnext club at the pre-mls ages. He’s doing well and we are happy. We are waiting for guidance from our club as to how they will handle the youth ages. My hope is they keep BY all the way through. The alternative is he repeats his current age group then at u12 will have to try out for a u13 HG with kids who have been playing an age group up. Not a great situation.

If your kid is good enough for the best level you have zero issues.
This is FOMO and paranoia disguised as a genuine problem

If all the kids were good enough there would be no discussion, but development and when puberty hit is different between kids. Playing a kids in the lower age groups and then expecting that same kid to make a jump to an older BY MLSN1 team is not going to work.

The top 1% is the top 1% for a reason
The tool 5% is the top 5% for a reason

It ain't for everyone

Exactly so why not go to ECNL where you have a better chance to play 1st team and enjoy it while it last, because not everyone wants to play pro and be that 1%

How does playing in ECNL guarantees joy over playing MLSN2?

Nothing is guaranteed, but keep in mind that “first team” means better coaching, field priority (which becomes a major issue in bad weather; MLSN1 will be training indoors while MLSN2 won’t, as has happened before), access to VEO analytics, and more visibility with recruiters. First team is FIRST TEAM. Second team is always at the back of the line, that’s the reality.

You're saying the Potomac ECNL teams automatically have better coaching than the Bethesda, Alexandria, SYC, Baltimore Armour MLSN2 teams?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U12 Q4 kid. Between 2nd and 3rd team. love our club which is MLS, not their fault, but we will now look to move to ECNL. My guess is MLS is gonna have to keep figuring things out and it's not worth potentially wasting a year or two while they do it.

Every Q4 kid will make an attempt to move to an ECNL National team. 1st team is ALWAYS the clubs priority

Every kid that wants to play pro will do MLSN1 or MLSN2 and try to get noticed by a MLS1 team. ECNL players will start getting ignored soon.

Anonymous wrote:For Pre-MLSN clubs that do not play NCSL at the u9-u12 level. What league do you play in? Genuinely curious as its not easy to find

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any clubs made any announcement on the MLSN change

Legit wondering what people are expecting clubs to be announcing? They’re gonna follow the applicable Age groups for their league and make individual decisions on letting impacted kids (ie those who would be repeating age groups under new system) play up. Same as now right?

Waiting to hear how they will structure u8-u12 which will play in a SY league but will become BY at u13.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a Q4 kid?

For the purpose of this soccer discussion, it is a kid born between 8/1 - 12/31 who will have the ability to repeat a year. Most of Q4's locally play up a grade in school. My 2014 is still in elementary school while 90% of his teammates are in middle school. Q4 is the shorthand also for 8/1-9/30 kids as well although we know they are not Q4.

I have not used Q4 to describe the SY age brackets. I generally use Q2 to describe those kids who will not be at the end of the range in the SY age brackets.

LOL 😆
You think this is a biology class?

It's soccer. There's no repeating a year.
You're just playing with the same age group level name.
Everything else is a new year to continue development

You people are a new special. You will find anything to dissent. You must be fun to be married to and work with.

2025-2026 - U12 - 9v9
2026-2027 - U12 - 9v9

Call it whatever you want bro but the result is still the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a Q4 kid?

For the purpose of this soccer discussion, it is a kid born between 8/1 - 12/31 who will have the ability to repeat a year. Most of Q4's locally play up a grade in school. My 2014 is still in elementary school while 90% of his teammates are in middle school. Q4 is the shorthand also for 8/1-9/30 kids as well although we know they are not Q4.

I have not used Q4 to describe the SY age brackets. I generally use Q2 to describe those kids who will not be at the end of the range in the SY age brackets.

LOL 😆
You think this is a biology class?

It's soccer. There's no repeating a year.
You're just playing with the same age group level name.
Everything else is a new year to continue development