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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

I think that only happens if the parent pushes it. Besides, a B team is either RL or USYS, which might have different guidance (if any). The only Aug players who make it to an ECNL team will be those who already would play up anyway.

Yes this was strongly hinted to. Everything they said was around player ability defining which team they would be placed on. However I dont see a situation where a club would go out of their way to place an Aug birthday on a grade below them first team. They would be kept with their grade and place on the second team.

No, they will totally do it, if that Aug player is good enough. They want to win more than anything else. They'll only place that player on a higher team if they are good enough.

And they will still pull them down to the younger team for wins.

Small clubs might when they're youngers.

Big clubs wont want to deal with the hassle and will just group all players by grade.

It's actually the opposite. Big clubs want to field the best team possible under the age group rules. They would hamstring themselves against the opposition not to. You're basically saying clubs in states with Aug. 1 school cut offs would be forever advantaged. Not going to happen.

What im saying is when players attend tryouts the clhbs will first ask which grade and then ask when born. As long as the when born checks out they'll be grouped with players their grade.

Out of 3 teams played for and 5 teams tried out for, nobody everybody ever asked or knew what grade my kid was.

Thats because in BY it doesnt matter.

Yup, school grade doesn't matter when the rules are birth year or seasonal year based.

It's called SY or School Year

Per US Soccer, SY stands for “seasonal year” or 8/1.

For what it’s worth, our mlsnext club now asks for grade in addition to birthdate during registration. Maybe they want this for recruiting purposes?

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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

I think that only happens if the parent pushes it. Besides, a B team is either RL or USYS, which might have different guidance (if any). The only Aug players who make it to an ECNL team will be those who already would play up anyway.

Yes this was strongly hinted to. Everything they said was around player ability defining which team they would be placed on. However I dont see a situation where a club would go out of their way to place an Aug birthday on a grade below them first team. They would be kept with their grade and place on the second team.

No, they will totally do it, if that Aug player is good enough. They want to win more than anything else. They'll only place that player on a higher team if they are good enough.

And they will still pull them down to the younger team for wins.

Small clubs might when they're youngers.

Big clubs wont want to deal with the hassle and will just group all players by grade.

It's actually the opposite. Big clubs want to field the best team possible under the age group rules. They would hamstring themselves against the opposition not to. You're basically saying clubs in states with Aug. 1 school cut offs would be forever advantaged. Not going to happen.

What im saying is when players attend tryouts the clhbs will first ask which grade and then ask when born. As long as the when born checks out they'll be grouped with players their grade.

Out of 3 teams played for and 5 teams tried out for, nobody everybody ever asked or knew what grade my kid was.

Thats because in BY it doesnt matter.

Yup, school grade doesn't matter when the rules are birth year or seasonal year based.

It's called SY or School Year

Anonymous wrote:They are getting a massive amount of heat of being the perceived face of this change. Thats why they say don’t worry it’s 11 months from now…

However realistically it’s 3 months away from being in full politic and tryout mode at most clubs.

99% of kids are changing teams positions and roles. I hope everyone has a sense of humor because no one can really predict what will happen with their kids.

Huh? On the podcast, they were taking credit for being a driving force but not the only one for the change.

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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

I think that only happens if the parent pushes it. Besides, a B team is either RL or USYS, which might have different guidance (if any). The only Aug players who make it to an ECNL team will be those who already would play up anyway.

Yes this was strongly hinted to. Everything they said was around player ability defining which team they would be placed on. However I dont see a situation where a club would go out of their way to place an Aug birthday on a grade below them first team. They would be kept with their grade and place on the second team.

No, they will totally do it, if that Aug player is good enough. They want to win more than anything else. They'll only place that player on a higher team if they are good enough.

And they will still pull them down to the younger team for wins.

Small clubs might when they're youngers.

Big clubs wont want to deal with the hassle and will just group all players by grade.

It's actually the opposite. Big clubs want to field the best team possible under the age group rules. They would hamstring themselves against the opposition not to. You're basically saying clubs in states with Aug. 1 school cut offs would be forever advantaged. Not going to happen.

What im saying is when players attend tryouts the clhbs will first ask which grade and then ask when born. As long as the when born checks out they'll be grouped with players their grade.

Out of 3 teams played for and 5 teams tried out for, nobody everybody ever asked or knew what grade my kid was.

Thats because in BY it doesnt matter.

Yup, school grade doesn't matter when the rules are birth year or seasonal year based.

They are getting a massive amount of heat of being the perceived face of this change. Thats why they say don’t worry it’s 11 months from now…

However realistically it’s 3 months away from being in full politic and tryout mode at most clubs.

99% of kids are changing teams positions and roles. I hope everyone has a sense of humor because no one can really predict what will happen with their kids.

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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

I think that only happens if the parent pushes it. Besides, a B team is either RL or USYS, which might have different guidance (if any). The only Aug players who make it to an ECNL team will be those who already would play up anyway.

Yes this was strongly hinted to. Everything they said was around player ability defining which team they would be placed on. However I dont see a situation where a club would go out of their way to place an Aug birthday on a grade below them first team. They would be kept with their grade and place on the second team.

No, they will totally do it, if that Aug player is good enough. They want to win more than anything else. They'll only place that player on a higher team if they are good enough.

And they will still pull them down to the younger team for wins.

Small clubs might when they're youngers.

Big clubs wont want to deal with the hassle and will just group all players by grade.

It's actually the opposite. Big clubs want to field the best team possible under the age group rules. They would hamstring themselves against the opposition not to. You're basically saying clubs in states with Aug. 1 school cut offs would be forever advantaged. Not going to happen.

What im saying is when players attend tryouts the clhbs will first ask which grade and then ask when born. As long as the when born checks out they'll be grouped with players their grade.

Out of 3 teams played for and 5 teams tried out for, nobody everybody ever asked or knew what grade my kid was.

Thats because in BY it doesnt matter

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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

You must be a psychic because they didn't discuss August kids or school grades.

It was about how clubs are going to handle reorienting kids into their new age groups for fall 2026 / tryouts and how the discussions might go with parents and to a lesser extent the kids. Clearly big clubs that care about wins will force kids to play on age and other clubs with less leverage might allow Aug-Dec up for a year. Ironically they spent 10-15 minutes talking about how playing up on age should only be done in rare instances where the player would dominate on the upper age. It was all theoretical because clubs are going to make the decisions on playing up not the leagues.

I thought it was interesting because they talked about alot of what people have said here like "why don't they grand father older teams" "cant they come up with some way of keeping teams together". People here have been suggesting that they do that as some sort of rule change, and the way they were talking about it on the podcast (which of course makes plenty of sense) is basically like sure! Clubs can try to do that if they want, like all these decisions are up to the clubs. Because the dates are shifting back and not forwards, they can change or not change teams or players however they waint.

They also talked alot about how those conversations with parents are likely to go. As a parent of a fall birthday kid who's club decided to make the u-little changes a year early, so she's already playing on a 14/15 team, the conversations I had with our DOC last year were almost identical to what they suggested on the podcast they would be. Mine moved from the second 14 team to the top 14/15 team and they might as well have been standing next to the field listening to use talk to DOC about that move vs moving up to the top 14 team.

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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

I think that only happens if the parent pushes it. Besides, a B team is either RL or USYS, which might have different guidance (if any). The only Aug players who make it to an ECNL team will be those who already would play up anyway.

Yes this was strongly hinted to. Everything they said was around player ability defining which team they would be placed on. However I dont see a situation where a club would go out of their way to place an Aug birthday on a grade below them first team. They would be kept with their grade and place on the second team.

No, they will totally do it, if that Aug player is good enough. They want to win more than anything else. They'll only place that player on a higher team if they are good enough.

And they will still pull them down to the younger team for wins.

Small clubs might when they're youngers.

Big clubs wont want to deal with the hassle and will just group all players by grade.

It's actually the opposite. Big clubs want to field the best team possible under the age group rules. They would hamstring themselves against the opposition not to. You're basically saying clubs in states with Aug. 1 school cut offs would be forever advantaged. Not going to happen.

What im saying is when players attend tryouts the clhbs will first ask which grade and then ask when born. As long as the when born checks out they'll be grouped with players their grade.

And they'll do this because clubs dont want to get involved with Aug edge case players playjng down. Its just not worth it.

They won't know or care because August kids aren't edge cases.

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Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

I think that only happens if the parent pushes it. Besides, a B team is either RL or USYS, which might have different guidance (if any). The only Aug players who make it to an ECNL team will be those who already would play up anyway.

Yes this was strongly hinted to. Everything they said was around player ability defining which team they would be placed on. However I dont see a situation where a club would go out of their way to place an Aug birthday on a grade below them first team. They would be kept with their grade and place on the second team.

No, they will totally do it, if that Aug player is good enough. They want to win more than anything else. They'll only place that player on a higher team if they are good enough.

And they will still pull them down to the younger team for wins.

Small clubs might when they're youngers.

Big clubs wont want to deal with the hassle and will just group all players by grade.

It's actually the opposite. Big clubs want to field the best team possible under the age group rules. They would hamstring themselves against the opposition not to. You're basically saying clubs in states with Aug. 1 school cut offs would be forever advantaged. Not going to happen.

What im saying is when players attend tryouts the clhbs will first ask which grade and then ask when born. As long as the when born checks out they'll be grouped with players their grade.

Out of 3 teams played for and 5 teams tried out for, nobody everybody ever asked or knew what grade my kid was.

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Anonymous wrote:If my Aug kid plays with the new age group and is placed on the 2nd team we are changing clubs.

So you're willing to change clubs just to play down? Pathetic.

Just hold your kid back in school for wins if this is your plan. Sounds like you're desperate enough to do this.

It's NOT playing down. If you can get on an ECNL/GA/MLSN team for your age group, you'll do it. Grade has nothing to do with it.

The person advocating for Aug kids to be forced to play with their grade are clearly scared that their kid is going to be replaced.

Most clubs will operate the same way they operate now - that is almost all kids will be placed on teams based on the new range (Aug. 1 - July 31) DESPITE their grade. Kids that are good enough, or if the need is there, will play up UNDER THE SAME CRITERIA that is used to determine whether they can play up in the current system.

I'm sorry your kid might lose their spot, or get pushed to the B team because Aug kids are joining the team.

Nope my kid starts in BY and was born in September.

Then, congrats, you're kid will be playing with younger kids next year (regardless if they start now), if that podcast is to be believed where they basically said there'll be few if any kids from Aug-Dec staying with their current team. Hopefully, it'll be a good competitive/development environment.

Its so obvious that your kid is a littles.

Here's how it works with olders. Competition is stiff all the way to u16. After that its not. This is because some players are already recruited. Some players are burning out. Theres less players playing. Etc etc etc. This is why the club president/owner typically takes over the oldest olders teams. They dont want to deal with the drama and want a team thats on cruise control. What im saying (and the ECNL podcast guys confirmed) is olders teams probabaly wont change that much. So it will take a couple of years to cycle all the 8/1 oriented teams in as the current olders cycle out.

They didn't say that. You're drawing inferences into what you want to hear.

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Anonymous wrote:If my Aug kid plays with the new age group and is placed on the 2nd team we are changing clubs.

So you're willing to change clubs just to play down? Pathetic.

Just hold your kid back in school for wins if this is your plan. Sounds like you're desperate enough to do this.

It's NOT playing down. If you can get on an ECNL/GA/MLSN team for your age group, you'll do it. Grade has nothing to do with it.

The person advocating for Aug kids to be forced to play with their grade are clearly scared that their kid is going to be replaced.

Most clubs will operate the same way they operate now - that is almost all kids will be placed on teams based on the new range (Aug. 1 - July 31) DESPITE their grade. Kids that are good enough, or if the need is there, will play up UNDER THE SAME CRITERIA that is used to determine whether they can play up in the current system.

I'm sorry your kid might lose their spot, or get pushed to the B team because Aug kids are joining the team.

Nope my kid starts in BY and was born in September.

Ok, so you are trying to reverse engineer your kid being the oldest in the age group. Classy.

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Anonymous wrote:If my Aug kid plays with the new age group and is placed on the 2nd team we are changing clubs.

So you're willing to change clubs just to play down? Pathetic.

Just hold your kid back in school for wins if this is your plan. Sounds like you're desperate enough to do this.

It's NOT playing down. If you can get on an ECNL/GA/MLSN team for your age group, you'll do it. Grade has nothing to do with it.

The person advocating for Aug kids to be forced to play with their grade are clearly scared that their kid is going to be replaced.

Most clubs will operate the same way they operate now - that is almost all kids will be placed on teams based on the new range (Aug. 1 - July 31) DESPITE their grade. Kids that are good enough, or if the need is there, will play up UNDER THE SAME CRITERIA that is used to determine whether they can play up in the current system.

I'm sorry your kid might lose their spot, or get pushed to the B team because Aug kids are joining the team.

Nope my kid starts in BY and was born in September.

Then, congrats, you're kid will be playing with younger kids next year (regardless if they start now), if that podcast is to be believed where they basically said there'll be few if any kids from Aug-Dec staying with their current team. Hopefully, it'll be a good competitive/development environment.

Just to burst your bubble even more...

Top 20 nationally and theres 3 players that are younger than my kid on the team.

Great, your Aug-Jul team may win the national champship next year. Enjoy the ride!

Anonymous wrote:They hinted that players will be placed on the correct team. They specifically avoided anything Aug specific. However I got the feeling they would put an Aug birthday on a B team with their grade before letting them play down on a lower grade team.

You must be a psychic because they didn't discuss August kids or school grades.

It was about how clubs are going to handle reorienting kids into their new age groups for fall 2026 / tryouts and how the discussions might go with parents and to a lesser extent the kids. Clearly big clubs that care about wins will force kids to play on age and other clubs with less leverage might allow Aug-Dec up for a year. Ironically they spent 10-15 minutes talking about how playing up on age should only be done in rare instances where the player would dominate on the upper age. It was all theoretical because clubs are going to make the decisions on playing up not the leagues.

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Anonymous wrote:If my Aug kid plays with the new age group and is placed on the 2nd team we are changing clubs.

So you're willing to change clubs just to play down? Pathetic.

Just hold your kid back in school for wins if this is your plan. Sounds like you're desperate enough to do this.

Not possible. They won't let players play down on age. Note that you are arguing that August kids held back a year would be allowed to play on age but not August kids sent to school on time.

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Anonymous wrote:If my Aug kid plays with the new age group and is placed on the 2nd team we are changing clubs.

So you're willing to change clubs just to play down? Pathetic.

Just hold your kid back in school for wins if this is your plan. Sounds like you're desperate enough to do this.

It's NOT playing down. If you can get on an ECNL/GA/MLSN team for your age group, you'll do it. Grade has nothing to do with it.

If you are desperate, you can do biobanding in MLSN to play down in the younger group.