Anonymous
09/18/2025 08:37
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Anonymous wrote:Fun fact! ECNL is strongly considering Grad Year for showcases. This is what my buddy was told by someone he knows within ECNL admin team.
“grad year is the way we have to do it if our goal is college placement for players”
They will use 8/1 for league play, showcase results would have no effect on national seeding. If a player is for example 8/1 bday but will be a grade older than then the majority of the team clubs and players will have to decide to play SY for league play and school grade for showcases or just stay with school grade team all year.
There is supposed to be a big ECNL meeting where they will vote on this.
When is this big meeting happening?
Anonymous
09/17/2025 18:30
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Anonymous wrote:What would be the incentive for a kid to play with the SY team that is one grade level below their GY if they will be forced to play on the their GY team at showcases? Trying to find playing time on their Grad year team will be pretty challenging.
Talk to the biobanding players 3 years in a row.
Anonymous
09/17/2025 18:29
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
What would be the incentive for a kid to play with the SY team that is one grade level below their GY if they will be forced to play on the their GY team at showcases? Trying to find playing time on their Grad year team will be pretty challenging.
Anonymous
09/17/2025 13:49
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Anonymous wrote:Can I ask a question that I’m sure most here will think is dumb. My kids are ULittle still. But their club is switching to “grade” as well. I believe the cutoff will be 9/1. There are many kids at my kids school who were redshirted for K. So for example a June 2015 kid who is in 4th now instead of 5th. Will that June 2015 kid play with the other 4th graders (even though he is 3 months too old to be in 4th grade by standard rules) or will he play with the 5th graders, where he should have been to start with, but was held back academically?
Basically, if they are going by grade, will redshirted kids be with their correct grade (if they’d started on time) or their redshirted grade.
If your kids are playing rec, or for some club that is running and in-house league (like ours does for junior academy) then no one here will have any idea what your club is planning, and honestly they can probably do whatever they want.
However, it looks like all sanctioned leagues in 26/27 will have rules next year that define age groups based off an 8/1 birthdate, that do not in any way consider grade. People here are talking about corner cases like ECNL showcases etc but you can ignore all that.
Anonymous
09/17/2025 12:41
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Can I ask a question that I’m sure most here will think is dumb. My kids are ULittle still. But their club is switching to “grade” as well. I believe the cutoff will be 9/1. There are many kids at my kids school who were redshirted for K. So for example a June 2015 kid who is in 4th now instead of 5th. Will that June 2015 kid play with the other 4th graders (even though he is 3 months too old to be in 4th grade by standard rules) or will he play with the 5th graders, where he should have been to start with, but was held back academically?
Basically, if they are going by grade, will redshirted kids be with their correct grade (if they’d started on time) or their redshirted grade.
Basically, if they are going by grade, will redshirted kids be with their correct grade (if they’d started on time) or their redshirted grade.
Anonymous
09/17/2025 12:39
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Anonymous wrote:Fun fact! ECNL is strongly considering Grad Year for showcases. This is what my buddy was told by someone he knows within ECNL admin team.
“grad year is the way we have to do it if our goal is college placement for players”
They will use 8/1 for league play, showcase results would have no effect on national seeding. If a player is for example 8/1 bday but will be a grade older than then the majority of the team clubs and players will have to decide to play SY for league play and school grade for showcases or just stay with school grade team all year.
There is supposed to be a big ECNL meeting where they will vote on this.
So how would this affect an October kid or a holdback? They would have to play basically on two teams? That’s dumb.
Anonymous
09/17/2025 12:33
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Anonymous wrote:My grandfathering do you mean letting August to December birthday kids stay on their current team and not give them the option to play with kids in their grade? Thereby preventing kids with January to August birthdays from potentially getting bumped off of teams by kids who are older than them? What if kids with August to December birthdays want to play on a team with kids in their grade? I don’t see how you can tell them they aren’t allowed to do that. But if they are good that is going to cause some kids to get bumped off their existing teams.
I don’t see how you avoid a scenario where kids with January to August birthdays don’t get bumped off teams by some older August to December birthday kids, or don’t make a higher level team that they might’ve made without the age group change, causing them to become one of the youngest. It’s definitely going to cause some kids to leave the sport, especially if they are around U13 or so.
Wait so some of the kids who are now “younger” will be bumped out by older kids? That’s never happened before has it? Let me get them the world’s smallest violin.
Anonymous
09/17/2025 12:28
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Fun fact! ECNL is strongly considering Grad Year for showcases. This is what my buddy was told by someone he knows within ECNL admin team.
“grad year is the way we have to do it if our goal is college placement for players”
They will use 8/1 for league play, showcase results would have no effect on national seeding. If a player is for example 8/1 bday but will be a grade older than then the majority of the team clubs and players will have to decide to play SY for league play and school grade for showcases or just stay with school grade team all year.
There is supposed to be a big ECNL meeting where they will vote on this.
“grad year is the way we have to do it if our goal is college placement for players”
They will use 8/1 for league play, showcase results would have no effect on national seeding. If a player is for example 8/1 bday but will be a grade older than then the majority of the team clubs and players will have to decide to play SY for league play and school grade for showcases or just stay with school grade team all year.
There is supposed to be a big ECNL meeting where they will vote on this.
Anonymous
09/16/2025 13:10
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
Just because its stpuid doesnt mean people are not advocating for it.
Anonymous
09/16/2025 13:07
Subject: ECNL moving to school year part 2
My grandfathering do you mean letting August to December birthday kids stay on their current team and not give them the option to play with kids in their grade? Thereby preventing kids with January to August birthdays from potentially getting bumped off of teams by kids who are older than them? What if kids with August to December birthdays want to play on a team with kids in their grade? I don’t see how you can tell them they aren’t allowed to do that. But if they are good that is going to cause some kids to get bumped off their existing teams.
I don’t see how you avoid a scenario where kids with January to August birthdays don’t get bumped off teams by some older August to December birthday kids, or don’t make a higher level team that they might’ve made without the age group change, causing them to become one of the youngest. It’s definitely going to cause some kids to leave the sport, especially if they are around U13 or so.
I don’t see how you avoid a scenario where kids with January to August birthdays don’t get bumped off teams by some older August to December birthday kids, or don’t make a higher level team that they might’ve made without the age group change, causing them to become one of the youngest. It’s definitely going to cause some kids to leave the sport, especially if they are around U13 or so.