Lets keep this on top SYC still sore losers!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Isn’t it illegal to play down? I thought with the whole birth year change you had to play with your birth year

What am I missing?

MLS Next rules allow for 3 over-age players per team. It is called the "late developers" rule in MLS Next but is also referred to as bio-banding. The idea is to allow smaller kids who are late to puberty to play a year down until they catch up. At these years, there is a huge variability in height and weight and the rule is designed to encourage late developers to stick with the game. But, Bethesda abuses the rule for a competitive advantage by playing larger faster kids down.

Interesting! So the bio-banding player (playing down a year) trains with his age group or with the one year younger group? Does ECNL also offer that?

ECNL has no such rule that I have heard of. You play with your age group. The only exception is trapped players when in 8th grade and in 12th grade because if they didn’t allow this there would be no team for them.

We had a 12/31 kid on the team. He got no preferential treatment for being small.

What a ridiculous, subjective rule that allows for cheating. To have 3 starters who could be a year older than the rest of the players is a huge advantage. And what happens when this team plays a non MLS next team that doesn’t offer the same advantage- do they have to pull the older kids out (for tournaments and the like) or they still play?

Yes, because winning is all that matters!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Isn’t it illegal to play down? I thought with the whole birth year change you had to play with your birth year

What am I missing?

MLS Next rules allow for 3 over-age players per team. It is called the "late developers" rule in MLS Next but is also referred to as bio-banding. The idea is to allow smaller kids who are late to puberty to play a year down until they catch up. At these years, there is a huge variability in height and weight and the rule is designed to encourage late developers to stick with the game. But, Bethesda abuses the rule for a competitive advantage by playing larger faster kids down.

Interesting! So the bio-banding player (playing down a year) trains with his age group or with the one year younger group? Does ECNL also offer that?

ECNL has no such rule that I have heard of. You play with your age group. The only exception is trapped players when in 8th grade and in 12th grade because if they didn’t allow this there would be no team for them.

We had a 12/31 kid on the team. He got no preferential treatment for being small.

What a ridiculous, subjective rule that allows for cheating. To have 3 starters who could be a year older than the rest of the players is a huge advantage. And what happens when this team plays a non MLS next team that doesn’t offer the same advantage- do they have to pull the older kids out (for tournaments and the like) or they still play?

Anonymous wrote:I thought we were talking about soccer offers? My 2012 received three and will choose by end of week

We are! Please share whether b or g and which clubs. Thanks!

I thought we were talking about soccer offers? My 2012 received three and will choose by end of week

The only reason why biobanding is widely used in Europe and here ppl are quick to raise issues of cheating or unfair advantage or abuse of use is bc the focus here is on winning.

Who usually complains? Clubs and parents that care abt winning. Achilles uses biobanding too and no one cares bc they don’t win as much and frankly, they’re def not known for their player size.

What clubs don’t use bio banding? The ones where the players tend to be on the bigger side or who emphasize physicality. But honestly, those clubs could use it too for players that are average size whose technical skills are more on par with the younger age group. But if technical skills don’t matter to that club, they’re not going to bother with it.

My sons are late growers (runs in family) and never been asked to play down. They have played up occasionally when they were younger.

My 15-year old is still very skinny and on the small side and plays his age. He probably could have benefited from doing so—but playing his age just made him hone his decision/technical skills more because he had to move the ball quicker or get crushed. I saw it play out with his older brother same way and then when he did mature physically he was an even better play for it because he never relied solely on size when younger.

There were kids the same size as my son or even larger than my son in his club playing down which I never could understand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Isn’t it illegal to play down? I thought with the whole birth year change you had to play with your birth year

What am I missing?

MLS Next rules allow for 3 over-age players per team. It is called the "late developers" rule in MLS Next but is also referred to as bio-banding. The idea is to allow smaller kids who are late to puberty to play a year down until they catch up. At these years, there is a huge variability in height and weight and the rule is designed to encourage late developers to stick with the game. But, Bethesda abuses the rule for a competitive advantage by playing larger faster kids down.

This is why Bethesda stop posting home match videos starting at 2024. Couple of clubs, even academy reported this to MLN, they are investigating.

The match against SYC is now unavailable in SYCs YouTube channel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Isn’t it illegal to play down? I thought with the whole birth year change you had to play with your birth year

What am I missing?

MLS Next rules allow for 3 over-age players per team. It is called the "late developers" rule in MLS Next but is also referred to as bio-banding. The idea is to allow smaller kids who are late to puberty to play a year down until they catch up. At these years, there is a huge variability in height and weight and the rule is designed to encourage late developers to stick with the game. But, Bethesda abuses the rule for a competitive advantage by playing larger faster kids down.

Interesting! So the bio-banding player (playing down a year) trains with his age group or with the one year younger group? Does ECNL also offer that?

Usually trains with the newly assigned age group / younger team. Though that's up to the club and player. MLS Next is the only league in the US that recognizes bio-banding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Isn’t it illegal to play down? I thought with the whole birth year change you had to play with your birth year

What am I missing?

MLS Next rules allow for 3 over-age players per team. It is called the "late developers" rule in MLS Next but is also referred to as bio-banding. The idea is to allow smaller kids who are late to puberty to play a year down until they catch up. At these years, there is a huge variability in height and weight and the rule is designed to encourage late developers to stick with the game. But, Bethesda abuses the rule for a competitive advantage by playing larger faster kids down.

Interesting! So the bio-banding player (playing down a year) trains with his age group or with the one year younger group? Does ECNL also offer that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dang, I'd love to play my small, yet highly skilled daughter a year down. She plays a year up now with no issues. She'd destroy kids a year down and we'd feel bad about it. Even she would feel bad about it. Strange rule. And strange tangent to the OP's question however.

Not a strange rule at all - for a true late developer. Done all over the world to catch great players who need high level development but would otherwise be ignored through no fault of their own. My son fits category perfectly. Midfielder but delayed at 15. He may or may not have been mentioned in earlier post

Makes sense, hopefully this allows him extra time for development! Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dang, I'd love to play my small, yet highly skilled daughter a year down. She plays a year up now with no issues. She'd destroy kids a year down and we'd feel bad about it. Even she would feel bad about it. Strange rule. And strange tangent to the OP's question however.

Not a strange rule at all - for a true late developer. Done all over the world to catch great players who need high level development but would otherwise be ignored through no fault of their own. My son fits category perfectly. Midfielder but delayed at 15. He may or may not have been mentioned in earlier post

If you're one of the Bethesda 2009 /10 parents, your kid is not physically delayed. They are being used to gain a competitive advantage. Look at the 2010/11 kid who bio-banded on Bethesda. Or, the one kid bio-banding with DCU. Both tiny and extremely skilled. That's the type of kids the program was designed for....not a 5'6" tall 15 year old who would be average sized in his own age group.

You still Sore Losers!

PP here. Hard to be a sore loser when my kid has never played BSC 2010. Calling it what it is: cheating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dang, I'd love to play my small, yet highly skilled daughter a year down. She plays a year up now with no issues. She'd destroy kids a year down and we'd feel bad about it. Even she would feel bad about it. Strange rule. And strange tangent to the OP's question however.

Not a strange rule at all - for a true late developer. Done all over the world to catch great players who need high level development but would otherwise be ignored through no fault of their own. My son fits category perfectly. Midfielder but delayed at 15. He may or may not have been mentioned in earlier post

If you're one of the Bethesda 2009 /10 parents, your kid is not physically delayed. They are being used to gain a competitive advantage. Look at the 2010/11 kid who bio-banded on Bethesda. Or, the one kid bio-banding with DCU. Both tiny and extremely skilled. That's the type of kids the program was designed for....not a 5'6" tall 15 year old who would be average sized in his own age group.

You still Sore Losers!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dang, I'd love to play my small, yet highly skilled daughter a year down. She plays a year up now with no issues. She'd destroy kids a year down and we'd feel bad about it. Even she would feel bad about it. Strange rule. And strange tangent to the OP's question however.

Not a strange rule at all - for a true late developer. Done all over the world to catch great players who need high level development but would otherwise be ignored through no fault of their own. My son fits category perfectly. Midfielder but delayed at 15. He may or may not have been mentioned in earlier post

If you're one of the Bethesda 2009 /10 parents, your kid is not physically delayed. They are being used to gain a competitive advantage. Look at the 2010/11 kid who bio-banded on Bethesda. Or, the one kid bio-banding with DCU. Both tiny and extremely skilled. That's the type of kids the program was designed for....not a 5'6" tall 15 year old who would be average sized in his own age group.

Anonymous wrote:Dang, I'd love to play my small, yet highly skilled daughter a year down. She plays a year up now with no issues. She'd destroy kids a year down and we'd feel bad about it. Even she would feel bad about it. Strange rule. And strange tangent to the OP's question however.

Not a strange rule at all - for a true late developer. Done all over the world to catch great players who need high level development but would otherwise be ignored through no fault of their own. My son fits category perfectly. Midfielder but delayed at 15. He may or may not have been mentioned in earlier post