Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

Which travel teams in the DMV area, especially MLS Next and ECNL levels have a bunch of classmates from school on same teams?

Whatever the number, next year their will be more.

The number is zero now and will be zero next year. And has always been zero. DS is on an MLSNext team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

This is definitely the right question, and because it was never convincingly answered, we are switching back.

Yeah -- successful soccer nations sync their club sports cutoff with their school cutoff. If the school uses January 1st, the club system uses January 1st; if the school uses September 1st, the club system uses September 1st. It's not complicated.

Only in the USA do we have a mismatch between school grouping and club soccer grouping.

Stop making up crap man. Many of us have lived in Europe or have family there or go there frequently

>"The school year in European countries typically begins in September, though some start in August and others in October. For countries starting in August, it's often in the Nordic region, with some parts of Germany and the Netherlands starting in late August or September. Many Central and Eastern European countries have an October start. The exact date can vary by region within a country, especially in larger or federal states"<

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

This is definitely the right question, and because it was never convincingly answered, we are switching back.

Yeah -- successful soccer nations sync their club sports cutoff with their school cutoff. If the school uses January 1st, the club system uses January 1st; if the school uses September 1st, the club system uses September 1st. It's not complicated.

Only in the USA do we have a mismatch between school grouping and club soccer grouping.

Stop making up crap man. Many of us have lived in Europe or have family there or go there frequently

>"The school year in European countries typically begins in September, though some start in August and others in October. For countries starting in August, it's often in the Nordic region, with some parts of Germany and the Netherlands starting in late August or September. Many Central and Eastern European countries have an October start. The exact date can vary by region within a country, especially in larger or federal states"<

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

This is definitely the right question, and because it was never convincingly answered, we are switching back.

Yeah -- successful soccer nations sync their club sports cutoff with their school cutoff. If the school uses January 1st, the club system uses January 1st; if the school uses September 1st, the club system uses September 1st. It's not complicated.

Only in the USA do we have a mismatch between school grouping and club soccer grouping.

Anonymous wrote:Klinsman fkdd my Fall 05 kid..lol. Team split right before 11v11 and just him and 1 kid had to jump up an age group —with the kids a grade above that already had been on 11v11 a full year; then in 8th grade he was a trapped player and nobody was there spring season since the rest of the team was in 9th and playing HS (pre mlsnext); then senior year he was trapped again.

Also the very first time it changed the club just took all the kids that were younger and had to jump up and automatically put them on the lower teams no matter their ability or if they were 1st team from year below.

If there was a way to get screwed my kid got it every way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

This is definitely the right question, and because it was never convincingly answered, we are switching back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

Which travel teams in the DMV area, especially MLS Next and ECNL levels have a bunch of classmates from school on same teams?

Whatever the number, next year their will be more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

Which travel teams in the DMV area, especially MLS Next and ECNL levels have a bunch of classmates from school on same teams?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BY or SY or GY or YY
We'll have the same exact everything else

Not sure what miracle some people expect to happen with age cutoff changes

Not clear why you think that switching to SY is meant to create a world cup winner. Too low of a percentage of Americans care about a world cup winner for this to be a goal for U.S. to put more effort into, at least on the men's side.

How did you leap to translate what was said to creating a world cup winner?

They are basically saying what's the point of the changes to age cutoff when all else that's wrong with youth soccer stays the same

Because the age cutoff change isn't meant to solve whatever someone feels is all else wrong with youth soccer.

Again, so what's the point if its not to resolve an existing problem or improve something?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any updates for the 26-27 season?

I think you missed the announcement, they will shift to a new age-bracket for the 27-28 season. It won't be a school year bracket, it will be a new 12 month window (1-August to 31-July). That grouping does not line-up with most school years at all.

It's amazing how much discussion happens over stuff like this. There's always going to be a cutoff date. I remember years ago when the switch to calendar year happened, my kids' teams all got broken up and they were no longer playing with many of their peers from school. It was very disruptive. Now they are thinking about changing it again? Sheesh! Why did they change it in the first place?

Apparently, most European football youth academies use school-age grouping with a cutoff of September 1st. I think that used to be what we did before they changed it all several years ago. Pointless tinkering rather than addressing any real challenges.

England does school year, not Europe

Thank you for clarifying this. The SY proponents like to paint with a wide brush implying certain things. In this case that Europe is all SY when in reality its only England. Everyone else is BY

The irony of England being SY is that top EPL Acadamies buy players from other clubs that most of the time are BY.

Most of Europe groups grade by BY so by grouping soccer ages by BY it also aligns with grade. England groups grade by 9/1 so also groups soccer by 9/1.

There is nothing magic about an age range. Good development can occur with ages that are 1/1 or 8/1 or 9/1.

This seems to me to be the most relevant point: Europeans align their soccer club age groupings with whatever they use for school year age groupings.

If the USA used birth year for school grouping, it would make sense to stick with birth year for sports grouping. But we don't - we group school kids by a September-to-September year. It would make the most sense to align the sports grouping with the school grouping just like successful soccer nations do.

School isn't where the highest quality coaches and players are. That's club soccer.

So why the importance to align with school year?

So kids are playing club sports with the same cohort of kids they are in class with and playing school sports with. To encourage greater participation in club sports where kids can play with/against their classmates. And because that's what the successful soccer nations do.

The real question to ask is: Why have one cutoff for school/school-sports and a completely different cutoff for club sports?