Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is this...you rarely see truly top players getting bio banded. Either here or in Europe. Smaller players who are really gifted can find solutions against older and bigger players. Just look at Messi. He was the smallest player on the pitch for almost his entire career. You don't need to be a monster size wise to be good at soccer. You just don't. But you need some other x factor to succeed. That could be quickness, speed, power, vision, speed of thought, but it has to be something else. Because if you're small AND you have no x factor, you literally have no chance. Just like big and fast kids with no techbical.ability have no chance

. The problem in the US is that there is such an emphasis on winning and not actually playing good soccer to win (ie trying to possess the ball) that size is at a premium because you don't need to teach size. You have to teach a small player how to beat bigger players. That takes real knowledge and real development. We don't have the coaches or the knowledge in this country to do that on a mass scale. Biobanding gives our system an easy out. Hey just put those smaller kids an age down and call it we are doing the same thing Europe does..but the big difference is that Europe is actually using biobanding to develop kids. European clubs make calculations as to what a players physical potential will be and they try to maximize that potential. Because a lot of small kids without potential get kicked out of the system in Europe...FAST. in the US, biobanding is just a way to make parents happy and keep more kids and money in the ecosystem.

if you're getting bio banded in the US system it is a big red flag for your future as a top player. It has very little to do with your actual development. Given the emphasis on size and speed in the US, the system is already telling the player that it doesn't believe in their potential. Biobanding is just a way for us soccer to allow pay to play clubs to appease as many parents as possible and keep the peace with respect to the fees they are able to retain. And greedy clubs use biobanding the wrong way as we can clearly see from other posts here. Biobanding, as it is implemented in the US is bad for players.

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Anonymous wrote:Biobanding is a concept, employed primarily in Europe, (but now also here in the US) to allow physically smaller sized players compete a year down with other players of similar physical size in order to help their development during the puberty years when not all players grow at he same rate. It was initially targeted only towards players, who were small and also had great technical abilities who were expected to grow bigger in the their later puberty years.

However, the concepts has been broadened to allow club s in US leagues to also play down kids who are of average size, but also require more development of confidence by allowing them to develop by playing a year down.

I think a problem of defining what players should actually qualify for biobanding is a real issue. Clubs are not given a concise definition and therefore it appears it may be abused and or it may especially appear to be abused.

Parents gossip and speculation is also to blame. Even for U12 girls, parents are quick to conclude the other club is cheating whenever a much larger girl is on the field.

The only allowed use for bio banding that I’m aware of is in MLSNext.

Any other use would probably be violating those leagues rules.

Clubs would lose a main revenue source: small players are paying extra for upper team slots - and have been since on ramp to D1 at U13 for MLS Next and certainly ECNL.

It’s a feature, not a bug.

(Hence why you quickly see big players in the bio banding cohort at corrupt teams in US. It’s not to win lower league games it’s to get ‘big and dumb’ sharp faster).

Pulisic - 5’9” - had 2 parent pros who quickly bypassed US system for German training at U16.

It’s the dirty little secret of US travel soccer…

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Anonymous wrote:Biobanding is a concept, employed primarily in Europe, (but now also here in the US) to allow physically smaller sized players compete a year down with other players of similar physical size in order to help their development during the puberty years when not all players grow at he same rate. It was initially targeted only towards players, who were small and also had great technical abilities who were expected to grow bigger in the their later puberty years.

However, the concepts has been broadened to allow club s in US leagues to also play down kids who are of average size, but also require more development of confidence by allowing them to develop by playing a year down.

I think a problem of defining what players should actually qualify for biobanding is a real issue. Clubs are not given a concise definition and therefore it appears it may be abused and or it may especially appear to be abused.

Parents gossip and speculation is also to blame. Even for U12 girls, parents are quick to conclude the other club is cheating whenever a much larger girl is on the field.

The only allowed use for bio banding that I’m aware of is in MLSNext.

Any other use would probably be violating those leagues rules.

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Anonymous wrote:So what DMV MLSNext teams are biobanding?

Every MLSNext teams have bio banded kids in almost all age groups.

My son's ASA team has zero. I believe the same is true for the age groups immediately above and below.

I also highly doubt Achilles uses biobanded players much. They have tiny teams and probably could benefit from some biobanding. Wonder why they don’t.

Because the coach appreciates both players and their parents' efforts to play on an MLSN team, bringing an older player down to play on an MLSN team is a disgrace to the younger players.

Achilles uses biobanded kids and all the other kids know because they all know each or about each other in the dmv

Small market

Anonymous wrote:Playing down is unfair to the original players on the team. Currently, the P2P MLSN teams are playing down against the younger MLS Academy teams, and they have won most of the time. So, a one-year difference can statistically make an average MLS player as an Academy-level player.

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Anonymous wrote:So what DMV MLSNext teams are biobanding?

Every MLSNext teams have bio banded kids in almost all age groups.

My son's ASA team has zero. I believe the same is true for the age groups immediately above and below.

I also highly doubt Achilles uses biobanded players much. They have tiny teams and probably could benefit from some biobanding. Wonder why they don’t.

Because the coach appreciates both players and their parents' efforts to play on an MLSN team, bringing an older player down to play on an MLSN team is a disgrace to the younger players.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what DMV MLSNext teams are biobanding?

Every MLSNext teams have bio banded kids in almost all age groups.

My son's ASA team has zero. I believe the same is true for the age groups immediately above and below.

I also highly doubt Achilles uses biobanded players much. They have tiny teams and probably could benefit from some biobanding. Wonder why they don’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what DMV MLSNext teams are biobanding?

Every MLSNext teams have bio banded kids in almost all age groups.

My son's ASA team has zero. I believe the same is true for the age groups immediately above and below.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what DMV MLSNext teams are biobanding?

Every MLSNext teams have bio banded kids in almost all age groups.

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Anonymous wrote:Club thinks player will get bigger when they hit puberty. Currently they're a decent player and have the potential to be much more after puberty. So you play this kid against younger players until they hit puberty. At that time they go back to playing against players their age.

Unfortunately many clubs play ringers down against younger teams for wins. Which defeats the purpose of biobanding.

Its the difference between short term and long term thinking.

i've seen teams play a clearly not undersized older kid down in their games mid-season. surely this isn't what biobanding is intended to be? totally get kids who are small at beginning of season playing down who grow during season. don't get large kids just playing down just to win. seems a bit like cheating and how does this help the kid who isn't small, playing with and against younger competition.

Any time my kid has played against bigger players, I see it as great practice for my kid to rely on technique and to play under pressure. I think those parents and players who make a fuss about bio banded players care way too much about winning which is all you need to know about the level of player they have. Pretend concern for the biobanded kid is just pretext.

Bioband player steals a top team spot from a younger player who loses the opportunity to grow.

Oh please, a younger player thinking something was stolen from them is not going to go very far. Drop to rec.

Why does the Bioband player have to steal a younger player's spot? Instead of forcing the younger player to drop to rec, why not have the bioband player try to play in his own age group? Just don't be a cheater. The shame will stay with you.

Why don’t you just raise a player in an environment with less whining and blaming? Drop them to rec if that’s where they will thrive. But MLSNext is not where they belong if you care this much about biobanded players.

You’re assuming my player is biobanded because I’m defending biobanded players. He’s not but him and teammates don’t care about who is biobanded or not because they’re confident about their skills. At MLSNext, you’re already playing teams that skew more like SYC in size, a biobanded player makes zero difference in the competition. I bet you’re also complaining that SYC players and similar teams should play their oversized players up.

Raise a player that has a tougher mentality. No one wants a whiner on their team.

Hope there are 3 biobanding players in your team and take 3 spots playing full time soon.

Spoken like a parent who has to worry about something like that happening to their player. Use it as a lesson for your player to work harder and ignore your whining.

I'm ok with MLS playing older players down or doing whatever they want with the teams they fund (homegrown).

However if parents are paying the bill older players need to stay with the age group they paid for. Play on a B team if you're not good enough for the A team.

It's obviously not a skill issue, it's a size development issue. Sheesh

08 player biobanding down in 09 team, I am not sure how much he can grow, or maybe he is just short. And this is the last season for him. He is not good enough to play in the 08 team and obviously does not want to go to the B team.

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Anonymous wrote:Club thinks player will get bigger when they hit puberty. Currently they're a decent player and have the potential to be much more after puberty. So you play this kid against younger players until they hit puberty. At that time they go back to playing against players their age.

Unfortunately many clubs play ringers down against younger teams for wins. Which defeats the purpose of biobanding.

Its the difference between short term and long term thinking.

i've seen teams play a clearly not undersized older kid down in their games mid-season. surely this isn't what biobanding is intended to be? totally get kids who are small at beginning of season playing down who grow during season. don't get large kids just playing down just to win. seems a bit like cheating and how does this help the kid who isn't small, playing with and against younger competition.

Any time my kid has played against bigger players, I see it as great practice for my kid to rely on technique and to play under pressure. I think those parents and players who make a fuss about bio banded players care way too much about winning which is all you need to know about the level of player they have. Pretend concern for the biobanded kid is just pretext.

Bioband player steals a top team spot from a younger player who loses the opportunity to grow.

Oh please, a younger player thinking something was stolen from them is not going to go very far. Drop to rec.

Why does the Bioband player have to steal a younger player's spot? Instead of forcing the younger player to drop to rec, why not have the bioband player try to play in his own age group? Just don't be a cheater. The shame will stay with you.

Why don’t you just raise a player in an environment with less whining and blaming? Drop them to rec if that’s where they will thrive. But MLSNext is not where they belong if you care this much about biobanded players.

You’re assuming my player is biobanded because I’m defending biobanded players. He’s not but him and teammates don’t care about who is biobanded or not because they’re confident about their skills. At MLSNext, you’re already playing teams that skew more like SYC in size, a biobanded player makes zero difference in the competition. I bet you’re also complaining that SYC players and similar teams should play their oversized players up.

Raise a player that has a tougher mentality. No one wants a whiner on their team.

Hope there are 3 biobanding players in your team and take 3 spots playing full time soon.

Spoken like a parent who has to worry about something like that happening to their player. Use it as a lesson for your player to work harder and ignore your whining.

I'm ok with MLS playing older players down or doing whatever they want with the teams they fund (homegrown).

However if parents are paying the bill older players need to stay with the age group they paid for. Play on a B team if you're not good enough for the A team.

It's obviously not a skill issue, it's a size development issue. Sheesh

Anonymous wrote:So what DMV MLSNext teams are biobanding?