I call BS on the pandemic causing all of this. I will agree to some of it.

Problem is to many leagues, its all watered down. Teens are being burned out. Every two to three years the next greatest league is coming out.

CCL - no better league- two years later-----DA the greatest league ever-----two years later MLS clubs cry so we go two tiered.--- 1 year later all gone-----Now ECNL and MLS greatest leagues ever-----what's in two years the ABCXYZ league.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It will change maybe not next year but for 2022 mark my words. They will use Sept. 30th as the cutoff date. So if you child is born lets say 10-01-09 then they can play with the 08 age groups. Ask your ECNL directors. They had a phone conference about this at the beginning of the season. Some push back but most agreed due to low numbers. If you don't think for a moment that money is not driving this you are sadly mistaken. [/quote]

Low numbers are likely due to a Pandemic and their own closed systems.

Just look at how people mock leagues and kids who play on certain teams or in leagues. Who wants to be a part of that? The people on these boards are gross and are their own worst enemy. Hyper competitive parents who push a ECNL/D1 or bust narrative to soccer are the ones ruining the game and driving families out of the sport. Once kids are on a team the age group simply doesn't matter. Club teams are made up of kids from multiple schools and school districts. This idea of playing with friends has been destroyed because of the need to play in uber competitive leagues and this means no longer playing for a more local club. And if your kid can't make one of those top teams then why bother playing at all?

I mean ECNL parents are constantly trolling GA clubs and teams here. Where are kids supposed to play? When your sole purpose is to make people feel like crap because their kid plays on this team or in that league don't act surprised when families simply leave the sport.

So if ECNL feels that they need to tweak age groupings AGAIN, to save their numbers then how strong is their platform? How strong is the draw of the game? ECNL has over 100 clubs in their league and several clubs with mutliple teams per age group and somehow their numbers are low? They have never been larger. [/quote]



+100000000000

[quote=Anonymous]It will change maybe not next year but for 2022 mark my words. They will use Sept. 30th as the cutoff date. So if you child is born lets say 10-01-09 then they can play with the 08 age groups. Ask your ECNL directors. They had a phone conference about this at the beginning of the season. Some push back but most agreed due to low numbers. If you don't think for a moment that money is not driving this you are sadly mistaken. [/quote]

Low numbers are likely due to a Pandemic and their own closed systems.

Just look at how people mock leagues and kids who play on certain teams or in leagues. Who wants to be a part of that? The people on these boards are gross and are their own worst enemy. Hyper competitive parents who push a ECNL/D1 or bust narrative to soccer are the ones ruining the game and driving families out of the sport. Once kids are on a team the age group simply doesn't matter. Club teams are made up of kids from multiple schools and school districts. This idea of playing with friends has been destroyed because of the need to play in uber competitive leagues and this means no longer playing for a more local club. And if your kid can't make one of those top teams then why bother playing at all?

I mean ECNL parents are constantly trolling GA clubs and teams here. Where are kids supposed to play? When your sole purpose is to make people feel like crap because their kid plays on this team or in that league don't act surprised when families simply leave the sport.

So if ECNL feels that they need to tweak age groupings AGAIN, to save their numbers then how strong is their platform? How strong is the draw of the game? ECNL has over 100 clubs in their league and several clubs with mutliple teams per age group and somehow their numbers are low? They have never been larger.

It will change maybe not next year but for 2022 mark my words. They will use Sept. 30th as the cutoff date. So if you child is born lets say 10-01-09 then they can play with the 08 age groups. Ask your ECNL directors. They had a phone conference about this at the beginning of the season. Some push back but most agreed due to low numbers. If you don't think for a moment that money is not driving this you are sadly mistaken.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (November and December) were negatively affected by the age change but, at this point, from a selfish perspective,....

So, if they change to school year, June and July birthday's will be negatively affected. A year is a year, anyway you look at it.

No you will have girls a year older playing with your kid. It will be on school grade not birth year.

It was never based on school years. The old age groups were based on birth dates that roughly align with the school year. Red shirt kids would still have to play with the appropriate grade based on birthdate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (November and December) were negatively affected by the age change but, at this point, from a selfish perspective,....

So, if they change to school year, June and July birthday's will be negatively affected. A year is a year, anyway you look at it.

No you will have girls a year older playing with your kid. It will be on school grade not birth year.

Anonymous wrote:My kids (November and December) were negatively affected by the age change but, at this point, from a selfish perspective,....

So, if they change to school year, June and July birthday's will be negatively affected. A year is a year, anyway you look at it.

My kids (November and December) were negatively affected by the age change but, at this point, from a selfish perspective, I really hope there isn't another change. We dealt with the transition and now they are settled and happy. It would be annoying to have to switch teams again or be EVEN younger relative to the others. Plus, somebody has to be the youngest. It isn't more fair because my kid is on the older end while yours is younger.

That said, how can anyone say that it is not still a problem in a country where competitive players play school sports? 8th graders are left without a team in the spring and it's thrown off again later. They should have thought of this before making the change.

Soccer will stay Birth Year. This is the same poster that brings this thread up about every 3 months. There's no plans from USYS to return to school year.

Anonymous wrote:Girls lacrosse is school grade and it’s terribly unfair due to excessive redshirting around here.
US lacrosse changed to birth year and NGLL (this area) didn’t follow.

Redshirting is not the issue with girls that it is with boys. You may see a few August and September girls held back. I've seen boys born in March held back.

Girls lacrosse is school grade and it’s terribly unfair due to excessive redshirting around here.
US lacrosse changed to birth year and NGLL (this area) didn’t follow.

should simply stay birth year like rest of world

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, coming from someone with a young DD just starting travel and a late birthday so playing with girls mostly a grade ahead, is this just speculation or people have some real info on this?

Speculation. It would not happen for at least 2 years.

Just curious, coming from someone with a young DD just starting travel and a late birthday so playing with girls mostly a grade ahead, is this just speculation or people have some real info on this?

IF the pay to play model is what US soccer does than yes losing players and interest is an issue. Agreed a lot of other problems but money unfortunately will always be the biggest.