Anonymous
01/22/2026 12:15
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Anonymous wrote:Why are people still arguing over this? No club is going to make anyone do anything. Kids will have to choose what's best for them if they are misaligned. End of story.
Its because there has been little to no communication from US Soccer or leagues about all situations and the potential repercussions they potentially entail.
The whole "its up to clubs to decide" what to do with Aug birthdays without any additional detail is garbage. Parents shouldn't have to figure out how everything works on their own. Explain how college recruiting works, why you want to play on a team thats your grade in school. etc, etc.
Without this kind of information parents arent able to make an informed choice. Even worse clubs will make decisions for parents which might not be in their kids best interest.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 12:06
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Why are people still arguing over this? No club is going to make anyone do anything. Kids will have to choose what's best for them if they are misaligned. End of story.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 12:04
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
I encourage everyone reading this thread to simply listen to the link below. The troll on this thread is just trying to out post eveyone to push their agenda.
https://youtu.be/H_MCwT85SKY?&t=5m19s
Its very clear that FC Copa plans to align Aug birthdays with their grade for college recruiting. The decision was based on college coaches feedback.
https://youtu.be/H_MCwT85SKY?&t=5m19s
Its very clear that FC Copa plans to align Aug birthdays with their grade for college recruiting. The decision was based on college coaches feedback.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 11:56
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Not spinning. You just aren't sharp enough to realize that all this can be true.Anonymous wrote:keep spinning...
FC Copa was very clear in that they will be grouping Aug birthdays with their grade in school team. This discision was based on feedback provided by College Coaches.
- Multiple teams reported that college coaches don't care what your age is or age group you are in or whether you play up and a few also said so on a Facebook chat. You just need to be a good player fit and have the right GPA and be eligible to matriculate.
- Almost all teams that made age group change announcements said that they would limit playing up (which is based mostly on performance), grades don't mean that much, players wouldn't be forced to play up, and there will be case by case decisions.
- Rec leagues and a few lower tier travel teams said they would attempt to go grade year while following the 8/1 - 7/31 rules.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 11:47
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
keep spinning...
FC Copa was very clear in that they will be grouping Aug birthdays with their grade in school team. This discision was based on feedback provided by College Coaches.
FC Copa was very clear in that they will be grouping Aug birthdays with their grade in school team. This discision was based on feedback provided by College Coaches.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 10:59
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
FC CopaAnonymous wrote:FC Copa explaining that they'll group Aug birthday players by grade base on college coaches feedback for college recruiting.
https://youtu.be/H_MCwT85SKY?&t=5m19s
US Soccer allowed leagues to change from BY to SY and the primary driver was so more players could be on teams with kids in their grade in school.
https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/news/2025/03/05/us-youth-soccer-us-club-soccer-and-ayso-returning-to-seasonal-year-age-group-formation-in-2026/
"decided to move to an age group player formation cycle that runs from August 1 to July 31, starting with the 2026-27 season/registration year. This change was made based on additional critical feedback, data, and expert input to better align players with their school-grade peers."
August only mentioned as date twice, August 1, and wasn't mentioned as a term containing birthdates only comprising those born in August and the word young wasn't mentioned.
What was mentioned:
"We had separate conversations with several college coaches. Those college coaches made it incredibly clear that it does not matter what age is they will only recruit them once they hit their junior and senior years."
Better align is what they did with 8/1 - 7/31, perfectly align would be to go grade year which they didn't do.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 10:32
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
FC Copa explaining that they'll group Aug birthday players by grade base on college coaches feedback for college recruiting.
https://youtu.be/H_MCwT85SKY?&t=5m19s
US Soccer allowed leagues to change from BY to SY and the primary driver was so more players could be on teams with kids in their grade in school.
https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/news/2025/03/05/us-youth-soccer-us-club-soccer-and-ayso-returning-to-seasonal-year-age-group-formation-in-2026/
"decided to move to an age group player formation cycle that runs from August 1 to July 31, starting with the 2026-27 season/registration year. This change was made based on additional critical feedback, data, and expert input to better align players with their school-grade peers."
https://youtu.be/H_MCwT85SKY?&t=5m19s
US Soccer allowed leagues to change from BY to SY and the primary driver was so more players could be on teams with kids in their grade in school.
https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/news/2025/03/05/us-youth-soccer-us-club-soccer-and-ayso-returning-to-seasonal-year-age-group-formation-in-2026/
"decided to move to an age group player formation cycle that runs from August 1 to July 31, starting with the 2026-27 season/registration year. This change was made based on additional critical feedback, data, and expert input to better align players with their school-grade peers."
Anonymous
01/22/2026 09:54
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Leagues and almost all clubs that made announcements said play on age not up (except for the rare kid). Grade year isn't part of the rules. And college coaches said to two clubs and directly on a Facebook chat that they don't care the age group that the recruits play in. Best way to play in college is high GPA, become the best player possible and reach out to teams, same as ever. Essentially many August through December births have a case by case decision to try stay with their current clubs or to play on age regardless of grade. This is a club issue as they try to enforce the age groups.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 09:53
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Grade year isn't part of the rules. And college coaches said to two clubs and directly on a Facebook chat that they don't care the age group that the recruits play in. Best way to play in college is high GPA, become the best player possible and reach out to teams, same as ever. Essentially many August through December births have a case by case decision to try stay with their current clubs or to play on age regardless of grade. This is a club issue as they try to enforce the age groups.
Anonymous
01/22/2026 09:52
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Where does this keep classmates together fantasy come from
Is this for recreation teams coached by the elementary school crossing guard?
How can clubs belong to a league but create their own age bracket system?
If playing your school grade is a priority for you, college recruiting will not be a problem, because you're definitely not on that trajectory level
And the crazy know-it-alls continue. So let's say this louder for the folks in the back who are hard of hearing. There is no fantasy of keeping classmates together - it is well documented that kids playing with their peers will keep them in the sport. And I know it's shocking, but that is part of the goal here. Not just to develop pro players- but to actually let kids play soccer for longer because they enjoy the game. Imagine that!
No one is creating their own age bracket system. They are saying if you can legally play with your graduation year, you should. For many reasons, both from the point above of increased participation and from the point below of college recruiting is 100% by grad year - ask any college coach.
And yes, agreed - there will not be 100% alignment here, but the only kids who can't be aligned legally with their grad year are those who were held back a grade and born before July 31, so this should be a small fraction of players given July 31 is the earliest cutoff and is only in a handful of states, while most are August or Sept.
Can we get a poll to see how many of the Bethesda or Alexandria MLS Next players are classmates at the same school
Anonymous
01/22/2026 09:34
Subject: Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?
Anonymous wrote:
Where does this keep classmates together fantasy come from
Is this for recreation teams coached by the elementary school crossing guard?
How can clubs belong to a league but create their own age bracket system?
If playing your school grade is a priority for you, college recruiting will not be a problem, because you're definitely not on that trajectory level
And the crazy know-it-alls continue. So let's say this louder for the folks in the back who are hard of hearing. There is no fantasy of keeping classmates together - it is well documented that kids playing with their peers will keep them in the sport. And I know it's shocking, but that is part of the goal here. Not just to develop pro players- but to actually let kids play soccer for longer because they enjoy the game. Imagine that!
No one is creating their own age bracket system. They are saying if you can legally play with your graduation year, you should. For many reasons, both from the point above of increased participation and from the point below of college recruiting is 100% by grad year - ask any college coach.
And yes, agreed - there will not be 100% alignment here, but the only kids who can't be aligned legally with their grad year are those who were held back a grade and born before July 31, so this should be a small fraction of players given July 31 is the earliest cutoff and is only in a handful of states, while most are August or Sept.
Can we get a poll to see how many of the Bethesda or Alexandria MLS Next players are classmates at the same school