Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 11:02     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
I am also interested in what our club does because we have not heard anything. Except our super y tryouts are for the new age grouping and they are starting this month so maybe it's a first step into looking at the new age groups.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:49     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:Arlington did not do this for all older kids. August birthdays who are grade level were with the younger kids. They went strictly by the August 1 cutoff for my child's age group.

This is not the August thread so Im trying not to comment here. But only grouping younger Aug birthdays with their grade is even more of a smoking gun. In BY Aug birthdays are already playing on a grade up team. When switching to SY older players will probably want to continue playing with their current team for college recruitment reasons. Which is why Arlington is leaving olders alone.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:32     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Arlington did not do this for all older kids. August birthdays who are grade level were with the younger kids. They went strictly by the August 1 cutoff for my child's age group.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:27     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For Arlington it appears at the younger age groups they are separating based on date of birth (Aug-July) and for the HS age groups they are also taking into consideration Grade. So August and Sept kids who didn't "reclassify" are going to scrimmage with the older age group at least for the first scrimmage.


Thread OP and this is very helpful! TY! - Waiting to see what our club does as we come out of the winter hiatus.

I realize that this isnt the August thread haoever. After all the arguing it's ironic that Arlington is the first one to start grouping August and September birthdays with their grade during tryouts.

Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:20     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For Arlington it appears at the younger age groups they are separating based on date of birth (Aug-July) and for the HS age groups they are also taking into consideration Grade. So August and Sept kids who didn't "reclassify" are going to scrimmage with the older age group at least for the first scrimmage.


Thread OP and this is very helpful! TY! - Waiting to see what our club does as we come out of the winter hiatus.
we are in a similar boat. There hasn’t been any communication from our club, which seems like it has to come out any day now because this is starting to get a little elongated at this point.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:01     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:For Arlington it appears at the younger age groups they are separating based on date of birth (Aug-July) and for the HS age groups they are also taking into consideration Grade. So August and Sept kids who didn't "reclassify" are going to scrimmage with the older age group at least for the first scrimmage.


Thread OP and this is very helpful! TY! - Waiting to see what our club does as we come out of the winter hiatus.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 09:42     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:For Arlington it appears at the younger age groups they are separating based on date of birth (Aug-July) and for the HS age groups they are also taking into consideration Grade. So August and Sept kids who didn't "reclassify" are going to scrimmage with the older age group at least for the first scrimmage.


Do you anticipate big changes to current starters due to kids moving down for SY on top teams or are teams looking to have a bigger team than normal?
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 09:38     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
For Arlington it appears at the younger age groups they are separating based on date of birth (Aug-July) and for the HS age groups they are also taking into consideration Grade. So August and Sept kids who didn't "reclassify" are going to scrimmage with the older age group at least for the first scrimmage.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 09:09     Subject: Re:Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is a Q4 birthday and made the u13 ECNL/GA team for the older SY team (e.g. playing up, when they could play u12 again). Our DC will be playing a SY up since they'll be 1. a starter and 2. playing against better competition at every practice. Since 9v9 play only happens once a week at games, I don't buy the small vs big field argument. My kid plays well on 11v11, though I could see some kids benefitting from a confidence boost by staying at their SY if they have superior technical skills. 11v11 is different game from 9v9 and some kids that excel at 9v9 don't excel at 11v11 and vice versa. My kid plays better at 11v11, so I have no concerns missing out on an extra chance at 9v9.


This is interesting insight. Do you mind providing more insight on what you're of players may excel more when they move to 11v11 over 9v9? And vice versa?


DP - but it's almost like a different sport (depending on how big those 9v9 fields were). So much more space and time for defenses to actually shut down one dominant player. Some kids have outgrown the field and develop bad habits that "win", much like 12 year old little leaguers hitting pop flys that would be an out but are home runs on the small field. Of course good coaching could stop the bad habits and everyone could get more time on the ball 9v9, but high level just defaults to whatever wins. 11 v 11 you really need top end speed/endurance to replicate what works on 9v9.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 08:53     Subject: Re:Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:My kid is a Q4 birthday and made the u13 ECNL/GA team for the older SY team (e.g. playing up, when they could play u12 again). Our DC will be playing a SY up since they'll be 1. a starter and 2. playing against better competition at every practice. Since 9v9 play only happens once a week at games, I don't buy the small vs big field argument. My kid plays well on 11v11, though I could see some kids benefitting from a confidence boost by staying at their SY if they have superior technical skills. 11v11 is different game from 9v9 and some kids that excel at 9v9 don't excel at 11v11 and vice versa. My kid plays better at 11v11, so I have no concerns missing out on an extra chance at 9v9.


This is interesting insight. Do you mind providing more insight on what you're of players may excel more when they move to 11v11 over 9v9? And vice versa?
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 08:38     Subject: Re:Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
My kid is a Q4 birthday and made the u13 ECNL/GA team for the older SY team (e.g. playing up, when they could play u12 again). Our DC will be playing a SY up since they'll be 1. a starter and 2. playing against better competition at every practice. Since 9v9 play only happens once a week at games, I don't buy the small vs big field argument. My kid plays well on 11v11, though I could see some kids benefitting from a confidence boost by staying at their SY if they have superior technical skills. 11v11 is different game from 9v9 and some kids that excel at 9v9 don't excel at 11v11 and vice versa. My kid plays better at 11v11, so I have no concerns missing out on an extra chance at 9v9.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 07:36     Subject: Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
If your kid is a current U12 Dec Bday and makes the top ECNL/ GA level for next year, would you let your kid continue into 11v11 next year or would you keep them with their grade to get more experience at 9v9 and strengthen their small sided game? Assume they are middle of the pack player.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 15:49     Subject: Re:Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
That’s not what I’m saying. Almost all the players will play in their new SY age group. They are holding the scrimmages not to determine age groups, but to determine level within the age group. They have six teams per age group. Instead of slight changes based on player improvement, or lack thereof and a few new players, they have to take almost half of the age group above and let go of almost half of their age group. They don’t know how all these girls stack up against each other. That’s why they are doing the scrimmages and why it’s going to be hard to make the teams.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 10:29     Subject: Re:Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Anonymous wrote:Arlington has not done these scrimmages before this year. And, I doubt kids were scrimmaging across age groups much, if at all, before.

In the past, one age group’s coaches knew how each kid played and was improving over the course of the year, but not how they compared to kids a year older or a year younger. Now, they have to try to determine that and slot kids into teams accordingly.


Nonsense
They like every club will have to register kids in their age group

The very few exceptional kids if any will play up a year. As it is now.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 09:40     Subject: Re:Age Change Discussion/Impacts (Except for August Birthdays Playing "Down")
Arlington has not done these scrimmages before this year. And, I doubt kids were scrimmaging across age groups much, if at all, before.

In the past, one age group’s coaches knew how each kid played and was improving over the course of the year, but not how they compared to kids a year older or a year younger. Now, they have to try to determine that and slot kids into teams accordingly.