I don't really like the classmate argument for Travel unless those same classmates have all been able to develop at the same rate and are of similar talent. It can be done but not always the case. The individual player that is driven will themselves want to be with the better talent to help him/her get better. Eventually the "friend" argument is no longer applicable. Rec is always available.

Anonymous wrote:Birth year is the way to go period. its simple and standard. i hate when parents say but kids want to play with their friends. they will have friends on their team and they will be the same age as your kid . all the talk about well my kid is a sept. they dec. birthday he will be younger. Don't you thing thats what the june and july parents dealt with before ? and it was fine then right? also the whole grade thing is so skewed because you might have a kid repeat a grade or be from another country an for example be 12 years old but only in 4th grade. talk about a physical advantage. long and short of it parents will whine and cry for the next 2 years but then it will be the norm and forgotten about

I am not whining or crying but my kid who is small and slow for his age and was making strides developmentally to move from the bottom will now will be playing UP based on this change. Not sure how long my kid will stay w/ soccer - talk about forgotten - but I understand how simple and standard is from your perspective.

On the friends side - it's not just acquaintances they will make for 8 weeks and then it's over, but classmates that they will know over a number of years that won't come and go based on the season, but rather attend the same grade at their school, participate in other sports (baseball, lacrosse, etc) and other activities (scouts, etc)

Yes, I understand June/July were the smallest but they could play w/ their classmates. The 12 year 4th grader is an absurd anomaly (vs 25% of the cohort) and would likely be playing up.

Anonymous wrote:Birth year is the way to go period. its simple and standard. i hate when parents say but kids want to play with their friends. they will have friends on their team and they will be the same age as your kid . all the talk about well my kid is a sept. they dec. birthday he will be younger. Don't you thing thats what the june and july parents dealt with before ? and it was fine then right? also the whole grade thing is so skewed because you might have a kid repeat a grade or be from another country an for example be 12 years old but only in 4th grade. talk about a physical advantage. long and short of it parents will whine and cry for the next 2 years but then it will be the norm and forgotten about

July and August kids, at least in some clubs, had the option to play "up" with their grade level or remain with their age group. It was a nice option to have.

It'll blow over to some respect, but you'll still have these situations:

- Kindergartners who'll play their first season of soccer with first-graders, who have spent a year in a structured environment and are much more ready for team sports.

- 8th graders who are left stranded when half their team (9th graders) goes to play high school soccer in the spring.

- 12th graders who are left stranded when half their team graduates in the spring.

The last one of these isn't that big a deal -- age groups are often combined a bit by then, anyway. The other two need to be addressed.

Birth year is the way to go period. its simple and standard. i hate when parents say but kids want to play with their friends. they will have friends on their team and they will be the same age as your kid . all the talk about well my kid is a sept. they dec. birthday he will be younger. Don't you thing thats what the june and july parents dealt with before ? and it was fine then right? also the whole grade thing is so skewed because you might have a kid repeat a grade or be from another country an for example be 12 years old but only in 4th grade. talk about a physical advantage. long and short of it parents will whine and cry for the next 2 years but then it will be the norm and forgotten about

Now that try-out season is over, how did it go? Were you happy with the results? Do you feel your club used the age changes to make appropriate adjustments in team placements? Were many players in your club allowed to play up?

Our Rec league (SYC) changed it to Birth Year also. Was hoping they would keep school year so kids from same school/grade could be together.

Anonymous wrote:I know we are in the minority, but the age change is a wonderful thing for our family. My son with an August bday was never able to play with kids in his grade unless he played up. He has played on a lower grade team for years and will finally be able to play with his classmates without being the youngest.

My son has an August birthday as well but we always chose to play him up to play with kids in the same grade. So this birth year change makes no difference to us. Was always one of the youngest and will continue to be one of the youngest.

I know we are in the minority, but the age change is a wonderful thing for our family. My son with an August bday was never able to play with kids in his grade unless he played up. He has played on a lower grade team for years and will finally be able to play with his classmates without being the youngest.

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Anonymous wrote:Right. The rationale for all of this change was that at elite levels internationally it's birth year. USYS said "let's do that" without considering that the vast majority of players are not elite and not ever going to play internationally, and instead are kids just starting out typically with their schoolmates.

For whatever reason USYS decided it was easier to make the change for everything rather than a narrower approach, such as limiting the change to U12 or U14 and up, or just for elite levels (of course, everybody is elite!).

Aside from travel teams, how do think things will go for kids born in September- December in house league who will be younger, smaller (and a grade behind) than this new cohort.

Most House leagues aren't changing to birth years.

I just heard differently - my kid's soccer coach won't be able to coach him going forward based on this birth year rule.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right. The rationale for all of this change was that at elite levels internationally it's birth year. USYS said "let's do that" without considering that the vast majority of players are not elite and not ever going to play internationally, and instead are kids just starting out typically with their schoolmates.

For whatever reason USYS decided it was easier to make the change for everything rather than a narrower approach, such as limiting the change to U12 or U14 and up, or just for elite levels (of course, everybody is elite!).

Aside from travel teams, how do think things will go for kids born in September- December in house league who will be younger, smaller (and a grade behind) than this new cohort.

Most House leagues aren't changing to birth years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right. The rationale for all of this change was that at elite levels internationally it's birth year. USYS said "let's do that" without considering that the vast majority of players are not elite and not ever going to play internationally, and instead are kids just starting out typically with their schoolmates.

For whatever reason USYS decided it was easier to make the change for everything rather than a narrower approach, such as limiting the change to U12 or U14 and up, or just for elite levels (of course, everybody is elite!).

Aside from travel teams, how do think things will go for kids born in September- December in house league who will be younger, smaller (and a grade behind) than this new cohort.

It will go exactly the same for kids born September-December as it has gone in past years for kids born April-July. Just look at kids your kid played with this spring who were born in the summer months -- it will be the same in the future for Sept-Dec kids.

Anonymous wrote:Right. The rationale for all of this change was that at elite levels internationally it's birth year. USYS said "let's do that" without considering that the vast majority of players are not elite and not ever going to play internationally, and instead are kids just starting out typically with their schoolmates.

For whatever reason USYS decided it was easier to make the change for everything rather than a narrower approach, such as limiting the change to U12 or U14 and up, or just for elite levels (of course, everybody is elite!).

Aside from travel teams, how do think things will go for kids born in September- December in house league who will be younger, smaller (and a grade behind) than this new cohort.

Anonymous wrote:Right. The rationale for all of this change was that at elite levels internationally it's birth year. USYS said "let's do that" without considering that the vast majority of players are not elite and not ever going to play internationally, and instead are kids just starting out typically with their schoolmates.

For whatever reason USYS decided it was easier to make the change for everything rather than a narrower approach, such as limiting the change to U12 or U14 and up, or just for elite levels (of course, everybody is elite!).

Having age cutoffs change at a particular year would cause more problems than it would solve. You would have coaches gaming the system trying to load up on particular birthdates in order to keep the team together. If you think the cluster eff that the transition this year is bad, how do you think having the same transition at U14 would go EVERY YEAR?

Right. The rationale for all of this change was that at elite levels internationally it's birth year. USYS said "let's do that" without considering that the vast majority of players are not elite and not ever going to play internationally, and instead are kids just starting out typically with their schoolmates.

For whatever reason USYS decided it was easier to make the change for everything rather than a narrower approach, such as limiting the change to U12 or U14 and up, or just for elite levels (of course, everybody is elite!).

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Anonymous wrote:When is USA soccer going to change back to their old cutoff dates?

They won't. The best that could be hoped for is a change back for certain levels of play below U12 or so.

Disagree. I think in 1-2 years, they'll reverse this decision.

I'd like it if they did, as this was a solution in search of a tiny problem limited to the very tip of the player pyramid. But it would throw things into the same disarray again . . .

I can't imagine they'd change the whole system back, but I could see them allowing younger age groups more flexibility, just as they (sort of) plan for rec leagues.

Why would they allow younger age groups more flexibility?

They might not. But it would be more likely than changing the entire system back to Aug-July years.

At older ages, the argument for birth-year groups is sounder. That's where you start having some truly elite play, maybe even in tournaments with foreign teams.

At younger ages, you're still introducing the game and trying to make it a good environment. Playing with classmates can help.

If they really wanted to be smart, they'd come up with some system that prevents the eighth-grade "trap."

The problem is they are trying to "standardize" the relative age affect with international cutoffs. There is just no feasible way to have two cutoffs simultaneously.

As far as the 8th grade trap there are far easier solutions than having two age cutoffs.