I wonder if the 04's and 05's that are rostered to 03 ECNL teams is done for the benefit of the player or to placate the parent's ego? It doesn't make any sense to me, but I am not an expert like the ECNL coaches.
Agree that some of it might be done to keep mom and dad happy . Very easy to roster a girl as the 19th-30th player and never dress her for games. But this is ECNL, where results matter, so the youngers that actually play must belong there. Hard to believe that the competitive clubs would play kids for any other reason other than winning.