Of course. Regardless of what the kid's preference might be, the club certainly has their own opinions, and ultimately the kid either has to choose to agree or leave. However, their interests are aligned in that both want healthy, strong teams.
I dont know that interests are aligned. Clubs are incentivized to juice short term wins at the cost of long term player development. Playing down as a result of new cutoffs might help close gaps in a team at the cost of what is best for that player.
True- but that is the problem with US soccer in general.
Agree. It isn't an argument against SY. Just that parents shouldn't assume for this process that clubs interests in how to handle this are best aligned with what is best for their kid.
I love how casual everyone makes it sound... like players/parents can select the team they want from a menu. To be clear, no one can simply "choose" to play up; the CLUB chooses who they will invite to be on teams... the player can accept the bid on an older team or not. That's the only choice they have.
Yeah, I saw this last time when they changed to BY. Parents were convinced that their teams would stay together (top teams) only to have their bubbles burst when the club (rightly) decided that the younger players were not as good as their competition (a year older) for spots.
I agree to a point, but it's a sliding scale how much choice the player has compared to the club, that is pretty directly related to how talented/valuable the club thinks the kid is. If they are a standout, they will likely have much more influence on where they want/need to play. If they aren't getting much playtime now, they have to happily accept whatever the club offers.
worldsoccertalk.com
@Carlsbad7 Did you write this?Here's another...
US Soccer threatens its youth soccer eco-system with chaos over age-group date change - Inside World Football
October 22 – In 2016 the United States Soccer Federation finally fell in line with the world in regard to youth soccer age classification. The previous system using the school calendar (August 1st cutoff) was consigned to the scrap heap and the birth year January (1st cutoff) became the defining...www.insideworldfootball.com
No citations on this one etiher.
And how many kids do you know that actually play up? It’s normally only because their correct year team is not good. I can count on one hand the number of kids I know that play up. It’s not many at all.
No, but as you can see not everyone is keen to change.
I keep hearing that as a basis for SY is that kids will play with the kids they go to school with. How so? It's rare (at least in MLS Next) that teammates come from the same school, and kids couldn't care less whether their teammate is in a matching school grade at a different school. No one is suffering from isolation from a BY cutoff as the article claims. Personally, I think its a benefit to have a different peer group from soccer vs school. Is it fun to play with your school mates? 100%. That's why I think we should make HS more relevant. Clubs shouldn't have ownership of your kids for 12 months of the year. That's one of the things that leads to burnout.Interesting article on this topic.
US Soccer plots massive change that would affect youth system
The fractured youth system in US Soccer is subject to yet another change that has the risk of breaking up existing teams.
However, there are no sources sited by the author.
Maybe Club's should encourage more high school soccer, instead of changing to SY. (Ha, ha, that will never happen $$$)
You're right...most kids who have been playing for a few years at a competitive level will be playing with kids outside their school. But for kids new to the sport, especially the youngers ones, I do think it matters for some. How many? Maybe there's research on it. Anecdotally, a few classmates of my kids chose not to play soccer because they couldn't play with classmates. I also know kids who decided as a group to play a different sport just so they can play together. Exceptions? Maybe. But for a sport competing against basketball, baseball/softball, football, etc., for hearts and minds, I think it will help attract more kids at the early ages.
Agreed, but I was thinking more within the context of ECNL aged kids, since it appears ECNL is behind the push for the change. I seriously doubt that ECNL is doing this for altruistic reasons to get more youngers to participate.
Haha, agreed. But when championing for a cause, you use any/all reasons that would appeal to others.
True that. 90% of club is rec soccer.
