Or earn your degree online and play pro soccer when your body is still working. Pro girls' soccer is all over the world by the way. Yes, some sketchy places but I know many women who make a good living playing abroad. See the world, make friends and the best part, no debt and play the game you love. The wear & tear in college soccer is insane. All the games in three months, two times a week is calling for injury. Plus, the risk to having a bad coach, a coach who loves you but gets fired is very real or getting replaced from transfers.
Get ready folks
- Thread starter soccer4us
- Start date
People have tried. There are a ton of girls soccer homeschoolers. Despite all those extra private lessons, most of them just aren’t at that level.
If a kid needs private coaching to make it chances are he won’t be any good at it. He will be one of those guys making 50k a year. Do you think Neymar, Messi or Ronaldo can afford private coaching when they are 6-13? There are tons of YouTube videos out there, just pick one and go practice on your own.
There probably is parents like this. Ive met s few that are borderline. The money being spent on privates is 50/50. Half goes to actually training players and half goes to those same trainers opening doors to higher level play.
Ive heard that exclusive quarterback private trainers can hook players up with teams. So I guess this kind of relationship isn't exclusive to Soccer.
I cant wait for AI to take over identifying talent so all the nonsense goes away.
JeterwastheBEST
SILVER ELITE
Slobo baby isn't this guy your Uncle?
Police arrest Redondo Beach youth soccer coach suspected of trying to meet a minor for sex
Jared Crevar is also accused of possessing child pornography.
www.dailybreeze.com
USYS, AYSO, and US Club Soccer just announced they are going to implement 8/1 to 7/31 age groups.
www.usyouthsoccer.org
Updated Decision on Age Group Formation - US Youth Soccer
Following extensive review and discussion, US Youth Soccer, AYSO, and US Club Soccer have collectively decided to move to an age group player formation cycle that runs from August 1 […]
www.usyouthsoccer.org
lol is all I can say. Plenty of time for it to change againUSYS, AYSO, and US Club Soccer just announced they are going to implement 8/1 to 7/31 age groups.
Updated Decision on Age Group Formation - US Youth Soccer
Following extensive review and discussion, US Youth Soccer, AYSO, and US Club Soccer have collectively decided to move to an age group player formation cycle that runs from August 1 […]
Ugggg. So ecnl is moving to 9/1 so how will it work with npl? Also isn’t this then ayso just saying it cares more about the core rec programs than united moving up and securing letter league status? Is it the white flag because older ayso united programs are getting wrecked by not having letter league??? My kids former championship team just disintegrated along the way and no longer exists and it used to be a top 25 team in SoCal. And I still don’t think the mls pyramid is going to switch because of Europe and the academies but if they do it was always going to be 9/1 to align with England. Ugggggg.lol is all I can say. Plenty of time for it to change again
Wow... you got through an entire sentence without misspelling anything. Well, except for "Uncle". So close!Slobo baby isn't this guy your Uncle?
Police arrest Redondo Beach youth soccer coach suspected of trying to meet a minor for sex
Jared Crevar is also accused of possessing child pornography.
... then again, you're still in love with me. Sad.
I'd assume ECNL will do what us club is doing and move to 8/1 cut off. MLS will stay true birth year. See the why below USC sent out:
CHARLESTON, S.C. (June 10, 2025) – US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and AYSO have announced an adjustment to the previously announced age group cut-off decision. While the age group formation is currently based on a Jan. 1-Dec. 31 timeframe (“birth year”), these organizations announced in March an anticipated change to Sept. 1-Aug. 31 to be effective as of the 2026-27 season. Now, after additional information and feedback, we are revising that to an Aug. 1-July 31 timeframe. The implementation timeframe of each Organization Member’s 2026-27 season/registration year remains the same.
Why is the age group cut-off changing from January 1 (birth year ages)?
There are multiple reasons for this change.
First, the Aug. 1 age group cut-off most effectively reduces the number of “trapped players” in youth soccer and reduces negative impacts on these players at multiple stages of their career. “Trapped” players are those who, due to soccer age group cut-offs, are in an older soccer age group than their school year. Trapped players have significantly reduced competition opportunities and disrupted training experiences in 8th grade (when most of their team is in high school) and are similarly negatively impacted four years later when players from the older soccer age group, but who are still in high school, are moved down into the same soccer age group.
“Youth soccer has been talking about January 1 vs. August 1 for years,” said Mike Cullina, US Club Soccer CEO. “From my experience managing two clubs and a league in Virginia, a range of 2-5 players per team were negatively impacted by a Jan. 1 cut-off date in their eighth grade and high school senior years. US Club Soccer’s staff and board of directors regularly communicate with our leagues and clubs, and we’ve determined that that range remains accurate today.
“That’s a huge number of kids who have been adversely affected by the January 1 cut-off date. While coming to this decision has taken additional time, improving the experiences of hundreds of thousands of players was worth the extra time to gather research – particularly team rosters with graduation years and school start dates – and most importantly, listen to the youth soccer community.”
Second, an Aug. 1 age group cut-off best aligns soccer age groups with school year ages, maximizing the number of players who participate in soccer programs with their school-year friends. This alignment has a positive correlation with increased numbers of youth players entering and staying in the sport.
This decision to move to the Aug. 1 cut-off reverts to the same age group cut-off used prior to 2017, when U.S. Soccer mandated a Jan. 1-Dec. 31 timeframe. U.S. Soccer removed this mandate in late 2024, empowering its Organization Members to make the most appropriate age group formation decision for their members. US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and AYSO – the three largest youth soccer organizations in the country – have remained in lockstep in making these decisions, recognizing the importance of consistency across the landscape.
Why is Aug. 1 a better age group cut-off than Sept. 1?
Initially, US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and AYSO had determined to use a Sept. 1 age group cut-off instead of Aug. 1. After receiving significant feedback and identifying missing information in Department of Education school year cut-off lists, it has been determined that the Aug. 1 cut-off best reduces misalignment between age and school year. The Aug. 1 cut-off reduces not only the trapped player effect, but it also reduces the number of “force-ups,” a term referring to players in a younger soccer age group but older school year who must play up an age group in order to be with their school-year friends.
US Club Soccer believes:
- An Aug. 1 age group cut-off best balances the desire to reduce both the number of “trapped” players and the number of “force-ups” in youth soccer.
- A Jan. 1 age group cut-off creates the highest number of trapped players and negatively impacted youth players.
- No age group cut-off will eliminate all trapped players or force-ups. States and counties throughout the country have widely different school year cut-offs, and this variance will always result in some number of trapped players or force-ups regardless of age group cut-off date.
- There is no soccer developmental benefit to any specific age group cut-off, and no age group cut-off reduces concerns of relative age effect or changes the number of players impacted by relative age effect. Relative age effect is the phenomenon of players born in the first three months after an age group cut-off to be over-represented in identification programs due to early maturation compared to their age-group peers.
- Age group cut-offs have no correlation or relationship with level of play or level of soccer aspiration. Various soccer age group cut-offs are used across the world in youth soccer, in both amateur and professional programs.
Again, please note that this decision is effective beginning with each Organization Member’s 2026-27 season/registration year.
Scrub It Kook
SILVER
I would tend to agree. It still brings into question what EA will do since they are so closely aligned with MLSN. Perhaps it will be their SY alternative to ECNL/RL so clubs can have the pleasure of managing both BY & SY players.
USYS 8/1
TheMountie
BRONZE
At this point, can we expect MLS Next/II/EA to eventually switch to grade-year as well?
If they stay at birth year, how would MLS Next teams be able to compete in non-MLS Next tournaments if their rosters don’t meet the 9/1–8/31 age eligibility requirements? I understand MLS Academy teams can shift players more easily since they carry large rosters, but other teams would likely struggle to bring in enough players to comply with those age cutoffs.
If they stay at birth year, how would MLS Next teams be able to compete in non-MLS Next tournaments if their rosters don’t meet the 9/1–8/31 age eligibility requirements? I understand MLS Academy teams can shift players more easily since they carry large rosters, but other teams would likely struggle to bring in enough players to comply with those age cutoffs.
pitchplease
SILVER ELITE
i dont think mls cares who is doing what, outside of overseas. if you look at mls academies, ie- lafc, galaxy, etc. there isn't a 2008 age group this year, and next year it will be 09. (u17) mls adjusts to what works for them, not anyone else. there are only 2 true academies actually that fielded age groups in the u17 age group. fc dallas and inter miami. where my son plays, we dont play outside of our mls schedule or events. and i feel like that is true for most. between league flex, fest, and flex qualifiers and playoffs, and if you are lucky enough to go overseas, there is not point in entering a random tournament anywhere.
TheMountie
BRONZE
Yeah, I think actual MLS Academies like Galaxy and LAFC couldn’t care less, since they usually only participate in two non-MLS Next tournaments a year, Surf Cup and Copa América Cup in San Diego. I’m really referring to the other teams in MLS Next, like LASC, Strikers, TFA, and multiple Albion teams that actively play in tournaments during the off-season and in-season break.
whatithink
GOLD
They will just play up. They are the creme de la creme, so that is what they should be doing against hacker teams anyway, right?
pitchplease
SILVER ELITE
tbh....idk what those teams do. im also assuming they would play up, although some mls teams that dont have as much success in season may play their own age group. i know we are given about 5 weeks off after playoffs and the players report back at the end of July. the mls season is long. we dont participate in anything outside of that. we dont even go to showcase if we didnt make playoffs. it's all or nothing for us.
TheMountie
BRONZE
Not necessarily. There are ECNL teams that have already beaten MLS Next teams multiple times. For certain age groups, there are really only about 3-4 strong teams in MLS Next. The majority of the others feel like filler, essentially glorified Flight 1 teams that were accepted into the league.
Couldn't you say the same thing about sucky ECNL teams? Actually couldn't you cherry pick a couple of teams from one league and beat the worst teams from almost any other league.
TheMountie
BRONZE
I think you’ll see a lot of guest playing from kids on MLS Next teams, which is bound to frustrate their clubs; but what choice do they really have? Once the season ends, how else are these players supposed to stay active? Set up scrimmages with the same MLS Next teams they’ve already played all year? For context, the MLS Next season last year started on September 7th and ended last month. If a team doesn’t make the playoffs; and it’s a birth-year-based roster; that’s potentially four months of just training and no competition.