Age Band Change (again)?

Boy, this shouldn't be so hard. No cutoff dates, no birth year that splits classmates, just graduation year. 2023's are all freshmen now, 2026's are all 6th graders, etc. 8th graders play with 8th graders, 3rd graders play with 3rd graders. When college coaches go to a showcase they can target a homogeneous grade of kids, which makes it easier for them. School friends stay with school friends. No date cutoff, just grad year.
 
Hank Walker said:
Boy, this shouldn't be so hard. No cutoff dates, no birth year that splits classmates, just graduation year. 2023's are all freshmen now, 2026's are all 6th graders, etc. 8th graders play with 8th graders, 3rd graders play with 3rd graders. When college coaches go to a showcase they can target a homogeneous grade of kids, which makes it easier for them. School friends stay with school friends. No date cutoff, just grad year.
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Good for rec - play with your school chums.
 
Hank Walker said:
Boy, this shouldn't be so hard. No cutoff dates, no birth year that splits classmates, just graduation year. 2023's are all freshmen now, 2026's are all 6th graders, etc. 8th graders play with 8th graders, 3rd graders play with 3rd graders. When college coaches go to a showcase they can target a homogeneous grade of kids, which makes it easier for them. School friends stay with school friends. No date cutoff, just grad year.
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Until you get a kid who was held back a year and has a mustache in 6th grade.
 
Hank Walker said:
Boy, this shouldn't be so hard. No cutoff dates, no birth year that splits classmates, just graduation year. 2023's are all freshmen now, 2026's are all 6th graders, etc. 8th graders play with 8th graders, 3rd graders play with 3rd graders. When college coaches go to a showcase they can target a homogeneous grade of kids, which makes it easier for them. School friends stay with school friends. No date cutoff, just grad year.
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Grad year is based on academics, not soccer.

When a kid skips a grade, or two, do they also suddenly gain muscle mass and soccer skills?

When they are held back or delay kindergarten, do they also get smaller?

Grad year will be popular among parents of older/redshirted kids, precisely because it gives those kids an unfair advantage.
 
timbuck said:
Until you get a kid who was held back a year and has a mustache in 6th grade.
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I have heard that it is the practice in some areas to start their kid in 1st Grade a year late so they will have a size and development advantage when he gets to high school. That doesn't happen California, right?
 
espola said:
I have heard that it is the practice in some areas to start their kid in 1st Grade a year late so they will have a size and development advantage when he gets to high school. That doesn't happen California, right?
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can't tell if this is sarcastic or genuinely asked. assuming genuine question, in each of our sons' SoCal kindergarten classes, about 25% of the boys were red-shirted. the elementary school was about 65% white and it was mostly - but not entirely - the white families holding their boys' back. We considered it for our second son w/ early June dob, but decided to roll with it.
 
Let's assume this rumor is true and they go back to school year banding instead of birth year. Whether it's good or bad, there simply is no way it would be applied in 2020. They could announce it in January but it wouldn't take affect until the 2021 or even 2022 season. Simply because of logistics, clubs already having offers out, tournaments already filled with teams, etc.

So, we get a while year to argue the merits!

PS: If they do make the change I hope they do away 9v9 while they are at it. Make 7v7 last a year longer if you want, but get into 11v11 sooner. The kids in second year of 9v9 just run corner to corner because the field is too small. Encourages crappy play and recruitment of "fast kids" over skilled.
 
dad4 said:
Grad year is based on academics, not soccer.

When a kid skips a grade, or two, do they also suddenly gain muscle mass and soccer skills?

When they are held back or delay kindergarten, do they also get smaller?

Grad year will be popular among parents of older/redshirted kids, precisely because it gives those kids an unfair advantage.
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Theres a huge difference between a 17 year old boy vs 19 year old man child. Dont try to kid your self. The age gap depending on genetics and when puberty hits can make all the difference.

So yes the ability to gain MORE muscle strength/power skipping 2 grades is a reality ONLY if genetics are on the kids side. So if moms 4'8 and dads 5'2 dont expect a competitive advantage if the doctor expects your son to max out at 5'6. (this is football related)
 
Chalklines said:
Theres a huge difference between a 17 year old boy vs 19 year old man child. Dont try to kid your self. The age gap depending on genetics and when puberty hits can make all the difference.

So yes the ability to gain MORE muscle strength/power skipping 2 grades is a reality ONLY if genetics are on the kids side. So if moms 4'8 and dads 5'2 dont expect a competitive advantage if the doctor expects your son to max out at 5'6. (this is football related)
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True! I remember being a 17 yo senior and couldn’t keep weight on my 6’-2”, 165 pound frame and then I turned 18 and it felt like I could fill out my frame much easier. By 19 yo I was 190-200 pounds so 2 yrs makes a huge difference.
 
Riggins said:
Let's assume this rumor is true and they go back to school year banding instead of birth year. Whether it's good or bad, there simply is no way it would be applied in 2020. They could announce it in January but it wouldn't take affect until the 2021 or even 2022 season. Simply because of logistics, clubs already having offers out, tournaments already filled with teams, etc.

So, we get a while year to argue the merits!

PS: If they do make the change I hope they do away 9v9 while they are at it. Make 7v7 last a year longer if you want, but get into 11v11 sooner. The kids in second year of 9v9 just run corner to corner because the field is too small. Encourages crappy play and recruitment of "fast kids" over skilled.
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Your comment really only pertains to so cal. Rest of the country isn’t having tryouts in December.
 
Riggins said:
Let's assume this rumor is true and they go back to school year banding instead of birth year. Whether it's good or bad, there simply is no way it would be applied in 2020. They could announce it in January but it wouldn't take affect until the 2021 or even 2022 season. Simply because of logistics, clubs already having offers out, tournaments already filled with teams, etc.

So, we get a while year to argue the merits!

PS: If they do make the change I hope they do away 9v9 while they are at it. Make 7v7 last a year longer if you want, but get into 11v11 sooner. The kids in second year of 9v9 just run corner to corner because the field is too small. Encourages crappy play and recruitment of "fast kids" over skilled.
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you mean the goalie 1 bouncing it too the other goalie is not fun .=)
 
espola said:
I have heard that it is the practice in some areas to start their kid in 1st Grade a year late so they will have a size and development advantage when he gets to high school. That doesn't happen California, right?
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That’s absolutely a trend. My kids are the smallest and youngest in their grade. Parents on purpose are holding back kids. Even from an academic perspective some kids need to start school a little older to help them understand the school content.

Going back to the old way doesn’t fix anything.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
That’s absolutely a trend. My kids are the smallest and youngest in their grade. Parents on purpose are holding back kids. Even from an academic perspective some kids need to start school a little older to help them understand the school content.

Going back to the old way doesn’t fix anything.
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I am seeing parents have their kids repeat 8th grade. A few are doing it for academic/maturity reasons. But most of the ones I know have done it for athletics. Boys baseball and basketball. A basketball coach at a local private school with an elite program did it with his own kid and pushes the idea on parents of players he wants to recruit.
 
LASoccerMom said:
I am seeing parents have their kids repeat 8th grade. A few are doing it for academic/maturity reasons. But most of the ones I know have done it for athletics. Boys baseball and basketball. A basketball coach at a local private school with an elite program did it with his own kid and pushes the idea on parents of players he wants to recruit.
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Or, to be honest, fewer than 10 percent of kids are allowed to use the good sports facilities anyway.

Give varsity athletes the same field access as intramural athletes. If the low skill athletes get no practice space and five games per semester, then that will have to do for the high skill kids, too.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
That’s absolutely a trend. My kids are the smallest and youngest in their grade. Parents on purpose are holding back kids. Even from an academic perspective some kids need to start school a little older to help them understand the school content.

Going back to the old way doesn’t fix anything.
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It wasn’t by school year disregarding birth dates. It just followed the school calendar. So if your child was born between 8/1/2005 and 7/31/2006 they would be on the u14 team.
 
outside! said:
The new way did not fix anything accept to force 2nd graders not play with their friends. All of the other discussion is arbitrary noise.
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I got news for you, your 2nd grader will not have the same friends in a few years. LOL.

I see your point but my kids benefited from this new rule. They still got to play with their school friends. This is not a topic that we all should spend too much time talking about. This is my last post on this one.
 
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