MrBackshotz
BRONZE
I mean thats as confirmed as we can get.
Get ready folks
- Thread starter soccer4us
- Start date
Seems to dispel the notion that ECNL was the only one behind the change.
Absolutely ridiculous to change it back. Absolutely ridiculous. US Soccer is a joke.
pitchplease
SILVER ELITE
i would say mls next or mls academies have nothing to gain by converting to sy. 98% of mls does not compete outside of anything mls. at my son's academy we would never compete in anything beyond fest, flex, playoffs. it isn't needed. you cant have 1 side of mls adjust and not the other. they still play each other head to head. and they already have combo years at 07/08.
I think the better question is why change it? I haven't seen any compelling evidence that the change provides any tangible benefit to youth soccer. The benefits are subjective at best, and the primary justification seems to be that it "feels" better.
For those of us that went through the 2017 PDI's (among many other reasons), we have a cynical view of anything US Soccer does to "improve" youth soccer.
That having been said, just like the 2017 BY change, they're will be a lot of short term heartburn. But after a couple years it will all be forgotten...until US Soccer tries to change it back again.
pitchplease
SILVER ELITE
i was telling my daughter that they were getting ready to switch back to sy. we got a good laugh. as part of the 2017 guinea pig experiment, coupled with girl's d.a., only to have it fold a couple years later, then they altered the recruiting timeline rules for ncaa, and now to her senior year in college, where the ncaa is a train wreck of epic proportions. one thing is certain, the only constant in any of this is Change. Good or Bad. and Inevitable.
I am seeing the trapped player issue this year for the first time. Half my son's team is in 8th grade and the other half is in 9th grade. Almost all the 9th graders are playing in high school, so the rest have to merge with a lower team of other 8th graders for 4 months. The younger player parents and the younger players themselves are not happy. They feel abandoned. This will be a disruptive change and some players might leave the sport altogether, but it still makes sense to group them by grade more so than birth year.
I agree, just wait. In 4 years NCAA will be a pure form of pro league with all the remnants of amateurism thrown out the window.
Will college soccer recruitment begin resembling pro recruitment? If it does will youth soccer on the women's side start favoring Academy type clubs? This is what's happened on the men's side with MLSN. It's reasonable to assume the same would happen to women.
Not to mention she had to deal with the Covid years as a Senior in HS and Freshman in college. The uncertainty with an NCAA settlement is screwing up recruiting for all sports, unless your a 5 star athlete. Fortunately, my son is a Junior. Hopefully, they can get things sorted out within the next year.
because its a joke. There is no really good reason to change it and disrupt everything again. Mark my words. Watch what ECNL does. So mark it in time right now in SoCal, the youngest official team for Girls with an actual Pre-ECNL or ECNL or ECRL or ECRL2 league is 2012 which is U13. Lets see what happens next season.
By the way they finally updated the ECNL app and its pretty good now. Huge improvement.
I agree for the most part. There might not be an extremely compelling reason to change. But I don't think the primary justification is it "feels" better. I do think there will be benefits of increased participation in the long-run (TBD), and reducing the amount of trapped players (this is just numbers and percentages). Cynical view...the real underlying reason, as it usually is, is probably money. Even if so, I think the long-term benefits outweigh the cons (short-term turmoil).
But to say it's "absolutely ridiculous" to change is a pretty strong statement. I'm truly trying to understand why one would have such an extreme view as I absolutely could be missing something. Conversely, I would also question someone if they it is "absolutely ridiculous" NOT change.
The change itself is not ridiculous, but the fact that the US soccer organizations are spending energy and giving so much weight to this decision in light of the other problems with youth soccer is ridiculous. At least that's how I see it. I can't speak for SuperSoccerStar.
maestroFRSM
SILVER
Agree. Haven’t heard any chatter on the MLS side
That's helpful. Essentially saying the benefits are not strong enough (or maybe not at all) to cause short-term disruption. Therefore, let's not change anything. Sorry if I misinterpreted/misrepresented what you said. I don't completely disagree with that.
Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I also feel some change is better than no change. And IMO, the benefit does outweight the cons with this change.
If MLSN does not change, they may lose some Q3/Q4 players. Biobanding is a bit of a stigma compared with SY.
pitchplease
SILVER ELITE
i don't think bio banding is a stigma necessarily. it is about the development of what is best for that particular player, along with a set of criteria you have to meet, although, it isn't as easy as people think it is. and if you do bio band, you are granted a time limit to play down. i only know of one player at our mls academy that bio banded last year, out of all the age groups. it is more the rarity than commonality.
Everything in MSLN is beholden to the needs of the academies. The regular N teams are an afterthought. As has been pointed out, there are already some dark/combo years at the academy level. The push back is because of the need for international tournaments for the academy (anyone know how the English academies get around that??? Do they just recombine kids?)
Code
GOLD
I don't think they will make any mid-season changes. Most likely the change will take effect for the 2025-2026 season starting next Sept.