Get ready folks

[Carlsbad7]

Interesting read from SoCal league chariman. I wholeheartedly agree with:

the new decision made by US Soccer to let the leagues decide whether to choose birth year or school year “re-enforces the USSF’s total disregard for taking leadership in the youth game. Instead of being a voice of reason for the millions of youth players, it has thrown a problem back to the capitalistic club owners that run the youth game.”

Webster writes that US Soccer has “missed the opportunity to create a coherent structure, ceding their leadership to ‘mom and pop’ organizations to dictate American soccer – surely a recipe for continued disaster.”

Article: World Soccer Talk Birth Year Change

Ridiculous, you fed the SY proponents with statements and astroturfed multiple sites with pro SY comments.

Then when US Soccer gives you want you want in 2026 it's still not good enough.

There's a reason US Soccer prefers BY there's also a reason US Soccer doesn't want to get into the details reguarding how SY is implemented. SOCAL leadership knows the devil is in the details with SY. Which is why SOCAL is fake crying that US Soccer won't step into the pile of poop they placed in front of them.

Why don't you take a leadership position SOCAL.

 

[Carlsbad7]

Ridiculous, you fed the SY proponents with statements and astroturfed multiple sites with pro SY comments.

Then when US Soccer gives you want you want in 2026 it's still not good enough.

There's a reason US Soccer prefers BY there's also a reason US Soccer doesn't want to get into the details reguarding how SY is implemented. SOCAL leadership knows the devil is in the details with SY. Which is why SOCAL is fake crying that US Soccer won't step into the pile of poop they placed in front of them.

Why don't you take a leadership position SOCAL.

For those that don't know there's 3 main issues with SY.

1. Different school districts around the nation start at different times of year. What this means is there's no specific cutoff date that will work for everyone with SY. You can do a SY date like July 1 but this invites a different issue. Parents playing down for wins and holding kids back for youth soccer.

2. Parents actually will hold their kids back in school so they can be the biggest most mature on the team. Although SY is date defined they'll argue that their kid is in the same grade as other kids and should be able to play on the same teams.

3. Homeschooled kids can be all over the map and their parents are used to choosing which grade they participate in. Although this is addressed by specific cutoff dates. They will still pressure to get what they want.

SOCAL wants US Soccer to fix all the unfixable problems with SY. Or more specifically they want US Soccer to step up and assume a leadership role so SOCAL can blame US Soccer for all of SY's drawbacks.

US Soccer appears to be forcing all groups to follow standard processes and procedures so everyone's "neck is in the SY noose' evenly before implementing.

 

[SoccerSanDiego]

Ridiculous, you fed the SY proponents with statements and astroturfed multiple sites with pro SY comments.

Then when US Soccer gives you want you want in 2026 it's still not good enough.

There's a reason US Soccer prefers BY there's also a reason US Soccer doesn't want to get into the details reguarding how SY is implemented. SOCAL leadership knows the devil is in the details with SY. Which is why SOCAL is fake crying that US Soccer won't step into the pile of poop they placed in front of them.

Why don't you take a leadership position SOCAL.

What US Soccer did was a joke and a total lack of leadership. Have a backbone and set the policy one way or the other. And what SOCAL said or didn't say before or after is irrelevant regarding US Soccer punting the decision.

 

[SoccerSanDiego]

For those that don't know there's 3 main issues with SY.

1. Different school districts around the nation start at different times of year. What this means is there's no specific cutoff date that will work for everyone with SY. You can do a SY date like July 1 but this invites a different issue. Parents playing down for wins and holding kids back for youth soccer.

2. Parents actually will hold their kids back in school so they can be the biggest most mature on the team. Although SY is date defined they'll argue that their kid is in the same grade as other kids and should be able to play on the same teams.

3. Homeschooled kids can be all over the map and their parents are used to choosing which grade they participate in. Although this is addressed by specific cutoff dates. They will still pressure to get what they want.

SOCAL wants US Soccer to fix all the unfixable problems with SY. Or more specifically they want US Soccer to step up and assume a leadership role so SOCAL can blame US Soccer for all of SY's drawbacks.

US Soccer appears to be forcing all groups to follow standard processes and procedures so everyone's "neck is in the SY noose' evenly before implementing.

#1 Doesn't matter that different schools have different start dates. Pick July 31 or August 31. There are about 1.4 million trapped US Soccer kids today who can't play with their classmates. 1.4 MILLION. Not every single kid will end up with their classmates but it will be a lot better than what we have now. Ironically, we're concerned about 1,000 elite players to justify why we can't switch?! Parents can't hold back kids to play on younger teams. SY is NOT "every single 6th grader can play on the same team regardless of age".

#2. Seriously? Imagine making the decision to hold your kid back a year betting on the remote possibility that the kid will be able to play on a younger team when the rules say its not permitted. SY is based on a 12 month period. Parents can argue all they want.

#3. They are not all over the map. They have birth dates. Typically home school kids are ahead academically so its a non-issue. And its a small number of players: roughly 1% of all soccer playing kids.

 

[TopesWin]

For those that don't know there's 3 main issues with SY.

1. Different school districts around the nation start at different times of year. What this means is there's no specific cutoff date that will work for everyone with SY. You can do a SY date like July 1 but this invites a different issue. Parents playing down for wins and holding kids back for youth soccer.

2. Parents actually will hold their kids back in school so they can be the biggest most mature on the team. Although SY is date defined they'll argue that their kid is in the same grade as other kids and should be able to play on the same teams.

3. Homeschooled kids can be all over the map and their parents are used to choosing which grade they participate in. Although this is addressed by specific cutoff dates. They will still pressure to get what they want.

SOCAL wants US Soccer to fix all the unfixable problems with SY. Or more specifically they want US Soccer to step up and assume a leadership role so SOCAL can blame US Soccer for all of SY's drawbacks.

US Soccer appears to be forcing all groups to follow standard processes and procedures so everyone's "neck is in the SY noose' evenly before implementing.

Interesting take. I'd love to know what discussions they had on this topic before the decision was made. When we are left with only the spin, it feels like we aren't getting the real story. Likewise, I think everyone who takes a side one way or the other in public should be required to state what their kids' birthdays are because often it feels like the personal benefits (having a kid be the oldest) are outweighing the logical arguments.

 

[Carlsbad7]

#1 Doesn't matter that different schools have different start dates. Pick July 31 or August 31. There are about 1.4 million trapped US Soccer kids today who can't play with their classmates. 1.4 MILLION. Not every single kid will end up with their classmates but it will be a lot better than what we have now. Ironically, we're concerned about 1,000 elite players to justify why we can't switch?! Parents can't hold back kids to play on younger teams. SY is NOT "every single 6th grader can play on the same team regardless of age".

#2. Seriously? Imagine making the decision to hold your kid back a year betting on the remote possibility that the kid will be able to play on a younger team when the rules say its not permitted. SY is based on a 12 month period. Parents can argue all they want.

#3. They are not all over the map. They have birth dates. Typically home school kids are ahead academically so its a non-issue. And its a small number of players: roughly 1% of all soccer playing kids.

You make it sound so easy. (It's not)

This is why SOCAL wants US Soccer to take all the bullets.

 

[SoccerSanDiego]

You make it sound so easy. (It's not)

This is why SOCAL wants US Soccer to take all the bullets.

Actually, it's very easy this time. Hard was what they did in 2017 when birth year alienated over a million kids for the sake of the fortunate few.

 

[sprinkle genie]

Operations-wise implementation with club tryouts and coaching infrastructure would be an absolute disaster that would be adding gas to the dumpster fire it already is with the shuffling between age groups required by this change away from BY.

imagine with fall 25/26 tryouts mandated to be after SoCal Cup in late Jan/early Feb and then invitations go out with nothing understood with regards to coaches or teams. Tryouts in Feb and invitations go out March with signed contracts by June 1. Clubs that don’t perfectly anticipate coaching will be overloading existing coaches or not being able to find a coach for a team and yet trying to hold onto the players who will want to bounce once they realize that thier club may not have the players or coaches secured.

somehow the clubs will have to magically estimate how if they have enough coaches to cover the teams and movement between clubs at different age groups. Larger clubs like surf might have more flexibility but still will be strained. if kids register to clubs where there aren’t coaches then either they then realise a whole team of kids or they try to add it to a coaches already full sched ensuring that all of that coaches teams will only see them part-time (missing games and practices ) ensuring kids get short changed and all parents involved will be pissed and ditch that club the following year.

Smart parents will hold onto the invitations until last second to make sure there is enough kids at a club to field a team but because of the turmoil even a pre-existing team with a secure coach could get pulled elsewhere so there would be no security there with coaching either. But Waiting too long and you could lose your spot when the team gets full… signing up too early could leave you registered without enough players to field a team.

even though my kiddo is a q4 birthday - I think even though it painful from a squad level starting the change 26/27 season makes senses to me - it allows the league and clubs time to organise the implementation seems like the best way to set up rules and schedules that would minimize at least some of the dumpster fire when there aren’t enough couches in the right clubs where the kids sign up.

 

[Alemca]

#1 Doesn't matter that different schools have different start dates. Pick July 31 or August 31. There are about 1.4 million trapped US Soccer kids today who can't play with their classmates. 1.4 MILLION. Not every single kid will end up with their classmates but it will be a lot better than what we have now. Ironically, we're concerned about 1,000 elite players to justify why we can't switch?! Parents can't hold back kids to play on younger teams. SY is NOT "every single 6th grader can play on the same team regardless of age".

#2. Seriously? Imagine making the decision to hold your kid back a year betting on the remote possibility that the kid will be able to play on a younger team when the rules say its not permitted. SY is based on a 12 month period. Parents can argue all they want.

#3. They are not all over the map. They have birth dates. Typically home school kids are ahead academically so its a non-issue. And its a small number of players: roughly 1% of all soccer playing kids.

The wording in #1 is a bit disingenuous. These 1.4M kids are playing with and against other other trapped kids now (1/3 to 1/2) . Can't act like they are only playing against kids from higher grade. It's fair that at the highest levels, there are fewer of them due to RAE, but at that level, playing with classmates is much less important. At lower levels, the split is probably even. So an accurate statement would be that 1.4M kids can't play with all of their classmates now.

 

[Alemca]

The wording in #1 is a bit disingenuous. These 1.4M kids are playing with and against other other trapped kids now (1/3 to 1/2) . Can't act like they are only playing against kids from higher grade. It's fair that at the highest levels, there are fewer of them due to RAE, but at that level, playing with classmates is much less important. At lower levels, the split is probably even. So an accurate statement would be that 1.4M kids can't play with all of their classmates now.

Also funny how none of the Jan-Jun parents are complaining that their kids can't play with their older classmates.

 

[SoccerSanDiego]

The wording in #1 is a bit disingenuous. These 1.4M kids are playing with and against other other trapped kids now (1/3 to 1/2) . Can't act like they are only playing against kids from higher grade. It's fair that at the highest levels, there are fewer of them due to RAE, but at that level, playing with classmates is much less important. At lower levels, the split is probably even. So an accurate statement would be that 1.4M kids can't play with all of their classmates now.

Of course they are playing against some of their peers.

We can argue if its 700K or 1.4M...doesn't matter, its a large number. This is the #1 reason to switch back.

 

[Tvhuff33]

Has ECNL put a statement out yet? I haven’t seen anything but will be interesting to see what they are thinking

 

[NorCalDad]

They should've never moved away from SY 8 years ago. If they wanted to make a change back to SY they just should've done it. Instead they decided to add even more ambiguity to all of it. They should've just kept it at BY and moved on. This result is silly.

 

[CAZZZ]

Explain this please

After ECNL goes to SY, the top Q3/Q4 in GA will fill the mediocre younger Q1/Q2 ECNL spots. Then, the ECNL team will have the strongest SY team for that graduation year. Since soccer is a team sport, an OK college recruitable player will perform better in a strong ECNL team than an OK GA team. The ECNL College D1 recruiting rate will increase from the current 71% to 90% after the SY change. GA will inevitably become 2nd league with a similar recruiting number as RL teams.

I bet ECNL will do something to the Q3/Q4 players in 25/26.

 

[Carlsbad7]

After ECNL goes to SY, the top Q3/Q4 in GA will fill the mediocre younger Q1/Q2 ECNL spots. Then, the ECNL team will have the strongest SY team for that graduation year. Since soccer is a team sport, an OK college recruitable player will perform better in a strong ECNL team than an OK GA team. The ECNL College D1 recruiting rate will increase from the current 71% to 90% after the SY change. GA will inevitably become 2nd league with a similar recruiting number as RL teams.

I bet ECNL will do something to the Q3/Q4 players in 25/26.

I can promise you this isn't how it works. ECNL clubs and GA clubs at least in Socal pretty much ignore each other. Although they are serious in big tournaments like Surf cup when/if they play each other.

ECNL coaches from the better teams have 5-10 players in mind for every position. They don't go out of their way to review or recruit from GA teams. Basically GA players would need to get involved with all the extra things XYZ ECNL coach is expecting. Also they'd need to start playing the political game at that club to get noticed. After u14 it's just not worth it.

For what it's worth I know of several ECNL players that went to GA. Haven't heard of any of them say that they were unhappy with the decision. But this is for the top GA clubs maybe other clubs are different.

 

[NewbieMama]

After ECNL goes to SY, the top Q3/Q4 in GA will fill the mediocre younger Q1/Q2 ECNL spots. Then, the ECNL team will have the strongest SY team for that graduation year. Since soccer is a team sport, an OK college recruitable player will perform better in a strong ECNL team than an OK GA team. The ECNL College D1 recruiting rate will increase from the current 71% to 90% after the SY change. GA will inevitably become 2nd league with a similar recruiting number as RL teams.

I bet ECNL will do something to the Q3/Q4 players in 25/26.

Interesting....So do you think ECNL would fill those spots with top Q3/Q4 GA vs top Q3/Q4 RL? May depend on the age group but a lot of the RL players are better than the GA players in Q3/Q4 under BY system...

 

[CAZZZ]

Interesting....So do you think ECNL would fill those spots with top Q3/Q4 GA vs top Q3/Q4 RL? May depend on the age group but a lot of the RL players are better than the GA players in Q3/Q4 under BY system...

GA has about a 15% D1 recruiting rate. I bet Q3/Q4 GA takes some of it. Once those Q3/Q4 GA join ECNL, they will bring the D1 recruiting to ECNL.

My prediction is that after SY, ECNL will see a 90% D1 recruiting rate. GA will drop to 7% or even less. RL will take the rest.

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

After ECNL goes to SY, the top Q3/Q4 in GA will fill the mediocre younger Q1/Q2 ECNL spots. Then, the ECNL team will have the strongest SY team for that graduation year. Since soccer is a team sport, an OK college recruitable player will perform better in a strong ECNL team than an OK GA team. The ECNL College D1 recruiting rate will increase from the current 71% to 90% after the SY change. GA will inevitably become 2nd league with a similar recruiting number as RL teams.

I bet ECNL will do something to the Q3/Q4 players in 25/26.

I was honestly very surprised the GA rate was that high this year.

 

[socalkdg]

GA has about a 15% D1 recruiting rate. I bet Q3/Q4 GA takes some of it. Once those Q3/Q4 GA join ECNL, they will bring the D1 recruiting to ECNL.

My prediction is that after SY, ECNL will see a 90% D1 recruiting rate. GA will drop to 7% or even less. RL will take the rest.

65% ECNL, 20% GA per tracking by
ECNL/GA/Recruiting/College Soccer
@ImYouthSoccer

 

[Offside no S]

The change elimnates the Trapped Player scenario; that is why they are rolling the ignorant DA era rule back to pre DA rules.

Oh good grief, for the 10,000th time... changing to grad year will NOT eliminate trapped players. It just changes who is trapped. Seems like US Soccer figured that out and didn't change the dates.