Get ready folks

Soccermomma24 said:
Any chance you can post a screenshot here? ECNL is not changing for 2025 or not ever changing, including 2026?
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The age groups at least for ECNL are definitely going to change starting Fall 26. There is a possibility that ECNL does allow the trapped 8th graders to play down. It doesn’t sound like ECNL will make a full change for 25/26 but 2011-2013 may do something different. More Details will come out by end of January early February. This would only be ECNL idk anything about the other leagues. I barely know anything to begin with only get small nuggets of info from time to time.
 
Thatonedad said:
The age groups at least for ECNL are definitely going to change starting Fall 26. There is a possibility that ECNL does allow the trapped 8th graders to play down. It doesn’t sound like ECNL will make a full change for 25/26 but 2011-2013 may do something different. More Details will come out by end of January early February. This would only be ECNL idk anything about the other leagues. I barely know anything to begin with only get small nuggets of info from time to time.
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I hope ECNL will allow a certain number of Q3/Q4 players to play in their grade. A lot of GA players will want to try, and ECNL will also have more college recruiting after this.
 
davidnunez said:
ECNL is not changing. Surf posted a social media announcement about "no changes". Surf has an oversized influence compared to other clubs in ecnl
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It's more than that. It's no changes until fall 2026. This means 1.5 years of BY.

Also, if you read the US Soccer statement no specific definition of SY has been defined. They appear to be allowing different leagues to have "flexibility" around letting players play with their grade in school. I'm sure there will be more meetings which will allow alignment on specific SY details. But as of now in fall 2026 all the leagues can do whatever they want SY, BY, or whatever.

Just to throw another curveball, all the leagues could choose to only do SY with youngers and let olders age out with BY. This is something people aren't considering.
 
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
 
SoccerSanDiego said:
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
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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 said:
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.
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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.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
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.
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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.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
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.
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#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.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
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.
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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.
 
SoccerSanDiego said:
#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.
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You make it sound so easy. (It's not)

This is why SOCAL wants US Soccer to take all the bullets.
 
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.
 
SoccerSanDiego said:
#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.
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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 said:
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.
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Also funny how none of the Jan-Jun parents are complaining that their kids can't play with their older classmates.
 
Alemca said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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