Get ready folks
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DeaconSoccer12
BRONZE
My daughter's club is holding trainings for the new age groups to practice all together in late October and then will be sending out offers for new teams. Definitely pushing to move kids into their new age groups and not "play up" to stay with current teams. Teams going to be imploded more than I anticipated.
How are other clubs preparing for the change? When is the earliest date that clubs can officially sign players?
How are other clubs preparing for the change? When is the earliest date that clubs can officially sign players?
This is a loaded question because it depends on your kids age. If they're u12 going into u13 they'll be switching from Socal league which ends in Jan/Feb to a different league that starts in August. In this limited situation there might be early tryouts occurring. For everyone else 25/26 is like any other season and which means official tryouts are around June. Also it means that officially players arent allowed to jump in on other teams practices for a tryout. Although I highly doubt that anyone will follow the official rules with the BY-SY change. Which means players will just jump in on other teams sessions this spring a lot.
DeaconSoccer12
BRONZE
This is why this year is going to be insane. So as an example, a 2013 GA girl with a fall birthday is currently committed to a team that runs through June. She wants to drop to her age group and make an ecnl team. That is the first year for ecnl for that age group so I believe those teams will be formed basically by February? How is that going to work??
Same with my sons club. Kids will practice with their SY age groups to become familiar with future teammates before tryouts in April.
No announcement from MLS2/EA yet. If the announce a change then teams will probably blowup before season ends as players start looking for new teams during the break or in the spring.
No announcement from MLS2/EA yet. If the announce a change then teams will probably blowup before season ends as players start looking for new teams during the break or in the spring.
Whatâs the implication for a kid who is currently on the B team and doesnât have a late birthday?
Iâm also seeing this with our club. Parents who know about the change are already making the move. We already have late birthday kids practicing with us.
I know one 2012 GA girl wants to join the younger ECNL team next February and hopes to play in the ECNL Spring season. I don't think that is possible.
A GA player can play on an ECNL team tomorrow as a Discovery player.
She is Q4 and wants to make the younger ECNL team next Feb., after the tryouts, when the 12/13 SY team is formed.
Do whatever you need to do that is best for your kid.
Ev
Even clubs/teams who say they will stay together will implode, because it is just too tempting to pass on the giant, older, better kids who are better than the weakest links on the team - and keeping in mind that everyone knows you will either get those kids, or be playing against them in a few short months. Brace yourself for the implosion and have a realistic understanding of where your kid falls, taking into account the fall birthday kids in their school year.
Unless she is a standout, they have a roster spot open or they desperately need someone who plays her position she probably won't be seriously considered until May or June when the ECNL season is over. Clubs will do tryouts mainly for Socal teams in February and March. Nobody is putting ECNL teams together until closer to the end of the season.
The shuffle is going to be glorious and disruptive. As much as it was when they switched to BY. Lot's of kids are about to get shafted. Others suddenly find out they are winners. Teams that were clicking will suddenly find out they are not, others will surprise themselves The entire MLS2/EA thing has been drastically impactful on the boys side with teams in both leagues all over the place. MLSN in socal (because there are quite a few weaker links) has also been impacted, but not as drastically.
Scrub It Kook
SILVER ELITE
Got this from our club last weekend:
Dear Families,
We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.
Whatâs Changing?
Going forward, âschool yearâ will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.
Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:
SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.
While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.
This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.
How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.
Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.
As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger â a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.
Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026â2027 season.
Weâre committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.
Dear Families,
We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.
Whatâs Changing?
Going forward, âschool yearâ will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.
Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:
SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.
While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.
This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.
How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.
Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.
As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger â a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.
Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026â2027 season.
Weâre committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.
Iâm skeptical mls2 moves if mls1 doesnât. The entire rationale for setting up the system was to move players up and down easier. A secondary was to have entering clubs have a proving ground (and theyâd now have to reorg teams that had proven themselves). Itâs possible though and it would prove the entire interlocking system was just bs from the get go (and they disrupted the existing system for absolutely no good reasonâŚlawsuits from some clubs that were excluded would be incoming [looking at you SoCal elite since Albion sm and Bakersfield unlikely would make waves])
It would set up some hard situations. Say there is an August birthday on the b team who is kicking it. Heâd now have to challenge January birthdays on a guest card for a slot on mls1. Vice versa a January birthday struggling on the a team would now be sent down as one of the younger players on the b team which provides no relief. Since biobanding slots are capped and team specific unless they loosen the regs thatâs not going to be much help. Teams seem to be using it more to bring down impact players a year to get an edge so they are unlikely in any case to burn one on a kid that needs to be brought down.
It also sets up a system (which I personally find hilarious) of little u12 Johnny with an August birthday kicking it on his ea team and then tries out for his mls1 team and gets rejected for being a late developer. It makes me wonder if you are a top flight contending boy is it better to be that Jan birthday to have the edge come mls1 tryouts or the august birthday to get placement in competitive teams early in your careerâŚ.not sure who Iâd rather be.
Aug birthdays in SY are going to be difficult. They're basically the opposite of a trapped player playing up in BY.
Its going to be a problem. People that hate biobanding are going to have a new Aug birthday boogeyman to deal with.
But I see ehat you mean Aug advantage in SY is one of the worst months to be in BY.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
I dunno. Aug birthdays would have been a huge impact for kids when they were going with the Sep 1 date. All the same issues in trying to move up to MLSN, and you need to play with the older team when not MLSN. Now that it's an Aug 1 date, at least they can choose to play with the younger team or not. July birthdays are now the ones that get really hosed.
July birthday on the mlsn1 team would be in the bottom half and in mls2 would be the last month. Double hosed. At least the Jan/febs and August/septs have advantages for part of their career.
Scrub It Kook
SILVER ELITE
I thought the same thing about MLS1 and MLS2, but then again MLS2 is MLS in name only; the league is being run by all the feeder leagues (EA, NAL, etc). It also brings up the question on whether bio-banding will still be used in MLS2 and EA if they are simply shifting the age groups around.