MLS NEXT no longer tracking standings for U13 and U14 - WHY?

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soccerdad247

SILVER
I originally had this post in a different forum, but this is probably the correct one.

Does anyone know why the standings for U13 & U14 are no longer tracked by MLSN? They have always been there since the league started, and were there for the first few weeks of this season..but were then were taken down. There's been no updates from MLS on why.
 
Isn't MLS Next going to get totally revamped or something? I feel like I heard that they're dropping younger ages and changing membership structure or something. Not sure where I heard this....so take it with a grain of salt.
 
NorCalDad said:
Isn't MLS Next going to get totally revamped or something? I feel like I heard that they're dropping younger ages and changing membership structure or something. Not sure where I heard this....so take it with a grain of salt.
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Not sure, but it seems weird to take them away without any explanation. They have always been there since MLSN started in 2020.
 
So the new MLS Tier 2 regional tournaments and tournaments at the big MLS Next events. But the U13/U14 MLS Next teams don't even have standings...never mind any tournaments or regional events, and aren't invited to any of the MLS Next events outside of pointless friendlies at MLS Next Cup showcase in June. How does this make any sense...
 
soccerdad247 said:
So the new MLS Tier 2 regional tournaments and tournaments at the big MLS Next events. But the U13/U14 MLS Next teams don't even have standings...never mind any tournaments or regional events, and aren't invited to any of the MLS Next events outside of pointless friendlies at MLS Next Cup showcase in June. How does this make any sense...
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I suspect they want U13/U14 to be mostly focused on development. I actually don't think this is terrible. All these younger teams spending tons of money for all these events seems pretty silly to me. Nothing really matters that much until U15 anyway.
 
NorCalDad said:
I suspect they want U13/U14 to be mostly focused on development. I actually don't think this is terrible. All these younger teams spending tons of money for all these events seems pretty silly to me. Nothing really matters that much until U15 anyway.
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I'm not sold that "nothing matters". I think by u13 and U14 they need to learn to compete - for a win, playing time, etc. No other sports league operates with no standings, tournaments, etc. Especially in EU, SA, et where they seem to know what they are doing when it comes to development. Not sure why MLSN seems to think they have discovered some new magical formula.
 
soccerdad247 said:
I'm not sold that "nothing matters". I think by u13 and U14 they need to learn to compete - for a win, playing time, etc. No other sports league operates with no standings, tournaments, etc. Especially in EU, SA, et where they seem to know what they are doing when it comes to development. Not sure why MLSN seems to think they have discovered some new magical formula.
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Well to be fair, someone is keeping track of those scores as they're still showing up in the Soccer Rankings app. I think kids still want to go out there and win regardless of standings -- they're probably keeping track themselves I'd bet. Maybe not officially doing it is just performative.
 
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A while ago someone shared a link to an unofficial MLSN standing that's more friendly to use than the official one. Could you share that link if you have it? TIA!
 
So the powers that be have determined that the fixation in the US for "winning" at young ages is detrimental to the development of the players. Also know as "That is not how they do that in Europe". Pretty sure Landon Donovan will be speaking up on this shortly if he already hasn't. So I guess the problem isn't the clubs its the parents. The clubs have made changes to lean more towards developing players over improving standings and chasing the money and here are all the parents trying to circumvent the solution and make it all about winning again.

why?
 
tjinaz said:
So the powers that be have determined that the fixation in the US for "winning" at young ages is detrimental to the development of the players. Also know as "That is not how they do that in Europe". Pretty sure Landon Donovan will be speaking up on this shortly if he already hasn't. So I guess the problem isn't the clubs its the parents. The clubs have made changes to lean more towards developing players over improving standings and chasing the money and here are all the parents trying to circumvent the solution and make it all about winning again.

why?
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Yeah it's a conundrum. Clubs are just businesses. If parents wanted to focus on player development then the clubs would cater to that. Unfortunately most parents aren't educated in what soccer development is or even what good soccer is. Perhaps guys like Donovan can help with some of this, but boy is this a tall mountain to climb. It also doesn't help that every single youth sport in the US has the same win-now mindset. This would be a major shift in gears. But yeah getting the parents educated would be huge.
 
NorCalDad said:
Yeah it's a conundrum. Clubs are just businesses. If parents wanted to focus on player development then the clubs would cater to that. Unfortunately most parents aren't educated in what soccer development is or even what good soccer is. Perhaps guys like Donovan can help with some of this, but boy is this a tall mountain to climb. It also doesn't help that every single youth sport in the US has the same win-now mindset. This would be a major shift in gears. But yeah getting the parents educated would be huge.
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I've come around to thinking that an interesting way around this the same way cssf handles all stars. Give out awards but make them individually based dependent on the stats they are gathering instead of team records. Like cssf they'll still be a lean towards winners (player of the year is usually from champion team). But it has some interesting effects: players drift towards clubs that reward experiments, gks defenders on losing teams still recognized for output (saving 11/15) and cant hide on winning teams with no action, recruiters pointed towards unique individuals. MLsN is already experimenting on insta with this-- notables come from the usual suspects like strikers. But its an interesting experiment and way to break the team must win mentality in favor of individual merit. Its also a way to lean into American biases towards individualism and achievement (the stats dont lie...they know who the best players are).
 
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