Age Pure and Small-Sided - US Soccer Official Announcement

i dont like to attack personally, but Academy 18 is really not a deep thinker, or reader for that matter.

re this quote by skeets:

"For most kids in select or ECNL, play with your grade (Jan-July birth). Aug-Dec you don't have a choice but to play AP or play up if your dd is that exceptional.

skeets, not sure i follow your advice re jan-july "playing w their grade". jan - july will need to play up to play w their grade, as 45% or so of their grade was born in the prior year aug-dec.

SantaFe wrote:i dont like to attack personally, but Academy 18 is really not a deep thinker,  or reader for that matter.  

re this quote by skeets:

"For most kids in select or ECNL, play with your grade (Jan-July birth).  Aug-Dec you don't have a choice but to play AP or play up if your dd is that exceptional.  

skeets, not sure i follow your advice re jan-july "playing w their grade".  jan - july will need to play up to play w their grade, as 45% or so of their grade was born in the prior year aug-dec.

The team that is the next age level up will now be comprised of more kids of the next grade level up...

My January kid is a 4th grader...

The 05 teams of the future will be dominated by January- July kids, which are also currently 5th graders.

January - August 31 is one grade... Sept 1 - and later are the next grade level lower...

the sept - Dec kids will now be playing with a grade level higher. just like the current august birthday kids are playing with a grade level lower than them.

Why dont we see all the August kids playing with their grade level now?

AtThePitch wrote: 

Why dont we see all the August kids playing with their grade level now?

Because they have a year less of training? Since they couldn't start at same time as a July 31st kid...Do I win??

About time. Can't wait coaches scrambling... parents who's kids always dominated the younger ones will now have to play with older ones.. good luck

Good soccer players will still be good soccer players. Players, whose game was primarily due to age-advantage, are in for a rude awakening.

Once they get to 14-15 years old the maturity gap starts to shrink. There are lots of 01 teams that would not have a problem playing against 00 teams and 00 teams with 99 teams. Once they start playing in high school they play against older kids any way. My daughter was a 14 year old freshman (August birthday) and played varsity against juniors and seniors. I go back to my initial thought that they should have phased it in. Left the older girls alone. What we are finding out about this is that since the team is a mix of 99 and 00 and they want to stay together with the current coach then they will just Play as a 99 team in u17 next year just like they would have as a current 00 team.

I am excited about the age pure change! My DD is a Nov 07 birthday, but has always played up with the 07s. With the change, she no longer has to leave her team the year they go select which she is thrilled about.

As for playing with classmates, I don't know how much weight that holds. My DD has been playing soccer since she was 3 and has never played on a team with a classmate of hers. All of the girls come from different schools, neighborhoods, and classes. I will say she has never developed a close enough bond with a classmate to have them over for a slumber party, etc… but she is always with her soccer mates. She is extremely close to many of them.

SantaFe wrote:i dont like to attack personally, but Academy 18 is really not a deep thinker,  or reader for that matter.  

re this quote by skeets:

"For most kids in select or ECNL, play with your grade (Jan-July birth).  Aug-Dec you don't have a choice but to play AP or play up if your dd is that exceptional.  

skeets, not sure i follow your advice re jan-july "playing w their grade".  jan - july will need to play up to play w their grade, as 45% or so of their grade was born in the prior year aug-dec.

My point is ECNL age girls, playing U15+ now that are born Jan-July, should stay with their existing team which will be the equivalent of playing up but in most cases it is still their age group. For example, currently Jan -July 2000 birth year are playing U16 (00') and they are sophomores in high school unless they repeated a grade. Next year those girls, will have the option of repeating U16 and playing AP 2000. If they do that, then they will not be playing with their grade. My POV is at this stage of the game, its make more sense to play with your grade, which means these girls will not play AP 2000 / U16 next year, but will play up with AP 1999 / U17.

For the younger girls, academy level, should play AP, unless they are dominate in the age group...very,very few will qualify, IMO.

Hope this makes sense. I apologize if it is clear as mud. LOL

yeah, very confusing- i think we were saying the same thing but in a different manner.

quick, someone remind me why we're doing this?

We are doing this so the people who make alot of money on youth soccer can look like they know what they are doing (paycheck justification).  It is a way easier solution than actually trying to fix soccer here. In the end teams will change a bit and will be the same $#itty coaches with the same $#itty soccer.

What's this do your squad Go??

Does nothing to our squad. We would just stay together and the younger kids would just be playing up. But our squad has way bigger problems than this nonesense

So your coach would in no way look to replace the youngers with olders?

I will get my soap box out for a bit here. I know there seems to be alot of concern here about the changes but for most here it really doesn't matter much. The real travesty and victim in all of this is the vast majority of kids playing soccer in the US. Soccer is the #1 sport for children in the US. The vast majority aren't trying to develop for anything. They have no aspirations to go anywhere in the sport. They just want to play "real" soccer. They have all been forced into a developmental model that they don't want or desire. They don't want small size games on little fields. They want to run, kick, have fun and for a moment feel the thrill of the game. Now for that small group who want to go further, sure small sided, small goals, plenty of touches and develop. You know the most important part to the advancement of soccer in the US? That kid that never goes anywhere in the sport but now understands and appreciates the game enough to turn on a TV or buy a ticket aka Tomorrows Fan. This could jeopardize that and they need to carefully track the impact this has on rec and lower leagues.

AtThePitch wrote:So your coach would in no way look to replace the youngers with olders?

As far as I know the coach would like to keep the team together however the core of this team has been together for a number of years and we like each other. That sort of plan would meet with some resistance.

and I believe out team is almost split in half with olders and youngers. Might not finish on top but I think we could still be competitive

SickofSilliness wrote:

Academy18 wrote:I totally disagree. It seems the only people complaining about the new rule are the parents of kids born august thru dec.. this is only because your kids will be the young kids now

Did you just land from another planet?  Crawl out from under a rock?  Did you not read the above posts ON THIS PAGE?

There have been plenty of people opposed to the change throughout this board with kids born Jan - July.  If you take a couple of seconds to read, you will find 2 on this page alone.

Oooops, I see you are new here  

what i see is about a 50/50 split. someone should start a poll. i personally don't see the need for the change but its happening. as with any "service" company/organization customers WILL get what they want. if enough folks band together a new league will spring up and offer school year soccer teams

ONLYASOCCERDAD wrote:

SickofSilliness wrote:

Academy18 wrote:I totally disagree. It seems the only people complaining about the new rule are the parents of kids born august thru dec.. this is only because your kids will be the young kids now

Did you just land from another planet?  Crawl out from under a rock?  Did you not read the above posts ON THIS PAGE?

There have been plenty of people opposed to the change throughout this board with kids born Jan - July.  If you take a couple of seconds to read, you will find 2 on this page alone.

Oooops, I see you are new here  

what i see is about a 50/50 split. someone should start a poll. i personally don't see the need for the change but its happening. as with any "service" company/organization customers WILL get what they want. if enough folks band together a new league will spring up and offer school year soccer teams

You are right...

lets band together to keep as it currently stands and get 11v11 instituted at the U7 age group... those little legs can take it!

Quality coaching is a bigger problem. Good players are made in training not games. This mandate does nothing for good teams who already train with small sided play.

What these changes do is double the number of coaches needed at younger ages. I dont see how that will increase the quality of coaching and will more than likely water down the pool further.

The way I look at it, almost none or none of any of these girls right now will be on the US Women's team in their life. Most of them will not play college either. Some will of course, but hopefully for the right school and reasons. Therefore, if you like your team and coach...play up if necessary. Keep it fun. Is that allowed anymore? Hahaha. I am sure that will be my DD's preference as she is an April birthday.

MrRogers wrote:Quality coaching is a bigger problem. Good players are made in training not games. This mandate does nothing for good teams who already train with small sided play.

What these changes do is double the number of coaches needed at younger ages. I don't see how that will increase the quality of coaching and will more than likely water down the pool further.

i don't see the need for more coaches. if i have 16-18 girls rostered now i just add a few kids if needed. still train the same way i train now just have two smaller rosters within my same group. play two games back to back.

Brilliant! I can add more girls to practice where it matters for development so I can have fewer girls for the game where it doesn't. Oh wait I thought this was supposed to be about development?

Lol..I think everyone takes this soccer to serious because in reality no one watches the game but the parents and the coach is just one man's opinion of your child..I have to girls who played in colege one for north texas and the other for texas womans the Academy name is for my youngest who is an 07..I know big gap lol. Club soccer is expensive but keeps the family together. There is no way no matter how good your daughter is you will ever get your money back.as long as she is playing alot and having fun and her confidence is high it doesn't matter whether you play up or stay at your age level.

Academy18 wrote:I wouldn't recommend any of the kids play up. The kids born Jan thru Jul will be the older kids on there team now. If your kid is on a team aND has been a younger player. Then you already know what your kid has had to compete against.if your kid is not playing as much as you think she should be then get her off that team as fast as you can. See with your eyes not your ears. Because these select coaches are in it for the money and will tell you whatever you want to hear because remember you are not paying to watch other kids play you are paying to watch your Kid play As it my be fun to play on a great team colleges don't take teams they take individuals.

Where did the original Academy18 go?

Yesterday it was "no kid should play up because they will be the oldest".  Today it's "as long as she is playing alot and having fun and her confidence is high it doesn't matter whether you play up or stay at your age level."

second thoughts?

SickofSilliness wrote:

Academy18 wrote:I wouldn't recommend any of the kids play up. The kids born Jan thru Jul will be the older kids on there team now. If your kid is on a team aND has been a younger player. Then you already know what your kid has had to compete against.if your kid is not playing as much as you think she should be then get her off that team as fast as you can. See with your eyes not your ears. Because these select coaches are in it for the money and will tell you whatever you want to hear because remember you are not paying to watch other kids play you are paying to watch your Kid play As it my be fun to play on a great team colleges don't take teams they take individuals.

Where did the original Academy18 go?

Yesterday it was "no kid should play up because they will be the oldest".  Today it's "as long as she is playing alot and having fun and her confidence is high it doesn't matter whether you play up or stay at your age level."

I was thinking the same thing.