Jan-Jul 05s

Let the speculation begin!!!! What are those Jan-Jul 05 girls going to do on teams which have qualified and kept their byes? Or on teams that did not get a bye? Play up? Try and requalify on a better team with a higher rank? Will clubs dictate AP teams only? Thoughts???

I believe Solar, Sting and Texans will implement AP teams; players will repeat U11. I don't know if that starts the domino effect or not; curious to see if it does.

The question is will byes even exist? If the heavy hitting clubs mandate AP teams, which in order to be competitive many of them probably will, there is going to be a lot of shuffling. How can any of the leagues justify byes if 1/3 of the roster changes? For many teams it is more than 1/3. Is there a maximum number of players a team can lose before losing a bye? And if they keep the byes how do you rank the teams? Chances are many of the newly formed AP teams will be better than the playing up school year teams. So many questions and very few answers.

It would not matter even if they lost 100% of the players from the current roster, the bye is retained by the club. That is the way the bylaws are written.

TSSC wrote:It would not matter even if they lost 100% of the players from the current roster, the bye is retained by the club.  That is the way the bylaws are written.

That bye will exist in U-12 though, so the club can fill it (pending approval of the board).
The 05 girls will have to re-qualify, as do all incoming U-11s, if they wish to play in U11.

I heard something interesting last week from a North Texas Soccer employee.  Sounds like the amendments have been mostly finalized and will voted on in January.  There is an interesting addendum to that list.  If passed, players will be able to begin visiting other clubs immediately after their team was finished with the State Cup, which for many of the 05's will be the first weekend of May.  For those looking to make a switch, that gives you an extra month to make your evaluations and for the ulcer to grow bigger than last year

Lakedad wrote:I heard something interesting last week from a North Texas Soccer employee.  Sounds like the amendments have been mostly finalized and will voted on in January.  There is an interesting addendum to that list.  If passed, players will be able to begin visiting other clubs immediately after their team was finished with the State Cup, which for many of the 05's will be the first weekend of May.  For those looking to make a switch, that gives you an extra month to make your evaluations and for the ulcer to grow bigger than last year

I was told that passed last year. And would have been used this past season had the rain not extended the season

What's the word on the '05 sidelines? Do parents want them playing up next year, play '05AP, or simply follow the Club's instruction?

We are in, 'wait and see' mode right now.  I have an 05 AP player on an 05 team largely made up of 04 BY.  I guess it depends on what the Jan - July 04 players do.  If they decide to play 04, our decision may be out of our hands.  9x9 and more touches does sound tempting though.

IMHO - I think that ANY '05 playing up next year is pretty much absurd...unless she is just THAT special of a player. And by "special", I mean clearly dominant and above all those around her in the current group of '05s (made up of the 04/05 kids). At this age, teams and how good they frankly don't mean much of anything. Find that special coach that takes her to the next level, challenges her, and keeps her love for the game stoked.

Of course, the downside to all of this is I am sure many of the 05s girls that will be left out when this change happens are ALREADY on that special team with that special coach...and then we are having to go look all over again. Sigh...All part of the journey...

Agree. IMHO as well - Absurd. Some of these kids who play up could be almost 2 years younger than 04 girls born 1/04. That is insanity. Clearly there are DDs who will play up (to stay with their teams and satisfy their parents egos). The DDs are on teams where their talents are less than other girls already and don't get a lot of play time. And now they are going to have them play even tougher competition. Come on!! Yes, we all know there are only a handful of girls truly capable of playing up a level at this juncture and most have already been doing that - but in reality are already playing in their AP group and against the DDs they would with new changes. Why not take advantage of this rare one time circumstance where your 05 DD gets the opportunity to bring their talents down to their real age group and capitalize on their strengths. Be one of the top girls in their respective AP grouping. This one will be the real testament of are the parents in it for themselves or for their DD.

For the sake of argument how is being one of the top girls in an age group good for development ? How are they being challenged?
I agree that playing "up" is not best for everyone, but not sure I follow your reasoning for the top players in an age group. Why play in an age group where only a few players are able to challenge her, vs. an age group where there are several that can provide that?

...and if the coach wants her and she wants to play with her coach and continues to get lots of playing time and grows, how does that have anything to do with parents ego. Now if she plays up and sits on the bench all the time, that doesn't make sense

I think that is the point.  If they are playing up and sitting on the bench, then it is not worth it and is a dumb decision.  But I have seen a good amount of the current 06 group and know that there is good competition and very talented DDs.  I cannot really see many of the AP 05s that drop down to play with their age group actually being hurt developmentally.

I am glad to hear that some clubs are planning for it.  Those that don't and take the "wait & see approach" are going to have a stressful May and June.

How many of those 06's are AP05's and how many are true 06's? I don't have an answer to that just throwing it out.
Sitting the bench is never a good thing, whether AP, traditional, playing up, etc.

Can we take some kind of poll here? How many 05s plan on going through QT again versus how many will try and play up on an existing 04 team?

MOST of the 06s are AP 05. I've done enough research to comfortably say that. Nearly EVERY roster on the FBR between 1 and we'll into the 40s is dominated by AP 05s.

So what do these 05 BY's currently on 06 Academy teams plan to do in July. The new matrix has them jumping from U10 to U12.

Under current format, there is no qualifying into D1 for those kids.

AtThePitch, that is an amazing claim. You have researched the birth dates of approximately 500 girls who make up the top 40 '06 teams?

ColtMcVince wrote:AtThePitch, that is an amazing claim. You have researched the birth dates of approximately 500 girls who make up the top 40 '06 teams?  

Based on the 8-10 teams that we have friends that play on, the current 05 teams are made up of 70/30 04 BY to 05 BY.  That may be off +-5%, but that's probably the case for all top teams in all age groups.  Are there 1 or 2 kids currently on 06 teams that will jump to 04 teams due to the rules change?  That's an interesting question.

ColtMcVince wrote:AtThePitch, that is an amazing claim. You have researched the birth dates of approximately 500 girls who make up the top 40 '06 teams?  

Not hard to do if you just ask the coach or manager, I've also been around the 06s since they were about u5...

jogobonito07 wrote:So what do these 05 BY's currently on 06 Academy teams plan to do in July.  The new matrix has them jumping from U10 to U12.

Under current format, there is no qualifying into D1 for those kids.

That's the million dollar question!

ColtMcVince wrote:AtThePitch, that is an amazing claim. You have researched the birth dates of approximately 500 girls who make up the top 40 '06 teams?

You can bank on his data.

Lakedad wrote:Are there 1 or 2 kids currently on 06 teams that will jump to 04 teams due to the rules change? That's an interesting question.?

I think you guys are going to be surprised at how small the Fall '05s generally are. I don't anticipate any of them playing in the '04AP league.