Impact of Age Pure

How is everyone handling the age pure changes and which teams are moving to 99? This, I have to believe, is impacting everyone.

InaB judging by the response on this thread. It would seem a lot of teams don't know or aren't saying. My DD's team will have to move up as we are a small club. Age pure is a little easier for the big clubs to handle without losing girls.

What did LHGCL decide to do with age pure?

InaB, Our team is moving up as a whole since we were split about 60-40 with ages, so we are all sticking together. The girls have come to far and bonded really well to split them up so late in their select years. I'm pretty sure this coming year will be one of the hardest ones for us but they are having fun which is all that matters.

I'm very excited to finally be on the same page as the Europeans. Now all we have to decide is which YourApeeIn League we're going to play in? I'm also super excited that I'll finally be able to identify who the good players are....it's always been such a mystery. USSF is governed by unparalleled geniuses. I think we should beg one of them to be POTUS for life.

I think the older teams should have been grandfathered into their age groups. To make teams choose between moving up as freshmen and sophomores or break the team up in not cool. Our team will move up to stay together but we do have a young player who was already playing up which will make her choice harder. It will only have a minor effect on our team buy I would imagine this will cause several teams to fracture. In my opinion they should have phased this in through the younger age groups.

I agree pboxer98, should have left high school aged (01's) and up alone. What difference would that have made? Really unfortunate and absolutely no regard for the most important asset...the girls actually playing the game.

Totally agree.....

First World Problem...

Is it an inconvenience? Sure.
Was it necessary? Doubtful.
Will any of your DD's suffer irreparable harm as a result? Even more doubtful.

Stop wringing your hands and just get on with the change already.

What benefit does it provide high school age DD's?
There is no real harm or inconvenience other than causing unnecessary drama. Which I know everyone seems to love.

If it were phased in, the younger age groups would be brought up not knowing any different.

pboxer98 wrote:What benefit does it provide high school age DD's?

It doesn't.

...but as you also stated, it doesn't cause any harm either.

Trust me, you and your HS aged DD's will get over the incredible life-altering stress of having to find a new soccer team and play on a team with kids who (gasp!) aren't in the same grade as they are. They might even make some new life-long friends that they otherwise wouldn't have.

...and yes, some DD's may have a crappy experience out of this whole deal, but guess what, it won't be the end of the world, unless you have completely failed at raising a DD who will be able to stand on her own in the real world.

bwgophers wrote:First World Problem...

Is it an inconvenience?  Sure.
Was it necessary?  Doubtful.
Will any of your DD's suffer irreparable harm as a result?  Even more doubtful.

Stop wringing your hands and just get on with the change already.

Who are you, and what have you done with BW? You sound grumpier than me on this issue!

And BTW...I disagree!

4-3-3 wrote:

bwgophers wrote:First World Problem...

Is it an inconvenience?  Sure.
Was it necessary?  Doubtful.
Will any of your DD's suffer irreparable harm as a result?  Even more doubtful.

Stop wringing your hands and just get on with the change already.

Who are you, and what have you done with BW? You sound grumpier than me on this issue!

And BTW...I disagree!

Good! That means I must be right!

There is a more significant difference with boys over girls, but to me the only time it seems to make a significant difference is something like this. In a league like LH when refs allow near murder...and the assailant outweighs victim by 60 lbs. That inequity can create injuries. That is the time I see it making any sort of difference. Of course, you have the choice to play up or to stay with your AP team, which is likely the case in this scenario, but it is an unnecessary inconvenience, and will break up teams where that was the case.

I agree that 10th battling 12th is no big deal.

The harm is in potentially splitting up groups who have played together and built a chemistry over years. This is not something that can be rebuilt in the short time these girls have left.

Why ruin what these girls have built together?

pboxer98 wrote:The harm is in potentially splitting up groups who have played together and built a chemistry over years. This is not something that can be rebuilt in the short time these girls have left.

Why ruin what these girls have built together?

Then don't break them up.  You have that choice.  Especially if you are talking about HS aged kids.  Guess what?  If any of your girls are playing HS soccer, they are already used to playing against players anywhere from 1-3 years older than them.  So why should Freshman be worried about having to play against some Sophomores, or Sophomores against some Juniors, in club play? It's not a big deal.  Other select sports use 2 yr age groupings.  Those girls find a way to survive, manage, and even thrive in those scenarios.

Yes, the decision was stupid and is a pain in the a$$ to have to deal with, but in the overall scheme of things, it's just not that big of a deal.  Stop the whining and the "oh these poor girls" routine, and move on with it already.

I think everyone is correct here for the most part...still stinks though. Our team has a strong mix so we are moving them up. But not all teams are doing that which then forces the older girls to move on. That is the part that stinks. But, with every door closing, there is a door opening. Good luck to all.

I'm positive I'm right.......the Voodoo Preistess told me so.

What about the impact on the college process and showcases?
99s will be seniors this fall, and top D1 and D2 colleges will be pretty much be done recruiting this age group or at least be out of money.  Of course there are exceptions....
So if you 00 or 01 isn't already on a schools radar or hasn't started building relationships with the coaches/schools they might be interested in, is playing with 99s going to make it more difficult to get seen? If a coach is focused on Jrs/Sophs will they make the effort to watch a group they perceive as Srs?

p.s. If your 00/01 hasn't be reaching out to colleges they are already behind
p.s/ If your 00/01 is a Mia Hamm then this doesn't apply