Great video! I like the change. It’s been especially challenging for younger grassroots teams where age groups are combined U5/U6, U7/U8, U9/U10 where there is a 2+ yr age gap ie a kindergarten playing with a 2nd grader. I like the age based on school year but year it should be based on the start of soccer season, August or sept (fall) to spring like the do in little league
Its a nothingburger. The kids either play with classmates, or make new friends with the neighboring grade. What sucks , is when they change it and break up teams. Stop messing with the crap that doesn't matter
Once again, the 3 organizations find a way to destroy youth soccer and make it into a bigger cash cow. It's not about the players. This is about money, more money. US Soccer needs to stop lying to itself. The massive expansion of payment to play is the problem. Looks at how many new ECNL/RL leagues have been created. These leagues are more money. It's all about money. Anyone associated with this decision should never be involved in any youth organization.
This decision by itself is not a big deal in my opinion, but a symptom of the larger issues US soccer fails to address in this country. There is absolutely no leadership or direction from US soccer.
Hey coach! Love your videos! I have a question. My team is always struggling at breaking the opponent’s low block Maybe you have some tips or a video planned on this topic? I’d really appreciate your opinion! P.s. we play 9v9
Waste of time & money. Breaks up teams fixes nothing. Playing with your classmates is fun but rarely are they on the same level after 10 so they split up/move on anyway unless it's the entry level team so it's just a circle jerk. Playing up is what the better player do anyway so thinking your kids gets some kind of advantage due to school year is mostly nonsense.
A third of school districts are not on school year so it does nothing for them.
Hopefully there will be exceptions for special cases. My son was born on August 15, 3 months before his due date. So his school grade level is consistent with his November due date. Hopefully he won't be forced to play with higher grade kids because he had the advantage of being born early at 1.8 pounds.
This was a stupid change years ago. Suddenly kids in the same grade were in different age groups and teams had 4 grades instead of two, or 3 grades instead of 1.
Fortunately for us I don't think it will have much impact. Most of our team will stay the same. Though our opponents might become a bit bigger/tougher.
So could you explain what it means for August born kids in the 32%? they will have to play up and not with their classmates and what do they do their senior year in highschool – not clear to me and can't find an explanation.
You can say this is a good thing overall, but people said the same thing 8 years ago. More damage is done by just breaking up teams at this scale. The reality is US soccer leadership has no idea about the damage this will cause.
32% not covered is huge. I really hope they reconsider and change to July 1 or Aug 1. August sees the most births out of any month. They basically said they don't actually care about kids playing with classmates. What is the chance they reconsider or give summer month kids the option to play with their grade?
MLS Next is the gold standard for the US. They should step in and determine a date range. I don't see how MLS Next and ECNL having separate dates is sustainable, not only for managing clubs in both leagues, but finding competitors and club growth opportunitues. How does a team make the jump to MLS Next if their club is on a different age range?
As a coach, this is frustrating. Me and my group are 6 years deep together and are among the top teams in our state, now only to have all that scrambled and have half our team split up. Why not stagger and start this with a certain younger age group.
This decision is better for all of the small clubs that primarily pull from one or two schools. I applaud this change and never understood why they went to calendar year in the first place.
This change should have been done years ago. Kids born at the end of the year tend to get more injuries and sit on the bench more because they didn’t have the maturity to play with kids born at the beginning of the year. One year difference in children is a big difference on maturity and coordination.
My daughter was born in March 2013, however, she skipped a grade and is now in 7th grade instead of 6th grade – so does this mean she will be on an older team playing against girls that are at least a year older?
This is like being in the Titanic and worry about how you are dressed. Just stick with something and make the whole system work. It seems to me the changes are to confused people that they are doing something for the game and the kids when they are not these changes back and forth don’t make a difference
Just another cluster move. All it does s mess up teams. We did this 8 years ago and it broke up teams and now we do it again. Us soccer only does stuff for money. They do not care about players, teams or families. Period. It’s always about the money.
My kid struggled as a December born. There’s not enough teams here for U9/U11 so the kids go straight to U10/U12. Would’ve benefited her if this was in place earlier. But at the end of the day, some kids will benefit and some will be disadvantaged. I understand either way. If this encourages more teams I’m all for it.
It needs to be the September cut off. Half of the August kids in the country are going to be forced to play up. If they did the Sept cut off it would allow kids to at least choose to play up one month with their grade. You can't play down so those August kids would have no choice but to play in a higher school age group
I think he stated it backwards in the video. It is more advantagous for kids born after sept 1. Because now they play with kids more their age. With fifa rules it is like they play a whole year up.
My son is 2008 and he was a Nov25th birthday. He basically had to play with kids almost a whole year older and most of his club team will graduate a year before he does. Wish this would have been done much longer ago now it’s useless since they aren’t adopting until 2026/2027
I wish you just explained it to the best of your ability in simple terms. For example, if a kid turns 14 on May 1st of the year 2025, do they still play U14 in the fall season or not?
My daughter has been playing with the same girls for the last 3 years, a long time for a child, now they will be split up. This is not what is best for the kids. Having different groups to socialize with is a good thing for kids. Now this is being limited.
Since we are one of the largest nations that play football/soccer and are not a powerhouse, shouldn’t we align ourselves with the way the rest of the world does it. Fix the system with coaching and style and not worry about the small amount of money received because Johnny can play with Blaine now. Just silly
When kids hit 13 they go through puberty and some just don't want to play in a competitive team and miss out on parties and hanging out with their friends. That has nothing to do with birth year.
I had 3 of my kids in soccer. Pulled them out and they wont play anymore because US soccer for kids is a joke. I can pay a lot less for a comedy show elsewhere.
Why do they keep flip-flopping like this. They made us ho through all the change by age, and all the chaos it caused parents and players stress, it wasn't broken and didn't need fixing. American soccer should be run BY ONE GOVERNING BODY, not all these little political groups full of power-hungry idiots who are simply trying to justify their existence. AGAIN, this is a new way to demonstrate just how big a sh1t show American soccer is. Shameful.
Great video! I like the change. It’s been especially challenging for younger grassroots teams where age groups are combined U5/U6, U7/U8, U9/U10 where there is a 2+ yr age gap ie a kindergarten playing with a 2nd grader.
I like the age based on school year but year it should be based on the start of soccer season, August or sept (fall) to spring like the do in little league
The actual rule change youth soccer needs is banning a player playing exclusively as defense or offense for an entire game. Mandate player rotation.
What about all the kids held back a year especially those born in summer? Will they play the grade they are in or the grade they should be in?
Another good video Coach. I don't agree with everything you say but you're 100% honest.
Do clubs have discretion this season on receiving players by grade level instead of birth year.. since things are changing next year?
Its a nothingburger. The kids either play with classmates, or make new friends with the neighboring grade. What sucks , is when they change it and break up teams. Stop messing with the crap that doesn't matter
How does the naming convention change? Right now teams are like 2016 U11 or 2018 U8 etc. What are the new teams? 5th Grade U11?
So has ECNL officially announced they are switching to School year?
Once again, the 3 organizations find a way to destroy youth soccer and make it into a bigger cash cow. It's not about the players. This is about money, more money. US Soccer needs to stop lying to itself. The massive expansion of payment to play is the problem. Looks at how many new ECNL/RL leagues have been created. These leagues are more money. It's all about money. Anyone associated with this decision should never be involved in any youth organization.
MLS next changing too?
This decision by itself is not a big deal in my opinion, but a symptom of the larger issues US soccer fails to address in this country. There is absolutely no leadership or direction from US soccer.
Hey coach!
Love your videos!
I have a question. My team is always struggling at breaking the opponent’s low block
Maybe you have some tips or a video planned on this topic? I’d really appreciate your opinion!
P.s. we play 9v9
Waste of time & money. Breaks up teams fixes nothing. Playing with your classmates is fun but rarely are they on the same level after 10 so they split up/move on anyway unless it's the entry level team so it's just a circle jerk. Playing up is what the better player do anyway so thinking your kids gets some kind of advantage due to school year is mostly nonsense.
A third of school districts are not on school year so it does nothing for them.
Hopefully there will be exceptions for special cases. My son was born on August 15, 3 months before his due date. So his school grade level is consistent with his November due date. Hopefully he won't be forced to play with higher grade kids because he had the advantage of being born early at 1.8 pounds.
This was a stupid change years ago. Suddenly kids in the same grade were in different age groups and teams had 4 grades instead of two, or 3 grades instead of 1.
Fortunately for us I don't think it will have much impact. Most of our team will stay the same. Though our opponents might become a bit bigger/tougher.
So could you explain what it means for August born kids in the 32%? they will have to play up and not with their classmates and what do they do their senior year in highschool – not clear to me and can't find an explanation.
It gets them prepared for high school tons of freshman playing varsity
You can say this is a good thing overall, but people said the same thing 8 years ago. More damage is done by just breaking up teams at this scale. The reality is US soccer leadership has no idea about the damage this will cause.
32% not covered is huge. I really hope they reconsider and change to July 1 or Aug 1. August sees the most births out of any month. They basically said they don't actually care about kids playing with classmates. What is the chance they reconsider or give summer month kids the option to play with their grade?
MLS Next is the gold standard for the US. They should step in and determine a date range. I don't see how MLS Next and ECNL having separate dates is sustainable, not only for managing clubs in both leagues, but finding competitors and club growth opportunitues. How does a team make the jump to MLS Next if their club is on a different age range?
This is NOT good for US soccer.
So when they say players born "before" September 1 can play up a year, they actually meant to say "after"?
August should be a grey month – where you can choose to play up or down.
It’s not “grade” year. October 1st would be grade year. August 1st is not grade year. September 1st is not grade year.
As a coach, this is frustrating. Me and my group are 6 years deep together and are among the top teams in our state, now only to have all that scrambled and have half our team split up. Why not stagger and start this with a certain younger age group.
If USA wanted to help youth soccer follow Europe’s blue print period. Currently club aka premier youth soccer is a PAY to play system.
This decision is better for all of the small clubs that primarily pull from one or two schools. I applaud this change and never understood why they went to calendar year in the first place.
This change should have been done years ago. Kids born at the end of the year tend to get more injuries and sit on the bench more because they didn’t have the maturity to play with kids born at the beginning of the year. One year difference in children is a big difference on maturity and coordination.
The leading clubs in our area switched to the MLS next 2nd tier which is sticking to birth year….
My daughter was born in March 2013, however, she skipped a grade and is now in 7th grade instead of 6th grade – so does this mean she will be on an older team playing against girls that are at least a year older?
This is like being in the Titanic and worry about how you are dressed. Just stick with something and make the whole system work. It seems to me the changes are to confused people that they are doing something for the game and the kids when they are not these changes back and forth don’t make a difference
Just another cluster move. All it does s mess up teams. We did this 8 years ago and it broke up teams and now we do it again. Us soccer only does stuff for money. They do not care about players, teams or families. Period. It’s always about the money.
My kid struggled as a December born. There’s not enough teams here for U9/U11 so the kids go straight to U10/U12. Would’ve benefited her if this was in place earlier. But at the end of the day, some kids will benefit and some will be disadvantaged. I understand either way. If this encourages more teams I’m all for it.
It needs to be the September cut off. Half of the August kids in the country are going to be forced to play up. If they did the Sept cut off it would allow kids to at least choose to play up one month with their grade. You can't play down so those August kids would have no choice but to play in a higher school age group
I think he stated it backwards in the video. It is more advantagous for kids born after sept 1. Because now they play with kids more their age. With fifa rules it is like they play a whole year up.
My son is 2008 and he was a Nov25th birthday. He basically had to play with kids almost a whole year older and most of his club team will graduate a year before he does. Wish this would have been done much longer ago now it’s useless since they aren’t adopting until 2026/2027
I wish you just explained it to the best of your ability in simple terms. For example, if a kid turns 14 on May 1st of the year 2025, do they still play U14 in the fall season or not?
My daughter has been playing with the same girls for the last 3 years, a long time for a child, now they will be split up. This is not what is best for the kids. Having different groups to socialize with is a good thing for kids. Now this is being limited.
Since we are one of the largest nations that play football/soccer and are not a powerhouse, shouldn’t we align ourselves with the way the rest of the world does it. Fix the system with coaching and style and not worry about the small amount of money received because Johnny can play with Blaine now. Just silly
US soccer is all about which parent is able to fork over money for their kid to play at a higher level……
There was absolutely no data used to make this decision.
This is just going to cause teams to break up and more kids to quit. It's a bad solution to a problem that didn't exist.
When kids hit 13 they go through puberty and some just don't want to play in a competitive team and miss out on parties and hanging out with their friends. That has nothing to do with birth year.
I had 3 of my kids in soccer. Pulled them out and they wont play anymore because US soccer for kids is a joke. I can pay a lot less for a comedy show elsewhere.
Why do they keep flip-flopping like this. They made us ho through all the change by age, and all the chaos it caused parents and players stress, it wasn't broken and didn't need fixing.
American soccer should be run BY ONE GOVERNING BODY, not all these little political groups full of power-hungry idiots who are simply trying to justify their existence. AGAIN, this is a new way to demonstrate just how big a sh1t show American soccer is. Shameful.