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Post by youthsoccerdad on Oct 1, 2015 16:09:52 GMT -5
I am guessing from the talk at our club that the switch to a calendar year is out everywhere by now.
What have your kids said about the switch? Not your opinion, but your son or daughters.
My son has a Jan-Mar birthday but is more concerned that most of his good friends at our club will be playing up a year and he will stay in the same age bracket. If he were given a vote I think he would rather it stay the way it is. He doesn't really seem to care too much that by being the oldest that will give him an advantage. He just sees the game as a game and wants to play it with his friends - that is coming from a pretty competitive kid that practices a lot.
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Post by rifle on Oct 1, 2015 17:33:48 GMT -5
Mine's busy doing the calculus, trying to figure out what new team would look like. October birthday. Played with many of the (higher age group) kids in early academy before age groups split out.., but not sure which of those were born in same year. It's been a long time.
Been thru team changes before. New club this year, too. High school soccer coming soon, will just sort it out in the Spring. There will be players regardless.
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Post by Strikermom on Oct 1, 2015 18:39:43 GMT -5
My daughter is really fretting! Has A Jan. 4 birthday and would hate to play in same grouping as U14 sister know. Do you think there will be a petition process?
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Post by spectator on Oct 1, 2015 18:55:24 GMT -5
The only option would be to play up. I can see tons of Jan-Feb birthdays doing that to stay with their friends who have the fall birthdays.
What concerns me is how teams will be placed based on roster continuity - or in this case, lack thereof. Example - an Athena A level team is pretty well split with two birth years. The age group below them that would also have the two birth years is Athena C. Losing half an Athena A roster replacing it with Athena C players isn't continuity or competitive so the girls on the older age team get hosed with placement and would most likely drop to Athena B.
The huge clubs won't have this problem but some girls may leave if they think their new calendar year teams are weaker than what they had before.
Solution to this is grandfather all existing Select teams in and start implementing with Academy and new U13 teams in Fall 2016. Then again that makes entirely too much sense.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Oct 2, 2015 8:47:13 GMT -5
Thats the issue I've brought up in the past, clubs with quality team sandwiched between a younger and older team that isn't the same level will suffer....
Eventually it obviously will all settle in, but you have to assume many families will have to look at other clubs with deeper rosters etc. Look for more chaos again with girls leaving for ecnl clubs which are bigger and have ecnl. short term this will really hurt the smaller clubs that just don't have the depth and consistency from year to year like some of the larger clubs.
I'll be a broken record, but I don't care for the change. Not for selfish reasons, but the exact opposite, it will do more damage than good. Yes, in 2 years, it will be back to normal. Should just be phased in starting at younger ages. Leave the big kids alone. I think the problem is a lot of clubs are drinking the US soccer kool aid.
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Post by SoccerMom on Oct 2, 2015 9:02:43 GMT -5
I still think parents are over analyzing this whole thing. Some kids will play age appropriate, some will play up, some will play both. Everything will work out in the end
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Post by guest on Oct 2, 2015 13:15:29 GMT -5
The only option would be to play up. I can see tons of Jan-Feb birthdays doing that to stay with their friends who have the fall birthdays. What concerns me is how teams will be placed based on roster continuity - or in this case, lack thereof. Example - an Athena A level team is pretty well split with two birth years. The age group below them that would also have the two birth years is Athena C. Losing half an Athena A roster replacing it with Athena C players isn't continuity or competitive so the girls on the older age team get hosed with placement and would most likely drop to Athena B. The huge clubs won't have this problem but some girls may leave if they think their new calendar year teams are weaker than what they had before. Solution to this is grandfather all existing Select teams in and start implementing with Academy and new U13 teams in Fall 2016. Then again that makes entirely too much sense. Playing up is not a real option because that choice is not up to the players or parents. It is the clubs choosing, no? They may allow it or they may not. Depends on who they have in the older year that will be coming down next year. If you are a U14 striker and there are a lot of Jan-July U15 strikers; it's buh-bye for you!
You hit the nail on the head about roster continuity though. There are instances where there is a U16 team, but the club doesn't field a U15 team. For a Jan-July birthday, it's either leave the club or play Rec. Either way this change is just going to accelerate the dramatic drop in youth soccer participation rates.
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Post by guest on Oct 2, 2015 13:18:17 GMT -5
PS: that was my 100th post. Looks like I have just made it to Academy level now. Hooray for me!
Too bad because of my birthday, I will be back down to Jr. Academy next August.
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Post by reinalocura on Oct 2, 2015 14:02:38 GMT -5
I asked my son about it. He said - "I don't care. I'm going to know half my team and not know the other half anyway." And then he went back to playing his game. I asked if it bothered him he may be the same age group again and he said "Nope." Apparently he's good with whatever. Which is showing his maturity level is increasing. That makes me happy for him - that and he just wants to play the game he loves.
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