Here we go again...

[@andrewlove1987]

I agree that this topic is a complete waste of time and resources. There are far more important issues to work on than this. It’s shortsighted and feels heavily influenced by a few parents. There are far bigger issues to tackle and this is why we fall behind. The politics behind youth soccer in the US is so off putting.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

This!

[@crwfabrication8350]

While this isn't the most important issue it isn't a waste of time and its far more than a "few parents". Moving to the non-relevant year group classification in the first place was driven by the extreme few at the detriment of the great majority. The change to year group in the first place was the original political iron boot actions of the elite. The masses have finally fought back to bring rule back to how it always was, it should have never been changed in the first place. And we are not falling behind because of age group dates or the politics of the different organizations. We are falling behind because in the United States we have hundreds of activities and sports available to students in high school and college while other countries such as Brazil, with the most World Cups, has one field sport... soccer. If we had only one sport in the United States, we'd dominate the world. But we don't, we have more sports and activities than the entire world combined. In fact we created more sports and activities than the rest of the world combined has created, that the rest of the world plays not. Just a quick search of college sports and campus sponsored activities yields over 100 options. Soccer in the big scheme of things is irrelevant in the United States. Compete with that. An 18-year-old male has a wide array of sports available to him, both through organized programs and for recreational participation, including: Every Division I NCAA sport in the United States includes baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, cross country, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, rowing, skiing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling. The top 20 niche sports, considering their popularity, are skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX (racing and freestyle), e-sports (competitive video gaming), ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, pickleball, freestyle motocross (FMX), disc golf, spikeball, surfing, kiteboarding/kitesurfing, wakeboarding, roller derby, parkour/freerunning, drone racing, futsal, beach soccer, beach volleyball, and snowmobiling. Almost every sport including niche sports and activities in college: skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX, e-sports, ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, pickleball, freestyle motocross, disc golf, spikeball, surfing, kiteboarding, wakeboarding, roller derby, parkour, drone racing, futsal, beach soccer, beach volleyball, snowmobiling, spearfishing, canoe polo, dragon boat racing, field archery, hurling, Gaelic football, kabaddi, quidditch, sumo wrestling, paintball, airsoft, windsurfing, skimboarding, bodyboarding, stand-up paddleboarding, canoeing, kayaking, whitewater kayaking, slalom canoeing, rafting, hovercraft racing, laser tag, capture the flag, beach tennis, beach wrestling, dodgeball, floor hockey, indoor soccer, team handball, beach golf, powerboat racing, jet ski racing, ice sailing, rowing, sailing, yacht racing, offshore powerboat racing, flyboarding, land sailing, underwater target shooting, underwater orienteering, platform diving, springboard diving, synchronized diving, marathon swimming, aquathlon, underwater photography, underwater videography, modern pentathlon, artistic swimming, triathlon, broomball, roller hockey, cornhole, horseshoes, darts, billiards, snooker, shuffleboard, archery, MMA, indoor skydiving, and too many more to continue listing. Now tell me that the politics of soccer is why we're not progressing in soccer. If you lose a soccer player during the gap year, he's not coming back. If you lose a player for a season because he's not having fun because he isn't playing with his friends... he's off to one of the other 100 sports or activities he can play with his friends and if he wants to come back a year later, he's now too far behind in skill and will quit again. How many kids can we really afford to lose so that we can cater to the .00001 percent who are but hurt over not being competitive internationally?

[@MrCoolmusclecar]

Rec club administrator here. Our membership dropped ~25% when the birth year mandate was adopted and we had to raise fees to our members (non-profit). We have enough members to run U6-U12 ourselves (no ties with other clubs needed) so our club put school year placement back in place after covid and the membership bumped back up ~20%. The birth year placement decision was the worst decision the club ever made. Our numbers are healthier, but not at the peak in 2015. Kids want to play with their friends.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

This is very true.

[@stannelson2582]

Having a late Oct daughter I’ve seen it all. Fall rec by grade summer club by birth year. Then 7th grade school. The two largest issue is splitting of teams and the growth differences within a grade. It’s very difficult on late year birth girls 5-7 grades to battle with girls born earlier in the year. There is such a physical difference to point that I have questioned the safety aspect of it. But 8th grade on I believe it evens out. Good and bad. Watching my daughter play club with her birth year then watching her play by grade. Lil vs big. So glad playing against the “big girls” is a challenge she embraces and has made her a better player. Not the case for most though. Lil club soccer national club soccer school soccer life!!!!!

[@charlenemeza8432]

I don't like calendar year. I have a team that was created this year and because I have girls born in 2016 and 2017 the 2017 age instead of playing 5v5 are playing 7v7, not a big deal since not all organizations do 5v5 and it's only 1 year. The problem arises that our age bracket for games isn't just U9 it's U9/U10. So I have girls playing against girls born in 2015... doesn't sound terrible until you realize it's 4th graders against 1st graders since I have 4 girls born in sept-dec of 2017.

[@RobertDengel]

Being able to form a team around a Grade at a school is so much easier for group dynamics. Especially when the kids are young the group dynamic of what is significant. For instance attention of what is expected in the classroom from a second grader versus a third grader is sizable and can be noticed on the field.

[@briankim1626]

Hi Robert, no matter where we draw the lines there will always be 12 months between the lines. Even under school year, someone born on 8/2 is going to be basically a full year older than someone born on 7/30 of the following year. Yet they will be in the same grade and same soccer team. Often this means bigger, faster, and more emotionally and mentally mature. I really don’t understand how this is such a problem with birth year but somehow solved by going to school year…

[@AkilStokes]

I was waiting for someone to do a video on this. Thank you! Can't wait to check it out!

[@bryanlowe6283]

Big fan of changing back.

[@albertyi2593]

A link to the announcement in the description would be great so we can read for ourselves as well! You make very good points; and a big thank you for bringing this to our attention!

[@steveelliser564]

Great analysis, Rory. Aligning fall soccer season starts with the school cut-off dates effectively does the same thing for that part of the year. This only has an impact on students who are slightly older than their peers or started school a year late for any number of reasons. We live in a small town so multiple ages/grades are frequently grouped together as well. U11/U12 and U13/U14 are universally fielded as single teams here and perform well against single-cohort teams in our county.

[@AuggieFisher]

Would love it if we grandfathered in all existing/already formed teams, and applied this for newly forming U8 teams going forward. This gets us the long term benefits (…in the long term) without impacting all of the players and teams already formed in the system.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Get this man on a BOD somewhere.

[@KidsAndCardsAndSoccer]

I would argue this is well worth the time and resources - almost entirely because of the trapped player problem. Leaving a painful number of kids without a team for two seasons in their short childhood is sad. While this change may not eliminate it entirely in some states it will reduce it by 70%... 80%... or 90%... whatever the percentage is... it will dramatically reduce the problem.

[@alfieds13]

Thank you for laying this all out and the background for it. Where I live in Massachusetts, our travel league goes by grade while our club team goes by birth year…too much of a headache and confusing for players! Let’s just pick one and stick with it. I agree that this is not a significant issue and we should be focusing more on issues that really benefit player development.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yeah that is confusing. We’ll see what happens!

[@jamind7680]

Completely agree that there are certainly more pressing things soccer in US should be focusing on. With that said, I am for going back to school year. I think it is a little better system for reasons you give. Thanks for doing video. I was waiting for someone like yourself to discuss.

[@JKM1099]

Have they made a final decision of going back to school year? Thought the vote was yesterday.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Haven’t heard anything.

[@JoeWalsh-o7z]

I did not see if it got approved. When will it be announced?

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Don’t know.

[@briankim1626]

Former club coach here and parent of a B2010 playing on an elite team. I think the “benefits” of one system over the other are so minimal and definitely not worth the short term pain of switching. Our elite club team is going to be split in half, right down the middle. My son was U7 in 2017 so he will have the privilege of having been through this disruptive change twice. If school year was so great they should have left it as is in 2017. Now that we are on birth year, we should just leave it as is. Never understood the argument of “playing with your friends”. Pre-2017 there were always new kids on each of my son’s teams whom he had never met before. They played together and became friends. Post-2017, there were always a couple of old friends on each of his teams. Scrambling the whole system just so kids can “play with their friends” seems like a lot of pain for no real gain. As for the “trapped player” issue: the 8th graders on my son’s team will continue to train like normal and play friendlies. The 9th graders will take a break, practice and play with their high school team, and rejoin the club team in early Spring 2025. No problem here. Please, USSF, do not force a disruptive solution on us for problems which are not really problems!

[@TheGeoEngineer]

Switching to scholastic year grouping could be awesome for rec soccer! In my experience (5 years coaching rec soccer for two kids in different clubs, pre/post covid) kids often play closer to their grade level in rec, so having even more teammates who are also classmates would make it more enjoyable and likely boost signups (and re-signups!!), especially for younger ages. Plus, parents would probably be more involved since they’d already know each other through school. On the competitive side, I have concerns. If this change happens, it’s critical that both individual skills and overall team dynamics are assessed thoroughly to ensure that players are placed on teams where they can grow and succeed. Right now, with the pay-to-play system and semi-permanent rosters, team rosters aren’t always getting the re-evaluations they need each season. Without a strong focus on accurate and regular assessments, this shift could make things even more complicated--- For instance-- I’ve seen online forums where some coaches talk about planning to keep their current teams together by having younger players just “play up”, which feels like a mistake to me- for their team and for kids who couldve otherwise been properly placed on that team.

[@MysticLoogie]

Maybe I'm a rare exception... with 2 kids in the sport (1 Feb bday and 1 May bday) I think birth year vs school year is a positive change. At the youth levels, I like that my kids are expanding their social circle OUTSIDE of their specific class grade. Learning to communicate and cooperate with players who you don't see everyday is a very important skill. You will also not eliminate "that kid" who gets held back a year being in a different age bracket than his grade; you just have to draw the line somewhere. If you want to put some math behind it, you could just look at the birthday distribution of registered players to quantify how many players are ACTUALLY effected. Historically in the USA, July through October is the most common birthday in the USA (with September 9th being the most common). So putting a Sept 1st cut off date, you create the largest pool of "maximum aged players" within an age group. If you made the cut off date end of November, you would actually minimize RAE based on birthday distributions.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yeah I don’t think really an issue that needed changing.

[@l81tlons]

What's the solution for trapped players. Just tell them not to play and be ok with it?

[@thatoneguysaid]

Would like to note trapped players are impacted with middle school soccer programs as well as high school.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Great point! Missed that.

[@martindms77]

What I get from this, is it's meant to boost enrollment and retain players. I have seen players quit because their classmates are on their team in the fall but they moved to New team in the spring. I think retention is the main factor. Like you also said, "pay to play", the more kids you retain, the more money you can bring in.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Excellent point. Very well could have something to do with it and reason why the youth soccer governing bodies would actually work together.

[@martindms77]

​@@CoachRorySoccer As a u10 coach and a parent with a child who has a September birthday, I'm very interested to see how this turns out

[@psugem]

I am not in favor of this switch back. I think it favors the kids that start kindergarten at 6yo (and can be an incentive to hold kids back) as opposed to 5yo. All 3 of my own children started school at 5yo (they were ready and continue to thrive in school) and MANY of their school peers are an entire year older than them, which does make sports teams more challenging as it is not always a level playing field. I liked the birth year because it eliminated that aspect. My kids also go to a large school district (multiple elementary schools) so getting to know kids throughout our district on sports teams, (outside of classrooms) has typically been a positive experience, increased their circle of friends and taken away the "clique" atmosphere that can also develop on youth teams. I also feel there are WAY bigger problems and this does not seem like it should be a priority. I would love to see more invested in youth coach training (NOT just this winning environment, but true development of youth sports).

[@coach-brandon-fcd]

Short term it'll be a mess for sure. I have 2012s and 2009s at club and coach high school. My 09s and 12s would basically have to get rebuilt next year, but it is what it is. As you said, weird thing to focus on. I'd love to see a video about the "small-sided" aspect. My 2012 boys are now 11v11 ... but physically still at a 9v9 level. It's been painful. A few of my coaching buddies from the UK educated me on Germany's new system they are trying and Spain's systems as well. Very interesting stuff.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yes I am planning a video on this specifically. Germany went to a Funino model. Some successes and some failures.

[@SilverDollar6]

Short term mess for some, but not all. I see this effecting smaller clubs or Rec leauges who may already have issues fielding multiple teams in the same age groups. Larger clubs will simply shift younger players down and they will become starters instead of bench players. Easy sell for the kiddos. I go in a bit different direction then @CoachRorySoccer when it comes to the question of... Why the change? To me it gets to the heart of the matter effecting boys soccer in the USA, culture. Culture is why we have Pay to play, coaching issues and player development challenges. When(not if) the USA becomes a soccer culture, things are gonna change! How do we change culture? We keep our most athletic boys in Soccer. What do I mean? Soccer is cheap and fun at the elementary school age so MANY American families start their children out in soccer even though its a bit of a mess organizationaly(Rec, Club, YMCA...etc). Kids also want to play with their buds, and most of their friends are schoolmates at the same school in the same grade. So what happens when they become middle schoolers and many more athletic choices open up to them? My experience is they tend to stick together. Peer pressure at this age is huge. If there is a large enough cohort playing soccer, soccer stays cool and we keep playing soccer, right? Well, in the current system, half the kids in class play on a different team and if one happens to be the only one in class playing on the team, maybe they start to think about playing football(NOOOO!) with the other cohort in the class. See my point?

[@SantaKrewOG]

We should have never switched to birth year.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Many agree.

[@robertoldham3760]

US Soccer should change format while they’re at at it U8 - 3v3 U9-U10 - 5v5 U11-U12 - 7v7 U13-U15 - 9v9 Probably no money in such a change though

[@CoachRorySoccer]

I have a video planned on this very topic. Concept is called Funino and would advocate even smaller sided games 1v1 2v2 in youngest ages.

[@parkehumphrey7151]

I have advocated for smaller sided at our rural club. Field space and number of coaches can make it more challenging from a logistics standpoint.

[@bigchkn17]

AYSO has championed developmental soccer forever. U6/7 is 3 v3, U8 4 v 4, U10 7 v 7, U12 9 v 9 and U14+ is 11 v 11 with appropriate sized fields. Sooooo many more touches on the ball with small sided games. The Netherlands is the godfather of this and it pays....(btw, I like your even smaller sided suggestion!)

[@boardandbikecam]

Please go back! I have an 8th grader who was dramatically impacted by not playing with her grade and I'd love 4 years for her to be with her cohort

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yes this affected a lot of players.

[@Tusholt83]

Guess what? This goes on with lots of 8th graders and seniors in the old system too

[@dereksorg9292]

When I was younger, we had kids in different grades playing on the same team. Every state has a different school year start date and it will still result in kids from different grades playing together - which is not a bad thing!

[@boardandbikecam]

I don't understand how so ​@@Tusholt83

[@boardandbikecam]

​@@dereksorg9292it is if your child is an introvert and already struggles with friends

[@Artie_Fufkin]

The last point is the correct one. The issue is a distraction from the real issues. Appreciate you always highlighting the messed up pay to play system.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

💯

[@bretthadley2043]

@@Artie_Fufkin very true. Soccer is a mess. Look no further than our local clubs. We have more clubs than field space available. We often get left with 8 teams to a field! Don't get me started on the quality of clubs and coaching 🤦🤦🤦 no wonder most players have to make the hour drive to San Diego

[@danielbaulig]

There’s folks right here in the comments saying that this change is good because it makes their end of year born kids play in more age appropriate groupings. It’s this kind of self-centered view on the world that fosters pay to play and similar broader issues in US society. Don’t want to get too political here, but like lack of access to health care and higher education are the *exact* same problem. They are “pay to play” just on a societal level. Man this annoys me. Thank you for listening to my rant.

[@bretthadley2043]

@ well… I have to totally disagree with you. Soccer just like healthcare is not a fundamental right. Healthcare never can be by definition. I nor Dr. Rory went to medical school to become slaves to others and be forced to provide their healthcare. Higher education is easily obtainable for nearly everyone in the US. I’ve lived outside the USA. There is a reason millions come here. Even in soccer it will never be “fair” as life isn’t fair. I don’t want to get into politics but you brought politics into it. Let’s stick to a game that unites us all. Does the system need to be fixed. Yes it does. The European clubs are in this for money just as much as our local clubs.

[@danielbaulig]

@ Yeah, you are right, this is not the right place or forum to discuss politics. But I do stand by my argument that the problems we are seeing caused by the pay to play system are transferable to healthcare and higher education. We have the same systems in place (pay to participate) and they are causing the same problems (economically underprivileged get excluded and as a result can not effectively contribute to the overall outcome and excellence).

[@CurtMontague]

Thanks. What about kids who are born in August? In CA the age cut off for school is Sept 1. If the age cutoff for grades was the same across the country I could see that this would make sense.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Right. This is an issue with state to state differences in cut offs.

[@bradleyinkrott4381]

Funny part is a TON of parents with summer birthday kids are holding them back, so with the August 1 cutoff they still will have to play a grade "up."

[@SteveSimpson-es6of]

The Seattle Youth Soccer Association (USYS/WYS) refused to go along with the birth year change for its rec soccer programs back in 2017. As a neighborhood club admin since the pandemic, I think has paid off in keeping local communities and thus teams together longer than in other rec leagues around us that accepted the change. We snapped back to full strength right after schools went back in. For rec at least (i.e., the great majority of all soccer played), schools & classrooms are also an organizing force in getting kids into the program. This change leverages that free organizing and marketing.

[@bigchkn17]

Thank you Steve for your perspective. Truckee AYSO went along with it and it decimated our U15 program. We can now barely field 3 teams for U16. Stoked this is happening.

[@JKM1099]

How likely will we change back to school year starting next fall(2025)?

[@CoachRorySoccer]

I don’t have any insider info but from what I’m reading more likely than not.

[@teamswatsoftball]

Are you going to address the recent decision? I was so motivated that I did an IG Live

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yes next week will have full video out. Out of town vacation. I did post it in community tab.

[@henriquerocha8536]

Hello everyone! Very off topic but is there any video tool that easily allows to edit and point out some positional concepts?

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Actual game film or tactical board? I use tactical pad for many of the video on this channel.

[@henriquerocha8536]

@CoachRorySoccer actual game film

[@CoachRorySoccer]

@ gotcha. My main experience is with editing that comes with camera so Veo and Trace.

[@henriquerocha8536]

@@CoachRorySoccer ok thank you so much!

[@bschmitmeyer]

Our 8yo daughter would be in the small % of trapped players with a July birthday and looks to be the only 3rd grader on her club team of all 4th graders next year. Any truth to the rumor I heard from another soccer parent that she'd have a choice to "play down" with her grade?

[@youperguy]

The problem with "School" year ages as that EVERY state uses different birthdays for School start. In Virginia it is October 1st. In other states, it is September 1st or November 1st or August 1st. Under the "old" school year date of August 1st kids in August and September in Virginia were also not with their classmates. January 1st is the easiest date, and I have a kid with a December birthday.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

💯

[@jarhead_jr]

So my question is how would this break down from a 7v7 vs. 9v9 and 9v9 vs. 11v11 stand point. I coach U10 boys so we are intending to play spring as our last season at 7v7...my son is an Oct birth day so would assume that Aug-Jul team still plays 7v7 in the spring, but what about next Fall? Half the team should have one more year of 7v7 and half the team should be at 9v9. We can't do another year of 7v7 with our boys. Our local fields are TOO small and you can't actually play soccer as it should be played.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yeah so U10 is currently birth year 2015s. So next fall U10s would be Aug 2015-July 2016. Your son would do another year of 7v7.

[@jarhead_jr]

@@CoachRorySoccer Or would they call that U11 since kids would be turning 10 throughout fall and spring seasons? Thanks for doing this video.

[@sarahyates9664]

Our academic calender starts Sept 1st so the whole month of Aug birthdays would be an issue. Aug birthdays would technically have to play up to stay with their grade level.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

I’m not sure the exact date has been set but yes this is one of the problems each state can be different in terms of specific date they begin a grade.

[@toyvalenzuela1049]

I coach my sons team and if this was to go through unfortunately i would probably lose my entire team. My son was born in December and majority of his team is born before September. He wouls pretty much be the only player left behind.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yeah there are real implications.

[@l81tlons]

I don't know how many times I've said this, the kids can play up with the change. Under the current calendar year format, kids cannot play down, so trapped players lose out on playing soccer. I'm not sure why people don't see that. Actually i think they do, they just don't care.

[@djhammond82]

I have seen when people are in conflict, sometimes the best thing to do is get together, eat pizza, and talk about something completely unrelated to the issue at hand (Harry Potter, how the Vikings aren't going to win another game all season, if Avatar The Last Airbender is still must see viewing for kids, etc.). The only rule in this time: no talking about the big issue. It builds bridges and other pathways for conversations to traverse when it comes to much weightier topics. I feel like the age grouping conversation could be this type of conversation for the governing bodies. COULD be. There are so many other issues to tackle, but they need to learn how to communicate clearly before they jump into fixing them. But I don't have high hopes.

[@elindenstein]

Our 2014 Team has been together for awhile, for the most part. It's been great developing the girls. We've had all 2014 and then one girl from 2015 play up. However next year, half the team will be 6th graders and half will be 5th. Would this change allow us to register as a 6th grade team and just have half of our players play up?

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Not 100% sure.

[@elindenstein]

@CoachRorySoccer We have our end of year party on November 10th and I'd love to be able to explain what's going on to all the players and families then. It would be a heartbreaker to have our run end like that.

[@bradleyinkrott4381]

Yes, you can play "up" up to 2 grades under the latest proposal.

[@ruckerz]

@@elindensteinno rush, I dont expect this to be enacted until fall 2025, not this spring ?

[@stevenecheverria5032]

What they have to do is give you the job 😅 obviously you really care and are well informed I’m sure you would do well

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Thank you! They do have my information. 😂. I’m a US licensed coach.

[@danieln3999]

Our parents cannot figure out birth year though it is incredibly simple. I guess other sports leagues at the park use school year. My preference is birth year as where we are located we get kids from two states and different school systems as well. We are already mingling kids who are not class mates so the "play with your grade" doesn't matter. Our club also does U4, U6, U8, U10, U12, U15, U19. Especially on the older age groups and especially in the fall season when the league year starts, you get small kids playing against big kids. That is just part of sports.

[@ZaydenTesfai]

My son is born in Jan 24th and is advanced cruising u6 playing u8 now as a 5 year old almost 6. How does these changes effect him I don’t get it? Regardless if you are good you play up if your not good you stay your level? Please explain long term and short term effects I’m confused. Sorry soccer is not my sport and only learning it because my son loves it

[@CoachRorySoccer]

This wouldn’t specifically affect your son as he is January birthday. It could potentially impact his team for later birth years however.

[@ZaydenTesfai]

@ okay good to hear I have nothing to worry about😅 tbh I see a lot of comments and people talking about the social aspect or playing with teammates. Idk why everyone is concerned about that, everyone should be worried about their own son/daughter individual development. Teammates come and go that’s normal. Me personally I could care less about his teammates as long as they are good athletes and good kids.

[@aaronwellman6473]

Some of the pros are silly, at least if you’re from a smaller club. My son is the only 5th grader from his school playing on his current club team (he does have a teammate from the same school who is in 4th grade). I also don’t understand the college recruitment argument: a good club will have a coach or manager promoting the entire roster to college coaches and giving them know ALL the information they need. Admittedly, I’m speaking from a place of bias. Our little 2014/15 team has such a wonderful dynamic. Most of us have already agreed to stay together and play up if necessary.

[@BobBallsache-ub5kg]

I think the School year is better due to the Trapped Player issue but it probably doesn't really make much difference as long run as its consistent. However, its BANANAS the official statement from the official governing bodies of youth soccer in the US why to shift from Birth Year to "School Year" is the reduction in Relative Age Effect. Age group cutoffs are completely arbitrary. Someone will always be the oldest and someone will always be the youngest! All this means instead of kids born in Dec are the youngest, now its kids born in July. The fact these governing bodies are putting this forward as an official rationale belies either a serious intellectual deficiency (they genuinely don't understand RAE) or arrogance with respect to their constituents (they think we don't understand RAE) from the governing bodies that is hilarious.

[@coachbjorn]

Hey Dr. Rory, Yeah... I'm all in favor of this. For my kid it means a third year of 9v9, which sounds like an amazing opportunity for him. He's late Dec. birthday and he's been playing with kids a grade above him since he started. The guessed at cutoff of Aug. 1 will not match our area's Sept. 1 grade cutoff, so I'm proposing to our club that we allow the Aug. birthdays to try out for their grade-level team and don't trap them to play with 5th graders if they and all their friends are in 6th grade. Nov. 22nd... let's go. I'll also add, the three gov. body statement used a lot of words and doesn't say anything. Do they have a position? What are they advocating for, or against for that matter. It is almost a statement to try to tell people that they matter.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Great point on the last paragraph. This could be a lot of talk and nothing happens as well. The leadership structure in youth soccer is very flawed.

[@lauratrumbo8901]

It does create a weird situation for kids in states that have different school cut offs. Our state is Sept 1. I have an August kid. So he will not be playing with his school grade anyway. Every state has a different cut off, so the proposed Aug 1 cut off is arbitrary anyway. Just creates a different kind of trapped player.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Exactly

[@bretthadley2043]

I have a December 30th kid .... It wasn't an issue until this year when the physiological changes became much more apparent. I however like that he is challenged and has to raise his level of play to compensate for the physical limitations/disadvantages. But on the flip side it would be nice to have him playing with kids the same age and grade. However if the change happens.... He's not changing teams so 😂😂😂

[@michaell31]

My son is one of those 8th graders playing on a 2010 travel team. The team has twelve 9th graders and three 8th graders. His birthday is in November. He had no fall season this year. If the change is made can he play up and stay on the newly reclassified 9th grade team and stay with his current team?

[@CoachRorySoccer]

There are several options. Depends on specific club/team situation

[@TinaAnderson-y6p]

If they change to grades and your child was held back a year would they play in the grade that they in or play up as they never gotten held back.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

No it will still technically go by a timeframe not grade. But most kids in same grade would be playing same soccer age. So for example U12 next season could potentially be Aug 1 2013-July 31 2014 births. The held back thing won’t matter.

[@WilliamWallaceTheSecond]

If youth soccer was all just USYS like it was before they could just let each state decide for local leagues and then just have a blanket birthdate range for the national tournaments based on your oldest player. The assortment of alphabet leagues makes this not feasible

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Yep. Big problem. Don’t need all these governing bodies and leagues.

[@battlefield1942bob]

You're right. I think there are bigger fish to fry so to speak, but this was affecting the bottom line. Participation dropped notably. Thus less revenue. One study I read showed boys 6-12 down 14% nationwide average. When soccer is arguably more popular now. Both my kids play up and I don't know if I can continue to afford it. The pay to play system is broken but this move makes me think they are doubling down on it.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Great point.

[@hotdealwire]

Based on the economic theory, the most profitable offering will be the one that satisfies the most demand. Has anyone mentioned that birth year results in 8th graders having no team to play with? The older players on the team go to high school, the younger ones usually just have 4 remaining players to form a team.

[@thowetraining]

Player development occurs within a team context. It is rare and precious to find a team with coaching staff that knows how to develop players. That will be extremely disrupted. For teams in the middle grade school years that are well-coached and well-organized,it will be several years before the new players are caught up. Terrible idea.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Don’t shoot the messenger. 😂

[@thowetraining]

@@CoachRorySoccer Not directed your way at all, directed at the Youth Soccer Industrial Complex... you're one of the coaches that will end up with half the kids having to catch up to the half that you were already coaching.

[@ssam143]

I hope it changes to school year.

[@_Juniorrr_]

might be a controversial opinion but i coach my 11s boys team and my son is a july 29th so unfortunately he would be the youngest player out there and also i would lose half my team sadly because all my players are mainly late 11s and i just feel like birth year is much more simple than school year (however my son or myself has not played or coached when it was school year so we are not used to it) but it is what it is

[@AgtMichaelScarn]

As always, “follow the money.” In a way, this IS about pay to play, but not from the angle you’d wish. I’d be curious to see if data shows a number of trapped kids leave the game/leave the club. That = less $$ for the club and, cynically, I’d venture to guess this is more about the money than playing with your buds from school. Anecdotally I’m torn. I have a 2012 December kid. Their team has a really good thing going right now that would suck to break up, but we’re headed toward that trap in 2 years. And at the same time, majority of the competition is just a little bigger/stronger than mine. However, that’s a “our” problem. This doesn’t really resolve the issue it would just shift that burden to June/July kids. The crime in all of this is the reckless, lustful adults not taking this timing into consideration when they go to make whooppee. Shame on them.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Great post.

[@ssam143]

My 10 yr old son was born in December. 11 months of development makes a big difference among adolescent boys.

[@coachbjorn]

Same... Dec. 20... and I'm looking forward to him playing with his classmates and not with Jr. High kids.

[@danielbaulig]

I get what you guys are saying, but in regards to how the kids are grouped this just shifts the burden to other families and kids. Not trying to make an argument for or against the change, but now kids born in June will have similar problems.

[@coachbjorn]

@danielbaulig but grade level makes more sense than not

[@danielbaulig]

@@coachbjorn if it is still a one year grouping, then it doesn’t help with the problem you described, it just shifts it to a different group of kids. I’m not arguing that this form of grouping is better or worse or more or less intuitive. But it doesn’t solve the problem of playing with older kids, it just makes other kids play with older kids.

[@coachbjorn]

@danielbaulig the whole point is that it's still the same grade level, just like Rory says in the video

[@conrailhbgline]

There will be trapped players still. NJ is October 1 through September 30, other states are August 1 to July 31, and some September 1 to August 31. Any kid in NJ born in August and September will be trapped. Also, players held back a year or "gray-shirted" will also be an issue. I've seen this in Basketball and Lacrosse. I also ran a count on my club's current travel rosters, 41.3% of our kids will be affected by this and move to new teams. Of course, 5 months out of 12 is 41.167% so statistically that at least make sense.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Great points.

[@Ccook2005]

Sounds like there are more pertinent issues! I can give you one. Why does our youth soccer association let Academys play against league teams? League teams are restricted to practicing 1 hr twice a week, league can't cut a player and are assigned new players that might have never played..

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Playing levels are a big issue across the board. No doubt.

[@bigkrazy15]

I hope they do not adopt. I have an already young 2015 team with close to half 2016 kids. We are a small club in a small town. My options will be to play them against even older competition or break up the team.

[@MrCoolmusclecar]

It is not like the "mandate" is going to be strictly enforced. The birth year "mandate" was not. A lot of clubs had a transition plan when they switched before, and it is actually easier to go back to school year. Most clubs allow a kid to play up anyway so you should be fine for the next 2 years. At your ages the different skill level is not as significant as a teenage players with ~1 year. There will be natural attrition the next couple of years as the kids organically age out.

[@CrystalMullen-t5z]

I coach my son's U10 team. He's a late Nov birthday. He's 7 and won't be 8 until after the season is over, and some teammates are getting ready to turn 10. 2nd graders and 4th graders. .... It's a huge gap.

[@chadgillham1370]

In my opinion this decision will discriminate against boys with summer birthdays that start kindergarten at the age of 6, as recommended by pediatricians and existing research. They will always play a grade up and will have no chance of having a team in the 8th grade and senior year. For you to say that current "trapped" players have no where to play is not true as there are secondary leagues for older 8th graders in many areas.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

Not familiar with these secondary leagues you speak of. Whatever they do there seems to be issues. Just moving goals posts really. As I said in video I don’t see this as a high priority issue in the game right now.

[@Coach_I]

I am hoping it happens. Both my kids became trapped players when they went to birth year and it really hurt the rest of their playing.

[@DavidPetrous]

Great feedback Coach. I’m not a fan of it. Seeing more students who the parents hold them back a year since they believe it will help them athletically and academically. I’m not a fan of playing down to the competition. Sees teams consistently playing a level or even two levels down in mid year and season ending tournaments. Once kids are passed 8 years it’s the ability to learn that sets them apart. We have bigger issues. Feels like they are hiding a business decision that affects their income.

[@CoachRorySoccer]

This is an interesting thought for sure!

[@conrailhbgline]

Except US Soccer, unlike USA Basketball and US Lacrosse are not doing it specifically by grade, it is still your birthday setting the teams. I have seen these "gray-shirts" in those other two sports absolutely dominate the youth games. I do not believe with US Soccer going to using actual birthdays and not graduation year, we will see the same issues.

[@chrisgarty]

The change would still be based on age, not grade, but the age would be based on school year (starting September 1) not birth year (starting January 1), so kids that were held back a year wouldn’t gain an advantage in youth soccer. However those kids do have an advantage when the middle/high school soccer starts…

[@ryandpmp]

My initial thoughts on the change all related to how it could possibly benefit the those that choose to “redshirt” their kids by holding them back a grade. Glad to hear that is not the case.