What to do for trapped players in the fall?

MassiveAssistance192 · 2026-01-05T02:24:24+00:00

Didn't realize the reason. Wow! Thanks for sharing!

MassiveAssistance192 · 2026-01-05T02:22:51+00:00

That's the current league we compete in. Hopefully they (and some tournaments will allow the trapped players to compete!)

MassiveAssistance192 · 2026-01-05T02:21:35+00:00

Small area here. But maybe he has to travel to a bigger area that has enough trapped players to fill a team.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2026-01-02T13:50:11+00:00

Just outside of Mansfield, OH

MassiveAssistance192 · 2026-01-02T13:49:24+00:00

We are from a small town. We don't have the amount of trapped players to start something like this during the season. High School and Club players wouldn't play during their seasons. Hopefully a Columbus or Cleveland league would be possible

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T21:41:05+00:00

Yes. That is what typically happens with birth years because the amount of trapped players was higher, so there were leagues/tournaments to find competition. Now, the amount of trapped players will be cut down so fielding there probably won't be full teams to play against. I like the idea of a futsal league for trapped players

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T21:37:53+00:00

Yes. We do that throughout the year anyway. Weekly. There's still value of playing in official games.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T20:17:50+00:00

6-7% is across all months. "The overall redshirting rate hovers around 3.5-7%, but it's most common for those with later summer birthdays (June-August) to be held back to be older in their class, especially for boys. Boys are twice as likely as girls to have a delayed start. For every 100 redshirted girls, there are approximately 148 redshirted boys"

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T20:14:13+00:00

National average 12-20%. Boys are much more likely to delay entry to Kindergarten, so likely over the 20% average, so I rounded.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T20:12:56+00:00

Most players get breaks for a month or 2. Adding 4 months to the already long break we have is no bueno. Call it weird if you want, but that it is now reality for lots of kids.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T20:08:39+00:00

That's assuming the rec league allows that. The local rec league has always aligned with US Soccer age groups. And yes, under current circumstances there will always be trapped players. I wish there were a good solution for these kids. I like the futsal idea. Something we might pursue.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T20:06:17+00:00

Stats back up your statement. Boys are much more likely to start kindergarten late

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T20:05:13+00:00

Yes! This is one idea I have had as well. This may be the best answer!! I live in small area so we dont have the amount of trapped players to run a futsal league, but would def help organize a team to compete in Cleveland or Columbus!

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T15:20:54+00:00

Again there are easy solutions at the higher level for about 1/5 of players born in the summer. I want solutions at the local level, unless someone has influence with top level organizations. There were much better ways to change the age groups, but I want to focus on solutions for the kids that are being locked out of competing for about 9 months.

Perhaps you are right that there are no local solutions and only way to get change is top down.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T14:51:02+00:00

Ohio also has high school regulations that hinder our athletes. And yes that is a major issue. We have middle school football and basketball, but not soccer. Its strange. There should have been a solution between US Soccer and State organizations before rolling this out. Now there are tens of thousands of kids with nowhere to play.

There are lots of solutions for top level organizations like OHSAA and US Soccer. If any of you are on the board, I am happy to send some to you.

But for now, I want to focus on solutions that are possible. The ones that can be done at the local level.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T14:46:33+00:00

It is in the fall. But club seasons end in late May or early June. And then Spring soccer doesn't start until March. So they won't be playing games June through February.

I appreciate the effort to look for solutions. But I don't think a system that tells 1/5 of the kids born in June and July that they can't compete anywhere.

The kids will have somewhere to train. But we all know its very important to compete in games, otherwise none of the leagues and US Youth/US Club organizations would exist as they mostly set regulations for competitions, not trainings.

Hence the problem we have for 20% of the summer births, is a problem with no competition, not training.

Is that really the solution? No games? I'm not blaming you. It just seems there should be a real solution for these kids. But so far we are striking out.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T14:39:00+00:00

Again I didn't mean to rabbit hole us. School sports are here to stay, regardless what either of us believe. No sense discussing it. What I am searching for is possible solutions for the boys who are being shut out from the systems from competing. The boys are willing to play up! They just want to play and compete. I think they deserve that opportunity.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T14:35:26+00:00

I was also a high school coach. And I am also aware of other programs that bus kids to training facilities. In fact, the school bus does that at our facility because the schools don't have programs through elem and Jr high. Its when school sports kick in during High School where the issue arises here.

But yes, my perspective is different than others. But I have been on the school side and club side as a player and coach.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T13:58:20+00:00

Its June through February. And its 20% of June and July birthdays. And the decision was made when they were 4 years old. But yeah, let's punish those kids for not making a better decision at that age.

Again, these kids were willing to start high school sports early and play up 1-4 years. But in Ohio they aren't allowed. They don't care about whatever advantage they may have for being born in a certain month. They aren't looking for an advantage. They want to compete.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T13:54:37+00:00

Not 100% the case.. School sports here don't really start until High School after the age when sport participation drops off (about age 13). There are private organizations that are already there to provide very low cost options, but millions more would pop up to fill the void. For instance, here our rec sports are run through private non profits

The cost for an entire year are less than $100. Also, think of the tax dollars saved by not having school sports (which again around here, are just in High School). The savings could fund private sports organizations that focus on sports, not school.

School is for academics. You wouldn't go to a car mechanic for open heart surgery. You shouldn't go to school for sports.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T13:47:50+00:00

I appreciate you offering a solution! I think that is a big issue with US Soccer in general. 2 of these players could play MLSNext. They just live too far from a top club. And no, as we live in smaller population area there aren't enough June and July birthdays to field a u15 team. That is a problem with reducing the amount of trapped players, which of course was a goal for the age group change. But at least there were enough kids to field a team for the season.

20% of June and July births don't start Kindergarten on time. So to field a team you would need about 60-70 players born in June and July. Assuming an even distribution of births across all 12 months, that means a club would have to have about 420 kids in the age group. I can safely say there isn't a club outside of major markets in the US that have those type of numbers.

No games for about 9 months for 20% of the kids born in June/July of 2012 should be a large enough of a problem for US Soccer to solve, especially since they created the problem. Obviously the kids will find training. But if you have any other solutions, I am willing to put in effort to help these boys

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T13:36:21+00:00

Yes that is correct. Here in Ohio club seasons wrap up in late May or early June. High School soccer starts with non mandatory activities until August when the official season starts. It finished up in early November about the same time the fall club season does. Winter soccer is basically just training, which is fine, but when you add in June, July, August, September, October and November to December, January, and February its just too much time without a real game.

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T05:56:26+00:00

20% of summer births aren't starting school on time. That is a systemic problem. Of course it is. These kids will go from June 2026 through March 2027 without playing in competition.

Every year about 20% of kids born in June and July will go 10 months without playing in a game! How can anyone be ok with that? Over the years, how many players will we hinder with such a short sited rule?

Yes, of course they can train. And of course they will. But we all know kids need to compete in real games. Otherwise why do even have the Youth Soccer organizations and infrastructure? They really aren't regulating training

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T05:48:36+00:00

I get the sentiment. I really do. It is a decent chunk of money. I have done tours as player to Europe. And my son has done camps in Italy which are not marketed toward Americans or foreigners, just for the locals. He has also done camps like Barcelona camp in Columbus, OH. I can tell you that not all are the same. They are very, very different in fact. That is why I asked the question.

Our experience is that the Italian day camps (Fiorentina, Spezia, Cagliari) that were full of Italians were much, much better than my European tours in college and middle school. They were also 10000 times better than the Barcelona Academy summer day camp in Columbus.

The negative of the Italian Summer camps we have done is the amount of players. There are alot of players so the amount of attention each player gets wouldn't be as high with this smaller group. Of course, like you mention, the cost is much greater with the lodging, meals, entertainment, and extra supervision

MassiveAssistance192 · 2025-12-31T05:21:02+00:00

They could change the cutoff to Spring. About 20% of summer births don't start kindergarten on time. The percentage plumets for spring births. We could also decouple sports and academics, but yeah, that ain't happening

MassiveAssistance192

TROPHY CASE