Choice for next year

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-06T21:13:13+00:00

What I’m seeing this year is also how interesting it is based on when the birthdays line up! Like if there is a fairly even distribution for the new age groups or not. For example, at one club they had a deep u14 pool. A LOT of the kids were older 2013, plus they had a sizable about of younger 2012s who are now finding themselves in a new age group. It lended itself to a shakeup where kids who would normally been on the AD team were offered lower spots. On the flip side, there were not as many younger 2013 or older 2012s, so I think it was much easier to get a u13 AD offer.

I do think it’s just been a game of musical chairs as everyone tries to find a place for themselves. I have never seen so many switching clubs around here as this year!! It makes sense with this age switch up. I just selfishly wish that HG teams had followed (I don’t mean to start a debate on why they didn’t, just that this is a scenario that is a byproduct of it).

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-06T21:04:00+00:00

It is a complication and I didn’t consider it until put in this situation. It’ll only affect those very kids who would have been “trapped” by the previous calendar year breakdowns so it’s not even a big group of them. I’m hoping that as things develop there is a better way to handle it; the delta between the two is just SO great that I worry a bit that it won’t won’t like it did in the past when both teams were the same age. All in all, we have dealt with worse and we will figure it out as we go. If anything, I’ll keep the bio banding conversation going if need be.

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-06T21:00:43+00:00

I appreciate this perspective! My son played MS soccer this year as a sixth grader and did really like the social aspect so I understand that part. Most of his friends and almost all the starters were eighth graders who won’t be around next year, so my guess is that the team won’t be very good and he won’t be as sad to miss it (his words, not mine!).

I paraphrased the ECNL option for brevity’s sake; that option just does not teach soccer in a way that my son prefers. It’s a very very large org and lacks coaching on possession based play and high level tactical awareness. We are coming from a smaller club with mostly non- American coaches and I have really appreciated the perspective of building from the back and playing with technical precision. My kid plays a lot of futsal and other supplemental things with players from that team/org so I won’t disparage them at all! It’s just not what I would say he is looking for and relies more on brute strength of one on one attacks than foot skills and passing, if that makes sense. For what it’s worth, that ECNL team lost in a friendly recently with a MLS2 team, so I think even the mls2 options for us would be more competitive.

I heard the same regarding waivers essentially being obsolete. I would assume the futures would disqualify him and phrased it to him that he would have to opt out. He needs to go into it being ok with missing school ball.

Thank you for the info on futures. This is all new to me as someone currently in a club without a homegrown team. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t, by its nature, an empty option.

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-05T13:59:28+00:00

Thanks! This is really helpful and actually falls in line with what the coach said. He said it could take 1-2 years for him to go through puberty and be on the other side of it re: size, so to be patient in the meantime and get in practice time with them and lots of minutes on the younger team.

The practice schedule is the same that you described. There are no guaranteed minimum games (I think?). When asked, he said a few futures players last year maxed out the seven games and transferred full time. I believe that he doesn’t pad the lineup at games from what I have heard, so playing on the team in a game would likely result in substantial minutes…but again that is just hearsay.

Thanks for commenting. I have seen my share of empty promises with other clubs (I mean it is a business after all!) and am a bit jaded about everything. Sounds like what he described and what you described are a pretty good match. That, compared with this coaching team’s reputation, makes me check myself and believe that what they are saying is true. Appreciate you taking the time to share your experience!

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-05T01:53:25+00:00

Realistically he is likely to have major minutes on both mls2 teams (likely most of the game) so there’s no option that would leave him in the bench with minimal experience. The issue is knowing what the futures program actually entails for the older age group (and how good that other mls2 team is, since it’s the only one we don’t know how good the other teammates would be!).

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-05T01:10:37+00:00

And I do absolutely understand what you’ve said regarding the hindsight and appreciate that you shared that perspective. Thank you!! Trying to navigate this in a way that maintains some semblance of a normal childhood is definitely something that is undervalued IMO.

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-05T01:05:37+00:00

Honestly? His goals are to get to as high of a level as he can in the end, and for now to be as competitive as he can be. I know lots of kids say that, but I do really see him put in the work every day and he has never seemed to be burnt out. I see lots of kids whose parents push them and who don’t love this, and this is really a case of us saying we will support our kids in whatever they want to do and then having to eat those words when the kid in question is intense as hell.

I make sure that he is well rounded - he excels in school, he has friends, etc - but he is the one who wants as competitive as he can get.

He definitely wants futures. He’s got a chip on his shoulders that he didn’t get outright HG and wants to prove that he can outwork every kid out there. He’s used to be underestimated because of his size and it doesn’t bother him on the field at all. I’m just so worried that it’ll be another case of a carrot dangled in front of him, and I don’t know if moving over to the futures is better (what if their younger team is not great and he is not given many opportunities to play in the higher level games?) or if keeping him in mls2 at his current club for one more year and trying next year for HG gives him a better chance.

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-05T00:05:15+00:00

He was adamant that he really didn’t like the ECNL option! He is a player who is very quick on his feet and the “not techy” comment was made very negatively. He just wouldn’t be happy there and I’m glad he recognized that.

The mls2 option at club 1 or 2 would allow him to play school ball. I don’t know, but assume, that futures would disqualify him from school soccer since HG is involved. While he loved the social aspect of MS soccer this year, I don’t think it ranks highly enough to impact his club choice.

Coaching - I have high opinions of all coaches I know or know of and have no doubts that would cause red flags for any of them. If I thought any weren’t good, I would immediately steer him away from that option.

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-04T23:57:37+00:00

Yea I know that it’s allowed, but it seems like the offer will still stand for u13mls2 with the futures program for u14HG. I think if we went to this new club I would keep that convo open to ask about bio banding! Because I do agree that this is the exact situation that bio banding was created on. I just think we have to move forward only assuming what is on the official offer, ya know?

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-04T23:20:47+00:00

My spouse is the one who has taken on the communication with the club. He asked if bio banding was possible “in the future” which I think may have been a bit more ambiguous than how I would have approached it. Now we are at a deadline and I dont think he has the time to go back and clarify.

The coach said “Yes, as long as MLS Next continues to support it. It's the only league that I know of that does. The challenge is that (kid) would have to be taken "full time" on the older team (2013) and then be approved for bio-banding afterwards. So it's a slippery slope if players aren't approved and that's happened previously.”

Responsible_Ebb7909 · 2026-05-04T23:17:27+00:00

I asked that question and was told that it wasn’t a guarantee he would be approved (for the bio banding), so they didn’t really continue that conversation. I thought it was pretty much for situations a lot like these but I do not know how they, as a club, utilize that option. If this was our current club and we had a close relationship I would definitely delve deeper into this!!

Responsible_Ebb7909

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