It's Birth Year Stupid

The age-group change happened and soccer balls keep getting kicked, coaches keep berating referees and parents are still yelling “get wide” and then quickly explaining to other parents how “getting wide is important in soccer.” Yes doubters, American soccer has survived the age-group change. But the question remains – will it thrive?

In 2016, US Soccer changed the club soccer age groups from September 1 – August 31 (school year) to January 1 – December 31 (birth year). In the past, club soccer followed school year while US Soccer-sponsored state, regional and national teams used birth year. The 2016 change was met with consternation, anger and confusion. Parent’s cried, “You’re breaking up friends and chasing kids out of soccer.” Club coaches screamed, “You’re messing up solid teams.” Everyone yelled, “What do we do when some kids are playing high school or college soccer and others are still playing club?”

Based on years of research, US Soccer offered two logical scientific reasons behind its decision: (1)It’s how the rest of the world does it and (2)It’s how the rest of the world does it. This reasoning makes a lot of sense because the rest of the world is good at soccer and they owe most of this success to the simple fact they follow calendar-year age grouping. Brazilians often cite the importance of calendar-year age grouping: “Calendar-year age grouping has been critical to our dominance in soccer,” a Brazilian soccer federation official was overheard saying while juggling a grapefruit then bicycle kicking it to his child. Retired Spanish soccer star Xavi said, “While I don’t want to downplay the importance of calendar-year age grouping, Spain has a rich soccer tradition, some of the most well-funded youth programs in the world, and we are very good looking.” “I’m better looking,” Portuguese superstar Christiano Ronaldo countered, then added as an afterthought, “And we also use the calendar year in Portugal.”

If these testimonials are not proof enough of the importance of calendar-year age group designations, consider the tiny country of Iceland – the darlings of the 2016 European Cup. Icelandic Minister of Sport Fljiork Bjullshitonson proudly notes, “Our government has invested fully in the game of football, not to mention the development of boys and girls to fill our national teams. And how do we manage this? By the calendar year. We are not idiots!”

Elaborating on what they considered their “very excellent” decision, US Soccer also cited the substantial confusion Americans experienced with the school-year groupings. Which is an excellent point. I mean if kid A is playing on a U-15 team and his classmate, kid B, is playing on a U-16 team, what grade should kid A be in? Should kid A’s parents be talking to school officials about their son skipping a grade or should kid B’s parents be thinking about holding their son back a grade? How did we cope?

It should be noted, US Soccer did not always use school-year designations. Until the early ‘90s American kids played with kids born in the same calendar year. At some point, somebody decided organizing kids by school year would create a seamless transition from grade to grade. Eighth graders wouldn’t be trying to find a team while their 9th grade teammates played on the high school team. The same for seniors in high school whose club team was depleted by kids leaving for college. Also, because soccer is not a primary American sport, it made sense to start six- year-old kids playing with their classmates – their friends.

It seemed logical but it was stupid. There is only one way to organize kids – by birth year, US Soccer concluded.

The most compelling reason US Soccer provided for the age-group change is, of course, player development. In fact, an official for US Soccer told me, “The main reason for the age-group change is player development.”

I wish I thanked him profusely for this piece of wisdom and asked him to provide his research data. Instead, I asked, “Why is shifting which 12 months we use going to improve player development?”

“We feel strongly, this is best for player development,” he responded.

“But all you’ve done is decide January kids and not August kids are the oldest in their age group. I don’t get it.”

“We feel strongly, this is the best decision for player development.”

“Okay, but what’s the logic?”

“We feel strongly, this is the best decision for player development.”

After I poked my ears with knitting needles I suggested he read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. In a section titled “The Mathew Effect” Gladwell discusses how age groupings affect individual success. In study after study of various sports, kids born early in the age group have more athletic success – even at the professional level. The premise is simple, older kids are physically and mentally more mature; therefore they are placed on better teams, in better environments and get more opportunities, which leads to more improvement.

The end result is National teams have more players born between January and May than between June and December. In other words, this system weeds out half the population not by talent or ability but by birthdate. This is the system that US Soccer just adopted. Instead of having different age groups for club and national teams, which allows kids with varying maturities to experience the advantage of being the oldest, they’ve unified the oldest group – and, potentially, limited opportunities.

Four years later, soccer is doing just fine. Clubs wrestle with putting together U15 teams during high school soccer seasons. U19 and U18 are almost interchangeable age groups. The issue of friends playing together at U6 has a little impact on numbers – but they’re probably negligible. And as much as I mock the leaders of US Soccer, I don’t think they have their heads stuck up their own asses. Sometimes, like all organizations, they lose track at what’s happening at grass roots level – but that’s different.

Personally, I think we should do the following:

· All US Soccer funded programs are birth year

· All other soccer organizations utilize school year

· From U6-U14 all soccer organizations offer single-year age groups and leagues

· From U15-U18 all soccer organizations offer U18 and U16 leagues only

· We answer every soccer question by saying “player development”

· We agree that professional players spend too much time grooming their hair

This, might I say, ingenious system might get more players playing at younger ages. It might offer kids different opportunities based on their level of physical maturity. It might create more challenges for players in their teen years. It might create fewer pretty boys. And, if I’m correct, it would definitely mean a United States Men’s World Cup Championship in 2026.