In reply to: I've always defended that decision and I still will posted by wcnitz
But it's US Soccer. I don't even have a referee grade anymore. Why? Apparently they wanted to match it up with how they're classifying coaches now.
The age grouping doesn't affect school soccer, so for the high school kids it was really just the trap year issue (and losing teammates). Clubs have to comply with USSF, so that was unavoidable.
leagues. It is detrimental to how things are broken up at the school level, which is where the overwhelming majority of kids will wind up playing. If you're good enough to compete at a national or near-national level, fine, adhere to birth year. Otherwise school year should apply.