Let's revisit US Soccer's 2015 initiatives to target improvement in youth development standards, specifically the Birth Year Initiative.
"The birth-year registration initiative will not cause the dissolution of age-group based teams that already play together, but will rather give players the opportunity to ‘play up’ with older age-groups."
"Relative age effect refers to the selection bias related to players that are more physically mature than their peers due to being born earlier in the year. U.S. Soccer seeks a balance of players that are born throughout the year so that all players, those born in the earlier months, and those born later have equal opportunity to grow and develop as soccer players."
So after 1 year of doing this in Colorado...
Players selected to National Camps/Teams are generally players that "Play Up" within the Development Academy set-up. My question to this - what's wrong with "Playing Down"? It worked for Messi... have we overlooked our Messi?!?!
The "8th/9th grade dilemma" is creating an "Achievement Gap" of sorts. In Colorado, we have a "Secondary Season" for players not playing High School Soccer. Result: the younger players (8th graders) OR smaller players (8th or 9th graders) are playing in a lower standard league. What happens when they come together with those players that played high school for the "Primary Season"?!?! I'm sure you know the answer...
As with any initiative, reflection is needed! I hope these items are at the forefront of discussion with the powers that be.
Note: This is a follow up of a previous post, "Combating Relative Age Effect"
Full Aug 24, 2015 release: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2015/08/24/18/07/150824-coaching-player-development-initiatives-rel