Originally Posted by Anonymous
It’s legal as it stands now.
But it’s certainly limiting participation in the sport overall.
Soccer does few things right, but the division of talent and teams are usually pretty good with the age based system they use. There’s a place for every talent level and the good kids play up in age, not down.

Someone who works full time in corporate sports development could probably explain how the proliferation of club play in soccer didn't decimate the rec leagues (or CYO soccer) the same way that the proliferation of club lax did to rec lax.

It maybe speaks to the monumental phhhhhhhhht of MYLA (and the crater left behind) because if rec "mega councils" like that had any strength, they can stipulate certain things. I have a son who plays baseball, and if you play "club rec" or "travel" ball, you're required to also play on the regular rec team, to make sure the rec leagues can field teams and hold games "for everybody." Annoying in terms of logistics but I think it was a good move "for the sport." Also gave my son, who was #6 on the travel team batting order, to bat leadoff 1-2x per week with the rec kids. Nothing wrong with that.

I fully support USL but I don't think they really have the leverage or hooks to enforce stuff like that.