What is the argument to having an age based system where kids move up on their birthday, meaning when a kid turns 11 he plays 11 and under? This way the kids progress naturally from being the youngest to the oldest and, presumably, moving up in importance to the team. I've heard the team cohesion argument and it's ridiculous given the age levels we're talking about. And since USL and tournaments require birth dates upon registration, it's easily policed.
That last part is funny. USL only provides insurance. They do not police anything. Tournaments have CYA waivers but could care less about birth dates. Grade based only means that a player is supposed to be in the graduation year 2026, 2025 ect... This could be interpreted as what the parents may do in the future such as re-class, holdback, ect.... Clubs that do this the most run the tournament. There is no enforcement or even a desire to do so. These programs feed private schools that benefit from holdbacks with an extra year of tuition payments. In other words, there is zero motivation to police anything. There are a few age based events but you will not see any top local teams at them.
