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**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 10:37 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

My u12 boy plays on a top premier team. On the days he does not have practice, we had him try clubs, rec sports, even play dates. All he wants to do is play more soccer. I don't want him to go overboard, but all he wants to do is get better and I want to support that.

His team does not allow double-rostering, so he can't join the town A team (which would be ideal because it's with his friends and the team is very good.). Are there any supplemental programs in Fairfield County (1x/week perhaps 2x/week) where he can get some more soccer coaching/practice? Last spring we went to a couple of programs and found that even when he was with the older kids, the quality of players was very poor and he got extremely frustrated. I've heard mixed things about Pythons, JA Elite, Ole, Chelsea Piers. He's doing a great camp for the summer, but it's not an option in the Fall/Winter/Spring.

My ideal program would be something where there are boys his age who are playing premier-level soccer. A little technical coaching and lots of small-sided games/drills.

Ideas?

What town do you live in? How far do you want to go?

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 11:39 AM

Keep an eye on him overdoing it. Into middle school the likelihood of overuse injuries grows. Great that he loves soccer but a different sport/cross training might be more beneficial physically and mentally.

That said an efficient option would be to find 2-3 similar level friends and split the cost of a personal trainer with the other families. It would be more productive and the trainer can focus more specifically to their needs. Don't have him do a lower level program just for the sake of doing it

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 12:30 PM

Agree with the overuse injury concern. Would also be concerned about burnout down the road. However, if you want more soccer, I'd go the route of finding pick up games. No pressure, just fun. I live in a rural part of the state and we found a group of Hispanic men, ranging from 18 to late 60's who play twice a week. My son (after the initial uncomfortableness of the first session) now LOVES playing with them (And he's on a big club A team). That's our summer soccer plans!

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 01:34 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

My u12 boy plays on a top premier team. On the days he does not have practice, we had him try clubs, rec sports, even play dates. All he wants to do is play more soccer. I don't want him to go overboard, but all he wants to do is get better and I want to support that.

His team does not allow double-rostering, so he can't join the town A team (which would be ideal because it's with his friends and the team is very good.). Are there any supplemental programs in Fairfield County (1x/week perhaps 2x/week) where he can get some more soccer coaching/practice? Last spring we went to a couple of programs and found that even when he was with the older kids, the quality of players was very poor and he got extremely frustrated. I've heard mixed things about Pythons, JA Elite, Ole, Chelsea Piers. He's doing a great camp for the summer, but it's not an option in the Fall/Winter/Spring.

My ideal program would be something where there are boys his age who are playing premier-level soccer. A little technical coaching and lots of small-sided games/drills.

Ideas?

My son was the same way. And now has a shot knee and can't play like he used to. Doctor called it "child abuse" and threatened to call protective services on my wife and I, saying I'm the parent and need to set limits even if it's what my son wanted.

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 02:24 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

My son was the same way. And now has a shot knee and can't play like he used to. Doctor called it "child abuse" and threatened to call protective services on my wife and I, saying I'm the parent and need to set limits even if it's what my son wanted.

Are you serious?

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 02:51 PM

Find a futsal program if you can.

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Agree with the overuse injury concern. Would also be concerned about burnout down the road. However, if you want more soccer, I'd go the route of finding pick up games. No pressure, just fun. I live in a rural part of the state and we found a group of Hispanic men, ranging from 18 to late 60's who play twice a week. My son (after the initial uncomfortableness of the first session) now LOVES playing with them (And he's on a big club A team). That's our summer soccer plans!

my kid did something similar (more of a B-team player though) and he loved it. I think it brought him back to why he fell in love with the game in the first place, just having a lot of fun with it with no real pressure.

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 09:30 PM

All this nonsense about "over playing" is just another form of helicopter parenting in our society. Do you know why those kids overseas are 100X better than us? Because they play non-stop, all day every day. No such thing as overdoing it unless he's lifting weights and taking supplements as a 10 year old. When the kid is tired, he will relax. Until than give him a ball and let him have at it.

If you are interested in getting him some supplemental training find a good coach and do some private lessons, that's what we do with my son and we LOVE our trainer. He left our club last year unfortunately, coaches a lot of kids 1 on 1 within our program (BS) and results show. Ask around in your area and find something similar.

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 10:36 PM

Tnx everyone. We did consider a coach but what my son really loves is playing with other boys. The idea of finding a handful of teammates is great. I'll ask a few of the parents but knowing his team, it may be hard to find enough kids (between schedules and kids living all over Fairfield County). That's why I was hoping there was a program we could join. My brother in law lives in CA and a lot of kids supplement their clubs with Coerver training. I looked and it appears the closest Coerver program is in NJ.

**Unregistered** · 07-10-2017, 10:51 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

All this nonsense about "over playing" is just another form of helicopter parenting in our society. Do you know why those kids overseas are 100X better than us? Because they play non-stop, all day every day. No such thing as overdoing it unless he's lifting weights and taking supplements as a 10 year old. When the kid is tired, he will relax. Until than give him a ball and let him have at it.

If you are interested in getting him some supplemental training find a good coach and do some private lessons, that's what we do with my son and we LOVE our trainer. He left our club last year unfortunately, coaches a lot of kids 1 on 1 within our program (BS) and results show. Ask around in your area and find something similar.

Having lived in Eastern Europe till age 13, I agree. From age 6, I played football before school, during school, and for several hours after school. EVERY DAY. In summers we had no camps... we played football sunrise to sunset. When I came to the US, I was shocked to make my HS varsity team as a freshman and years later played D1. I was at best middle of the pack of my friends back home but here in America I was considered good. I could not believe that all of my American teammates played other sports throughout the year. When I went over to teammates homes, we shot hoops or we threw around an American football. In college, I could not believe we actually had restrictions about how many team practices we could have.

NONE of my friends back home burned out. None had injuries-despite playing on fields most people on TS would cringe to see. Burn out is such an American phrase. You will never hear those words outside this country.

If your son loves the sport, let him play till he no longer wants to play. If he gets "burned out" help him find another sport or activity he will love just as much.

Oh... If you want to give him supplemental coaching, teach him to do headers. As a u12 that's another thing Americans have banned.

**Unregistered** · 07-11-2017, 06:31 AM

Reading your post, my first thought was that you didn't burn out because you were playing all the time with your friends in pick up type games. Very different from only/mostly playing in organized practices with drills etc.

It would be interesting to figure out why there's more overuse injuries with the US model (if in fact there is) than with the way you grew up playing.

**Unregistered** · 07-11-2017, 07:59 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Having lived in Eastern Europe till age 13, I agree. From age 6, I played football before school, during school, and for several hours after school. EVERY DAY. In summers we had no camps... we played football sunrise to sunset. When I came to the US, I was shocked to make my HS varsity team as a freshman and years later played D1. I was at best middle of the pack of my friends back home but here in America I was considered good. I could not believe that all of my American teammates played other sports throughout the year. When I went over to teammates homes, we shot hoops or we threw around an American football. In college, I could not believe we actually had restrictions about how many team practices we could have.

NONE of my friends back home burned out. None had injuries-despite playing on fields most people on TS would cringe to see. Burn out is such an American phrase. You will never hear those words outside this country.

If your son loves the sport, let him play till he no longer wants to play. If he gets "burned out" help him find another sport or activity he will love just as much.

Oh... If you want to give him supplemental coaching, teach him to do headers. As a u12 that's another thing Americans have banned.

There are not too many boys that need to be taught how to head the ball .... well. They just seem to get it early (I think the fact that they play other sports like baseball and basketball help them to judge the trajectory very well early on). Girls on the other hand ..... aye aye aye. IMHO, it is a total mistake to ban heading. They should fix the problem by practicing controlled heading (small tosses graduating to bigger tosses each year) not avoid it. I think this ban will actually make the concussion problem worse. Strengthen their necks with targeted exercises and help them to judge the ball better in the air so that they can attack the ball with their forehead rather than get smashed in the face (or duck).

**Unregistered** · 07-11-2017, 08:20 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Having lived in Eastern Europe till age 13, I agree. From age 6, I played football before school, during school, and for several hours after school. EVERY DAY. In summers we had no camps... we played football sunrise to sunset. When I came to the US, I was shocked to make my HS varsity team as a freshman and years later played D1. I was at best middle of the pack of my friends back home but here in America I was considered good. I could not believe that all of my American teammates played other sports throughout the year. When I went over to teammates homes, we shot hoops or we threw around an American football. In college, I could not believe we actually had restrictions about how many team practices we could have.

NONE of my friends back home burned out. None had injuries-despite playing on fields most people on TS would cringe to see. Burn out is such an American phrase. You will never hear those words outside this country.

If your son loves the sport, let him play till he no longer wants to play. If he gets "burned out" help him find another sport or activity he will love just as much.

Oh... If you want to give him supplemental coaching, teach him to do headers. As a u12 that's another thing Americans have banned.

Kids burning out are many times a consequence of modern parenting.

**Unregistered** · 07-11-2017, 08:41 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Kids burning out are many times a consequence of modern parenting.

A lot of times the burn out is the result of doing too much overall, that is not just the one sport or activity but everything (multiple sports, other activities, "volunteering" which is often times pushed by parents) on top of school work. Also starting in middle school kids want to spend more time with their friends, which may or may not include their friends from activities.

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