Playing up...

[Unregistered]

It's a very weird trend in most youth sports. There are age groups for a reason and the intent is to put your best in any proper age bracket with the intent to be the best in your age group.
To many push to move up but they eventually repeat a year of loose out on a year of eligible play.
The odd thing is that other parts of the county do the opposite, They have there kid repeats 8th grade in order for them to mature both in age and mentally and still be eligible for 4 years of high school sports. Better chance of being noticed and getting into a decent collage.

It's not a weird trend; it simply differs by sport. In sports where the most important factor is size or physical maturity, and where grade is more important than birthdate, there is an advantage to be gained by being older/more mature than the competition. That's why kids get held back right before high school or college (mostly boys). For skill-based sports at the pre-high school level, where birthdate limitations don't allow for kids to "play down," the most important aspect of development is to place the kid where his/her skills will be challenged and forced to continually develop. For the best players in a particular age group, that means playing with older kids. I've seen it work in soccer, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, softball, etc. for the top players. The only thing that becomes tricky is the Jr. High/High School transition year where the kid's teammates go off to high school and the player is still stuck in Jr. High. For the exceptional player, it's still manageable. For the kid who's been pushed to play up by an overzealous mom or dad, it becomes an eye-opener when they find that they're really no better than the kids in their age group.

[Unregistered]

It's not a weird trend; it simply differs by sport. In sports where the most important factor is size or physical maturity, and where grade is more important than birthdate, there is an advantage to be gained by being older/more mature than the competition. That's why kids get held back right before high school or college (mostly boys). For skill-based sports at the pre-high school level, where birthdate limitations don't allow for kids to "play down," the most important aspect of development is to place the kid where his/her skills will be challenged and forced to continually develop. For the best players in a particular age group, that means playing with older kids. I've seen it work in soccer, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, softball, etc. for the top players. The only thing that becomes tricky is the Jr. High/High School transition year where the kid's teammates go off to high school and the player is still stuck in Jr. High. For the exceptional player, it's still manageable. For the kid who's been pushed to play up by an overzealous mom or dad, it becomes an eye-opener when they find that they're really no better than the kids in their age group.

NEP teams do it at age U12 so that they can play in a 11 v 11 division in U13. Usually this results in a top U12 team playing in a middle U13 division. For MAPLE teams, there is no need because they have 11 v 1 at U12. One club has its first U12 team playing in the top U13 division. That seems like a big mistake.

[Unregistered]

I didn't really know any better early on, but I now believe that with the exception of U12s playing U13 in order to play 11v11 instead of 8v8, clubs that consistently do this are primarily motivated/looking to appeal to the egomaniacal soccer parent.

For example, even the "top clubs" top teams in NEP aren't so far advanced above the other clubs' teams that they couldn't have competitive games vs teams at their own age group.

Instead - parents feel better about themselves that their kid/their team is SOOOO good that they just aren't going to develop unless they play up an age group.

Additionally - it's easier to keep the parents happy if they lose games playing against the next age group up rather than risk parents wising up if they actually played clubs their own age and - heaven forbid - lost.

Ironically - most young players develop more in a well-run/structured training session on a weeknight than they do in a game; and yet 90% of parents' focus is too often the games and records.

[Unregistered]

A few years ago my D played up to U12 when she was a U11. We didn't have other good choices for her for training at the time because of club issues, geography, etc. The club took a few others in the same boat too which became obvious they did it to field another team. It wasn't too bad in the fall, but by spring as some of the other older players really started to shoot up she and the other young ones struggled to keep up at times. It really hurt her confidence, talked about going back to travel for awhile. The coach being a di** about it didn't help. Next year she stayed age appropriate and we thank our lucky stars that she had an amazing coach who helped her find her way again. One of her team mates tried to play up one more year and it was a fiasco. Her mom was a nut job and pushed her kid too hard into something she wasn't ready for. The club should have said no but I think gave in just to shut the mother up.

[Unregistered]

I didn't really know any better early on, but I now believe that with the exception of U12s playing U13 in order to play 11v11 instead of 8v8, clubs that consistently do this are primarily motivated/looking to appeal to the egomaniacal soccer parent.

For example, even the "top clubs" top teams in NEP aren't so far advanced above the other clubs' teams that they couldn't have competitive games vs teams at their own age group.

Instead - parents feel better about themselves that their kid/their team is SOOOO good that they just aren't going to develop unless they play up an age group.

Additionally - it's easier to keep the parents happy if they lose games playing against the next age group up rather than risk parents wising up if they actually played clubs their own age and - heaven forbid - lost.

Ironically - most young players develop more in a well-run/structured training session on a weeknight than they do in a game; and yet 90% of parents' focus is too often the games and records.

You may be right about the state of NEP these days, but there have been many teams over the years that collected enough talent at young ages where playing up was the right thing to do developmentally. We sat through a MAPLE season where our kid's team played with their age group in order to qualify for one of the year-end tournaments and had a goal differential over +60. While there were a couple of 3-1 type games, there were a bunch of 10-0 games that had no value for anyone. It was a wasted season. When they played up, there were a couple of ties and a bad loss or two that showed the players exactly what they needed to work on to continue to grow. It worked out very well for this particular group.

[Unregistered]

I find the debate (and practice) of ability-based grouping as opposed to age-based grouping very interesting. I think ability-based (players playing up) always sounds great on paper, but rarely works well in practice. I agree with the earlier comment that when organizations are bumping entire teams up as a matter of routine, they're playing egos more than making choices and judgments about development. If adults and their egos, politics, etc. weren't a problem, ability-based grouping of individual players and their development would thrive, but then we have reality.

[Unregistered]

NEP teams do it at age U12 so that they can play in a 11 v 11 division in U13. Usually this results in a top U12 team playing in a middle U13 division. For MAPLE teams, there is no need because they have 11 v 1 at U12. One club has its first U12 team playing in the top U13 division. That seems like a big mistake.

Are you talking about girls or boys? Is it a u12 team playing up this upcoming fall season in NEP?

[Unregistered]

girls...got to the NEP website.

[Unregistered]

girls...got to the NEP website.

I see there is 2 u12g teams in the u13g top div. I assume these are the strongest teams both the clubs have to prep them for ecnl.

[Unregistered]

Funny part is, those two GU12 teams will probably do fine b/c the top U13 G teams are playing up in the U14 bracket!!

[Unregistered]

NEP teams do it at age U12 so that they can play in a 11 v 11 division in U13. Usually this results in a top U12 team playing in a middle U13 division. For MAPLE teams, there is no need because they have 11 v 1 at U12. One club has its first U12 team playing in the top U13 division. That seems like a big mistake.

Why does it seem like a big mistake? If a u12 team would easily beat all the other u12 teams in their division, it make perfect sense to move them up and to a u13 division. Not sure about the boys but most of the top girls teams have to play up in NEP and Maple to get decent competition.

[Unregistered]

Funny part is, those two GU12 teams will probably do fine b/c the top U13 G teams are playing up in the U14 bracket!!

There is not one u13g team playing up in u14g.
Did you just assume this?

[Unregistered]

They are playing ECNL and NPL at U13.

[Unregistered]

There is not one u13g team playing up in u14g.
Did you just assume this?

They are in Maple

[Unregistered]

There is not one u13g team playing up in u14g.
Did you just assume this?

It was a joke. I actually agree with the above poster who said they sometimes need to be moved up to get the level of competition they need to prepare for ECNL. Let's see how the season goes.