19 players on U13 team

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Your an idiot if you think a player gets equal experience playing “game like” situations in practice against the same kids day in and day out. Playing against different teams who don’t know what your going to do next, and you don’t know what they are going to do real time with no breaks is not the same experience. No even close. Knowledge is gained through instruction and real time experience.

You obviously were never an athlete at any meaningful level. HOW you practice/train is THE MOST CRITICAL thing at EVERY level of sports. At the youth level WHO you practice/train with (peers) is going to influence you far more then anything else.

If you are practicing correctly and learning in practice then NOTHING that happens in a game should catch you by surprise. You should have already seen it 100s of times in PRACTICE.

[Unregistered]

You obviously were never an athlete at any meaningful level. HOW you practice/train is THE MOST CRITICAL thing at EVERY level of sports. At the youth level WHO you practice/train with (peers) is going to influence you far more then anything else.

If you are practicing correctly and learning in practice then NOTHING that happens in a game should catch you by surprise. You should have already seen it 100s of times in PRACTICE.

I was part of a national championship. was sponsored by major corporations. received a full scholarship to college and trained at The Olympic training center in Colorado. I think I know what it takes to participate in sports at a high level.

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I was part of a national championship. was sponsored by major corporations. received a full scholarship to college and trained at The Olympic training center in Colorado. I think I know what it takes to participate in sports at a high level.

https://youtu.be/2F2i6EQsPZY?t=18

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You obviously were never an athlete at any meaningful level. HOW you practice/train is THE MOST CRITICAL thing at EVERY level of sports. At the youth level WHO you practice/train with (peers) is going to influence you far more then anything else.

If you are practicing correctly and learning in practice then NOTHING that happens in a game should catch you by surprise. You should have already seen it 100s of times in PRACTICE.

I do not doubt this is true and will not argue it. However, we are talking about kids that are 12, 13, 14 years old. Their juices get flowing for games, not practice. You can't have a kid on roster at these ages and not play him for very long stretches. It's wrong. Cutting him and letting him go is much better for all involved. the training is not so "next level" at MLS academies that it makes sense to lose playing time for months at a time. you also run the risk - at these ages - that psychologically the kid does not respond well and loses their passion and love for the game. MLS clubs that have 20-25 kids all fighting for playing time in one age group under say u17 is ridiculous in my opinion. you can say all you want about what it takes to succeed at the highest level but if you kill a kid's passion you have destroyed something that should not be destroyed.

Past age 15 (give or take, based on the kid) you are 100% accurate and I will not dispute it.

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100% truth.

I'm going to approach this from two different angles. Ideally 15 players with one keeper or 16 with 2. at U13 it should still be somewhat close to equal playing time over the period of the season for every player. You are paying for development and if a coach is picking winners and only electing to further develop early bloomers then find a different club. yes it should be competitive and you play your subs against other teams subs. play your subs more against weaker teams, starters more time against the stronger teams.
19 is a money grab. but it is mostly due to the parents needing their kid to make the top team. when you have a player that is on the cusp and he is player number 17 on the depth chart, if you send them to the b team the parents take him to a different club where he makes the A team. That is a customer lost to your club.
It is a business and anyone who thinks differently is a fool. Businesses need to compete for customers and $$. the difference in the coffers between 15 players vs 18 in every age group on every gender and each level adds up to the bottom line. As kids get older rosters get bigger. Our team usually starts with a roster of 20 and by end of season we are playing games with no subs.
If you are in a club at u13 and they're only playing players for 5-10 mins per half , leave the club. I have seen too many times where late bloomers end up being the best U17 player if they were developed properly at the young ages and the U13 "next Messi" fizzles out and doesn't even play soccer at U17.

[Unregistered]

I'm going to approach this from two different angles. Ideally 15 players with one keeper or 16 with 2. at U13 it should still be somewhat close to equal playing time over the period of the season for every player. You are paying for development and if a coach is picking winners and only electing to further develop early bloomers then find a different club. yes it should be competitive and you play your subs against other teams subs. play your subs more against weaker teams, starters more time against the stronger teams.
19 is a money grab. but it is mostly due to the parents needing their kid to make the top team. when you have a player that is on the cusp and he is player number 17 on the depth chart, if you send them to the b team the parents take him to a different club where he makes the A team. That is a customer lost to your club.
It is a business and anyone who thinks differently is a fool. Businesses need to compete for customers and $$. the difference in the coffers between 15 players vs 18 in every age group on every gender and each level adds up to the bottom line. As kids get older rosters get bigger. Our team usually starts with a roster of 20 and by end of season we are playing games with no subs.
If you are in a club at u13 and they're only playing players for 5-10 mins per half , leave the club. I have seen too many times where late bloomers end up being the best U17 player if they were developed properly at the young ages and the U13 "next Messi" fizzles out and doesn't even play soccer at U17.

19 players and 30 minute halves, and you think every player should expect to be on the field more than 10 minutes. No way. The bottom players will be lucky to see 10 minutes a half in most games. No club plays everyone equal time.

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19 players and 30 minute halves, and you think every player should expect to be on the field more than 10 minutes. No way. The bottom players will be lucky to see 10 minutes a half in most games. No club plays everyone equal time.

We had 19 on a U15 team and it didn’t work - 7 players left after the season was over, but a lot had to do with the coach.

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19 players and 30 minute halves, and you think every player should expect to be on the field more than 10 minutes. No way. The bottom players will be lucky to see 10 minutes a half in most games. No club plays everyone equal time.

actually ours did play pretty much equal playing time. btw we won a national championship

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actually ours did play pretty much equal playing time. btw we won a national championship

Oh please that is nonsense about equal playing time. what team are you referring to Sunrise. There certainly was not equal pt on that squad.

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Just got the roster for my 12 year old.

19 players. Not particularly pleased, seems like too many.

What is an ideal sized roster at that age moving to 11 v 11?

Ideally a team should have between 22 and 24 players, let’s look at the tactical part of the game, the players need to scrimmage within the group and lastly the players need competition to develop that’s how other countries work, the problem is our system , pay to play so kids have to play and parents are entitled to demand playing time, so if the player sucks or is not developing he needs to have the same amount of playing time than the player that does not go to practice and those players must have the same playing time than the player that’s struggling at school and those players are entitled to get upset because the best players that don’t miss practice and are extremely good have to much playing time. This system sucks but who cares, the kids just need to have fun and be happy

[Unregistered]

You obviously were never an athlete at any meaningful level. HOW you practice/train is THE MOST CRITICAL thing at EVERY level of sports. At the youth level WHO you practice/train with (peers) is going to influence you far more then anything else.

If you are practicing correctly and learning in practice then NOTHING that happens in a game should catch you by surprise. You should have already seen it 100s of times in PRACTICE.

not the poster and of course that's true. But in America parents think sending their kids to club practice for 4-5 hours a week will make them great players. The player makes the player. A dedicated player trains on their own, finds as many games to play in they can. Soccer for many is just an activity, something kids fit into their week along with other things.

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Ideally a team should have between 22 and 24 players, let’s look at the tactical part of the game, the players need to scrimmage within the group and lastly the players need competition to develop that’s how other countries work, the problem is our system , pay to play so kids have to play and parents are entitled to demand playing time, so if the player sucks or is not developing he needs to have the same amount of playing time than the player that does not go to practice and those players must have the same playing time than the player that’s struggling at school and those players are entitled to get upset because the best players that don’t miss practice and are extremely good have to much playing time. This system sucks but who cares, the kids just need to have fun and be happy

That's too many for U13. At that age yes you want PT to start being earned but players till should get something close to half a game in. That's much easier to manage with 18. Why are you paying for club if your kid never plays? The "earn" should be the difference between being a starter vs not, between playing the entire game vs half.

Even for U15-U19 22 would be the max you want. Injuries ramp up in HS taking some players out of commission. During recruit time you'll have some players missing games for college visits, SAT testing etc.

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Daughters team has 19 but 5 are only part time players. I think game day will only be 14-15.

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Daughters team has 19 but 5 are only part time players. I think game day will only be 14-15.

16 is about the maximum in my opinion ..on a good strong team you should have 2 goalies and a few subs..

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16 is about the maximum in my opinion ..on a good strong team you should have 2 goalies and a few subs..

If you have 1 rockstar GK that is usually good for league games. Then bring along a 2nd for showcases and really long travel.