Positive Strategies for trapped 8th grader

[Guest]

The 9th graders will be playing 5 days a week. She will not be as fit or strong when they join up in Dec. Club 8th graders may be able to practice with the team one year below. Add agility? 8th grader likely won’t be able to play on u14 town team either, same trapped problem for town players. Can you play on the JV?

How often does the middle school team practice/play?

[Guest]

You can stay in shape by running cross country and doing skills work.

Cross Country isn't great for soccer players. Soccer players need more interval/high-intensity work instead of endurance work.

[Guest]

You can stay in shape by running cross country and doing skills work.

If you want your soccer player to get slower when it comes to game speed, have them run cross country.

[Guest]

Agility drills
https://www.google.com/search?q=+agility+drills+soccer

[Guest]

My kid started as an 8th grader last fall, but she is probably going to commit to UNC in 2 years.

[Guest]

Some may call this blasphemy, but an 8h grader isn't going to lose it all in 8 weeks, nor is she going to transform into a beast.
She loves the sport, and one way to keep her loving the sport is to not burn her out. A positive strategy that worked for my D was to take time in fall of 8th grade to do something different.
In hindsight, and this is one family's experience, she remains very thankful for that break, since her next break didn't come for 20 months. 8th Grade Thanksgiving began club season, summer after 8th grade was packed, then HS freshman then right into club and she didn't get a break until July after 9th grade.

[Guest]

Let her/him practice with the younger group then back to their club team after the High School season ends.

[Guest]

OP, I have a lot of thoughts on this. This is long, but just some food for thought if you're interested.

I think discussion of the Trapped 8th Grader issue benefits from some explanation and definition. First, it's important to identify who this problem actually affects. There are not as many kids impacted by it as it might seem at first glance (more below). On the other hand, for those it does affect, it is a valid concern even if the TS trolls won't ackknowledge it.

But it does help to narrow the issue. The problem really only affects 8th graders who play on the "top" team in their club. For an 8th grader on the 2nd level or below, playing down in age for a team a level or two higher than the level they normally play at should generally be a decent option. For example, if you're an 8th grade girl playing for the U14 GA team (top tier), playing down with the U13 GA team won't give you the same level of competition because the girls are younger and theoretically smaller and slower. But if an 8th Grade girl plays for the club's U14 DPL team (2nd tier), playing down with their U13 GAL team should be a decent proxy (down one year in age, up one level of competition). Maybe not a perfect solution in all cases, but a decent proxy. I'm not sure what the current rules are for these leagues, but the leagues and clubs should change whatever rules that have to allow for this to happen. The same concept would apply for clubs under the ECNL/ECRL structure. So in effect, the issue can be narrowed down to just those few Trapped 8ths playing for a club's top team.

On the boys side, it's even narrower because for a number of clubs, MLS Next is the top tier and they generally don't allow HS soccer anyway. So that means you're probably talking about trapped 8ths playing for the NAL team. And those boys could be put on the club's U13 MLS Next team as a rough proxy for the level of comp they'd get at U12 NAL. So on the boys side the Trapped 8th Grader issue is mostly confined to the non-MLS Next clubs who's top teams play in ECNL (only Stars) or in the National League or NECSL or whatever the RAL is going to be.

For those kids who actually are affected (top tier non-MLS trapped 8th's), I once proposed that the clubs with impacted kids pool all their players to create a single league. So yes, different clubs from the same geographic region would pool players to create a team for a special fall only "Trapped 8th League". But that might be the only way to get enough kids since so few kids are impacted. For example, if there were 8 teams in the league, you'd need there to be roughly 128 affected players (8 rosters of 16 kids). Since just about every club has NECSL teams, I suggested that the NECSL would be the logical place to create the new league. TS hated that idea, but I don't remember anyone actually coming up with a legitimate reason it couldn't work if people put the right effort into it.

That said, some of the other suggestions in here (take some time away from the game, work on your own with a private trainer, work on strength and conditioning, etc.) all have merit as well.

[Guest]

How in the world can an 8th grader play JV? Not to mention tou didn't even suggest freshman. MAybe she can try varsity or even college ball.

My kid played varsity and also club in the fall in the 8th grade and started a few games on varsity and played significant minutes and scored a few goals. It is possible but hey everyone is different. My kid was also a trapped 8th grader and the club he played for had a team for the fall for kids in his situation and they practiced and played in the nep league for the fall . No standings for the fall season but the kids who could t play for thrrr school got to play during the fall

[Guest]

My kid played varsity and also club in the fall in the 8th grade and started a few games on varsity and played significant minutes and scored a few goals. It is possible but hey everyone is different. My kid was also a trapped 8th grader and the club he played for had a team for the fall for kids in his situation and they practiced and played in the nep league for the fall . No standings for the fall season but the kids who could t play for thrrr school got to play during the fall

Most schools don't allow younger players on a HS team, not even JV (there's a few exceptions fora few that allow JV play) especially public. Privates can pretty much do what they want.

[Guest]

If you want your soccer player to get slower when it comes to game speed, have them run cross country.

Not if they add speed work and agility. Plenty of soccer players run distance as well to increase endurance. You can be an endurance runner and train for speed.

[Guest]

Not if they add speed work and agility. Plenty of soccer players run distance as well to increase endurance. You can be an endurance runner and train for speed.

Running for the sake of running is not a good idea for soccer players whose bodies already take a lot of abuse. Soccer requires shorter bursts of running, not running at fairly constant longer paces. Speed and agility is far better and use different muscle groups.

Doing general fitness training with a good trainer, learn good habits, is a money well spent.