2 leagues at once?

[Guest]

You’re saying your GA/ECNL coaching was inferior to your town coaching? Please let us know your club so that we can all avoid it.

It wasn't the club. It was the coach. All clubs have their share of mediocre coaches. Can't fault the entire club.

[Guest]

It wasn't the club. It was the coach. All clubs have their share of mediocre coaches. Can't fault the entire club.

At GA or ECNL level? Mediocre coaches should be purged quickly at that level so yes you can blame the club

[Guest]

My child plays town (D1) and club (GA / ECNL) as well. They developed better from town than from club until recently. Not all club teams are better than all town teams.

If your child's town team is D1, don't give up the spot. Have her play both club and town. Attend practices when she can. Club should take priority.

I wouldn't do more than one club league. Just pick the team / league that practices closest to you AND the coach seems like a nice guy. Switch to ECNL / GA at U15 if she still wants to play soccer though gettting a spot at that time might be harder. But these teams always have spots for soccer studs.

Strong town teams can happen but it's increasingly rare. It also starts to fall apart starting around U11-12 when the better players move to club. If you don't have a solid town program your kid will fall further and further behind if they stay too long

[Guest]

There is absolutely no need for a kid to play on two different teams like town and club. In fact, I'd say that is detrimental to player development. Why? Conflicting messages from coaches... for example a coach might want a kid to boot the ball when under pressure in the defensive third, while another coach might want the kid to keep the ball and dribble out of pressure. How about the fact that these two coaches don't even talk to each other?

[Guest]

There is absolutely no need for a kid to play on two different teams like town and club. In fact, I'd say that is detrimental to player development. Why? Conflicting messages from coaches... for example a coach might want a kid to boot the ball when under pressure in the defensive third, while another coach might want the kid to keep the ball and dribble out of pressure. How about the fact that these two coaches don't even talk to each other?

Such rubbish. There's and argument to be made that it could be detrimental to performance (not likely), but is sure isn't detrimental to development. Especially for kids still learning the game. Learning from a variety of voices, some good, some bad, different strategies, different styles, different personalities, different points of emphasis, etc. good for development. It can help a player learn to take something positive away from each different coaching style. But more importantly, they just benefit from additional time on the field and with a ball at their feet, playing and competing. Playing against lower level competition can also be a time to be creative and try new things or new positions, developing those skills. Maybe work on the weak foot, maybe get to take free kicks and corners that they don't in club games. Maybe get a chance to be more of a goal scorer than in club. All of that can help build confidence. It can help develop joy for the game because they play with friends from the neighborhood. Town coaches might have awful practice sessions (ours are laughable) and may try to instruct and awful brand of soccer (ours do), but learning to sort that out and understand the diffs is part of development. Plus no matter how good the training is, it's always important to be able to apply the training in competitive games. Town games provide an extra game per week, even if it might not be as challenging. At certain levels like MLS and ECNL it can be counterproductive just because the speed of play in town can be so much slower than high level club and all that time and space they have in the town game can mess things up for the faster pace/less time in the MLS or ECNL game. But that's maybe the exception to the rule. Other than that, more is better. Just play. Seems better than having them sit home playing Call of Duty on Saturday morning.

[Guest]

Not detrimental necessarily and especially at younger ages where their bodies can play all day. Once puberty comes into play + 11v11 it's more demanding and the game gets more physical + injuries more common.

Like another poster we did two for a year, town + club. It was really hectic but we swung it. But it became clear they weren't getting nearly the same coaching and challenges from.town. They appreciated that club players were.more serious about it, like they were. It wasn't a difficult decision for them to drop town after the year. This was U11 I believe? Straight club U12 up. One played HS the other still is. Good experience for both but we are fortunate with a good HS program. I know not all are.

[Guest]

By the time they are around 15/16, if you were to ask the kids themselves, the majority would tell you that they would actually prefer to play for only one team. Many kids accept playing for two teams because they don't want to disappoint their parents... so they go along with it. And no more is not always better, often it's quite the contrary.

[Guest]

Around U14 or so most kids who are playing too much start to have more injuries. Their bodies are telling them something. It's too much. Most HS club teams won't even run during the HS season. It's too much. Do training in the yard or some pickup games, but 2 teams is too much physically and time wise

[Guest]

Around U14 or so most kids who are playing too much start to have more injuries. Their bodies are telling them something. It's too much. Most HS club teams won't even run during the HS season. It's too much. Do training in the yard or some pickup games, but 2 teams is too much physically and time wise

This is a good point... why is it that most HS teams won't even run during the season?
Why is it that HS sports must be a daily thing, like 6 days a week?
Are these HS soccer/voleyball/basketball/lax/etc kids going to turn pro?
Why?