kids playing up

[Unregistered]

Also, even if your kid is playing on age, how many classmates do they have on their team.

Sure when they played rec that most of their teammates are classmates.

Some kids want to get better and want a challenge.

Some kids take pride in taking harder classes at school. Sure some parents push there kids in school, but there are kids who are also driven and want to challenge themselves.

Exactly!

[Unregistered]

Girl's playing up

I will confine my comments to girls, since my two are in or just out of college. I do not know the boys side very well. My youngest is finishing playing her freshman season now at a PAC-12 college.

I have never seen a truly successful girl play up and make it work for her. One girl played up for four years at FC PDX, then came back on age as her age group matured in size and ability. She wasn't good enough to play in college even though trying to make her college team. Another played up for about 6 years, now plays for a very poor D-1 team. One girl on my DD's club team played up for three years and sits on the bench most all of the time in college. A mature for her age girl played up for at least 5 years and neglected her academics. After trying to become eligible by going to several CC's, she now is a full time waitress. She was the club coach's darling while it lasted. These are the best ones I have seen. I could give you many unsuccessful examples. Looked good until later high school age and then, nothing.

Would not suggest playing up to any one I liked. Seems it might benefit the clubs, but not the girls.

[Unregistered]

I will confine my comments to girls, since my two are in or just out of college. I do not know the boys side very well. My youngest is finishing playing her freshman season now at a PAC-12 college.

I have never seen a truly successful girl play up and make it work for her. One girl played up for four years at FC PDX, then came back on age as her age group matured in size and ability. She wasn't good enough to play in college even though trying to make her college team. Another played up for about 6 years, now plays for a very poor D-1 team. One girl on my DD's club team played up for three years and sits on the bench most all of the time in college. A mature for her age girl played up for at least 5 years and neglected her academics. After trying to become eligible by going to several CC's, she now is a full time waitress. She was the club coach's darling while it lasted. These are the best ones I have seen. I could give you many unsuccessful examples. Looked good until later high school age and then, nothing.

Would not suggest playing up to any one I liked. Seems it might benefit the clubs, but not the girls.

That's not very encouraging but did playing up really have anything to do with it? Maybe the players just weren't going to be that good. You never know.

In any event, an alternative for those looking for additional challenges is to train with an older team when possible or guest play from time to time. There is a lot of "my kid plays up" that goes on, just like there is "my kid is in advanced math" so the the comment that it's for the parents has some truth in it. Those who write my kid wants to be challenged more is just another way of saying the same thing. There's nothing wrong with it, but denying that it's a factor isn't particularly persuasive. We all want our kids to be in the best group whether is sports or anything else.

[Unregistered]

I will confine my comments to girls, since my two are in or just out of college. I do not know the boys side very well. My youngest is finishing playing her freshman season now at a PAC-12 college.

I have never seen a truly successful girl play up and make it work for her. One girl played up for four years at FC PDX, then came back on age as her age group matured in size and ability. She wasn't good enough to play in college even though trying to make her college team. Another played up for about 6 years, now plays for a very poor D-1 team. One girl on my DD's club team played up for three years and sits on the bench most all of the time in college. A mature for her age girl played up for at least 5 years and neglected her academics. After trying to become eligible by going to several CC's, she now is a full time waitress. She was the club coach's darling while it lasted. These are the best ones I have seen. I could give you many unsuccessful examples. Looked good until later high school age and then, nothing.

Would not suggest playing up to any one I liked. Seems it might benefit the clubs, but not the girls.

How does playing up benefit the club? It is better for the club to have the playups dominate and win games in their age group than play up.

Not sure if you know what you are talking with regards to FC PDX. They have had several girls who have played up and have gone on to play D1 school. Scout Libke played up most of her career at FC PDX and went on to have a good career at UofO. At some point you don't play up any more and play with your college recruiting class, but between U11-U14, there are plenty of cases for kids to play up for development. Also if you are familiar with the girl's program and FC PDX then you would know that the top players get a chance to play in the summer league which includes college players.


Not sure what your point is between playing up and becoming a full time waitress. I don't think there is much of a correlation.

There are plenty of girls who did not play up and end up sitting on the bench in college or ending up with a not ideal career.

There are plenty of kids who are successful playing on age and there are plenty of kids who are successful playing up and have moved on to great college careers. Each player is different.

[Unregistered]

I think there are plenty of kids who play up very successfully. In my opinion if the child needs to play up because of poor level of play (and it is not due to a geography issue like living in the sticks) then they would likely be better served by playing for a different team in the age group.

As an example on the girl's side there are several top Oregon and So. Washington players who play for Crossfire and Washington Premier ECNL. By doing this they get to play with and against some of the best players in the country. I guess the same would hold true for DA on the boys side. If you tried and did not make DA then you probably shouldn't be playing up.

I too believe that some parents are highly motivated to play their kids up because they think it is better. I personally don't think it is better, but I also don't think it hurts anything unless the player is not that great and is a drain on the older team (which I have seen too... parent driven).

[Unregistered]

My DD plays up because she started earlier in school and she wants to play with her same age group. She is on a very good team but is a sub. If she moved down she be a top player. We are debating to pull her down and have been looking at a few teams but she as noted it would be to easy for her. The other issue is when she starts high school she be with 8th grade girls. She wants more playing time so, now we are thinking looking at some of the lower teams in her division and trying out for one of those teams instead. It is a difficult decision but, she wants to try to stay in her grade level. When you get to high school you play against older girls so, I like her to stay up too. Just one parents situation.

[Unregistered]

My DD plays up because she started earlier in school and she wants to play with her same age group. She is on a very good team but is a sub. If she moved down she be a top player. We are debating to pull her down and have been looking at a few teams but she as noted it would be to easy for her. The other issue is when she starts high school she be with 8th grade girls. She wants more playing time so, now we are thinking looking at some of the lower teams in her division and trying out for one of those teams instead. It is a difficult decision but, she wants to try to stay in her grade level. When you get to high school you play against older girls so, I like her to stay up too. Just one parents situation.

She should play with her grade group in school.