Say you have a child that plays for several years on a select team. The birthdate defines her as playing up by three weeks. While she plays on a team that played premier last year and will again next year, she doesn't start but does get about half a game of playing time. This year a coach at tryouts says if you play in your actual age group, which is really a year younger school wise, you'll get a lot more playing time. What is more important, practicing at a higher level and competing against the top level of teams across the region, or getting more playing time?

I think I know the answer but what are opinions out there?

Playing with your friends and classmates.

if she plays down what level will it be? premier,challenge,classic
if she would play a half game at premier compared to a whole game at rec i think i would stay premier.

For my kids...that is an easy answer....

MORE PLAYING TIME!!!!!!!

But being with friends is a close second.

Quality of competition would come in third for my kids.

dhunter,

my childs b-day is the day after the cutoff and we have run into the same delema at our house. We opted to pull ours down after a couple years of playing up because of the playing time and developement issues. At first there were issues of not playng with friends and the team he had been with for several years, that only lasted a few weeks and now it is all good. I have to tell you honestly it has been WONDERFUL for his development and he has personally developed at a much more rapid pace than he was when he was playing up.
Now the delema we are faced with is that if he stays down at his "correct" age group he will graduate before he gets to play U-18. So he will miss that extra year of exposure infront of college coaches (good thing we are not counting on that!)

Tuff decision...good luck!

What level does the "correct" age group play at? Premier or Challenge?

if the coaching is = go with more pt....playing a ton is how they learn the game. can't learn being on the bench.

im glad we do not have an age issue with mine but if i may ask. would all of you let your kid stay down just for playing time if playing down is a big drop off.for instance would you give up premier to play down at a rec level just for playing time.

Why don't you give the child the options and then ask them where they want to play ??

Sometimes it's about playing time, sometimes it's wanting to play with friends ....every child is different...that's what makes the world go round.

Good sound advice from all. Having five years invested with the same team makes it difficult for a 13 year old.

Thanks all.

she could start with her old team and see how it goes........if it takes a bad turn maybe she could drop down to the team in her true age group. keep it simple.

For my deaughter it's never been about friends, she enjoys a tough training enviroment. That's the great thing about soccer, there is a team for any type of player.

I've got to agree with those telling you to ask her. For some kids, playing with friends was a big deal, for me, it wasn't because I was sort of the "nerdy" player and I didn't go out and party or anything like the other girls; I preferred good competition and a cohesive team on the field to being able to go and hang out with everyone afterwards.

Otherwise, consider the skill difference between the teams. One's premier with half playing time...but what about the younger team? Is it challenge or classic? Have you checked out the strength of the league it plays in if it's challenge to see how strong it is?

My daughter played up last year and we faced the same dilemna. My wife and I joked that it is was harder to make that decision then the one on our house. It really was. I can only speak from my experience, but I will say that holding her back to play age appropriate was the best decision we ever made WITH her. She got all but a few minutes in every game this season with a great coach.

In the end, you will have to measure out the factors for your sepecific case, but know that we have been extremely happy with our choice.

how about playing up two years on a classic roster, versus one year up on challenge, gets all playing time she wants, either way? Has a very friendly birth date, Aug 17th. thoughts...

papa:
Talk to your DOC who probally knows more about your child than you think. Every DOC has a very good feel for who the top players are. If your child isn't quite at the top of their game, the team probally dosn't matter as much.