SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Juggling JV/Varsity Soccer with Club Soccer

I'm always hearing about how club soccer is so much more important than HS soccer when it comes to development and recruiting, I'm wondering how players are expected (by their coaches) to juggle the two in the spring for the kids who are young enough to play spring club soccer.

Do you expect the player to be at every practice and game? What if they're at the far end of the bench? Where do you expect them to play when they have games in both at the same time? Is the expectation any different for a marginal starter versus a star? I am trying to get a feel for this as a Dad whose son is getting his first experience in school ball. I understand that the bottom line is what the expectation of HIS coach is but would like to know what others are doing. Thanks

GSDad,

This one gets talked about every year. Having already been through this, here's how it went for us.

Club essentially took precedence. Club games over anything, not normally an issue because of weekend games. Club practice over HS practice. (However, he went to HS practice for about an hour before going to club practice, and would leave HS early.) HS games over club practice.

In our case, the 2 years that we did it, the HS coaches were also involved with the club, so all understood. It was something that was well understood before the season started. The first year he saw playing time in each match, some more than others. The second year he started all matches.

In our specific case being at a SCISA school, it was to play on the varsity team, not the JV team. So I can't answer with respect to JV.

I know this topic has been discussed a little on the JV thread as well. Your son is most likely playing JV as most varsity players would be too old to play a spring club season as well. I know RCSD#1 has a rule that only Freshmen and above are allowed to play Varsity soccer. Most incoming freshman would be playing in the U15 age bracket and thus would not have a spring club season.

As to your point first and foremost club comes first. Most coaches allowed my son to miss a club practice only for a JV game. This does cause issues because a coach could find his practices dwindle due to a large number of players having games. We never missed a club game for any JV activity. The only real difficulty came on weekends where possibly a JV tournament was scheduled as well as club games. We were able to work through the situation with the coaches but remember coaches are very reluctant to hear excuses about attendance. I could see some coaches affecting playing time accordingly. For the good player that really isn't an issue but the marginal starter may suffer under that scenario. This does put a strain on the player in that 2-3 times a week they will have two practices. The rewards far outweigh the risk concerning involvement with both club and High School!

I said it before and I'll say it again... If you are in a high level team with a good coach.... play club and don't worry about school until 9th grade... look at the threads in the JV section and you will have other oopinions as well.

That rule is actually a HS league rule, apparently varsity soccer is too physical to play as a middle schooler

thanks to all