SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Club and High School at the same time

I have some questions concerning kids playing both club and high school soccer during the spring. Are there players who participate in both during the spring season (probably applies more to JV than Varsity)? How do coaches feel about it? How do athletic directors feel about it? Do schools forbid players from participating in club during the high school season? I look forward to hearing your thoughts/comments.

That likely depends on the coach of both the club and high school teams. Some are willing to work with the player, while others aren't. There are players who do both, but there is no way they can be at every practice or game for one or the other. They will miss. It is difficult to give up playing for school, but playing for the jv or varsity team could jeopardize the player's situation on the club team if too many practices and/or games are missed. The parents/player also need to take into account the number of practices and games which would be required of doing both. Is it too many and could it put a young player at risk of injury?

In the end, the player needs to speak with both coaches and be up front with them about what they would like to do. The parents need to be smart about the how much playing both will put the player at risk of injury, since they could well be playing a game or going to practice(or two) nearly every day of the week. Also, is it too much for them academically? Can they keep up with their school work? After all, the player will spend most of their time playing soccer and doing little else for about three months.

In other words bye bye high school

I know lots of kids who successfully negotiate academics and the multiple demands of soccer. Why? Because they WANT to. At its best, sport can be a great motivator for kids who otherwise might not be quite so inclined to dot the i's and cross the t's academically speaking. There's no better time to learn time management than NOW.
And if a coach gives your kid a ration of grief over juggling commitments, you'll then know who has your kid's best interests at heart. And, more importantly, who DOESN'T.

How many games are played during a club season from Feb to May? How many in a high school season? Wouldn't that be 35 to 45 games plus practices in three months? Just when do they fit in homework and studying if they are playing a game or practicing nearly every day of the week? Some kids can do it, and others probably shouldn't. In reality, I don't really care if someone else decides their child can do both. I'm just wondering if they can really give their best to a club team, a school team and to school. Most probably can't. Something is going to suffer.

There's no doubt there is a draw to playing school soccer, and it's great that most kids get the chance to do both. The question is, should they do club and school at the same time. There are club coaches and school coaches that aren't willing to work with the other, and that should be completely up to the coach. The club coach could well find that many players are missing practice/games for school, and the school coach could give that position to another player who can give all to their school team.

In the end, it's up to the player, parents and the coaches. But,they all need to be smart about it for a number of reasons.

I coach a U-14 Club team as well as a varsity boys team and I am going to have about 6 or 7 kids on my club team that will be playing JV. They will be missing a few practices here and there for both teams and will have to work hard to keep up with their school work, but all of them knew that going in.
The issue we have is that we want to get kids into our high school program at an early age (7th/8th graders) but realistically when those kids make the JV team, they don’t get as much playing time because we are running up against AAAA teams that are running 9th and 10th graders out there.
We don’t have enough talent/numbers or a strong enough club system to turn away 7th and 8th graders with potential but we also need to get them game experience and playing time.
I know the varsity coach before me didn’t allow kids to play both so it is really a person preference for each high school coach.
Ultimately coaches have to do what they think is right for the program but also is right for the players. If I didn’t think my kids could handle it, I would advise them to choose one or the other.

Our coach allowed the kids to miss JV practices to go to club practice... either way they were playing soccer. Also those who were not playing club should get more attention from the high school coach on those days the club kids went away.

The only rub, you have to make sure the club does not schedule games during the week. Watch for club/high school game conflicts. Real issue when it hits you.

Making them do every high school practice then allowing them to do club on top of that is really hard on the kids.

I did leave out the fact that I only make them go to one practice a day. They have to do homework at some point. I look at it the same way, they are playing soccer. I know that the kids in my program and other local high schools are getting quality training and the coaches know if a kid misses JV practice they will get quality training with me.

It all depends.