Pros and cons of playing up a year

[Cruzado]

My kid was offered a place on an older team (one year up) but on the lowest team of 3 teams in that age group.

My gut instinct is that this is not good for his development; that the technical skill of the players on the 3rd team (and their competition) will be lower even if the kids are a year older; that the gameplay will focus more on physicality/speed, and my kid's smaller size (even for his own age he's on the smaller side) will really hamper him.

On the other hand, I could see the argument that playing a year up against taller, faster, stronger kids might force him to come up with creative ways to use his technical skills to succeed.

I don't know though - my main concerns are the quality of gameplay and, where larger/stronger but less-skilled players are on the field, getting knocked around and potentially injured.

Any thoughts?

[Nova2Euro]

I think you've pretty much covered it.

Was he offered a place on a team in his own age group? If so, which team?

[DMVCoach]

What age group are we talking about?

Any chance of a dual roster instead of moving up? Is your kid one of the best players on his current team?

[greypanther]

This is not a good situation to playing up. The lowest team of a year up is usually much lower than the top 2 teams of the year below. And likely many of these kids are later birthday years from August to December and probably in the same grade as your son. They may not be bigger stronger or faster and have the same playing experience as your son. At the most they may be equal level or lower, but not better.

If your sons level of play is the lower of 3 teams for your age group, then this may be a good decision. If your son is on a top team or in the higher half for his age, then no.

[Cruzado]

Nova2Euro wrote:I think you've pretty much covered it.

Was he offered a place on a team in his own age group? If so, which team?

He wasn't offered a place on a team in his own age group. He has played on the top team in his age group for another club.

DMVCoach wrote:What age group are we talking about?

Any chance of a dual roster instead of moving up? Is your kid one of the best players on his current team?

He is one of the best players on his current team (same age kids). I can inquire about the dual-roster idea, which I wouldn't mind. This is U11, so not yet at the puberty stage.

greypanther wrote:This is not a good situation to playing up. The lowest team of a year up is usually much lower than the top 2 teams of the year below. And likely many of these kids are later birthday years from August to December and probably in the same grade as your son. They may not be bigger stronger or faster and have the same playing experience as your son. At the most they may be equal level or lower, but not better.

If your sons level of play is the lower of 3 teams for your age group, then this may be a good decision. If your son is on a top team or in the higher half for his age, then no.

That's what I'm thinking, too. I don't doubt that he "could" make a go of it with the older kids on the 3rd team, and I'm sure that the club is confident that he's a good enough player to handle it. But I don't think he would get as much out of it as he would playing with higher-level kids his own age (or frankly, higher level kids one year up), and these travel teams are not cheap, so we're looking for development as well as having fun and exercising.

[soccer_dc]

I suspect the club's offer has more to do with their need to find enough players for this older age 3rd team, than it does for the development of your son. If your son is playing with a top team now, even with an older age group, he will probably get frustrated by the less developed skills of the team. Sure, they will be a little bigger and faster, but will they be able to make and receive better passes, have better game awareness, or be as serious about playing as a top team at his own age group?

[Nova2Euro]

soccer_dc wrote:I suspect the club's offer has more to do with their need to find enough players for this older age 3rd team, than it does for the development of your son. If your son is playing with a top team now, even with an older age group, he will probably get frustrated by the less developed skills of the team. Sure, they will be a little bigger and faster, but will they be able to make and receive better passes, have better game awareness, or be as serious about playing as a top team at his own age group?

Bingo. This is a BS offer and the fact that they didn't even offer a place in his own age group should be a signal to walk away.

You do NOT need him getting beat up and discouraged at U11.

[DMVCoach]

Not being offered a slot in his own age group screams red flag. This is more than likely just a numbers game for them at this point.

You can ask about dual rostering, but as you said travel soccer is expensive and if this with a different club, you'd unfortunately be stirring more trouble than it's worth most the time and this doesn't sound like a good fit development wise.

If you are *really* looking for additional training, talk to your coach or DOC, there may be options you might not know about.

[Mdmom22]

Why do you want to move him (or maybe it's him that wants to move)? If he is one of the best on his current team, isn't that a good place to be? Good enough to get regular playing time and make a noticeable different but still playing with teammates who he can learn from or chase?

[GKDad]

Seems like this is pretty standard practice when players want to change clubs mid-season (or after tryouts) when rosters have already been filled. I would expect he will get a good look at tryouts this spring and will be placed with a more appropriate team for 22-23.

[DMVParent]

A player should only play up an age group, if they can be a starting player on the older age group team.

[NVA-Soccer]

DMVParent wrote:A player should only play up an age group, if they can be a starting player on the older age group team.

Training up and playing matches with own age group seems to be a great option.

[anonimouswon]

Cruzado wrote:My kid was offered a place on an older team (one year up) but on the lowest team of 3 teams in that age group.

My gut instinct is that this is not good for his development; that the technical skill of the players on the 3rd team (and their competition) will be lower even if the kids are a year older; that the gameplay will focus more on physicality/speed, and my kid's smaller size (even for his own age he's on the smaller side) will really hamper him.

On the other hand, I could see the argument that playing a year up against taller, faster, stronger kids might force him to come up with creative ways to use his technical skills to succeed.

I don't know though - my main concerns are the quality of gameplay and, where larger/stronger but less-skilled players are on the field, getting knocked around and potentially injured.

Any thoughts?

I think playing up is mainly to speed up development, but it really depends on the kid. If the kid is big enough and good enough to play up, then go for it. If the kid is small and is going to get pushed around by bigger players it may not be worth it unless the small kid is so quick and technical that s/he can play up. Regardless, smaller players playing up or in their age group must develop technical skills in order to be effective and impact the team.

Also, especially as kids get older into the U13 and up ages a lot of clubs favor bigger kids. They may not be as technical, but because they're bigger they aren't getting pushed around and can possess the ball, but it could also affect their technical development because they're relying on size. We see it all the time smaller players get pushed down by the bigger players. So just because your kid is on the MLSNext or ECNL team at ages u13+ doesn't exactly mean they're A team material. Most likely they're pretty good and are on the team because they're big and are able to compete at the highest level because they're big. What I love seeing is when the smaller kid hits puberty in the U16/17 age and is brought back up to the A team cause they're bigger, faster and a technical nightmare for other teams.

Someone mentioned it earlier and I think the best situation is to have the kid practice up and play age group. Also, your kid should only play up if they can be a starter on the older team. Otherwise, stick with the best team of your kid's age group.

[GKDad]

NVA-Soccer wrote:

DMVParent wrote:A player should only play up an age group, if they can be a starting player on the older age group team.

Training up and playing matches with own age group seems to be a great option.

As long as you don't care about team chemistry.

[Novaball]

GKDad wrote:

NVA-Soccer wrote:

DMVParent wrote:A player should only play up an age group, if they can be a starting player on the older age group team.

Training up and playing matches with own age group seems to be a great option.

As long as you don't care about team chemistry.

DS trains with both his age group and the one above, playing matches almost exclusively with his own. He loves the extra practice time and playing with the older group has greatly helped his development.