How long do kids do rec leagues?
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Anonymous
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I'm curious about what happens when teens don’t join clubs or make their high school teams. Do they usually continue with rec sports, or does interest tend to fade? My kids are both in elementary school and love playing rec-level sports, but they're not superstars and aren't keen on joining more competitive teams. As they grow up, I want to keep them active and engaged. I'd love to hear what other tweens and teens in similar situations tend to do. I grew up in a much less competitive area and don’t know many teenagers. Any insights or experiences you can share would be really helpful! |
Anonymous
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In the rec league I help lead we had 4 12th graders this spring (some kids choose not to join because they are on an HS JV team for same sport and don’t want to do both). In fall we’ll probably have 70-something middle and high school kids. And we’re just one league. So while many kids move on to more competitive teams or drop out of sports it is not true that all kids do one or the other. Some kids just keep getting out there and playing rec and enjoying it. And honestly it’s awesome that those opportunities exist.
My tween will most likely be the happy rec player all the way through. |
Anonymous
| My teen was playing rec soccer. Her team was filled with girls who didnt want the time commitment of travel and/or wouldn’t have made the same. We had a few club players who left the higher intensity teams for rec and a better balance of life. My daughter decided not to play this fall to take a break from it and might pick it up again in a future season. Yes, there are still teen rec teams. |
Anonymous
| My just-graduated senior played rec soccer, flag football and basketball through this year. There was a core group of friends with new kids joining each year. |
Anonymous
| Middle school sports are limited to track and XC in FCPS, so rec sports are still quite popular in middle school. At least among the high schoolers I know, fewer continued rec if they weren’t going out for/didn’t make team (some do though). Seems like a matter of having more options available through school (band, etc.), and rec sports weren’t a priority. |
Anonymous
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This may not be similar in all sports, but the rec experience started to become frustrating after one year. Looking back after one club season, I can tell that (most of) the coaches (typically volunteers) were not very effective. Registration was a nightmare: the spots available would be gone pretty quickly. Players with little or no experience would replace those who would stop coming (for various reasons, including missing registration). It was typical to shuffle the teams every two months to balance the talent among the teams (placing all the good players in one team that crushes all the other teams didn't really make sense). Only players who were carpooling were guaranteed to stay together. So the coach would start the basic training again offering too little to those with some experience. All these factors resulted in very slow progress. The progress was clearly much better after one year of club.
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Anonymous
| MSI has Rec soccer through 12th grade |
Anonymous
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It might depend on where you live and what the rec leagues are like.
My rising 7th grade DD is going to do rec soccer again this fall. She plays for OBGC which is one of the better rec leagues in moco. Some of the girls went to travel this year and some are staying. She wants to still play basketball and another sport so didn’t want to commit to 3x a week travel practices and the whole year. |
Anonymous
The bolded is utterly wild and not typical of any rec experience I have ever been in. Yes, there has to be some shuffling in rec or some kids would get stuck with the less effective coaches forever (though that can be balanced out if a rec org offers lots of clinics with solid coaches), but mid-season is insane. |
Anonymous
| My kid's rec soccer team folded for this fall. They fielded two teams as 8th graders last year, but so many kids were dropping going into the next year that anyone returning will have to play up or find another club |
Anonymous
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Arlington Soccer at the high school level is a 9th-12th rec league, but prior to that it's one or two divisions per grade. More than half of DD's team is sticking together for 9th grade having played together for years but we expect to consolidate with another team. The coach says high school becomes far more relaxed. Many teams don't even hold practices, but they come together for games. Rosters are larger since they know kids are busy with other activities.
Basically, our impression going in is that it's at this point a fun side activity for teenagers who have other priorities but enjoy the sport and their teammates. |
Anonymous
| Most rec sports go through 12th grade. |
Anonymous
That doesn't mean they have participation through 12th grade |
Anonymous
But there definitely exist leagues that do. I do get the sense that some leagues become the rec leagues to go to for high school, though. If they have a reputation as having a strong enough program with relaxed enough expectations, they become the go-to place for, as someone said above, a teen side fun activity. |
Anonymous
They exist, but they may only have two teams. Arlington soccer is the exception. Look at 12th grade girls rec basketball and see what you find |