Travel soccer - do girls drop out at age 14?

[Anonymous]

Looks like many clubs have/had 2 or 3 travel teams for each age group of 10,11 and 13-year old girls but when girls get to 14/15 years old are down to 1 team? Is that because most girls move to ECNL or just drop soccer so not paying the travel cost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like many clubs have/had 2 or 3 travel teams for each age group of 10,11 and 13-year old girls but when girls get to 14/15 years old are down to 1 team? Is that because most girls move to ECNL or just drop soccer so not paying the travel cost?

That's correct, if your dad is not on a top ECNL or GA club, then no reason to keep playing unless they have the potential to make one of the top teams by age 16. Most already know if they are on track to play in college by then + once they enter hs they tend to have other interests and do not want to train 4-5x a week and games on weekends.

[Anonymous]

dd not dad lol

[Anonymous]

IMO, it’s the high school impact. If they don’t make the school team (and know they don’t want to / aren’t going to play in college) they reassess the commitment to travel.

[Anonymous]

Agree- many decide not to play or they take up a different sport in HS.

[Anonymous]

Do ecnl girls also quit for other sports? Wondering if spots are likely to open up for those close to the cut and determined.

[Anonymous]

Yes, kids get burned out all the time. It’s a huge commitment and for someone that’s been playing for 7-8 years by the time they get to high school they might want to do something different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO, it’s the high school impact. If they don’t make the school team (and know they don’t want to / aren’t going to play in college) they reassess the commitment to travel.

I know of a couple of cases in which U14/15 soccer players make the high school team and then quit the travel team to play high school and rec.

Same idea, though - we're talking about players for whom high school is going to be the pinnacle of their soccer careers. They know they're not playing in college.

Another factor, though this is probably true moreso on lower-level travel teams than ECNL and also more likely to be true at U9 or U10 than U14, is that some travel players still manage a second sport, and they may opt to focus on the other sport instead.

[Anonymous]

It’s partially team size.

At 10 or 11, team sizes are usually 14. So 3 teams of 14 is 42.

At 15, team sizes are 18+. So 2 teams would be 36.

Most clubs still have at least 2 teams at 15.

[Anonymous]

The burn out is crazy high in this sport. Most rarely make it out of middle school.

[Anonymous]

I thought most quit at 13 but that’s close to 14, I realize. We just noticed a big dip at age 13 as the players moved on to other interests.

Our soccer kid was not going to play D1. Spouse hoped they’d stop so they’d have time to explore other interests. Soccer kid felt lost for a bit without soccer, yet they developed other interests and that’s going well.

A good lesson that you can give something up and replace that time with other interesting opportunities and activities.

We are all happy spectators of pro soccer now.

I really don’t miss the abusive coaches!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought most quit at 13 but that’s close to 14, I realize. We just noticed a big dip at age 13 as the players moved on to other interests.

Our soccer kid was not going to play D1. Spouse hoped they’d stop so they’d have time to explore other interests. Soccer kid felt lost for a bit without soccer, yet they developed other interests and that’s going well.

A good lesson that you can give something up and replace that time with other interesting opportunities and activities.

We are all happy spectators of pro soccer now.

I really don’t miss the abusive coaches!

Did daughter explore other sports or outside of sports?

[Anonymous]

The lower travel teams is where a lot of the dropping the sport in high school happens. They find, for instance, field hockey instead. Some kids who are multi-sport athletes also decide in high school that they need to focus on one. Some like the social side and don't want the travel commitment. Some teams disintegrate and girls are left with the choice of looking at a new club or quitting. Some don't make their JV teams and get turned off. Plenty of reasons, but yes- the high school years see a massive drop off of kids who decide their time is done.

[Anonymous]

You’ve got to be pretty sure you will play in college to keep going with 3-4 nights of practice plus weekend tournaments or long distance travel in high school. Most girls I’m out area take a lot of APs, plus test prep, plus try to do other activities for college. Almost impossible to do that at the highest levels of travel soccer (or really most travel soccer).

Unfortunately, it takes that level of commitment to make the varsity team and some high schools, forget about college. This, girls quit before JV and more after JV. Some, only a few, keep going into junior and even senior year. Those are the girls who think they may play in college (of course the true standouts are committing junior year).

[Anonymous]

Is it really all that statistically different than the drop in boys teams/participation? I don’t see that in MoCo.