What team to start young soccer player in?

[Anonymous]

Have a 5 year old who is good at soccer. Currently plays up with 7-8 year olds in rec and want to get him more disciplined exposure. Do you just go with the closest team near you for pre-travel at this age?

FWIW - he is big and fast for his age. Currently 60 pounds and 4’2” already. Wears a size 2 big kid shoes. Able to hold his own with older kids playing so far.

[Anonymous]

Really, another thread with this same question. There’s dozens of threads on this question, do some research.

[Anonymous]

Op, at that age, yes go with the closest one to you.

If by age 9 you need something more competitive, you have time to re-visit the question.

Also, here is a similar thread on the topic:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1302488.page#31181247

[Anonymous]

I'd disagree a little with the closest one advice. I wish my son had started in a more competitive/more technically based environment at a younger age than he did. He started "travel" with our closest club at age 7 playing u9. At that point, he was well behind kids who had trained foot skills and ball mastery starting at age 5. Luckily, he had a good/accomplished coach for three years there before moving to a more competitive/higher level team at U11. He does well, but I think having a better training environment that was more technically focused would have served him well. This is especially true for a bigger kid where the wrong coach may lean on his athleticism to win without helping him develop the comfort with the ball that will serve him best later. You can find recommendations for clubs, based on philosophy, on this board, or look for specific coaches. I'm not saying drive an hour for practice at age 5 but if they're into it, and it's fun, give it a full shot.

[Anonymous]

I’m
Surprised a rec league lets a K age kid play with 2nd/3rd graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m
Surprised a rec league lets a K age kid play with 2nd/3rd graders.

Op - I wrote and asked for a special request. He cannot play with his age group. He will hurt them. He outweighs some of the kids by 30+ pounds. (Mix of 4 and 5 year olds).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m
Surprised a rec league lets a K age kid play with 2nd/3rd graders.

Op - I wrote and asked for a special request. He cannot play with his age group. He will hurt them. He outweighs some of the kids by 30+ pounds. (Mix of 4 and 5 year olds).

As a parent of a 6-7 son who is 18 and played various rec sports and always played with his age group, this is lol. And yes, mine was huge the whole way through.

Contact sports are always going to be filled with kids of all different shapes and sizes. Your kid will have to learn how to control his body and follow the rules like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m
Surprised a rec league lets a K age kid play with 2nd/3rd graders.

Op - I wrote and asked for a special request. He cannot play with his age group. He will hurt them. He outweighs some of the kids by 30+ pounds. (Mix of 4 and 5 year olds).

As a parent of a 6-7 son who is 18 and played various rec sports and always played with his age group, this is lol. And yes, mine was huge the whole way through.

Contact sports are always going to be filled with kids of all different shapes and sizes. Your kid will have to learn how to control his body and follow the rules like everyone else.

Ok - we also requested it because it didn’t help him developmentally because he scored all the goals then the coach wouldn’t let him attack anymore and he would have to sit back the rest of the game. There was very little competition at his age. Going with the older kids helped even it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m
Surprised a rec league lets a K age kid play with 2nd/3rd graders.

Op - I wrote and asked for a special request. He cannot play with his age group. He will hurt them. He outweighs some of the kids by 30+ pounds. (Mix of 4 and 5 year olds).

As a parent of a 6-7 son who is 18 and played various rec sports and always played with his age group, this is lol. And yes, mine was huge the whole way through.

Contact sports are always going to be filled with kids of all different shapes and sizes. Your kid will have to learn how to control his body and follow the rules like everyone else.

Ok - we also requested it because it didn’t help him developmentally because he scored all the goals then the coach wouldn’t let him attack anymore and he would have to sit back the rest of the game. There was very little competition at his age. Going with the older kids helped even it out.

What's wrong with "sitting back"? If he is big and strong learning to play centre-half is maybe a good idea. I'm guessing you are new enough to the game and think offence is the only part of the game that matters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m
Surprised a rec league lets a K age kid play with 2nd/3rd graders.

Op - I wrote and asked for a special request. He cannot play with his age group. He will hurt them. He outweighs some of the kids by 30+ pounds. (Mix of 4 and 5 year olds).

As a parent of a 6-7 son who is 18 and played various rec sports and always played with his age group, this is lol. And yes, mine was huge the whole way through.

Contact sports are always going to be filled with kids of all different shapes and sizes. Your kid will have to learn how to control his body and follow the rules like everyone else.

Ok - we also requested it because it didn’t help him developmentally because he scored all the goals then the coach wouldn’t let him attack anymore and he would have to sit back the rest of the game. There was very little competition at his age. Going with the older kids helped even it out.

What's wrong with "sitting back"? If he is big and strong learning to play centre-half is maybe a good idea. I'm guessing you are new enough to the game and think offence is the only part of the game that matters?

OP - no I played soccer my whole life. Rec soccer ages 4-5 year olds do not have positions. They run around like little psychos. So my much larger 5 year old ran through all the little kids, scored all the goals and then once he scored too many goals his coach basically told him he isn't allowed to touch the ball and go toward the goal. It was useless.

[Anonymous]

Parent of giant son back.

Seriously sir, calm down. Sports is also the social experience for your kid with his peers. It's about teamwork and coachability and self-control. Tell your giant son to buy a clue and not score all the goals.

Yes, at some point choose a more intense environment for your child to play a sport he really likes, but it's not at age 5 and again, calm down. If he's going to be as tall as you seem to think he is going to be, soccer is the wrong path anyway. Don't invest so heavily in that direction. Who cares what sport you played.

[Anonymous]

Nearby and with friends at this age. Otherwise, he will give up and quit/be burned out before he's a teenager. He doesn't need to do anything but have fun at age 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of giant son back.

Seriously sir, calm down. Sports is also the social experience for your kid with his peers. It's about teamwork and coachability and self-control. Tell your giant son to buy a clue and not score all the goals.

Yes, at some point choose a more intense environment for your child to play a sport he really likes, but it's not at age 5 and again, calm down. If he's going to be as tall as you seem to think he is going to be, soccer is the wrong path anyway. Don't invest so heavily in that direction. Who cares what sport you played.

OP - understood. DS will be trying flag football and lacrosse in the fall as well as pre-travel soccer. He is very competitive and very athletically inclined so we want to see which sport makes the most sense for him. He will also be trying hockey. And already plays basketball. This is all per DS's requests. We have not pushed him into anything. He loves sports and likes playing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of giant son back.

Seriously sir, calm down. Sports is also the social experience for your kid with his peers. It's about teamwork and coachability and self-control. Tell your giant son to buy a clue and not score all the goals.

Yes, at some point choose a more intense environment for your child to play a sport he really likes, but it's not at age 5 and again, calm down. If he's going to be as tall as you seem to think he is going to be, soccer is the wrong path anyway. Don't invest so heavily in that direction. Who cares what sport you played.

OP - understood. DS will be trying flag football and lacrosse in the fall as well as pre-travel soccer. He is very competitive and very athletically inclined so we want to see which sport makes the most sense for him. He will also be trying hockey. And already plays basketball. This is all per DS's requests. We have not pushed him into anything. He loves sports and likes playing.

That is great and he'll find something he likes. Try swimming too with his size. And see if he has a knack for pitching in baseball.

[Anonymous]

So OP you played D1?