HS Soccer Maryland/DC and ECNL Virginia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- it's totally manageable to do both Freshmen and Sophomore year and totally worth it for the friendships--transition to HS.

By Junior year, for the reasons others stated, somethings gotta give. Our kids both transitioned over spring of sophomore year to higher profile Club teams and left HS soccer. They enjoyed it the first two years, but the level of play really sucked and phased out of by the time they were upper classmen.

Kids aren’t doing hs socccer for the level of play. They do it for friendships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- it's totally manageable to do both Freshmen and Sophomore year and totally worth it for the friendships--transition to HS.

By Junior year, for the reasons others stated, somethings gotta give. Our kids both transitioned over spring of sophomore year to higher profile Club teams and left HS soccer. They enjoyed it the first two years, but the level of play really sucked and phased out of by the time they were upper classmen.

Kids aren’t doing hs socccer for the level of play. They do it for friendships.

+1. My son made wonderful friends through the HS team - of all ages. He has always disliked school but soccer has changed that. That’s why I’m sad to think of him dropping it to just play club. He’s a good player but he’s not going D1 so he doesn’t need to play MLS Next (nor likely to make the team). But dropping club to play HS for fall also doesn’t work. He did that this year and now he’s desperately missing having a place to play.

[Anonymous]

At our DC high school the majority of the HS girls also play club. It’s not easy, but all of the girls who go on to play in college also play on the HS team for fun/camaraderie. There are definitely some conflicts with coaches wanting 100% attendance at both sets of practices, but most of the girls skip as needed or show up and sit on the sidelines as necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- it's totally manageable to do both Freshmen and Sophomore year and totally worth it for the friendships--transition to HS.

By Junior year, for the reasons others stated, somethings gotta give. Our kids both transitioned over spring of sophomore year to higher profile Club teams and left HS soccer. They enjoyed it the first two years, but the level of play really sucked and phased out of by the time they were upper classmen.

Kids aren’t doing hs socccer for the level of play. They do it for friendships.

That’s for sure. That’s why my kids decided to leave HS- the level of play. They already had those friendships solid after 2 years doing HS (and many of their HS friends played different sports- not soccer too). They were very serious about training and play and at that point HS soccer was just distracting from that. They needed the 5 days of speed of play/technical training with top players. Oldest just committed so it paid off.

[Anonymous]

I keep seeing the sentiment that everyone knows, understands that HS soccer is low level stuff, but their kid needs to do it for the social aspect.

My kid is in HS, plays soccer and has a friends crew of both players and non players.
The non players obviously are socializing with players, so why is being on the soccer team important for socializing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep seeing the sentiment that everyone knows, understands that HS soccer is low level stuff, but their kid needs to do it for the social aspect.

My kid is in HS, plays soccer and has a friends crew of both players and non players.
The non players obviously are socializing with players, so why is being on the soccer team important for socializing?

It’s a lot of fun playing with your friends, riding on the bus to/from away games, watching and cheering for the JV team, going out to eat after the games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep seeing the sentiment that everyone knows, understands that HS soccer is low level stuff, but their kid needs to do it for the social aspect.

My kid is in HS, plays soccer and has a friends crew of both players and non players.
The non players obviously are socializing with players, so why is being on the soccer team important for socializing?

It’s a lot of fun playing with your friends, riding on the bus to/from away games, watching and cheering for the JV team, going out to eat after the games.

Exactly. Mine doesn’t have a bus but they have a blast carpooling to/from games, hanging after practice and at frequent team dinners. He also has friends outside of soccer but they play football or do cross country, so they aren’t free often. But for some kids, making friends doesn’t come easy and having a sport in common can be a bridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep seeing the sentiment that everyone knows, understands that HS soccer is low level stuff, but their kid needs to do it for the social aspect.

My kid is in HS, plays soccer and has a friends crew of both players and non players.
The non players obviously are socializing with players, so why is being on the soccer team important for socializing?

It’s not. My kids’ friends play many different sports. They also have very tight friendships with K-8 friends in our neighborhood that attend different HS. Not to mention friends from their club teams too. They actually see their club teammates more and travel out of state with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep seeing the sentiment that everyone knows, understands that HS soccer is low level stuff, but their kid needs to do it for the social aspect.

My kid is in HS, plays soccer and has a friends crew of both players and non players.
The non players obviously are socializing with players, so why is being on the soccer team important for socializing?

It’s not. My kids’ friends play many different sports. They also have very tight friendships with K-8 friends in our neighborhood that attend different HS. Not to mention friends from their club teams too. They actually see their club teammates more and travel out of state with them.

This makes sense that as teammates they see and spend more time with their year round travel club mates than they do HS teammates for the 3 month HS season.

Yes, the soccer will be a shared interest, so a lot of the kids who are on different travel clubs are friends at school without the school team.
Sounds like a play-date concept to say you play HS soccer to socialize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep seeing the sentiment that everyone knows, understands that HS soccer is low level stuff, but their kid needs to do it for the social aspect.

My kid is in HS, plays soccer and has a friends crew of both players and non players.
The non players obviously are socializing with players, so why is being on the soccer team important for socializing?

It’s not. My kids’ friends play many different sports. They also have very tight friendships with K-8 friends in our neighborhood that attend different HS. Not to mention friends from their club teams too. They actually see their club teammates more and travel out of state with them.

This makes sense that as teammates they see and spend more time with their year round travel club mates than they do HS teammates for the 3 month HS season.

Yes, the soccer will be a shared interest, so a lot of the kids who are on different travel clubs are friends at school without the school team.
Sounds like a play-date concept to say you play HS soccer to socialize.

Too many adults here don't remember what it's like to be a kid. Let them play high school. Let them have fun. They will like it regardless of how bad the soccer or coach is.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in a VA private (fall HS soccer) and plays club in VA. It is manageable because

1) there are no HS games on weekends--so zero conflict there
2) the 2 HS games during the week were usually over by 4:30 PM-club soccer didn't start until after 7:30. This allowed for 3+ hours for dinner and homework on the nights there was club practice (3-4 nights a week, not 5)
3) the club coach was ok with missing a practice for a HS game, so long as it wasn't the day or two prior to a club game. My player really only missed a total of 3-4 practices in the fall and started every game. Active HS participation is part of the 'deal' for most ECNL clubs so you will find most coaches support it--but it does require conversation to make sure you understand what coach is ok with.

Was it a lot- yes. But it was totally manageable. And my player LOVED being part of the HS team and has said no to moving to MLS Next as a result. Added benefit, my player became ruthless about time management and using in school study halls and at home time effectively, which wasn't a bad thing as exec function skills went through the roof....

And, the spring season will be a real breeze with a very light VA club schedule and no HS soccer.

So really its just 2.5 months of time intensity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in a VA private (fall HS soccer) and plays club in VA. It is manageable because

1) there are no HS games on weekends--so zero conflict there
2) the 2 HS games during the week were usually over by 4:30 PM-club soccer didn't start until after 7:30. This allowed for 3+ hours for dinner and homework on the nights there was club practice (3-4 nights a week, not 5)
3) the club coach was ok with missing a practice for a HS game, so long as it wasn't the day or two prior to a club game. My player really only missed a total of 3-4 practices in the fall and started every game. Active HS participation is part of the 'deal' for most ECNL clubs so you will find most coaches support it--but it does require conversation to make sure you understand what coach is ok with.

Was it a lot- yes. But it was totally manageable. And my player LOVED being part of the HS team and has said no to moving to MLS Next as a result. Added benefit, my player became ruthless about time management and using in school study halls and at home time effectively, which wasn't a bad thing as exec function skills went through the roof....

And, the spring season will be a real breeze with a very light VA club schedule and no HS soccer.

So really its just 2.5 months of time intensity.

You gotta have a Freshmen not playing Varsity (or even JV). We never had games over by 4:30pm--that is when the Freshmen team played--JV 5:30pm, Varsity 7:30pm AND the Varsity/JV were required to stay at school and/or ride the same bus. It wiped out entire weeknights and made the Club + HS very hard to work with.

My kids moved to MLSNext by the 2nd/3rd year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in a VA private (fall HS soccer) and plays club in VA. It is manageable because

1) there are no HS games on weekends--so zero conflict there
2) the 2 HS games during the week were usually over by 4:30 PM-club soccer didn't start until after 7:30. This allowed for 3+ hours for dinner and homework on the nights there was club practice (3-4 nights a week, not 5)
3) the club coach was ok with missing a practice for a HS game, so long as it wasn't the day or two prior to a club game. My player really only missed a total of 3-4 practices in the fall and started every game. Active HS participation is part of the 'deal' for most ECNL clubs so you will find most coaches support it--but it does require conversation to make sure you understand what coach is ok with.

Was it a lot- yes. But it was totally manageable. And my player LOVED being part of the HS team and has said no to moving to MLS Next as a result. Added benefit, my player became ruthless about time management and using in school study halls and at home time effectively, which wasn't a bad thing as exec function skills went through the roof....

And, the spring season will be a real breeze with a very light VA club schedule and no HS soccer.

So really its just 2.5 months of time intensity.

You gotta have a Freshmen not playing Varsity (or even JV). We never had games over by 4:30pm--that is when the Freshmen team played--JV 5:30pm, Varsity 7:30pm AND the Varsity/JV were required to stay at school and/or ride the same bus. It wiped out entire weeknights and made the Club + HS very hard to work with.

My kids moved to MLSNext by the 2nd/3rd year.

Nope- my kid is on varsity. Games started typically by 245.

[Anonymous]

I guess it depends what private you are at. My kids school is MAC division (as are many of the local VA privates) and JV doesn’t play same days or as varsity. All varsity games were by themselves and you can take your kid home after or they can go on the bus. 230/245 start over by 430…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in a VA private (fall HS soccer) and plays club in VA. It is manageable because

1) there are no HS games on weekends--so zero conflict there
2) the 2 HS games during the week were usually over by 4:30 PM-club soccer didn't start until after 7:30. This allowed for 3+ hours for dinner and homework on the nights there was club practice (3-4 nights a week, not 5)
3) the club coach was ok with missing a practice for a HS game, so long as it wasn't the day or two prior to a club game. My player really only missed a total of 3-4 practices in the fall and started every game. Active HS participation is part of the 'deal' for most ECNL clubs so you will find most coaches support it--but it does require conversation to make sure you understand what coach is ok with.

Was it a lot- yes. But it was totally manageable. And my player LOVED being part of the HS team and has said no to moving to MLS Next as a result. Added benefit, my player became ruthless about time management and using in school study halls and at home time effectively, which wasn't a bad thing as exec function skills went through the roof....

And, the spring season will be a real breeze with a very light VA club schedule and no HS soccer.

So really its just 2.5 months of time intensity.

You gotta have a Freshmen not playing Varsity (or even JV). We never had games over by 4:30pm--that is when the Freshmen team played--JV 5:30pm, Varsity 7:30pm AND the Varsity/JV were required to stay at school and/or ride the same bus. It wiped out entire weeknights and made the Club + HS very hard to work with.

My kids moved to MLSNext by the 2nd/3rd year.

Nope- my kid is on varsity. Games started typically by 245.

Then you aren’t in WCAC. I can attest that hs definitely not the case for Varsity boys, even JV in the Catholic conference.