Team choice
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Anonymous
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You may be in the same situation in the years to come, maybe considering to switch from the same team you decided to continue with to the team that you've just turned down. During the next tryout, the coach may consider that you turned down his offer this year and may offer the spot to someone else who may have similar skill level, but more likely to accept the offer. Make sure that the coach of the better team understands your reasoning (you don't want to burn that bridge due to lack of communication).
Our situation is not entirely similar, but I will share it anyway (even though it might be too late for you to act). When my DD was doing rec, I asked her to choose between staying with her team (same coach) and switching to a different team (much better coach - we saw his team in action against our team). Unlike in your case, changing the team would have not been a big deal: similar drive, maybe change the day of the practice to a different day of the week. We talked about the advantages of better coaching, but she decided to stay with her team, mostly because of social aspects: she already knew the girls on her team and she was getting along with them really well (she didn't want to "start over" in another team). It turned out to be a mistake: the other coach was also coaching club and provided his players really good information about club tryouts. We were clueless about the sport and (with no information) we missed the club tryouts that year. We continued with rec one additional year as we learned more and more about the club scene. The story came back full circle: when we started club, we ended up the better coach's team. During the following year, my DD realized that better coaching matters. The friendship with the girls in the old team did not last - they barely change one message per year. |
Anonymous
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How far is the current drive ?
You will eventually make a carpool - every one does. |
Anonymous
That’s not true. My DD has girls on her 14u softball team who don’t live within 30 minutes of anyone else on the team. Strong team, worth the drive to many. But most of the girls on her team want to play in college. |
Anonymous
A lot of kids on these ridiculously over competitive teams end up getting injured or burning out. It’s just adults competing with each other at that point and it’s ruining youth sports IMO. They’re just kids, and it’s supposed to be fun. |
Anonymous
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It’s a decision that absolutely requires your daughter’s input IF you would be willing to let her play on the higher level team.
Some considerations; 1. In middle school, sports change for everyone. Most recreational level leagues/sports stop as they are replaced by kids doing other things. They may play travel sports, school sports, join school clubs, do other outside interests at a more serious participation level. 2. In many areas - if you don’t play a sport at the travel level in middle school years you will not be good enough to play it at the varsity level in high school. Take a look at the varsity teams for the high school your kid will attend. Ask parents with older kids. Anyone on the xyz team that did not play travel? 3. There are several girls sports that really do not start until the middle school years. Would your kid be a better physical fit for one of those? Soccer, for example, is a game for fast and quick kids. Yes there are differences but - pretty much everyone is faster/quicker than many of the other kids. Girls who are good athletes very often start with soccer but switch to other sports around middle school. My daughter played high level club soccer and then 4 years in college. Along the way she played with teammates who switched to other sports and competed/played those sports in college. Soccer was just the starting block. |