How much is too much for training (U9-12)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think 4 hours of activity for 6 days a week and 1 day of rest is normal for a 9-12 year old.

I'd think there is 2-3 hours of practice and 1 hour of running or "other" ways to cross train.

When there is a weekend tournament I would try to take a day off during the week.

State your expertise qualifications and the playing level of your 9-12 year old currently

just kidding

[Anonymous]

All this keeping up with the Jones. Your kid is doomed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A general rule of thumb is one hour per week per year of age, so a 10 year old should train 10 hours a week, 12-12, etc. This is not a hard and fast but a general rule from some fitness and therapists.

https://activedgefit.com/proper-training-frequency-for-youth/

That’s an insane amount of soccer training. When are rest/recovery days for a 12 year old?! Are they expected to train Monday - Friday for 2.5 hours a day then play 2+ games a weekend and no days off?

We just had our meeting for our middle schoolers ECNL team this week and they came out very strongly against outside training because of training load. The kids have an app they use for drills at home plus 3 days of training plus 2-3 games a weekend.

If your kid loves soccer that much, a private session for skills once a week is fine, but hour to age is ridiculous bc of rest days and game days.

Your club is against outside training when they train 3 days a week?
3 X 1.5 = 4.5hrs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A general rule of thumb is one hour per week per year of age, so a 10 year old should train 10 hours a week, 12-12, etc. This is not a hard and fast but a general rule from some fitness and therapists.

https://activedgefit.com/proper-training-frequency-for-youth/

That’s an insane amount of soccer training. When are rest/recovery days for a 12 year old?! Are they expected to train Monday - Friday for 2.5 hours a day then play 2+ games a weekend and no days off?

We just had our meeting for our middle schoolers ECNL team this week and they came out very strongly against outside training because of training load. The kids have an app they use for drills at home plus 3 days of training plus 2-3 games a weekend.

If your kid loves soccer that much, a private session for skills once a week is fine, but hour to age is ridiculous bc of rest days and game days.

Your club is against outside training when they train 3 days a week?
3 X 1.5 = 4.5hrs

what I noticed here in USA. All the clubs undertraine kids (in different way, technically, tactically etc). Edp clubs are afraid to loose kids to ecnl teams, ecnl teams to mls next teams etc. Do not trust your clubs they are not interested in your kid development only in their business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A general rule of thumb is one hour per week per year of age, so a 10 year old should train 10 hours a week, 12-12, etc. This is not a hard and fast but a general rule from some fitness and therapists.

https://activedgefit.com/proper-training-frequency-for-youth/

That’s an insane amount of soccer training. When are rest/recovery days for a 12 year old?! Are they expected to train Monday - Friday for 2.5 hours a day then play 2+ games a weekend and no days off?

We just had our meeting for our middle schoolers ECNL team this week and they came out very strongly against outside training because of training load. The kids have an app they use for drills at home plus 3 days of training plus 2-3 games a weekend.

If your kid loves soccer that much, a private session for skills once a week is fine, but hour to age is ridiculous bc of rest days and game days.

Your club is against outside training when they train 3 days a week?
3 X 1.5 = 4.5hrs

what I noticed here in USA. All the clubs undertraine kids (in different way, technically, tactically etc). Edp clubs are afraid to loose kids to ecnl teams, ecnl teams to mls next teams etc. Do not trust your clubs they are not interested in your kid development only in their business.

Well, keep in mind majority of clubs and teams are staffed by people under-qualified for youth soccer development above recreational levels.

That said, your kid's team has a single low level coach running sessions with more kids than they can focus on.
The majority of individual development happens outside club training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A general rule of thumb is one hour per week per year of age, so a 10 year old should train 10 hours a week, 12-12, etc. This is not a hard and fast but a general rule from some fitness and therapists.

https://activedgefit.com/proper-training-frequency-for-youth/

That’s an insane amount of soccer training. When are rest/recovery days for a 12 year old?! Are they expected to train Monday - Friday for 2.5 hours a day then play 2+ games a weekend and no days off?

We just had our meeting for our middle schoolers ECNL team this week and they came out very strongly against outside training because of training load. The kids have an app they use for drills at home plus 3 days of training plus 2-3 games a weekend.

If your kid loves soccer that much, a private session for skills once a week is fine, but hour to age is ridiculous bc of rest days and game days.

Your club is against outside training when they train 3 days a week?
3 X 1.5 = 4.5hrs

what I noticed here in USA. All the clubs undertraine kids (in different way, technically, tactically etc). Edp clubs are afraid to loose kids to ecnl teams, ecnl teams to mls next teams etc. Do not trust your clubs they are not interested in your kid development only in their business.

Well, keep in mind majority of clubs and teams are staffed by people under-qualified for youth soccer development above recreational levels.

That said, your kid's team has a single low level coach running sessions with more kids than they can focus on.
The majority of individual development happens outside club training.

100%. My comment was to the guy who said he trusts the club. What I saw in DC Soccer only a few coaches understand what they do. Usually kids with parents involvement advance somewhere. dad-coach(involved) was sort of antipatern where I grew up(even now many academies in Europe do not allow parents to be present on practices). here it is mostly only way.

[Anonymous]

My kids also love soccer, and I don't think the amount of activity is too high.

That said, in the ideal world I'd rather see playing with friends than HP Elite on top of club training. Something less structured...

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't listen to a single person on here.

Talk to your kid. Explain the commitment time of what they are asking for. If you can financially and logistically get them to and from everything I'd let them give it a try. Some kids can handle only a few hours a week. Other kids are happy to play 6 days a week with one off day. Long as your kid isn't hurting themselves and continues to enjoy the sport, I don't see the problem. People will tell you all the studies and personal experiences. None of that matters as none of it is universal or necessarily has anything to do with you or kid. They will most likely at some point need to cut back, however. Any amount of extreme after school sports or activities will eventually burn a kid out whether it is one sport, for sports, or just after school activity of some nature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't listen to a single person on here.

Talk to your kid. Explain the commitment time of what they are asking for. If you can financially and logistically get them to and from everything I'd let them give it a try. Some kids can handle only a few hours a week. Other kids are happy to play 6 days a week with one off day. Long as your kid isn't hurting themselves and continues to enjoy the sport, I don't see the problem. People will tell you all the studies and personal experiences. None of that matters as none of it is universal or necessarily has anything to do with you or kid. They will most likely at some point need to cut back, however. Any amount of extreme after school sports or activities will eventually burn a kid out whether it is one sport, for sports, or just after school activity of some nature.

You're disqualified based on your first sentence

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't listen to a single person on here.

Talk to your kid. Explain the commitment time of what they are asking for. If you can financially and logistically get them to and from everything I'd let them give it a try. Some kids can handle only a few hours a week. Other kids are happy to play 6 days a week with one off day. Long as your kid isn't hurting themselves and continues to enjoy the sport, I don't see the problem. People will tell you all the studies and personal experiences. None of that matters as none of it is universal or necessarily has anything to do with you or kid. They will most likely at some point need to cut back, however. Any amount of extreme after school sports or activities will eventually burn a kid out whether it is one sport, for sports, or just after school activity of some nature.

So you're long winded in agreeing with the PP that said its up to the individual kid

[Anonymous]

I have a 2014 in the same boat where I am trying to learn how much is too much. I prefer him to play other sports but he does not want to so I have decided to support his decisions. Am I am not elite athlete but the way he trains, he is at only 9 years old. We are having candid discussions about nutrition, rest, sleep, stretching and recovery which were foreign to me at that age. I am trying to research everything I can to support this passion. I am currently abiding by the hours training per week in accordance with age rule which is currently 9 hours per week. At my son’s age, his coaches believe that touches on the ball are the most important thing he can do. We did private solo training most of the spring but please be mindful that it is both the best and most taxing because the kid can’t hide and will work intensely for the whole hour. There are no right or wrong answers. My kid is driving this train and I am just trying to navigate it the best way I can. If something does not work, change it. Sometimes, you will have to hold them back but as long as the passion is still there, let the fire burn. I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2014 in the same boat where I am trying to learn how much is too much. I prefer him to play other sports but he does not want to so I have decided to support his decisions. Am I am not elite athlete but the way he trains, he is at only 9 years old. We are having candid discussions about nutrition, rest, sleep, stretching and recovery which were foreign to me at that age. I am trying to research everything I can to support this passion. I am currently abiding by the hours training per week in accordance with age rule which is currently 9 hours per week. At my son’s age, his coaches believe that touches on the ball are the most important thing he can do. We did private solo training most of the spring but please be mindful that it is both the best and most taxing because the kid can’t hide and will work intensely for the whole hour. There are no right or wrong answers. My kid is driving this train and I am just trying to navigate it the best way I can. If something does not work, change it. Sometimes, you will have to hold them back but as long as the passion is still there, let the fire burn. I hope this helps!

There are plenty wrong answers that can hurt your kid in the short and long run

[Anonymous]

Quality over quantity. A u9-u12 will get a lot more out of 2 or 3 hour long high quality small sided scrimmages with minimal freeze time than 9 hours of variable quality training.

No 9-12 year old is capable of giving 9-12 hours of their best per week, that’s why technical and social aspects of the development models are emphasized at their age, and mental / physical are emphasized later.

If you can get 3-4 hours of super high quality out of your kid per week, and plenty of rest, they’ll surpass all their teammates in under 3 months. It really doesn’t take much. A great example of this can be seen on ECNL teams when kids are out on the bubble, those that shape up and close the deficiency do it pretty easily with just a little bit of extra work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't listen to a single person on here.

Talk to your kid. Explain the commitment time of what they are asking for. If you can financially and logistically get them to and from everything I'd let them give it a try. Some kids can handle only a few hours a week. Other kids are happy to play 6 days a week with one off day. Long as your kid isn't hurting themselves and continues to enjoy the sport, I don't see the problem. People will tell you all the studies and personal experiences. None of that matters as none of it is universal or necessarily has anything to do with you or kid. They will most likely at some point need to cut back, however. Any amount of extreme after school sports or activities will eventually burn a kid out whether it is one sport, for sports, or just after school activity of some nature.

So you're long winded in agreeing with the PP that said its up to the individual kid

You're right. Your no response sentence really contributed to this conversation. Stay mad.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately too many are focused on the volume of training and the hours versus the quality and mentality required.