Can you tell me the pros and cons of playing “up”?

[Anonymous]

My kid played up when he was 7 (played on U9) because there was no team for his age in our club; that year he played on the second team.

The following year, he played U9 again, on the first team.

Over the summer, he played up a year (U11) for a Super Y team, again because there was no option for his age; not sure which team.

My take:

If your kid is big and fast for his age, I think it’s a great way to challenge him to develop his game and compete by improving his technical skill and positioning, rather than rely on his size and speed (and if your kid also has good technical skills, playing up will challenge him to develop those as well).

If your kid is average size/speed, and very strong technically, and if it seems that he’s not being challenged enough in his current age cohort, playing up can be a good way to challenge him to use his technical skills against stronger, bigger, faster kids one year older.

If your kid is below average size/speed, but has strong technical skills, I would recommend against playing up a year, as his size disadvantage may unduly hamper his ability to keep up, and he may get discouraged or start to lose confidence.

I also agree with the general sentiment that in no case is it a good idea to play up a year but on a lower team — the drop off in technical skills will probably not help him develop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Playing up is a joke.

A 2008 January birthday “playing up” can be ONE day older than a December 2007 kid.

We had a dad going on and on about how is son was playing up an entire year. The kid was a January birthday .

That December kid has essentially been playing up in his own age group. JFC

The only time it should be allowed is if the kid is one of the top players in the older age group.

We have had play ups that really needed to go back down. These kids could not keep up in the puberty years. I’m all for it if they are a superstar. Same with girls playing with boys. In all my years in soccer, I only saw one girl who truly needed to play with the boys. There are enough girls playing soccer and highly competitive teams that a girls can find a team at appropriate level in her own gender.

This made me chuckle. We have this situation to a tee.

[Anonymous]

If you play up, get plenty of playing time., make an impact, and your child is mature enough to be around older kids, then by all means go for it.

[Anonymous]

My kid played up from 2nd grade till middle school. She had a great time, was a leader on the team. Middle school years were tricky on the social side. Moved her to her age group (stronger team) as high school started. No regrets!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

I think it's the exact opposite. Playing up when your kid is big is exactly what you should do. If your kid is bigger/faster/stronger than most of the kids his own age, how will that encourage him to develop his technical skills? It won't -- he'll just be able to outrun, push, and boot the ball longer and harder than the other kids. He will use his size/speed advantages to beat other players.

If your kid is small or average size, then I would hesitate to play up a year unless his skills are enough to compensate for being slower, smaller, weaker than the older kids.

[Anonymous]

Little kids: try to get them playing with kids around their own size/level of athleticism. Could be playing up or "down" (bio-banding, as it's called).

From about 16 and up (boys): Any chance they get, they should try to be on the field with men. They'll get knocked around a bit, might be the weakest player, but this is the way to bridge the gap from juniors to pros.

[Anonymous]

We have to stop separating big kids and little kids on the soccer field. And, giving big kids a legs up is hurting not just the kid you're playing up but the entire system. This is a huge problem for soccer in the U.S. Other countries do not care about size and physicality - they care about skills. Our way of promoting and advancing creates a bunch of 6'2" pros who can't keep up or know the game from a tactical standpoint. Just as basketball is inherently a big man's sport - soccer is inherently a small man's sport. Sure, there are guys like Zlatan Ibrahimovic out there. But for every one of him, there are five guys like Messi, Neymar, Sterling, etc, who are in the 5'6" 5'9" range. Stop focusing on size for a sport where it rarely matters beyond goalkeeper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

I think it's the exact opposite. Playing up when your kid is big is exactly what you should do. If your kid is bigger/faster/stronger than most of the kids his own age, how will that encourage him to develop his technical skills? It won't -- he'll just be able to outrun, push, and boot the ball longer and harder than the other kids. He will use his size/speed advantages to beat other players.

If your kid is small or average size, then I would hesitate to play up a year unless his skills are enough to compensate for being slower, smaller, weaker than the older kids.

America's problem with soccer in a nutshell. This is not American football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have to stop separating big kids and little kids on the soccer field. And, giving big kids a legs up is hurting not just the kid you're playing up but the entire system. This is a huge problem for soccer in the U.S. Other countries do not care about size and physicality - they care about skills. Our way of promoting and advancing creates a bunch of 6'2" pros who can't keep up or know the game from a tactical standpoint. Just as basketball is inherently a big man's sport - soccer is inherently a small man's sport. Sure, there are guys like Zlatan Ibrahimovic out there. But for every one of him, there are five guys like Messi, Neymar, Sterling, etc, who are in the 5'6" 5'9" range. Stop focusing on size for a sport where it rarely matters beyond goalkeeper.

Statistically, Average FIFA player height is 5’9.5-5’10” hardly giants and that includes goalkeepers in the average who are much taller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

If you can just plow through kids or outrun them then you will never NEED to develop technical skills. That is exactly why a big kid should play up so that they have be both technical and physical to develop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

If you can just plow through kids or outrun them then you will never NEED to develop technical skills. That is exactly why a big kid should play up so that they have be both technical and physical to develop.

If you think that you "plow through kids" at higher levels of soccer - U14 and beyond - you're watching a very inferior form of soccer. There is no defender above 5 feet worth his salt who will let someone plow through him. That approach stops working around age 10 for top level teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

If you can just plow through kids or outrun them then you will never NEED to develop technical skills. That is exactly why a big kid should play up so that they have be both technical and physical to develop.

If you think that you "plow through kids" at higher levels of soccer - U14 and beyond - you're watching a very inferior form of soccer. There is no defender above 5 feet worth his salt who will let someone plow through him. That approach stops working around age 10 for top level teams.

The irony is you think this is some kind of counter point to what I said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of factors go into playing up. If your kid is big, fast and skillful, then they should be playing up until everyone catches up or not. The thing you need to watch out for is little playing time and missing out on skill development. This is more so in the younger age groups. You don’t want them trying to run before they can even walk so to speak. Just ask the coaches why they think this and would your kid miss out on any developmental training, or do they already think he has what is needed and ready to move into a different stage of training.

Bad advice. Playing up because your kid is big is exactly what you shouldn't do. At younger ages, they need to develop footwork. Your kid being big might allow him to boot more balls into the net, but scoring goals at a young age has very little to do with soccer development.

If you can just plow through kids or outrun them then you will never NEED to develop technical skills. That is exactly why a big kid should play up so that they have be both technical and physical to develop.

If you think that you "plow through kids" at higher levels of soccer - U14 and beyond - you're watching a very inferior form of soccer. There is no defender above 5 feet worth his salt who will let someone plow through him. That approach stops working around age 10 for top level teams.

Agreed. I've seen this with my own DC, who is fast and is used for her speed. She can still usually score 3 or 4 goals at any game in her age group, but as she gets older, that's becoming less and less. When she plays up, she might score 1 and it's evident that the skills are actually needed and she can't just run past everyone. She's U12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have to stop separating big kids and little kids on the soccer field. And, giving big kids a legs up is hurting not just the kid you're playing up but the entire system. This is a huge problem for soccer in the U.S. Other countries do not care about size and physicality - they care about skills. Our way of promoting and advancing creates a bunch of 6'2" pros who can't keep up or know the game from a tactical standpoint. Just as basketball is inherently a big man's sport - soccer is inherently a small man's sport. Sure, there are guys like Zlatan Ibrahimovic out there. But for every one of him, there are five guys like Messi, Neymar, Sterling, etc, who are in the 5'6" 5'9" range. Stop focusing on size for a sport where it rarely matters beyond goalkeeper.

Statistically, Average FIFA player height is 5’9.5-5’10” hardly giants and that includes goalkeepers in the average who are much taller.

No soccer is not inherently a small man sport. Average height in the premier league is 5’11.5”, Bundesliga 6’ and la liga 5’ 10.75”. Average height in UK -5’10, Germany 5’11” and Spain 5’9”(South American average 5’7”). Excluding goalies, your typical premier league roster will have 15-20% of the players 5’8” and below(very few are 5’6” or below), 30% 5’9”-5’10” and 55% 5’11 or taller.

Look at Chelsea three players 5’8” and below, 25 - 6’ plus. Man city was the shortest as a team but they have 6 players below 5’8” including one 5’5”, one 5’6” and three 5’7”. Still they have more players 5’11” and over(11) vs player 5’8” and below. If soccer was inherently a short man’s sport the majority of players would 5’9” or below.