Rec vs 3rd/4th/5th at a club level travel

[Anonymous]

My daughter started travel in 2nd grade. The reason is because soccer is a team sport and in rec most of the players don't have any technical skills, don't understand team tactics, don't know how to nor are encouraged to pass the ball. Also teams are new every season and many of the coaches volunteer out of desperation by the league. Maybe it gets better when they are older, but why delay the learning, development, and competition when your child is ahead of their rec peers and ready for it?

Also its way more fun having the same group playing year round, developing friendships, and going to tournaments together.

She also played 5th grade rec basketball this year and the quality was absolutely horrible, reinforcing our travel decision in soccer was the right one.