Quitting travel after first fall season

[Anonymous]

My son made travel (not the top 2 teams) and wants to only play rec this spring.
Since it is a test long commitment should I push him to play spring and then not try out again for it?
Or just let him quit and he done with it. He is 1st year u10 player.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

That is for you and your player to decide. However, if they went back to rec for a couple years, continued to have a passion for the game, and then decided to do travel again at U12-13, they’d be just fine. What’s really important is that they don’t lose that love for the game.

[Anonymous]

This is pretty hard to answer without knowing why he wants to go back to rec. My experience has been that it's mostly social, they love playing with their friends and beating up on the other non-travel caliber players. But then they get frustrated with their non-travel caliber teammates so it's usually best to move on, even though it's not as fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is for you and your player to decide. However, if they went back to rec for a couple years, continued to have a passion for the game, and then decided to do travel again at U12-13, they’d be just fine. What’s really important is that they don’t lose that love for the game.

I don't necessary disagree with that advice, but the OP should be aware that most players who do that will fall behind their current peers who stay in travel though.

We really need way more info to answer this question.

[Anonymous]

OP - this is a question only you and your child can answer. Don't waste your time with us.

[Anonymous]

WE shouldn’t be the ones answering this question

[Anonymous]

When I sign my kids up for travel sports it's always with the agreement that if I pay, they play the full year.
I started making this clear to them at U9.

[Anonymous]

One thing to consider... would it be detrimental to the team to which you made a commitment to lose a player? Our travel team only has 12 on the roster, so if someone drops from the team we will have one less sub if a kid is sick, etc.

[Anonymous]

As others have alluded to, it's important to know the 'why' he wants to move to rec. He clearly still enjoys the sport to an extent if he wants to play. So is it the time commitment of travel? The level of competition feels difficult? The team/coach? First season of travel is an adjustment for almost all players. It's more work and more challenges/struggles, so I think it's important to really understand where the issues are before making a decision...He might just need another season to adjust or might be better suited to play rec.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing to consider... would it be detrimental to the team to which you made a commitment to lose a player? Our travel team only has 12 on the roster, so if someone drops from the team we will have one less sub if a kid is sick, etc.

The primary commitment is always to your child first. Of course the team matters but if the there are extenuating circumstances there is no reason to make a kid keep playing becuase of the "team".

There are those who will argue, finish what you started etc. And that is true. And if the kid is happy when playing and at the end of practice I would not take much from their claims to quit now. I would instead focus on the reason. Perhaps there are solutions that can be found without quitting. Perhaps practice with a lower team if the player feels it is to hard. But try to get to the reason why the kid wants to quit.

That the kid still wants to play rec tells me that the problem is not with the sport and is likely performance or social based.

[Anonymous]

Travel can be discouraging if your kid is used to always winning on a rec team but his travel team isn't as good. We did travel for two seasons and my daughter improved a lot, but not enough to make the team again. It was heart-breaking for her. But she always enjoyed playing rec more. on her travel team, she wasn't really appreciated or noticed. But on her very good rec team, she's one of the best players and her coach relies on her. Her travel team was one of the lower teams in a big club and they were always getting crushed in their games.

There's also something to be said for playing with your friends, like you do in rec, vs. playing with random folks who probably don't go to the same school or hang out together.

Maybe you could say, "you need to play out the spring season and if you don't change your mind, you don't have to try out again next year." I'd ask my child to honor her commitments.

[Anonymous]

scoring heaps of goals in rec against kids who don't know how to play is a lot of fun

[Anonymous]

It’s too much structure, too much tedium for a lot of kids at age 8.

A lot of Clubs don’t have the most thrilling practices for a kid that age. Some have no idea how to motivate and make it fun. 90 minutes is long.

With it being practically year-round these days, there’s little time to play the sport for fun outside of practice/games.

Let your kid miss some practices here and there. Your job is to keep him from hating something he has always lived

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s too much structure, too much tedium for a lot of kids at age 8.

A lot of Clubs don’t have the most thrilling practices for a kid that age. Some have no idea how to motivate and make it fun. 90 minutes is long.

With it being practically year-round these days, there’s little time to play the sport for fun outside of practice/games.

Let your kid miss some practices here and there. Your job is to keep him from hating something he has always lived

The player in question is 9 or 10 not 8. That said, with some kids maturity is an issue to be able to practice 3 times a week versus 1 to 2 rec practices.

[Anonymous]

NP with a DD feeling the same. I told her to finish out the year and play rec in the fall. I’m not going to stress if she misses winter practices or some in the spring. I feel that she signed up for a year and we signed a contract for her to stay with this team for the spring.