Going from U12 small fields to full size at U13 questions

[Anonymous]

How many kids drop out at this point? Do clubs struggle to field teams?

[Anonymous]

Most clubs do not struggle to field teams but often they take the A, B and C teams and create just A and B teams. They have more teams at lower ages just because roster sizes increase at U13.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most clubs do not struggle to field teams but often they take the A, B and C teams and create just A and B teams. They have more teams at lower ages just because roster sizes increase at U13.

Whats the common roster size at U13? my ds U12 has 14 on current roster now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most clubs do not struggle to field teams but often they take the A, B and C teams and create just A and B teams. They have more teams at lower ages just because roster sizes increase at U13.

Whats the common roster size at U13? my ds U12 has 14 on current roster now.

Ideally at U13 16 but 18-20 is not uncommon.

[Anonymous]

I think most u13 clubs like to keep 15 on the roster for their B teams. For the A teams I think 16-18 is the norm. maybe up to 20 for an ECNL or DA team depending on how far they travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most clubs do not struggle to field teams but often they take the A, B and C teams and create just A and B teams. They have more teams at lower ages just because roster sizes increase at U13.

Whats the common roster size at U13? my ds U12 has 14 on current roster now.

Ideally at U13 16 but 18-20 is not uncommon.

Christ -that’s ridiculous to carry 7-9 subs at that age. $$$$$$, not development

[Anonymous]

Our Club's U13 has 21 players and that's down from 25.

Only 18 can be rostered on game day. Many parents not happy, but the club wants their checks.

[Anonymous]

Ha. My DS’s u14 team has 21. All of them have to play 50% of the game. It’s rec so the club isn’t raking in the money but it’s a bit much.

[Anonymous]

My current u11 travel player has 14. Everyone on his team shows up for local games barring injury or illness so 14 feels big for 9v9. But when an overnight stay is involved the bench is usually just 1-2 so I see why the coach has 14. I think expanding to 16 for u13 would be reasonable. I hope they wouldn’t go over 18. 21 on a travel team is just ridiculous. My friends kids have played on travel teams where they don’t always make the game day roster. I would be livid if I paid $2500 unless it was disclosed to me before we signed the contract. There is one u13 travel team I know of that did exactly that. The coach was upfront making offers to specific kids that they might not have much playing time or be able to attend every game. He left it to the parents to decide if it was worth it. He told me he didn’t want to cut kids who worked hard and were pleasant to coach so this was the fair option. He told me several of those families still signed on.

When my oldest was u13 he was on a rec team with 21. That was ok because it was rec so the fee was dirt cheap and in the end everyone played plenty since player attendance was spotty. He moved to a classic team at u14 with 18 players. That seemed perfect but again kids often missed because they had conflicts so there was always plenty of playing time.

[Anonymous]

16 is a good number for 11v11 at the younger ages. +20, you need to leave.

[Anonymous]

Everyone tends to over react to the idea of 18 on the roster and things that tend to be forgotten are:

1. The games are longer.
2. The actual ratio of subs remains relatively in tact as it was with 9v9. Lots of teams have rosters of 14 kids. Maintaining that roster for 11v11 is actually pretty thin.
3. As kids adjust to the bigger field and the bigger ball they need to be subbed more than you realize. The kids by now look too big for the 9v9 field but they will look like ants on the big field in the fall.
4. Things do get a bit more social with kids at this age. School functions and priorities can have an affect.
5. Injuries, especially on the girls side start rising at U13 and will climb to their peak at U15-U16. And these are no longer the 4 week broken arms that just wrap in bubble wrap and throw them back out there kind anymore. These are injuries that can start at being out for four weeks for concussions on up to season ending ACL tears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone tends to over react to the idea of 18 on the roster and things that tend to be forgotten are:

1. The games are longer.
2. The actual ratio of subs remains relatively in tact as it was with 9v9. Lots of teams have rosters of 14 kids. Maintaining that roster for 11v11 is actually pretty thin.
3. As kids adjust to the bigger field and the bigger ball they need to be subbed more than you realize. The kids by now look too big for the 9v9 field but they will look like ants on the big field in the fall.
4. Things do get a bit more social with kids at this age. School functions and priorities can have an affect.
5. Injuries, especially on the girls side start rising at U13 and will climb to their peak at U15-U16. And these are no longer the 4 week broken arms that just wrap in bubble wrap and throw them back out there kind anymore. These are injuries that can start at being out for four weeks for concussions on up to season ending ACL tears.

Agree with this. 18 is a pretty normal roster. Also a factor at U13 is that its bar/bat mitzvah year and some kids need to miss for their own or family events. Injuries are a big issue especially for girls who are going through puberty and Severs and knee issues can mess kids up. U13 is a transition year, the fall season is usually a disaster for all the teams getting used to the big fields, and any goals are typically a surprise or should be considered as such. Fitness and teamwork become important because you can't just punt it into the goal from the halfway line like before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone tends to over react to the idea of 18 on the roster and things that tend to be forgotten are:

1. The games are longer.
2. The actual ratio of subs remains relatively in tact as it was with 9v9. Lots of teams have rosters of 14 kids. Maintaining that roster for 11v11 is actually pretty thin.
3. As kids adjust to the bigger field and the bigger ball they need to be subbed more than you realize. The kids by now look too big for the 9v9 field but they will look like ants on the big field in the fall.
4. Things do get a bit more social with kids at this age. School functions and priorities can have an affect.
5. Injuries, especially on the girls side start rising at U13 and will climb to their peak at U15-U16. And these are no longer the 4 week broken arms that just wrap in bubble wrap and throw them back out there kind anymore. These are injuries that can start at being out for four weeks for concussions on up to season ending ACL tears.

+1. I was really, really not happy about having 18 players for U13, but wow...so many unforeseen things (injuries, bar mitzvah, catholic thingy, military family move, burnout) have happened that now I see the coach was right all along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone tends to over react to the idea of 18 on the roster and things that tend to be forgotten are:

1. The games are longer.
2. The actual ratio of subs remains relatively in tact as it was with 9v9. Lots of teams have rosters of 14 kids. Maintaining that roster for 11v11 is actually pretty thin.
3. As kids adjust to the bigger field and the bigger ball they need to be subbed more than you realize. The kids by now look too big for the 9v9 field but they will look like ants on the big field in the fall.
4. Things do get a bit more social with kids at this age. School functions and priorities can have an affect.
5. Injuries, especially on the girls side start rising at U13 and will climb to their peak at U15-U16. And these are no longer the 4 week broken arms that just wrap in bubble wrap and throw them back out there kind anymore. These are injuries that can start at being out for four weeks for concussions on up to season ending ACL tears.

+1. I was really, really not happy about having 18 players for U13, but wow...so many unforeseen things (injuries, bar mitzvah, catholic thingy, military family move, burnout) have happened that now I see the coach was right all along.

^ This sounds like a coach.

This was not our experience at all. Very few wanted to miss games or practices, maybe 1 kid might not be at a game but rarely enough to cover the suggestion that we'd be scraping for subs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone tends to over react to the idea of 18 on the roster and things that tend to be forgotten are:

1. The games are longer.
2. The actual ratio of subs remains relatively in tact as it was with 9v9. Lots of teams have rosters of 14 kids. Maintaining that roster for 11v11 is actually pretty thin.
3. As kids adjust to the bigger field and the bigger ball they need to be subbed more than you realize. The kids by now look too big for the 9v9 field but they will look like ants on the big field in the fall.
4. Things do get a bit more social with kids at this age. School functions and priorities can have an affect.
5. Injuries, especially on the girls side start rising at U13 and will climb to their peak at U15-U16. And these are no longer the 4 week broken arms that just wrap in bubble wrap and throw them back out there kind anymore. These are injuries that can start at being out for four weeks for concussions on up to season ending ACL tears.

+1. I was really, really not happy about having 18 players for U13, but wow...so many unforeseen things (injuries, bar mitzvah, catholic thingy, military family move, burnout) have happened that now I see the coach was right all along.

^ This sounds like a coach.

This was not our experience at all. Very few wanted to miss games or practices, maybe 1 kid might not be at a game but rarely enough to cover the suggestion that we'd be scraping for subs.

Mileage may vary. If kids on your team didn’t get injured your both fortune and lucky.

But just because it wasn’t your experience doesn’t mean that rostering 18 kids is bad or anti-development or a cash grab.