Advice re Girls Lower Level Teams

[Anonymous]

I'm a big club parent with a middle school girl who is not on the A team, and probably won't be. For the past couple of years, we have experienced attrition on this lower team after fall season. Unfortunately, it's kids quitting soccer, not just quitting the club. A lot of the girls are under time pressure - soccer isn't their only talent, but they love to play. As they move up the grade levels in middle school, they have another sport, academic competitions, music competitions, etc., that come up on weekends and create a conflict with league play or tournaments.

With attrition, in the spring season the team can barely field 11 consistently. While I understand the idea of commitment to the team and team mates, I think it should be expected that the lower level kids have another life, and the lower team roster should have more kids to accommodate this reality. Otherwise it forces kids out of the sport. Am I looney to think that anyone in club management cares, and would consider the idea of adding more kids to the lower team roster to account for conflicts?

[Anonymous]

Isn't the commitment to play for 1 full year?

I don't know of many clubs in the area that have players only commit for 1 season at a time, especially big clubs.

The lower down you go down the tiers, the more transient the players are for a variety of reasons. In a big club, the "A" and "B" teams start to stabilize at the middle school ages.

Once you get to "C" teams and below, there is more shuffling around, or getting new players in who still need integrating to make it a real "team".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a big club parent with a middle school girl who is not on the A team, and probably won't be. For the past couple of years, we have experienced attrition on this lower team after fall season. Unfortunately, it's kids quitting soccer, not just quitting the club. A lot of the girls are under time pressure - soccer isn't their only talent, but they love to play. As they move up the grade levels in middle school, they have another sport, academic competitions, music competitions, etc., that come up on weekends and create a conflict with league play or tournaments.

With attrition, in the spring season the team can barely field 11 consistently. While I understand the idea of commitment to the team and team mates, I think it should be expected that the lower level kids have another life, and the lower team roster should have more kids to accommodate this reality. Otherwise it forces kids out of the sport. Am I looney to think that anyone in club management cares, and would consider the idea of adding more kids to the lower team roster to account for conflicts?

Big rosters have their plusses and minuses. Hopefully your club has some mechanism to assure that you can field a team for every game. It is important that players/parents update their status for games as soon as possible. People who don’t are rude. With enough advanced notice your club could have younger players guest play assuming the problem is unique to your age group.

[Anonymous]

OP - I feel your pain and think that this is surprisingly common, particularly on the girls side. This is one of the many reasons why I've found that lower level teams aren't worth the money.

I also take issue with parents whose kids don't come to practice or don't come to games without notice, but that seems to be par for the course both on lower level club teams and rec teams. It is so annoying, because it can force a club to make rosters too big. Then, if everyone shows, a coach has to figure out how to get everyone in the game.

It might not be possible to add kids to the roster from outside the club, as most are already committed. I guess it is possible. However, our experience has been that if a lower team his having trouble filling out game day rosters, the club will solicit players from a higher level team to fill in or from a lower age group. I don't think it is unreasonable for you to ask if this is possible, especially if your daughter's team is close to forfeiting or as the weather is hotter.

As a parent who has had kids in both rec and travel, we have had a more positive experience playing on a rec team than a lower level club team. It is less money, less travel, less likelihood of rain-outs, and more stability. But it is really frustrating and I agree that the club should care. They just tend not to.