Playing time expectations

[Anonymous]

Just curious what parent expectations are regarding playing time for your kids. Is it ‘win or die’ even at age 10 with kids riding the bench for extended periods of time, or is complete equity no matter what? I’m assuming most parents are somewhere in between and I’m most specifically curious what’s the minimum you’d be okay with and how long you think kids should be sitting while they’re out.

In my specific situation, I’ve got a young kid on a team that’s not the top team for that age group. What’s a reasonable expectation?

[Anonymous]

The more competitive the league and the older the kids, the less equity. Girls DA has limited subs for a reason.

On any "travel" team, merit prevails over equal playing time.

If rec soccer, more equity should be expected.

[Anonymous]

"On any "travel" team, merit prevails over equal playing time.

If rec soccer, more equity should be expected."

This.

[Anonymous]

On the 2nd or 3rd, it should be close to equal time. Those team do not matter at all. I have seen clubs strip a 2nd team before a tournament so that the top team has 5 subs for an easy league game. Specially at the younger ages it about development on the lower teams.

[Anonymous]

in your specific situation, equal time, multiple positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the 2nd or 3rd, it should be close to equal time. Those team do not matter at all. I have seen clubs strip a 2nd team before a tournament so that the top team has 5 subs for an easy league game.

Only the performance of the top team matters, right? So many parents just fall in line of doing what’s best for the club without realizing they’re not doing anything for your kid - i.e. ride the bench in an easy win vs actually play and contribute in a tournament.

[Anonymous]

At that age balanced time should be the expectation. Not exactly equal, but balanced. Everyone should get a chance but things like practice attendance, etc. can affect the balance. Defenders should play the whole game as a block while the others rotate. Everyone should still be getting chances to play every position, including keeper, but they can start to focus more on their favored position.

That should be the guidelines regardless of competition level. U10 soccer is developmental. At all levels. Top team, Rec team, Whatever, U10 is about Development.

[Anonymous]

Can you explain to someone who knows nothing about soccer why a defender would stay in the whole game at that age/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age balanced time should be the expectation. Not exactly equal, but balanced. Everyone should get a chance but things like practice attendance, etc. can affect the balance. Defenders should play the whole game as a block while the others rotate. Everyone should still be getting chances to play every position, including keeper, but they can start to focus more on their favored position.

That should be the guidelines regardless of competition level. U10 soccer is developmental. At all levels. Top team, Rec team, Whatever, U10 is about Development.

^^ At U10? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age balanced time should be the expectation. Not exactly equal, but balanced. Everyone should get a chance but things like practice attendance, etc. can affect the balance. Defenders should play the whole game as a block while the others rotate. Everyone should still be getting chances to play every position, including keeper, but they can start to focus more on their favored position.

That should be the guidelines regardless of competition level. U10 soccer is developmental. At all levels. Top team, Rec team, Whatever, U10 is about Development.

This. At U10, it may not be perfectly equal, but all players should see some good portion of the game. 5 sor 10 minutes a game would be wrong.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is on a u10 team. Plays most games in goal. Very little field time especially in tournaments. It is a red flag to me. We are leaving next season.

[Anonymous]

Our experience on a big club's B and C teams at U9-U11 is that during the year the big, strong fast kids and the defenders got noticeably more playing time and everyone else was mostly even. But at tryouts with the small field 4v4 games where size and speed is less important, the quick kids with better ball skills tended to move up. If you were big, strong AND had good ball skills you probably weren't on the B/C to begin with lol.

[Anonymous]

Our experience on a big club's B and C teams at U9-U11 is that during the year the big, strong fast kids and the defenders got noticeably more playing time and everyone else was mostly even.

Definitely agree re the defenders. My son is tiny-ish but is nevertheless a good defender, and gets a lot of playing time in that position. I've been told that the reason is that the defenders don't burn as much energy as forward players, so they can stay in longer. I have no idea if that's true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At that age balanced time should be the expectation. Not exactly equal, but balanced. Everyone should get a chance but things like practice attendance, etc. can affect the balance. Defenders should play the whole game as a block while the others rotate. Everyone should still be getting chances to play every position, including keeper, but they can start to focus more on their favored position.

That should be the guidelines regardless of competition level. U10 soccer is developmental. At all levels. Top team, Rec team, Whatever, U10 is about Development.

This. At U10, it may not be perfectly equal, but all players should see some good portion of the game. 5 sor 10 minutes a game would be wrong.

This should be the expectation for parents. People will tell you otherwise and make you think that your kids sucks and should work harder if they want more playing time. Don't buy it. A 9 year old needs to play. Playing time does not need to be equal, but every kid should play about half of the game. If you kid isn't getting that, look elsewhere. Take it from one who learned the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain to someone who knows nothing about soccer why a defender would stay in the whole game at that age/

It's about the learning process. I don't know the science behind it, but from practical experience players need to play a whole game as a unit to learn to defend as a unit at those ages. It just works better, don't know why. The midfield and attacking positions can rotate more and the lack of consistency doesn't seem to slow their growth. I've heard many other coaches that focus on U9/U10 who independently came to the same conclusion.