Year round training / playing v rotation of sport - break

[Anonymous]

At what age:
- should players commit to playing year round like super y summer winter futsal etc
At what age:
- are players actually doing this?

Our U10 player will do basketball and non soccer this summer yet half his teammates are opting for super y and individual training,
Those players are the weaker players on the team so somewhat understandable motivation. And I get it is NoVa / MD mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what age:
- should players commit to playing year round like super y summer winter futsal etc
At what age:
- are players actually doing this?

Our U10 player will do basketball and non soccer this summer yet half his teammates are opting for super y and individual training,
Those players are the weaker players on the team so somewhat understandable motivation. And I get it is NoVa / MD mindset.

I strongly encourage rotation for both physical and psychological reasons, and, ironically, this is especially advisable for kids on top teams at those ages. You can still play year round but I would encourage other sports in parallel to avoid overuse.

[Anonymous]

Super Y is not going to build skills. Get on twitter and boards like these and find pick up soccer for futsal and summer fun league's. Enjoy other sports while keeping the dust off the cleats for soccer with small camps and or a trainer. Yes Jimmy's dad will tell you super y was awesome but you are not building skills in a program that will let almost anyone play.

[Anonymous]

We have an 8 year old boy who currently plays travel and just wants to play soccer all the time. Our soccer-strategy for this summer will be to: (1) play family soccer in our backyard, (2) send him to a couple week-long soccer camps with his friends, and (3) schedule some pick up games with members of his travel team and neighborhood kids. All of these will be for fun. He will not have individual training or formal practice during the summer. He is not doing other sports, but we plan to spend a lot of time riding bikes and swimming/playing in the pool.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Super Y is not going to build skills. Get on twitter and boards like these and find pick up soccer for futsal and summer fun league's. Enjoy other sports while keeping the dust off the cleats for soccer with small camps and or a trainer. Yes Jimmy's dad will tell you super y was awesome but you are not building skills in a program that will let almost anyone play. [/quote]

So Super Y lets almost everyone play so you can't build skills there. Instead you should find pickup soccer and fun leagues where they let everyone play. Good logic there.

[Anonymous]

you can play year round, but have the emphasis drop- maybe the play casually in summer, but swim or play baseball seriously. Maybe they opt out of indoor in winter and play basketball instead

[Anonymous]

My DD plays soccer year round. Fall/Spring, Summer Super Y and winter futsal. Her technical skills have increased dramatically the past 2 years. You can tell which kids are taking a break from soccer when they come back to fall/spring ball.

[Anonymous]

The best athletes do multiple sports - there are a ton of studies on this. Most pro athletes did not start their sport at 6 years old and only do that one sport. This is well known.

[Anonymous]

We just do a couple summer, soccer camps that take place for a couple hours in the evening for a few weeks. Just to keep up skills and touches. No competitive stuff. I think kids need a break from feeling like they need to be constantly performing. Days he will swim, ride bikes with friends, do usual kid stuff. Winter futsal we do, but that is a minor commitment and I don't care if he misses a futsal game or practice now and then. Summer is really short and so is my remaining time with him before he's out of the house and becomes a man of his own.

[Anonymous]

I always liked this article:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/sports-should-be-childs-play.amp.html

Fwiw I ran track in college but didn’t start it until HS. I beat out a lot of others who ran younger and burned out by HS. I ran around in other sports until then. (Soccer / LAX)

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Super Y is not going to build skills. Get on twitter and boards like these and find pick up soccer for futsal and summer fun league's. Enjoy other sports while keeping the dust off the cleats for soccer with small camps and or a trainer. Yes Jimmy's dad will tell you super y was awesome but [b]you are not building skills in a program that will let almost anyone play.[/b] [/quote]

This is false. Pick up soccer also lets anyone play. Building skills is also about practicing new moves in a game like atmosphere and getting as many touches as possible on the ball. Some kids do not enjoy other sports, or just enjoy soccer more.

[Anonymous]

[quote]Super Y is not going to build skills. Get on twitter and boards like these and find pick up soccer for futsal and summer fun league's. Enjoy other sports while keeping the dust off the cleats for soccer with small camps and or a trainer. Yes Jimmy's dad will tell you super y was awesome but you are not building skills in a program that will let almost anyone play.

So Super Y lets almost everyone play so you can't build skills there. Instead you should find pickup soccer and fun leagues where they let everyone play. Good logic there.[/quote]


Super Y is usually coached by the same people at the club. Practices are the same(they do the same stuff they do during the season) and against the same players. The same peking order is enforced by what team your kid is on- ie top team players will take to corners and penalty kicks. There is no room for trying different positions, little risk taking or experimenting and no relief from the pressure of the club’s coach evaluating everything you do. This is a good time to get exposed to different coaches, players, style of play, play with older kids, younger kids, different skill levels, do things the coach would yell at you for, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what age:
- should players commit to playing year round like super y summer winter futsal etc
At what age:
- are players actually doing this?

Our U10 player will do basketball and non soccer this summer yet half his teammates are opting for super y and individual training,
Those players are the weaker players on the team so somewhat understandable motivation. And I get it is NoVa / MD mindset.

Kids should do whatever they want to do. If they want to play in the summer then that's OK. If they want to do basketball then that's OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age:
- should players commit to playing year round like super y summer winter futsal etc
At what age:
- are players actually doing this?

Our U10 player will do basketball and non soccer this summer yet half his teammates are opting for super y and individual training,
Those players are the weaker players on the team so somewhat understandable motivation. And I get it is NoVa / MD mindset.

Kids should do whatever they want to do. If they want to play in the summer then that's OK. If they want to do basketball then that's OK.

This. My oldest did basketball too, a some flag football--by 5th/6th grade he only wanted to do soccer year-round, and Futsal. Still going at almost 16.

Younger brother still loves to play basketball too. He has a passion for basketball, but soccer is still his primary sport. He plays soccer year-round--with Rec basketball with friends in winter and summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age:
- should players commit to playing year round like super y summer winter futsal etc
At what age:
- are players actually doing this?

Our U10 player will do basketball and non soccer this summer yet half his teammates are opting for super y and individual training,
Those players are the weaker players on the team so somewhat understandable motivation. And I get it is NoVa / MD mindset.

Kids should do whatever they want to do. If they want to play in the summer then that's OK. If they want to do basketball then that's OK.

This has been our approach. We have a U12 that plays fall/spring soccer and lacrosse with winter futsal/indoor as well because he loves playing. We generally take it a little easier in summer with some soccer/lacrosse camps and small group sessions with other kids plus pick-up games. He is happy playing sports so we support that, but if he said he wanted to take a break in the summer or winter I wouldn't care. He did say he wanted to stop playing basketball this past winter so we opted out of that one, but he still plays around with neighborhood kids. I do think taking a 2-3 months break during the year will be tougher to come back from, but to each their own. We have seen kids come back perfectly fine with a little rust, but others that have degraded measurably. Is that a big deal? Depends on the kid, team, goals, desires, etc.