high school soccer question (girls)

[Anonymous]

Question for your soccer parent pros. If your daughter has played NCSL Division 1 for multiple years (and currently on a team), how important is it to continue to play club soccer along with high school soccer (particularly for JV)? I get it that some kids play soccer year round to the exclusion of other sports, but what about just playing HS girls soccer in the fall and playing other sports through the year? Asking for a sporty 8th grade girl who likes soccer, but also enjoys other sports and other pursuits. Dropping NCSL club soccer would open open significant time. Will be a 9th grader next year and high school team is solid, but not crazy good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for your soccer parent pros. If your daughter has played NCSL Division 1 for multiple years (and currently on a team), how important is it to continue to play club soccer along with high school soccer (particularly for JV)? I get it that some kids play soccer year round to the exclusion of other sports, but what about just playing HS girls soccer in the fall and playing other sports through the year? Asking for a sporty 8th grade girl who likes soccer, but also enjoys other sports and other pursuits. Dropping NCSL club soccer would open open significant time. Will be a 9th grader next year and high school team is solid, but not crazy good.

Will your daughter's club play during the HS soccer season? It's a chore to play on a club team and play HS soccer at the same time. However, in the non-HS season, playing on a club team keeps your soccer skills up. The level of play in HS soccer is . . . well, it's not the greatest.

I'd say it depends how competitive it will be to make the school team if that's something important to your DD. AT some schools, almost everyone makes the JV team; at others, most players will have significant club level experience.

[Anonymous]

It depends on how competitive your HS soccer team is. Club soccer could help her win a spot; or she can just walk on the team.
If the latter, giving up club soccer is fine and if needed, she can practice on her own before try-outs or with a private coach to dust off her skills.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the club, league, and HS. DC and MD clubs will sometimes play a light schedule during the fall HS season and then ramp up starting in November. That usually only starts in U16 though so U15 can be brutal - practices 5-6 times per week plus games. Coaches at clubs that support playing in HS will usually let players skip at least one practice per week because the kids are getting lots of practice time in HS.

Harder to do in NCSL, I think, because scheduling is not as flexible (i.e. season runs for specified time period).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on how competitive your HS soccer team is. Club soccer could help her win a spot; or she can just walk on the team.
If the latter, giving up club soccer is fine and if needed, she can practice on her own before try-outs or with a private coach to dust off her skills.

I was going to say the same thing. If competitive HS, club is almost necessary. Otherwise playing other sports would be great fun and keeps up fitness. Clinics at least are a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the insight everyone.

[Anonymous]

She's got a lot of options to weigh going into high school. I had one son who had played soccer since tiny but started wrestling in high school and ended up dropping soccer after freshman year. High school can be a great time to try out some other sports, especially the ones that don't have a huge club infrastructure so you don't always need years of prior experience to fit in starting in high school. I also have a daughter who doubled down on soccer in high school and is playing high level college ball now--different kid; different choices. Think the best you can do is help her understand all her options and the cost of each one. There are fall, winter, and spring sports in HS and soccer is only one of those seasons so there should be time to fit in trying something else. Most high-school aged club teams in NCSL take a sit out for high-school season so it won't be a problem for her to keep playing club one season. If she's only going for JV and is playing at a high level now tryouts should not be much of a concern. If you're in VA, maybe if she did a different sport in the fall should could play indoor or futsal in the winter to make sure she is in form for tryouts for spring soccer. In MD maybe she could do soccer camps in the summer to get back in form for tryouts.