Reply to Pros and cons of playing up a year

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[quote=anonimouswon][quote=Cruzado]My kid was offered a place on an older team (one year up) but on the lowest team of 3 teams in that age group.

My gut instinct is that this is not good for his development; that the technical skill of the players on the 3rd team (and their competition) will be lower even if the kids are a year older; that the gameplay will focus more on physicality/speed, and my kid's smaller size (even for his own age he's on the smaller side) will really hamper him.

On the other hand, I could see the argument that playing a year up against taller, faster, stronger kids might force him to come up with creative ways to use his technical skills to succeed.

I don't know though - my main concerns are the quality of gameplay and, where larger/stronger but less-skilled players are on the field, getting knocked around and potentially injured.

Any thoughts? [/quote]

I think playing up is mainly to speed up development, but it really depends on the kid.  If the kid is big enough and good enough to play up, then go for it.  If the kid is small and is going to get pushed around by bigger players it may not be worth it unless the small kid is so quick and technical that s/he can play up.  Regardless, smaller players playing up or in their age group must develop technical skills in order to be effective and impact the team.

Also, especially as kids get older into the U13 and up ages a lot of clubs favor bigger kids.  They may not be as technical, but because they're bigger they aren't getting pushed around and can possess the ball, but it could also affect their technical development because they're relying on size.  We see it all the time smaller players get pushed down by the bigger players.  So just because your kid is on the MLSNext or ECNL team at ages u13+ doesn't exactly mean they're A team material.  Most likely they're pretty good and are on the team because they're big and are able to compete at the highest level because they're big.  What I love seeing is when the smaller kid hits puberty in the U16/17 age and is brought back up to the A team cause they're bigger, faster and a technical nightmare for other teams.

Someone mentioned it earlier and I think the best situation is to have the kid practice up and play age group.  Also, your kid should only play up if they can be a starter on the older team.  Otherwise, stick with the best team of your kid's age group.
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