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[quote=Anonymous]i have two very different kids on very different paths
The younger child played up in Rec, dominated everything and so we signed them up for travel a year early. This child was good at multiple sports so we figured this was the right path for them. I still am not sure what the 'right' decision is for a kid like that because playing up was great for learning from a professional coach and the extra training was great, but the season was painful (basically a whole team of kids playing up) and they had little success. This group of kids that played up repeated their u9 year (e.g. not playing up anymore) knowing all the travel soccer basics but not having as much confidence in their own abilities. The other kids who they joined in their second year of u9 played in rec or in a rec-to-travel prep year and they came in more confident but didn't know positions and other u9 basics (build-up line, etc). It took our child a while to get their confidence back, they played on the second team for multiple years, but they've rebounded and are now on a top team and doing great. I won't trace any of their current success to playing up that year and I see very very few kids succeed in the long-term who play up. There are some occasional ones, but they tend to have parents that are driving them towards a specific goal. There are a few who love soccer but I've seen few at the top levels who love soccer more than their parents. Final part of the story is that of the kids that played up that first year, many dropped out of soccer and only a couple are playing on a top team.

I pushed my other child (the older one) into travel at the 'normal' time because I was worried they would fall behind (a lesson from my childhood). They were average/good in Rec, so I figured they would be average in travel. This child ended up being 'bad' at travel but somehow still fell in love with soccer. Not in love enough to want to train on their own, but enough to enjoy the extra training and to want to continue, even if they weren't a key player on the team. After ~2 years, I realized Rec would have been the better path and tried to push this child towards it, but they resisted because they wanted the better coaching and more committed players, even if they weren't overly successful. This child is now a teenager, still a starter on a bottom team, but will likely drop out of soccer because they have many non-sport interests. Not sure if they would have kept playing if they were in Rec, but I wouldn't push a kid like this into travel. I should have kept them in Rec, let them see if they wanted/needed a higher level (even if they didn't love soccer), and moved over at the appropriate time. This kid will leave soccer on great terms, which I am proud of (ensuring they are enjoying soccer even if they're not a star), but I’m not sure we made the right decisions along the way.
Let me add that neither child 'loves' soccer like other people refer to on here. Both kids tried a ton of different sports and probably chose soccer because that was my favorite sport. The younger child has succeeded in soccer because they found a team where the other players are like them (super competitive, very athletic, hard workers). They might not say that they love soccer, but they can't imagine not being on this team with this set of players. I'll also add that this younger child doesn't train on their own, but they are always willing to train extra with their friends & family.  I've had to learn to follow their lead in terms of how much extra soccer they want to do and that interest level has changed every single year. I’ve also noticed that the less I push, the more they've liked soccer. Final point I'll add is that many of the kids on the top teams play multiple sports and are successful at all of them. So if your child is great at multiple sports, pushing them forward might be a good decision because they'll find like-minded kids that enjoy the same things they do. But if your kid is only so-so with sports enthusiasm, don't push them. Heck, I'd say even if your kid loves soccer, but isn't that skilled, don't push them. We've seen a number of kids that loved soccer - watched it at home, watched their friends play soccer, played at recess, played with their parents - but they got frustrated with travel soccer because their love didn't translate to skill & ability.
So long way of saying that I wouldn't push them to play up. If they want to pursue a great soccer career, there is no rush to train them or start early. An early start can be helpful, but understand that you're taking a big risk. Your kids don’t have to love soccer to play travel or even have to be amazing at soccer, but your kid needs to find a way to be successful at soccer if they're going to enjoy travel.[/quote]

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