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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm in California, where there have been several teams per level in the big clubs since I was a kid, so this isn't new. Rec soccer here generally means AYSO, and it is patchy. Clubs vary; some are more expensive than others (which does not correspond specifically to quality; cost is more based on the club location). Having been through this journey, I wouldn't put a kid who really wants to play seriously in rec. You can find clubs with reasonable fees here, who keep costs down (for instance, foregoing the Capelli uniform nonsense).

My DC is a junior and D1 is a realistic possibility. But DC was only ever on the third and fourth teams as a younger kid. I was glad of it, too. The lower level teams in the big clubs have parents that are less crazy, so the kids weren't yelled at as much by unbalanced parents. It also meant that we didn't fly places (of course in California you can get very high levels of competition without having to go very far, because it is such a popular sport here).

I also liked the coaching at the lower levels. The lower level coaches are often younger, meaning they get into the games with the kids, and have played competitively themselves more recently. They are also often more ambitious. Sure, they don't have their A level coaching licenses yet, but they are often headed that way, and they start at the lower levels because the top positions are held by coaches who have been at the club for years (but aren't necessarily better). My DC's U7-U8 coach (fourth level team) is now coaching MLS Next, for instance.

The only real issue with playing in the lower level teams that I see is that clubs are not great at developing talent to the next level, because people don't like having their kids moved down a level, so there isn't a lot of upward movement. Therefore when your kid is ready for the next level, you are typically better off switching clubs. We did this every time our kid decided (not us) that DC wanted a more competitive level of play. By the time DC gets to college, DC will have played for several different organizations, essentially switching clubs every two years. The movement made DC a better, more flexible player, but for people who want one steady club, but with an ambitious player, I think it would be harder. It wasn't always upward moves as well; at U13 DC dropped a top-level team and went to a lower level team that was a year older (different club) because we all thought the top-level coach wasn't very good. DC got better coaching playing up a year, but at a lower level. We focused on coaches more than anything.

I don't get how rigid people are in this forum. Maybe DC soccer has fewer options, I don't know. But I see plenty of kids who were playing lower level at U11 who are now on their way to D1 soccer, and also plenty of kids who were stars at U10 but who have dropped out entirely by junior year. It just isn't as formulaic as people make it out to be here. [/quote]

I know so many kids on bottom/lower teams U13 and below that were on the very highest level teams by U16.

The best coaches we had coached the lower teams.  They had more playing experience, a few ex-pros but day jobs where it wasn’t a full-time gig.  [/quote]

Is that because of improvement or because of numbers of players dropping off every year.[/quote]

I'm the original PP. It's improvement. What happens with the players dropping off is that the lower level teams often collapse in clubs. It means the competition to get on the top level teams is very stiff after U13 or so because those are the only ones that get seen by college coaches. Also, kids who aren't at that level will naturally drop off because they get a lot less playing time. Sometimes the lower level teams will start running multi-age teams, so competitive kids will play against older kids.

I've seen people in this forum get so worked up about their 8-year-old getting on the top team or whatever, but in my almost-at-college experience, the team levels at that age are almost irrelevant to outcome. The coaching, however, is extremely important, which is why I think rec is not a great idea for a serious player. [/quote]

+1 Also, so many that started at the top and were the stars that became less effective from age 8 to 15 will leave the sport vs getting dropped down and playing for a lower team. [/quote]

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