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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks for starting this thread, Coach!

I think you answered my question in your earlier comments, but I want to get your thoughts. I'm a parent of an undersized, technical U14 boy who has played for higher level EDP club that has increasingly bloated rosters. Although my son has been fortunate to be picked to be on the rosters, he comes in off the bench and does not always get that much playing time.  Some boys on the team do not get selected for game day rosters at all. Worse still, the club will have its top players from a younger age group play up, so that in a weekend, these boys play for their own team and then start for the older age group as well, while other players get limited playing time or don't even make the roster at all. I can understand if this is a DA club, but it isn't.

The training is good, and the coaches tell parents that training, which includes scrimmages, is more important that playing time in actual games. Do you agree with this?  It seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy that the "better" kids keep getting better, and the mid-tier kids fall farther behind when they don't play.  For smaller kids who have yet to hit their growth spurts, can team training advance development if there is little playing time in games?  In retrospect, I wish he had moved on a year ago because he's so afraid of making mistakes and getting benched that he looks like he isn't playing hard.

[/quote]

We are in a similar situation with a club. The coach is keeping the lower age side together "as a team" and my kid is forced to play out of position and only as a sub rather than compete in position (and frankly, beat out) the kid who is lower aged but part of that team.

I'd like to say this has been a one-off experience, but in my travels with a few different teams I've seen and heard similar "off field" reasons keeping players together and others on the bench. Truly sad to see and kids are quitting the game just when they should be coming into it with strength and size. [/quote]

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