Anonymous wrote:I dont have experience with it personally but can echo how obnoxious it is as a committed family to see players miss a lot. It effects the team dynamics and development. Your son likely wont be popular.

This. travel soccer is a commitment. If your other sport isn’t in the off season which it sounds like it is not then go to Rec.

I think individual coaches will have different opinions. At our club, we have a Mormon family where the boy can't play on Sundays. He makes everything else and is a great player when we have him. The roster is big enough to handle it. On my friend's team, there is a girl who could play on the ECNL team and used to, but basketball is her main sport now so she dropped down a team mostly because of the travel commitment with the other team. I'd talk to the coach because some are happy to work things out but others are hard-nosed about their team being the top priority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is helpful, but in my experience, some coaches love multi sports athletes so much, they keep them around to see if they will develop further and impact the team. We have a u11 multi sport player who is fast, but less skill and misses 30% games and practices for their other sports. The coach gives that player a lot of latitude so they don’t see it as a negative for missing practice at all.

Are you the OP?

No.

I have three kids - all three play travel soccer. Two of them it is their ONLY activity outside of academics and Scouts. The middlest? He's a member of his HS Marching Band and played in the pit orchestra for the musical this spring.

He missed practices in the fall due to MB and missed Scouts due to soccer practices. His playing time at the beginning of the season reflected his lack of practice. AND HIS COACH WAS JUSTIFIED IN THAT DECISION. When he started attending practices after MB ended, his play time (and his skill level) increased.

He tried out, and made the team again. Before he accepted the position, HE reached out to his coach and explained that he would be participating in MB again and would probably miss a significant amount of practices in the fall again. His coach, knowing him as a player now, told him to make what he could and get touches when he couldn't.

If you want to pay the travel prices for a "second sport" and you're okay with your kid warming the bench, stay in touch with the coach. Communication is key.

Your post is insulting to rec soccer.
It’s actually perfect for him but you’ve got it in your head it’s “ weaker” than travel.
If he just wants to play and it’s a second sport then do rec if you can get past your hang ups.
My kid U12 is travel level but doesn’t want to commit to 2-3 times a week 90 min practices for the entire season. She wants to do other things too. So we do rec… it’s fine.

Are you in the DMV area? What about something in between Rec and Travel, like MSI Classic or SAM Select?

I'd go with the soccer club where you're confident you'll miss few to no practices/games on a regular basis, even if it is a "weaker" club.

I dont have experience with it personally but can echo how obnoxious it is as a committed family to see players miss a lot. It effects the team dynamics and development. Your son likely wont be popular.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is helpful, but in my experience, some coaches love multi sports athletes so much, they keep them around to see if they will develop further and impact the team. We have a u11 multi sport player who is fast, but less skill and misses 30% games and practices for their other sports. The coach gives that player a lot of latitude so they don’t see it as a negative for missing practice at all.

Are you the OP?

Why would they answer their own question?

This will depend on the team, the coach and the age. While coaches do like kids who can play multi sports, they also want the commitment.

We are on the second team. We have a player who plays multi sports and often misses practices. On occasion he will also miss games with little notice.

For the coach, this becomes a number game. Home games is less of an issue because we can get players but it becomes more of an issue for away games where we have to travel 2+ hrs.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is helpful, but in my experience, some coaches love multi sports athletes so much, they keep them around to see if they will develop further and impact the team. We have a u11 multi sport player who is fast, but less skill and misses 30% games and practices for their other sports. The coach gives that player a lot of latitude so they don’t see it as a negative for missing practice at all.

Are you the OP?

This is going to depend on the coach. Some coaches wouldn't care even if you are on the top team as long as you can perform. That said NO ONE will be happy if your kid misses the practices and games regularly for other sports. It wouldn't be fair to the team regardless the level.

Not sure if this is helpful, but in my experience, some coaches love multi sports athletes so much, they keep them around to see if they will develop further and impact the team. We have a u11 multi sport player who is fast, but less skill and misses 30% games and practices for their other sports. The coach gives that player a lot of latitude so they don’t see it as a negative for missing practice at all.

Anonymous wrote:I understand most people on this forum are very serious about soccer, but we are in a situation where soccer is sort of a secondary sport at this stage for DS (rising U11). Would like to keep the door open in case anything changes down the road, so not inclined to go to recreational programs, but need to make the logistics work with both sports and multiple kids.There are very limited number of teams available to even make the schedule work.

So would you choose to skip practice/games regularly on both sports to accommodate the other or would you go with a weak soccer program which mostly avoids scheduling conflicts? Is it better to go with a lower tiered team in a "brand named" program or is it better to go with a smaller program? What is the thought process? And what factors to consider? What strategy/guideline do you recommend?

Based on your question, i assume your DS is not very good. So probably the team won't care if you miss soccer for something else.

I understand most people on this forum are very serious about soccer, but we are in a situation where soccer is sort of a secondary sport at this stage for DS (rising U11). Would like to keep the door open in case anything changes down the road, so not inclined to go to recreational programs, but need to make the logistics work with both sports and multiple kids.There are very limited number of teams available to even make the schedule work.

So would you choose to skip practice/games regularly on both sports to accommodate the other or would you go with a weak soccer program which mostly avoids scheduling conflicts? Is it better to go with a lower tiered team in a "brand named" program or is it better to go with a smaller program? What is the thought process? And what factors to consider? What strategy/guideline do you recommend?