Anonymous
Post 02/20/2025 18:31     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:DD is on a high level team for her sport with lots of travel and a large focus on playing D1. DD loves her sport more than anything but sometimes feels like it is too much. She is easily in the top third on her team in terms of skill level so this is not about finding a better match to her skills. She is being recruited by similar teams at the next age level up. But she is considering changing to a lower team with a more relaxed culture and schedule. Has anyone done this? What was your experience? Did your child regret the step down?


My DD has played with kids that could have had spots on more elite teams in soccer. They said she wanted to be on a fun team, the sense I got was they wanted to be the star of the team and were just using the lower team for experience, until their skills were good enough. This sort of played out, because they didn't like losing (it was a weaker team after all ) and ended up moving to the other team anyway, for more fun. IMO it isn't a very good way to upskill. I can see not wanting to sit the bench on a travel team, all things considered.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2025 18:06     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
We moved from a GA team to an ECRL team and the “lower” team is much better. Better coaching and teammates. But I think this is a unique situation- if is really club, coach and team dependent.

We did it because of an interest in another sport
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2025 12:43     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:DD is on a high level team for her sport with lots of travel and a large focus on playing D1. DD loves her sport more than anything but sometimes feels like it is too much. She is easily in the top third on her team in terms of skill level so this is not about finding a better match to her skills. She is being recruited by similar teams at the next age level up. But she is considering changing to a lower team with a more relaxed culture and schedule. Has anyone done this? What was your experience? Did your child regret the step down?


From the tone of your post, I wouldn’t base any of my decisions on potential recruiting. The question is, where will she learn the most and where we should be happiest.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2025 09:04     Subject: Re:What was your experience moving to a lower team
Don't do it if you want a better chance of playing D1. My DD stayed in the same club (mid-tier), but it felt like a downgrade because the best players went to better clubs and she is stuck with a bunch of newbies without skills and little drive. I feel like she will not progress much because all the efforts have switched back to teaching the fundamentals, while the better teams work on fine tuning. Even if my DD would dream about playing in college, she would not stand a chance given her skill level and her drive. We are in it because of the physical activity and all the advantages of being part of a team.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 21:39     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
For soccer, you’ll have a pretty tough time playing in college if you drop a level. It’s not impossible, but it’s harder. Based on my DD’s teammates who have dispersed over the years, the team level/rank had more impact than it should have compared to actual level of play.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 21:24     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DD is deeply regretting this in volleyball. She targeted lower level clubs that still had travel, with the goal of hoping to have more balance with school and other activities. There was no way to ensure at tryouts that others would have the same level of dedication and focus. It is common for some to miss practice or even tournaments for any reason at all. It’s very different than last year and they don’t all take it seriously as a team. She is worried her skills are being affected and wants more and more private lessons.

My daughter isn’t worried about college recruiting but wants to play with others who take a commitment to being on a team seriously and want to play to win. She will try to get on a more competitive team again next year or at least try to switch clubs. She’s on a U14 team this year.


My DS did this around the same age too (baseball) and also really regretted it, and for the same reasons. Some of the other kids didn’t take it as seriously, poor attendance at times etc. They also played at a lower level of competition…lower than we had expected.

Also it can sometimes be tricky to move back UP when you want to. Though that depends on skill level of course.


Yes, this is what my DD is most afraid of. I’m not OP but the poster with the U14 daughter living this now. She’s becoming increasingly anxious about her skill level dropping and wanting more private lessons, which are very expensive. She’s competitive and thought this move would be less stressful. It ended up causing her more stress because it’s not competitive enough, if that makes sense.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 20:21     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:DD is deeply regretting this in volleyball. She targeted lower level clubs that still had travel, with the goal of hoping to have more balance with school and other activities. There was no way to ensure at tryouts that others would have the same level of dedication and focus. It is common for some to miss practice or even tournaments for any reason at all. It’s very different than last year and they don’t all take it seriously as a team. She is worried her skills are being affected and wants more and more private lessons.

My daughter isn’t worried about college recruiting but wants to play with others who take a commitment to being on a team seriously and want to play to win. She will try to get on a more competitive team again next year or at least try to switch clubs. She’s on a U14 team this year.


My DS did this around the same age too (baseball) and also really regretted it, and for the same reasons. Some of the other kids didn’t take it as seriously, poor attendance at times etc. They also played at a lower level of competition…lower than we had expected.

Also it can sometimes be tricky to move back UP when you want to. Though that depends on skill level of course.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 18:31     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:DD is deeply regretting this in volleyball. She targeted lower level clubs that still had travel, with the goal of hoping to have more balance with school and other activities. There was no way to ensure at tryouts that others would have the same level of dedication and focus. It is common for some to miss practice or even tournaments for any reason at all. It’s very different than last year and they don’t all take it seriously as a team. She is worried her skills are being affected and wants more and more private lessons.

My daughter isn’t worried about college recruiting but wants to play with others who take a commitment to being on a team seriously and want to play to win. She will try to get on a more competitive team again next year or at least try to switch clubs. She’s on a U14 team this year.


This is what she is afraid of. She still wants to be a on a really serious, really competitive team, but at her age, those teams travel so much and so far!
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 18:23     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
We've always done this with DC's second sport, and it's been good because DC is always on the field and only sits out if they are too tired to go on. They like being a leader on the team and have never asked to attend other tryouts.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 17:52     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
DD is deeply regretting this in volleyball. She targeted lower level clubs that still had travel, with the goal of hoping to have more balance with school and other activities. There was no way to ensure at tryouts that others would have the same level of dedication and focus. It is common for some to miss practice or even tournaments for any reason at all. It’s very different than last year and they don’t all take it seriously as a team. She is worried her skills are being affected and wants more and more private lessons.

My daughter isn’t worried about college recruiting but wants to play with others who take a commitment to being on a team seriously and want to play to win. She will try to get on a more competitive team again next year or at least try to switch clubs. She’s on a U14 team this year.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 12:37     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We currently have a teammate whose older sister elected to do just this last year in soccer. At U15, she made an ECNL team (top level). But after looking at the further ramp up in intensity in training and competition and the demands that come with it, she decided to stick with her current mid-level team. Her dad said it was the best decision she has made and it has freed up time for other interests in high school now. She is U16 now and still feels like it was the right decision for her.


Also, stepping down in soccer significantly reduces the likelihood of playing D1. So, it depends on the sport too. She is not 100% she'll play in college after stepping down, so this is not exactly the same situation you are in.


Thanks. DD has been to a number of D1 camps but is now thinking D3 because she has heard it is easier to prioritize academics in D3. What she does not realize is the facilities and resources are not going to be as good in D3. I think in general she has realized she has made her whole life her sport and is suddenly feeling like she needs balance.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 10:23     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Anonymous wrote:We currently have a teammate whose older sister elected to do just this last year in soccer. At U15, she made an ECNL team (top level). But after looking at the further ramp up in intensity in training and competition and the demands that come with it, she decided to stick with her current mid-level team. Her dad said it was the best decision she has made and it has freed up time for other interests in high school now. She is U16 now and still feels like it was the right decision for her.


Also, stepping down in soccer significantly reduces the likelihood of playing D1. So, it depends on the sport too. She is not 100% she'll play in college after stepping down, so this is not exactly the same situation you are in.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 10:21     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
We currently have a teammate whose older sister elected to do just this last year in soccer. At U15, she made an ECNL team (top level). But after looking at the further ramp up in intensity in training and competition and the demands that come with it, she decided to stick with her current mid-level team. Her dad said it was the best decision she has made and it has freed up time for other interests in high school now. She is U16 now and still feels like it was the right decision for her.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 09:50     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
Just make sure all/most of the players on the lower team are motivated and driven like upper level players. We did this with our DD with the hope that she’ll get more playing time and touches. We found that a third of the girls on the lower team were still working on fundamentals and were not as dedicated to the sport vs the upper level team. It’s really frustrating if your DD is competitive.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 09:43     Subject: What was your experience moving to a lower team
DD is on a high level team for her sport with lots of travel and a large focus on playing D1. DD loves her sport more than anything but sometimes feels like it is too much. She is easily in the top third on her team in terms of skill level so this is not about finding a better match to her skills. She is being recruited by similar teams at the next age level up. But she is considering changing to a lower team with a more relaxed culture and schedule. Has anyone done this? What was your experience? Did your child regret the step down?