Anonymous wrote:Rec sports have such potential but this area has them ruined.

I agree. Growing up, we had a robust county run rec program with 1 travel club. Now, it's monetized so heavily that the travel clubs establish rec programs just to suck them into the travel club. It decimates the rec teams so much that the trams are very unstable and causes a lot of turn over. Now if a decent kid shows up to play rec, they are recruited into travel or quit rec because the new kids in rec are essentially terrible and it ruins the sport completely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I used to be a big fan and believer of rec sports and believed that you can get a lot if you put work into it. But see the difficulty in my kid making the transition at an older age(we started to look into opportunities after elementary school too) and competing against year round players who moved up at a younger age. Not to mention people start to recognize and know each other too. So do believe in playing up when possible.

NP and interestingly I've heard the exact opposite from area high school coaches for my kid's sport.

It might depend on the specific coach and kid.

I used to be a big believer of rec sports and being a well rounded athlete, I still am about the well rounded athlete, and not giving into the big business of youth sports.

But in hindsight I think I did my own kid a disservice. Where they're good at several sports but a master of none of them. And it was hard for them to transition into the higher level of sports.

A lot of it is on them and shows an issue with their attitude and mentality. I'm sure there are other players out there who are able to successfully make the transition. But unfortunately my kid isn't one of them and is the type that would've benefited on focusing on one sport throughout most of the year, moving to a higher level earlier at around the same time as everyone else and just being consistently surrounded by higher level of play.

Then there really are a network of families and coaches, some of whom are assistant high school coaches, that all know each other. And you see them plan on bringing players together and forming teams. And I suspect that this trickles down to school teams and who they keep an eye out for during school tryouts.

With the number of players trying out for a limited number of spots on school teams, many of whom have travel or aau playing experience, I'd guess that coaches are more inclined to give the spot to a more polished player rather than a player that has potential but needs development, unless that player has something else going for them, ie the ideal physical attributes, is established in another sport at the school and all of the coaches already knows them, has/had older family members on the team, etc. There might be coaches out there willing to take the potential and develop them. But I think a lot of coaches are focused on winning now.

You are exactly correct about all of the above IME.

Some rec kids made teams at our very competitive high school. They had certain physical attributes (things like ideal size, or crazy speed) that was enough for them to be kept over other kids trying out. Otherwise it is all travel kids on most ball sports teams, with the teams more or less penciled in before tryouts even begin. Based on what they know of the kids from their travel teams. IMHO the tryouts are just for the last few spots, and tie will more than likely go to the travel kid (who already most likely gets along with and has played with the other members of the team- team chemistry etc, and often has someone putting in a good word for him/her). Vs an unknown kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I used to be a big fan and believer of rec sports and believed that you can get a lot if you put work into it. But see the difficulty in my kid making the transition at an older age(we started to look into opportunities after elementary school too) and competing against year round players who moved up at a younger age. Not to mention people start to recognize and know each other too. So do believe in playing up when possible.

NP and interestingly I've heard the exact opposite from area high school coaches for my kid's sport.

It might depend on the specific coach and kid.

I used to be a big believer of rec sports and being a well rounded athlete, I still am about the well rounded athlete, and not giving into the big business of youth sports.

But in hindsight I think I did my own kid a disservice. Where they're good at several sports but a master of none of them. And it was hard for them to transition into the higher level of sports.

A lot of it is on them and shows an issue with their attitude and mentality. I'm sure there are other players out there who are able to successfully make the transition. But unfortunately my kid isn't one of them and is the type that would've benefited on focusing on one sport throughout most of the year, moving to a higher level earlier at around the same time as everyone else and just being consistently surrounded by higher level of play.

Then there really are a network of families and coaches, some of whom are assistant high school coaches, that all know each other. And you see them plan on bringing players together and forming teams. And I suspect that this trickles down to school teams and who they keep an eye out for during school tryouts.

With the number of players trying out for a limited number of spots on school teams, many of whom have travel or aau playing experience, I'd guess that coaches are more inclined to give the spot to a more polished player rather than a player that has potential but needs development, unless that player has something else going for them, ie the ideal physical attributes, is established in another sport at the school and all of the coaches already knows them, has/had older family members on the team, etc. There might be coaches out there willing to take the potential and develop them. But I think a lot of coaches are focused on winning now.

It totally depends on the sport, team etc.

Some are looking for experienced club/travel players, but many kids still transition from rec or more casual programs at this age- often to lower level teams to start.

If you have any friends or acquaintances in your area who have a kid that plays the sport (and is either a bit older and/or has a kid involved with a travel/club team)- shoot them a text and ask about the organization. Most people can definitely give you a rundown pretty quickly. My middle school aged kid plays a travel sport, and I could easily point to teams that would be good to tryout for coming from rec and others that are “nah, that one is the best team in town, they are only looking for top level travel kids” (or whatever)

Anonymous wrote:
I used to be a big fan and believer of rec sports and believed that you can get a lot if you put work into it. But see the difficulty in my kid making the transition at an older age(we started to look into opportunities after elementary school too) and competing against year round players who moved up at a younger age. Not to mention people start to recognize and know each other too. So do believe in playing up when possible.

NP and interestingly I've heard the exact opposite from area high school coaches for my kid's sport.

OP, it depends on the sport and the numbers of kids on those teams already. Some clubs will take almost all kids and make new (lower level teams) for the new players joining from rec. But some clubs are already maxed out and only take rec players if they are bigger and faster and more aggressive than a lot of kids.

We were at soccer tryouts last year and my DD's classmates did not receive an offer at all, she came from rec.

Also, the PP but some good points above. The 'tryout' is nerve wracking for most kids. We too have seen kids cry and walk away in the middle of tryouts. Hopefully he can go with a buddy. Also, have a talk about trying his best and be proud of how of how hard he tried at the tryout.

Going to a tryout is all about growth.

Rec sports have such potential but this area has them ruined.

It depends on the organization.

In my opinion, you generally want your kid to be able to set certain benchmarks before moving on from rec. Also be prepared for some things that they will see during tryouts.

But from what I'm finding there is a big differences in levels both in rec and at the higher levels.

Where we've joined and seen some clubs that aren't much better, if not worse, than some rec teams. Some families seem to be happy on those clubs but at the same time I'm not sure how familiar they are with the sport and what they could be getting out of it. So you can always find a spot for your kid on a team as long as you're willing to pay.

It depends on what the goals are. If you want your kid to be able to keep getting better and competing, it's usually better to have them keep playing up when possible. So send them to tryouts at the very least to use as a measuring stick to see where they are. And if things don't work out, you can remind them that it shows them areas that they can work on and improve on for the next time around.

I've seen players overwhelmed and flustered by tryouts and end up leaving part way through them. So just make sure that they're mentally prepared for it.

Kind of piggybacking on the other thread about playing time, another thing with tryout teams is that it can potentially hurt a kid's self confidence too. Some of it is just trying to adapt to the more competitive play, some might just be politics. So something else you may want to consider if you want your kid to potentially go through.

But if you're just looking for your kid to be comfortable, having fun and a good time playing the sports, rec isn't a bad option.

I used to be a big fan and believer of rec sports and believed that you can get a lot if you put work into it. But see the difficulty in my kid making the transition at an older age(we started to look into opportunities after elementary school too) and competing against year round players who moved up at a younger age. Not to mention people start to recognize and know each other too. So do believe in playing up when possible.

I have seen many flyers for soccer, basketball and swim tryouts. Do kids have to be good to be qualified for tryouts? I am tempted to send him to tryout but I don't want him get humidified or embarrassed. I assume sports with tryouts must be more decent sport players, right? I am trying to see if my kid should stay in recreational team going forward, and maybe that is his place is. My kid is probably average on skills of these sports, and he has been doing recreational team with zero tryouts. He is going to be MS next year.