Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 17:58     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Absolutely talk to her current coach and the technical director of the age group. I think it's worthwhile for sure to get their opinion and see what they think.

FWIW, these conversations are worth having, especially if presented in a civil way. My DD played up at U10 on an "elite" team. She is a early January birthday. There were a few girls on that team that were December birthdays, so they were only a few weeks apart.

The next year, the technical director moved her down to her age group. We had a productive conversation about it - she had the ability to play with that age group, but overall, after talking to them, we decided it was in her best interest to play with her age.

It's worked out fine for her and she's been playing at her age in ECNL. Good Luck!
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 17:46     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Make your wishes known, but the club will put her where they think is best for her development. If you disagree, make sure you have other options


To be clear, the club will put her where they think is best for the club, including the club's ability to bring players over from other clubs. Her development is not a factor.


“Her development is not a factor”. How in the heck can you make a stupid statement like that? Some people are just insufferable, do you know her, the team, the coach or anything relevant to make that statement


I'll wait for others to weigh in on all the clubs that have made decisions based on what was best for their player's "development" and not what was in the club's best interest.


I agree. Getting as many kids into the program is a bigger factor than developing the kids already in the program. Clubs tend to develop teams and not individuals. Our club says that they support our kids development, after 3 years they have a funny way of showing it by not really going out of their way to develop her. If there club thinks your kid will develop on the 2nd team, then they will usually just leave your kid there. But yes it is a factor....it is just a small factor relative to other factors like bringing in more kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 16:28     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Op Here- Thank you everyone. I am usually the parent that stays out of it, and lets things shake out/ don't want to offend or over step , but it sounds like our club is making decisions end of next month , so feel If I am going to say anything should probably be sooner vs later ( not sure why they are doing this so early!) I also don't want to wait too long and have no other options available.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 16:19     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Make your wishes known, but the club will put her where they think is best for her development. If you disagree, make sure you have other options


To be clear, the club will put her where they think is best for the club, including the club's ability to bring players over from other clubs. Her development is not a factor.


“Her development is not a factor”. How in the heck can you make a stupid statement like that? Some people are just insufferable, do you know her, the team, the coach or anything relevant to make that statement


I'll wait for others to weigh in on all the clubs that have made decisions based on what was best for their player's "development" and not what was in the club's best interest.


+1000.
OP, I would speak to the age group director and make it clear your preferred situation is X. You will also accept Y. Ask them point blank what team they are planning on slotting her into.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 16:13     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Definitely make your wishes known. First with the current coach, age group or technical director at the club. Be open that she wants to be on a first team somewhere and current club is the first option but you are also considering 1st teams at other clubs. It would be a good idea to attend some tryouts at other teams just in case. This year tryouts will be busy because lots of age change adjustments and clubs don’t know who will show up.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 16:09     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Make your wishes known, but the club will put her where they think is best for her development. If you disagree, make sure you have other options


To be clear, the club will put her where they think is best for the club, including the club's ability to bring players over from other clubs. Her development is not a factor.


“Her development is not a factor”. How in the heck can you make a stupid statement like that? Some people are just insufferable, do you know her, the team, the coach or anything relevant to make that statement


I'll wait for others to weigh in on all the clubs that have made decisions based on what was best for their player's "development" and not what was in the club's best interest.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 16:07     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Make your wishes known, but the club will put her where they think is best for her development. If you disagree, make sure you have other options


To be clear, the club will put her where they think is best for the club, including the club's ability to bring players over from other clubs. Her development is not a factor.


“Her development is not a factor”. How in the heck can you make a stupid statement like that? Some people are just insufferable, do you know her, the team, the coach or anything relevant to make that statement
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:56     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:Make your wishes known, but the club will put her where they think is best for her development. If you disagree, make sure you have other options


To be clear, the club will put her where they think is best for the club, including the club's ability to bring players over from other clubs. Her development is not a factor.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:49     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Make your wishes known, but the club will put her where they think is best for her development. If you disagree, make sure you have other options
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:49     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My daughter currently plays on a team that is the second level team in her current age group, she has loved this team, really impressive make up of girls and per the coach she is middle to top of the team (even though she is youngest by far). She is only teammate that qualifies for the re-age, I believe her coach would like to keep her, but she really wants to go to the top team in the lower age group where all of her friends/classmates are. Her current team has played this top team a lot in practice (they practice at the same time) and her team has always beat them or tied- it is very comparable, my daughter is better than many girls on the current team and feel she could hold her own. Can I reach out to the coach/age group director and ask their thoughts/plans for my daughter? The second level team in age group down is a hot mess, and my daughters team beats them 10-0 every time and she would not want to play with them. What would you do? What is okay to do? If she wouldn't make it onto the top team in her new age group, she would want to try out for other clubs before playing with the second level team in that age group. I truly am not sure what etiquette is here- I don't think my daughter is a future D1 athlete or anything crazy like that, but she is good and really excited to finally be able to play with her best friends, and with as much time and travel they do, think it is not an unreasonable request, if I should lay my cards out to the age group director, but am not sure so hoping for some feedback!


Tough spot. I think you have 2 options and both are good.

1st option. Try for a 1st team spot on the younger (same grade team). The thing is you are likely to not get a spot on the older team as so many girls will be moving down into that spot from the 2013 group.

The second option is to switch clubs and try for a team you want. In my limited experience, switching clubs will get you better leverage. Kids that stay within their clubs have less leverage and the coaching staff already have a well formed opinion on them...and they are looking at all the potential new (older) kids that can drop down or could defect from rival clubs. Your kid will likely not get a fair shake in the current reshuffle.
It sounds like she wants to play with her friends in the younger age group, so talking with the director seems like the way to go. Also, have you had the conversation with her coach to get his thoughts? I would probably speak with the current coach first. Also, she should go to her age group vs staying up on a second team. Maybe you are worried about an unrealistic scenario and they already have her targeted for the next age group.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:39     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
Anonymous wrote:My daughter currently plays on a team that is the second level team in her current age group, she has loved this team, really impressive make up of girls and per the coach she is middle to top of the team (even though she is youngest by far). She is only teammate that qualifies for the re-age, I believe her coach would like to keep her, but she really wants to go to the top team in the lower age group where all of her friends/classmates are. Her current team has played this top team a lot in practice (they practice at the same time) and her team has always beat them or tied- it is very comparable, my daughter is better than many girls on the current team and feel she could hold her own. Can I reach out to the coach/age group director and ask their thoughts/plans for my daughter? The second level team in age group down is a hot mess, and my daughters team beats them 10-0 every time and she would not want to play with them. What would you do? What is okay to do? If she wouldn't make it onto the top team in her new age group, she would want to try out for other clubs before playing with the second level team in that age group. I truly am not sure what etiquette is here- I don't think my daughter is a future D1 athlete or anything crazy like that, but she is good and really excited to finally be able to play with her best friends, and with as much time and travel they do, think it is not an unreasonable request, if I should lay my cards out to the age group director, but am not sure so hoping for some feedback!


Tough spot. I think you have 2 options and both are good.

1st option. Try for a 1st team spot on the younger (same grade team). The thing is you are likely to not get a spot on the older team as so many girls will be moving down into that spot from the 2013 group.

The second option is to switch clubs and try for a team you want. In my limited experience, switching clubs will get you better leverage. Kids that stay within their clubs have less leverage and the coaching staff already have a well formed opinion on them...and they are looking at all the potential new (older) kids that can drop down or could defect from rival clubs. Your kid will likely not get a fair shake in the current reshuffle.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:39     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
I think it's ok to reach out to the coach/age group director to get a feel. I also think you need to tryout somewhere else so she has options in case 1. she doesn't make the 1st team and 2. they don't let her stay on her current team. Better to have more options than none.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:27     Subject: Advice for Daughter Getting Reaged
My daughter currently plays on a team that is the second level team in her current age group, she has loved this team, really impressive make up of girls and per the coach she is middle to top of the team (even though she is youngest by far). She is only teammate that qualifies for the re-age, I believe her coach would like to keep her, but she really wants to go to the top team in the lower age group where all of her friends/classmates are. Her current team has played this top team a lot in practice (they practice at the same time) and her team has always beat them or tied- it is very comparable, my daughter is better than many girls on the current team and feel she could hold her own. Can I reach out to the coach/age group director and ask their thoughts/plans for my daughter? The second level team in age group down is a hot mess, and my daughters team beats them 10-0 every time and she would not want to play with them. What would you do? What is okay to do? If she wouldn't make it onto the top team in her new age group, she would want to try out for other clubs before playing with the second level team in that age group. I truly am not sure what etiquette is here- I don't think my daughter is a future D1 athlete or anything crazy like that, but she is good and really excited to finally be able to play with her best friends, and with as much time and travel they do, think it is not an unreasonable request, if I should lay my cards out to the age group director, but am not sure so hoping for some feedback!