FWIW my son did something similar and it's been awesome. He's in high school now and its fantastic. They don't practice, show up have a fun casual game on the weekends, and no one cares how good or bad anyone is. It's casual, fun and a great atmosphere.

In my area (SW baltimore county) there are lots of rec opportunities for kids that age. There is actually an indoor late winter/ early spring indoor rec league that attracts a bunch of travel kids AND rec kids since it's sort of in between seasons for other sports, and the kids actually all really love just playing with their school friends of varying ages and abilities (it's co-ed, too). Just games, no practices. See if there is something like that he could do purely for fun?

Yes of course there are rec programs at that age. What neighborhood do you need? Some rec programs have really talented players who for a variety of reasons cant or dont want to play travel. The games are fun. The place youll notice the most weakness is the coaching (volunteers, and often have little to no soccer training) and team communication (they dont run plays the same way as travel, since kids come and go they dont have the consistency of learning each other on the field). Your kid has to be willing to do their own traning and put up with so so team mates, but if they like the sport it can be very enjoyable after the pressure of travel!

Anonymous wrote:My 13yo DS is sadly dropping his travel soccer after many years of hard work and fun. He's a talented player but was trying to keep two sports at a very high level and hit a point. I am wondering if there is any rec option or even scrimmage meetup for this age? Or a class?

He just can't commit the amount of time required by his club any longer so had to choose a sport, but hate to see him stop playing all together. Any info appreciated.

What area? I support the choice. It is disappointing it feels like all or nothing. I was willing to recently pay full fees for a track program and only come 1x a week and they said no because I could not commit and make it our "priority."

Again, what area and I can point you in a direction.

If Montgomery County, look into MSI Classic. It’s a level between rec and travel, all games in MoCo, teams are usually more understanding about missed games and practices, etc.

What area? Proximity is going to be the main thing.

My 13yo DS is sadly dropping his travel soccer after many years of hard work and fun. He's a talented player but was trying to keep two sports at a very high level and hit a point. I am wondering if there is any rec option or even scrimmage meetup for this age? Or a class?

He just can't commit the amount of time required by his club any longer so had to choose a sport, but hate to see him stop playing all together. Any info appreciated.