He’s 10! Go with the team that he’ll have the most fun with. Note that this decision will not decide his eventual soccer path. That will be determined by how much he is committed to the sport and how hard he works when he’s older. Did I mention he’s 10?

I know you didn’t ask this but, I agree being too 1-2 isn’t best, being bottom. 1-2 is terrible. What about leaving the club. Find the best fit. Don’t just settle for one of these two teams.

Do the bottom 1-2 kids on his current B team get roughly equal playing time? Do they still have fun? Might give you a better sense for what if would be like for your kid on the A team.

Personally, I would take the move up to the A team; the stronger competition will challenge him and I think he will develop more on the top team — even if he gets less playing time during games, a lot of the development happens during practice.

If it didn’t work out, I’m sure it’s much easier to request a transfer down to the B team than it is the other way around.

The longer you wait to move him to the top team, the longer it's going to take him to adjust in the more effort it will take. So if nobody has aspirations to move to the higher team in the future, you guys are fine. If he does have an aspiration to move to the higher team later down the road, it does not get any easier in fact it gets more challenging than it would be to make the move right now. So he has to make that choice.

do team 1 and hire a trainer to get up up to speed and bridge the gap. it will take at least 1 year, that is expected.

Take the A Team slot. Practice with the A team, get better playing against better opponents, work for playing time and ask to guest play for the B team, if minutes are slim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Team 2. Been there, made that mistake. DC has no desire to be warming the bench. You grow most in games, not with a trainer.

No. You grow most in practice, which is usually 3-5 hours per week. And you grow better by practicing with and against the best teammates possible. Pick the better team.

absolutely not true. You get better with touches real game situations as long as it’s competitive play. pick the playing time.

Anonymous wrote:Team 2. Been there, made that mistake. DC has no desire to be warming the bench. You grow most in games, not with a trainer.

No. You grow most in practice, which is usually 3-5 hours per week. And you grow better by practicing with and against the best teammates possible. Pick the better team.

Team 2. Been there, made that mistake. DC has no desire to be warming the bench. You grow most in games, not with a trainer.

Pick the team he will get the most playing time and coach attention. This sounds like team two.

Because if traffic I usually stay at practice. Across all teams the coach concentrates on the top 3-5 players. The other players are lucky if the coach even talks to them. Most parents have no clue what happens at practice.

Agree. Always choose top team. Your son will rise to the occasion.

At this age, always pick the top team (unless the top team has a much worse coach than the second team).

You may be selling your DS short OP. More players on the field now than the year before and he may adapt better than the incumbents....

Stay team two or find a team that plays everyone at U11 (I’d go with the latter)

He is one of the top 1-2 players on team 2. Called on to take lots of corner kicks, free kicks, lots of playing time. More confident.

Or become bottom 1-2 of team 1. Will probably get minimal playing time as top players are much much better. No corner/free kicks.

We are thinking stay on team 2 and supplement with small group training on the side this year. I know people say we may miss the opportunity but based on the current roster, I do feel like he will still be one of the stongest players on the team and have the opportunity to move up next year.

Bad choice?