Anonymous wrote:Is it common for a club to have two teams per age group? For example, two teams in U10 girls? Can anyone speak to the dynamics about this?

Also, if the club only has 1 or 2 teams per age group, this is considered a small club…. And growth a development might be limited if are serious about soccer. We are stuck in a small club now, our eyes are open to how bigger vs small clubs operate. We are crushed by the bigger clubs regularly. We are run over at all tournaments also. With more kids, it allows the club to pay for better coaching staff and run better clinics and eventually develop higher level teams in higher leagues that the small clubs won’t even compete in. (There may be exceptions.) I’m starting to develop the opinion that small clubs are like glorified Rec programs.

Anonymous wrote:Is it common for a club to have two teams per age group? For example, two teams in U10 girls? Can anyone speak to the dynamics about this?

That would be standard for bigger clubs. Those teams don’t interact as they’re divided by ability. With a first team and all other teams below it. Players in the lower level strive to get promoted to a higher level team.

Is it common for a club to have two teams per age group? For example, two teams in U10 girls? Can anyone speak to the dynamics about this?

OP here and I appreciate all of these responses. Thank you for sharing your insight and tips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be ready to commit your weekends and three days during the week after school to this and potentially driving an hour a way for games. It honestly snuck up on me how quickly it can turn from play to competitive. I’d take him out and put him back into recc, but kid loves it and DH is all in as well. I’m trying my best to push for balance and total rest days to prevent overuse injuries, burnout and a more well-rounded childhood experience. We don’t miss friend’s birthdays or family visits for soccer. But baring that it takes up 8 months a year.

I would leave these decisions to the player with family guidelines. Soccer provided our son with an understanding of what it means to commit to something, work hard, make decisions, and apply himself to things he cared about. The growth of his decision-making and determination is fully evident in college today. Yes, travel soccer is a commitment in time and money. But when you have found a team that you enjoy playing with, you are playing at a high level, the satisfaction and dedication that can come from that is inspiring. For our family the games and the time spent with our kid driving to the games and practices was priceless - it was truly a family experience. We wouldn't have traded it for the world. But it does have to be a mindset for everyone involved.

Sure. It comes down to what your family values. You can’t do it all, so you should go into it knowing travel will come at the expense of other things.

Anonymous wrote:Be ready to commit your weekends and three days during the week after school to this and potentially driving an hour a way for games. It honestly snuck up on me how quickly it can turn from play to competitive. I’d take him out and put him back into recc, but kid loves it and DH is all in as well. I’m trying my best to push for balance and total rest days to prevent overuse injuries, burnout and a more well-rounded childhood experience. We don’t miss friend’s birthdays or family visits for soccer. But baring that it takes up 8 months a year.

I would leave these decisions to the player with family guidelines. Soccer provided our son with an understanding of what it means to commit to something, work hard, make decisions, and apply himself to things he cared about. The growth of his decision-making and determination is fully evident in college today. Yes, travel soccer is a commitment in time and money. But when you have found a team that you enjoy playing with, you are playing at a high level, the satisfaction and dedication that can come from that is inspiring. For our family the games and the time spent with our kid driving to the games and practices was priceless - it was truly a family experience. We wouldn't have traded it for the world. But it does have to be a mindset for everyone involved.

Be ready to commit your weekends and three days during the week after school to this and potentially driving an hour a way for games. It honestly snuck up on me how quickly it can turn from play to competitive. I’d take him out and put him back into recc, but kid loves it and DH is all in as well. I’m trying my best to push for balance and total rest days to prevent overuse injuries, burnout and a more well-rounded childhood experience. We don’t miss friend’s birthdays or family visits for soccer. But baring that it takes up 8 months a year.

OP I was in your position a year ago. Neither my spouse nor I played soccer growing up so we were clueless. Our son is similar to what you described. I initially thought kids who were good enough for travel would be recruited by coaches at rec games or something. Ha! I didn’t realize that travel clubs would create as many teams as they had parents willing to pay!

That being said, we let our son try out for the club closest to our house. He loves going to practice and never complains about it. He is on the second team of five in the age group. He has guest played for the top team and maybe has a chance of making that team next year when the rosters expand. There’s a wide range of ability between the top and bottom teams at big clubs. If I were you I would see if your son can attend practices of the clubs you could reasonably drive to during the week, and see if the coach will give you an idea of where they think your son would land. I have seen kids randomly come to practices at our club. Some end up joining the club, others do not.

My son’s team has played VYS teams. The top team was good but the lower teams not so much. I personally wouldn’t a lot of money for my son to be on a bottom travel team.

Last thing I will say — a friend of ours said that when he asked his parents if he could play travel soccer back in the 90s, they said they would not pay for it unless he was regularly going out in the backyard on his own to kick a soccer ball/practice skills. I think that’s a good rule of thumb! So many parents put their kids in travel sports thinking it will make the kid good at the sport. It should be the other way around — put your kid in travel because you see some talent and intrinsic motivation.

Travel parent here. Your son has to really want to do it. It will be a family activity and you will have to manage your schedule around games. Please only sign up if you can make all the practices, games and tournaments. You are looking at a minimum of three team practices a week and a game or two over the weekend. If your son plays goalie there is an additional practice for his position. I don’t want to scare you. My son loves it. We were very up front with him and said that it’s your only after school activity and that he will miss friends birthdays (not all of them but the ones that conflict with games)

We found in the upper levels of travel - often player-to-player recommendations to coaches and joining a regular practice session or two was very useful when determining if it was a good fit. The player trying out got to see the coach, how he ran practices, and interacted with players. Parents got to know the team's parents. Tryouts are ok, and a good way to learn more about teams but you might not get a sense of the culture of the team and how a real practice is run. If the coach is just running scrimmages, that's not helping player development in the long run.

Anonymous wrote:No. Just try out for whichever one practices close to your house.

I don't agree with this. The club/coach/kids on team may not be a good fit for your son or your family. Also what if your son doesn't make it on the team he tries out for that's nearby?

Also, those who understand the tryout game know that most spots on good teams are filled before the first day of tryouts. Go join team practices before tryouts. I know my daughter's coach will tell parents after 1 team practice if their daughter can't make the team. Or he'll say you're free to keep attending our practices and you don't need to show up for tryouts.

No. Just try out for whichever one practices close to your house.

To piggy back on this thread, we are looking into travel soccer for next year. Do you typically try out for multiple teams to see where DC gets accepted? From what I’ve read on the threads, sounds like yes. How many clubs do you usually try out for?

Ask your son which one of his travel team friends he likes to play with. Ask what club they play on. Your son will know. Then see if your son can join some of their practices, saying your son goes to school with so and so and is interested in join his friends if he's good enough to make this team next year.

You can do this with multiple teams and see which one is the best fit for your son. I agree with what others have said. Don't worry at this age about club status or wins. Your son's enjoyment level will decide how long he keeps doing this.

If you’re Fairfax, Burke Athletic may also be close. It’s low key and they practice at Patriot Park.