The coaches at my sons' high school have given him the choice of the varsity or soph. team. He would only would only get about 60 minutes of playing time for the whole season on varsity vs. 60 minutes a game on the soph. team. Has anyone else faced this before, and how did your child handle it. My son is leaning toward the soph. team.
Go Sophomore.........He's young, Varsity might be too far of a step and injury risk is greater.Obviously he's a talented player. Ask the coach if he can train with Varsity,play with sophomore for most of the season then get added to the Varsity pool during playoffs?
I say go with Varsity if you play for a good club team. Practicing evey day with older players will likely make you a better player. As we are seeing at places like development academies, practice is stressed over playing time. You can also learn a lot sitting on a bench if the environment is right. Your club playing time is what is important. You also never know what the future holds relative to playing time. For instance, my son was able to start a bunch of games his freshman year due to an injured player.
My son was faced with the same situation. He chose to play with the Varsity team. Although his coach told him he would not play a lot, he actually played in every Varsity game and more than half of every game. It was a great experience for him. However, if your son is immature, physically and/or emotionally, he may "fit" better with the younger group.
Thanks for the comments. He chose the soph. team so that he could play with his friends, that he has not played with for several years. He is also on the smaller side, so risk of injury I think also played in his decision.
Sounds like he made the wise choice. The general consensus is always that our national team prospects are better off going to a smaller league overseas and playing (like in Scandinavia) then sitting the benches at the big clubs. I know it's not remotely the same level, but I think your son made the right choice for him.
Unless you can play for both. I would recommend he play at the lower level and get more minutes. It will be much more beneficial for his development. The best teacher is the game. Best case scenario he plays for both teams or plays with the sophmore and trains with both the sophmore and the varsity. You want him to play at a higher level whenever possible but you also want him to get legitimate playing time. I am a passionate Player Development Expert if your son is as keen as you, introduce him to my stuff: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R2Fux-ajMc"]Soccer Training Tips and Advice[/ame] Best of luck. Keep me posted on your progress.
Definitely play where you can have more minutes. If he's got time to be on varsity, then that time will only be better by him playing more and working on his game. Regardless of the level, he's still keeping at his skills and working with a team. Hopefully it will be good practice so when his time comes to be on varsity, he can be the best he can be.
