YONKO: read & read for comprehension. I never suggested that a parent "push" their child to participate in more than sport.
I never said you suggested. I was speaking of general observation in my everyday life. I'm sorry for the confusion.
Sorry, but when one gives poor advice others should be able to point it out for what it is. While you point about focusing is well founded in a more mature athlete, it is not appropriate for one in grade school. If your ideas are applied to younger children, it will lead to older athletes that are injury prone and unable to perform basic fitness exercises. The fact of the matter is that a lot of adults share your opinion which is why many in the medical profession believe there is a crisis of over use injuries. Motor skills are much like academic skills. The more you have, the easier it is to learn another one. So just as you want a student to have a broad base of academic skills before they focus all their studies on molecular biology, you want an athlete to have a broad foundation of skills before they focus all their efforts on a single sport. Obviously the timelines are shorter for sports than academics, particularly in early maturing sports like female gymnastics. But the concept of broad to narrow still applies.
Rock climbing is probably a great complement. As a wrote before, you and your husband seem to be doing just fine and I feel pretty confident that you will continue to make good choices for your child. Good luck.
Thanks! I forgot to mentioned that he also plays tennis. He has taken lessons in the summer/early fall but I am not sure if he will have time this season, soccer really seems to be taking over at this point. My husband plays tennis, and my son is always up for a game with Dad though. Ping pong is big in our house too!
Wow, I hate to admit I wasted 15 minutes of my life reading this string. I say that because the responses deteriorated into the usual "chest thumping" from the usual suspects. Which in the long run doesn't matter because no matter what choice you make Mizram, they will all help your son develope as a soccer player(so why ask in the first place) and will NOT determine whether your son gets to play soccer as a pro(he's 10). Hopefully, he picked parents with good genetics.
Wow, Mizram, all I can say is if he is as good as you say you need to get him on the big stage. Take some videos, send them to the European clubs and get him into the youth academy. Amazing that a kid who is 10 years old is just that fantastic. Good for you and good for him. Why you are worrying about which local team he should play for is beyond me? Sounds like he needs to be at Barcelona or Manchester United or Hamburg. Call David Richardson at Sockers FC Chicago and ask to bring him to a weeks worth of training with their U12s and U13s, they'll see how fantastic he is and David can guide you to the European clubs for his youth academy try-outs. Go USA!!
A quick update as he has now done two training sessions with the "elite" club. He is a standout, and these boys are definitely well trained and skilled; some good shooters, some with good ball skills and generally a good awareness for how the game is played, however, he still looked like a man among boys with what he does on the pitch - he had some of the other boy's fathers gasping! The DOC even told him he would like to watch him play a match and asked which team he played for, he told him the traveling team because he was too embarrassed to admit to the other team. We are going to have a tough decision to make come June, but these boys would certainly be a pleasure for him to play on a team with. Next week we take a look at the MLS club; he has been invited to train with their current U11 Premier team. Thanks for all the advice and insight offered. And for helping keep this all in perspective because at the end of the day we realize, in the scheme of things, it isn't going to matter all that much which club he plays for at U11.
if would stay as close to home (& friends) as possible, especially, at his (current) age. When he gets older, then you may have to travel some more.
Sounds like he's ready for the big stage. Send those videos to the big clubs in Europe, they'll snap him up surely. The MLS U11 team, well, given what you say, they will likely want to keep him all to themselves. You should shoot for no less than Barcelona!!
I not sure about moving us all to Spain, and I would prefer to keep him home for a few more years! He is actually eligible for a UK passport, so he could live in an EU country. His trainer, who played for West Ham, asked him the other day, which country he plans to play for, England or the US? LOL!
i don't think anyone has brought up the difference in size with a 10 year old playing U13 and U14. as those older boys hit puberty, the difference will be greater. sometimes, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. just a thought.
I am well aware of this. He does train, scrimmage and play pick-up futsal with 12, 13, 14 even 15 year olds, but obviously doesn't play games on the big field. He is taller and can out muscle the small 12 year olds though. By way of another update, the DOC called my husband a couple of days ago asking him if our son would play in a game (today) on their U11 National team, ie their top Premier 1 team, so very excitedly he will be playing tonight. Practice with his junior academy team was a great let down yesterday, he is so done with that. So it looks like we will have to find other training options for him. We are hoping the MLS team will let him train at least once a week with them and we will probably put him in their U10 Center of Excellence training, also once a week.
Yes. And that one year can even be too much at certain ages. My son is in 6th grade, and he has a late-May birthday, so he's a young U-12 player. As of today, he's still got over two months before he sees his 12th birthday. For him to play up just one year would pit him against plenty of 13 year-old boys who, unlike him, are already well into puberty and who are much, much bigger than him. Sometimes, that can be a good challenge. He played Middle School soccer last fall, and was usually the smallest player on the field. This winter, his club team played up a year in a local indoor league just for something to do in the off-season. Both experiences were good, but if battling to keep up with much bigger, faster, stronger boys was ALL he was doing, I don't imagine he would ever have much time to further develop his on-the-ball skills, the mental calmness needed to make good decisions and the time needed to learn to read the game. He would simply be constantly struggling to keep up with the pace of the game without much purpose. Some kids could do it, don't get me wrong. But I've seen too many boys at U-9, U-10, U-11, and so forth play up because they're "dominating" too much in their own age group. And then they struggle. I would say that in most--not all, but most--cases, it's better to continue to play with and against your peers, because you'll never get a second chance to be consistently comfortable and relaxed on the ball during the year when you're forming and developing your fundamental skills. IMHO, anyway.
This is not where the disagreement lies. The disagreement lies over who are the player's "peers." I believe that players need to play at their level. If a nine year old can dominate U12 players, then he should not be playing U10 because those players are not his peers in soccer. What is the best level for some other nine year old, or even all other nine year olds, is irrelevant.
He does train, scrimmage and play pick-up futsal with 12, 13, 14 even 15 year olds, but obviously doesn't play games on the big field. i wasn't concerned as much with games. most times our girls seem to play just as hard against each other as they do against their opponants i have a 5'1", 93# U11(dec) that will be playing this spring with a U12 team. there is such a size difference between her and many of her U11s and even some of the U12s. she is always one of the tallest. when she hits the smaller players, they fall down. penalty when they hit her, they fall down and most times she gets a penalty even when she is not at fault. if it weren't for her size, i would never consider allowing her to play up. she's also guested for this team many times and has done well, contributing just as much as the true U12s. even if she had the skills, would never consider U13. i agree that it depends on the kid and the situation. if they are struggling or sitting the bench more than playing...they need to move back to their true age. saying "my kid plays up" means nothing if they don't get to play because they are one of the weakest players on the team or don't get the time because they are small. i can think of one very successful U12 team whose key player is a U11. yes, she is only one kid but i doubt they would have been as successful without her. for her to play U11 would be a shame.
I get that. My point (poorly articulated, and maybe not all that fitting here) was more specific to the issue of when children hit puberty. It's one thing for a 9 year old to be dominating against a bunch of 11 and 12 year-olds. I'm not so sure that same kid will be having that kind of success when he's, say, 11, playing against 13 and 14 year-olds. Physically, it may be really hard to keep up in competitive games. Or maybe not--I'm sorta new to this, learning as I go, and I only have my experiences watching my own more-or-less average U-12 son move up the ladder to judge this all by.
One of the best players for the "A" squad in my son's age group (he's on the "B" squad) is a year younger. The club actually has a policy against allowing players to play up, but the director and the head of coaching waived that rule in this kid's case. He's A key player, although not surprisingly the other two key players are boys with September birthdays or thereabout.
Exactly, this is the issue we have with our son. His peers are not 99% of the U10s. Practice yesterday demonstrated clearly that training with these boys will do nothing for his development. Playing with them won't either, but at least its fun for him, which practice wasn't, he was bored and frustrated. I wouldn't want him to play U12s although he would be quite capable and would more than hold his own, he has already demonstrated this in the U11/12 futsal league where he was playing against some big U12s. He should be on a U11 team, but our state won't allow boys to play up however good they are until U13 (I think), could be U14. My son has a February birthday, so he just turned 10, he is not an "older" U10.
Who are these boys that are well into puberty at 13? I don't think I hit puberty until I was about 15 and almost 16. I even know of some girls that played on my daughter's teams that were 13 and not well into puberty. Granted, most girls are into puberty at 13 years of age but a boy well into it at 13 seems to me a bit of an anomoly.
we have some clubs around here that don't allow playing up. they always take it on a case by case situation and have made exceptions. the ones that usually get the exception are the ones where someone other than the parent has selected the child of talent. when it is the parent pushing, it is usually declined. i know of a few situations where the coach has come to the parents and said "your child will get more playing time if they play their own age." most have done it and the child is happier for it.
"Well into" might be a bit much (I was really thinking of his Middle school experience more), but this winter I've watched every U13 game my son's U12 team has played and so many of the boys they play with are just more developed. Not necessarily a whole lot of facial hair, but it's more than just being taller and heavier. Their physiques are starting to fill out, they don't look either gangly or pudgy like many 11 year old boys still do.