How many games per year?

Generally, for each season (Fall/Spring), we'd see 8-10 league games, then 2-3 "tournaments" with 3-4 games. So that would be 22 games at most in a season, probably under 20 actually. The season would be spread out over 3-4 months.

Sometimes there would be winter indoor leagues, possibly with two "sections". Each section would be another 5-8 games. And there were also summer "fun" leagues if you wanted to go that route.

So you could probably get 60-70 games in during a full year.

DS' busiest season he was playing MS ball, HS JV, and club. He paid for that one though by pulling a hamstring from overuse. 11 games in 10 days. WAY too much.

 

Of course, you did ask for how many is "ideal" for each age. I don't think there's going to be a consensus. Kids (and parents) need breaks, you don't want/need to be playing multiple games every Saturday/Sunday all year.

 

Those totals sound about right for most of my son's years (he's 18 now and in his last club season). I don't know that that's the ideal number, and he always wanted to play over the winter and do some kind of competitive soccer in the summer once baseball fell away. Lots of kids will want to do other sports in those windows even if soccer is their No. 1.

FWIW, the high school season where we are seems like too much for kids that age (full-sized people at that point banging into each other for 80 minutes a game). Last fall his team played 25 games in two months. That 11-in-10 stretch Sam mentioned sounds really bad, but there was a stretch of 7 games in 12 days late last season for my son's team that ground them down. By their last playoff game, they were cooked. I think the Illinois governing body voted last year to lower the upper limit on how many games teams can play, but I don't know the details.

 

Sam's numbers sound about right. I think my son's last club year, he played something like 10 or 11 "league games" (they were in two leagues, but had a larger roster, so not everyone was on every game), two showcases of three games each and then state cup and league playoffs, so 4 or 5 more, so 21 or 22 games in the spring. HS soccer here limits teams to 16 regular season games plus 4 scrimmages, not counting one summer showcase (which around here are mini games of 40 or 45 minutes, no halftimes). Then playoffs, which for the majority of teams are 1-3 games.

 

My son is in the U13/U14 age group(70 minute games) and mid 20s is about where he is at for this year.
He’s on a Town Organization Travel team that has 8 Saturday games in each season Fall/Spring. He is also on a State Youth Soccer Organization team that does 4 Sunday games in each Fall/Spring, along with a Jamboree of 2 40 minute games at beginning of fall and end of spring. So 24 full games and 4 truncated ones.
I think that’s just about the max he can play, as we wind down the two teams seasons he’s come up with a few nagging injuries, nothing major but things that need to be managed.

 

My DS is finishing U12, a year or two older than OP's, from what I remember. For league we play 8 in Fall, 8 in Winter, 8 in Spring, and two tournaments for a total of 30-32 games guaranteed. We also played an extra, pre-season tournament and two friendlies. Occasionally there are other opportunities to play (e.g. DS had the opportunity to play for two or three other teams within the club at tournaments or in league play). I know that the top team (my son plays on the second of four teams in his birth year at his club, and the top team gets all the resources) plays in two leagues in Fall and Spring. That two league business was also employed at a rival club this year. But in both of those clubs, the second league is generally for the kids who didn't get so many (if any) minutes in the higher league to get playing time.

My son's favorite season was when he was playing on two teams within the club and he got to play 17 games in a season (sometimes the teams had games at the same time, so he couldn't play in both). As the guy who schlepped him all over the metropolitan area for him to do this, I cannot say that I enjoyed all of that driving (I did enjoy watching the soccer). And at the end of that season, I think he could have used a break, but he didn't get one as we went straight into summer soccer camp and Super Y (8 or 10 games). To have that much soccer and that many miles (Super Y was 1500 miles in a month) from April to July was, in my opinion, too much.

As for the ideal number? I would lean toward a single league for the full Fall-Winter-Spring and have 38 games and no tournaments (I hate tournaments--they cost a lot and I don't see that the kids learn much from them, it's just soccer tourism). In other words, just imprint the La Liga model onto the youth game and I'd be happy.

But let me be clear--my son is completely focused on soccer. I get other models--fewer games, seasons that you can opt into or out of--would work better for kids who aren't "all in". But I also know OP's focus.

 

I don't know why, I liked the tournaments. I agree they're soccer tourism, but I liked seeing facilities with a bunch of fields, different team colors, roar of the crowds (of course, not in sync), just the pageantry. Seeing how your team does against others is sometimes fun too.

 

What I would like about tournaments was getting the chance to have the kids play against someone new. After a couple years of playing in the same leagues, the opponents started to get repetitive.

Then again, there was nothing like driving 4 hours to a tournament and find out that you're scheduled against a team from your backyard. Heck, the one year, a state cup semifinal was our B team against our A team and the game was held an hour away in a facility that charged an admission fee. That was stupid - we could have held the scrimmage (we knew as the B team we didn't stand a chance) on our practice field for free.

 

Our State Open Cup U19 Girls Final was "Local Club Black" vs "Local Club Green". They were the only two teams entered.

DD's team went to a tournament in February and her club brought a bunch of teams in multiple age groups, including two teams for U9(?) girls. UNFORTUNATELY, there were only four U9 girls teams and our club brought two of them. More unfortunately, one player was dual rostered between the two teams. So when the two teams played, she played one half for one team and one half for another team.

 

This is just my opinion, based on some anecdotal experience + reading upon youth development + talking with some older parents:

U8 or younger: I think little kids should play as many unstructured short sided games as they can. Not always in a formal tournament setting or having parents/coaches yell at them for an hour. Just lots of games they can try things and have fun doing it. [100 games]

U9-U10: At this age, things get a bit more structured as kids have been playing club soccer for a few years now. Ideally, if they play a game or two a weekend -- some scrimmages where they can try some new things, some competitive tournaments to apply their training and tactics -- I think it gives kids a way to see if they're developing well. [60-70 games]

U11-U12: Where we are, this is when they go to 9v9 and games get slightly longer (still not full 90). There are more league games and more tournaments at this age. I think sometimes they play too many... Sometimes more games than training which I think is backwards. Many kids are also playing multiple leagues like separate Sunday league, Hispanic league, local league, indoor, etc. They're playing 70+ (this is happening at younger ages too). I think ideal is closer to a game a week. [50 games]

U13+: 11v11 full 90 minutes. Kids are going through puberty at this age, though some earlier some later. Risk of serious injuries is a real possibility, especially for girls but of course boys too. I'm not a fan of 4-5 games a weekend at this age. I think it's fine once in a while for tournaments/showcases. But to do it too often and continually can degrade play while injuring the kids. They should cut out low effort meaningless games and focus on competitive games. [30-40 games]