keeping up

Hang in there. My daughter was always the smallest on her club teams and besides being short she was a light weight too. Speed-wise she was OK, but she didn't use what speed she had as well as she could and her endurance was initially lacking. Her U13 season was tough for her (in part because she started out recovering from mono) and she appeared to be this little, skinny frail thing. While everyone else was hitting their growth spurts, we were beginning to worry if she'd even reach 5 feet. The only way she was able to even compete at the level she played was because of her skill and vision, but we were even beginning to worry about that too. Thankfully her coach is a patient man.

The summer of her rising U14 year, because we had concerns about potential future injuries, instead of doing the usual summer soccer camps, we enrolled her in a summer long, twice a week, soccer injury prevention program at a sports performance center. What a difference that made for her in the fall! And it actually seemed more psychological than even physical. During the brief winter break from soccer, she returned to work on strength training twice a week, but when soccer practices picked up again the first of the year (they practice 3 days a week) she decided to continue with the strength training on a once a week basis. Not only did she gain confidence in herself, but the coach was gaining more and more confidence in her as well.

This past summer, her rising U15 year, she returned to the soccer injury prevention program on a 3 day a week schedule. She also finally hit that growth spurt we've been waiting for. Though she is never going to be a giant, she now stands 5'3" and while she may still be the smallest on the club team, she isn't on her high school varsity team. Of special note, that program also addressed speed and agility. Agility has never been an issue for her, but now in her high school games we are seeing good use of her speed in the form of off the mark speed, change of direction and change of pace.

So the moral to my story is hang in there until she grows and if you can get her into a program that can in the meantime help her with speed, agility and quickness (not to mention strength and injury prevention), I think you will find it worth you while. I think you will find it a better use of your time and money then what you may already be putting into such things as soccer camps. Look for a program where the trainers believe in slow and steady progress rather than promising overnight success. Good luck!

 

probably not plantar fascitis but Severs disease which is a similiar growth injury to osgood but in the heel.

The good thing is she should grow out of both of these and if she can handle the pain there should be no long term affects.

 

My daughters have both suffered with the heel problem around that age although we never had it officially diagnosed as plantar fascitis. The oldest also had knee issues when she was 12 or 13 and playing basketball. The doctor never gave the condition a name, but did indicate it was related to growing and had us treat it by giving her ibuprofen before a game. If your daughter is still having problems with plantar fascitis have her ditch the cleats and wear turf shoes. With my #1 daughter, we tried heel cups and inserts with only a little improvement. She just suffered through it, but by the time the second one came around, we had heard about the effectiveness of turf shoes. At the time, her heels bothered her so much she could hardly walk, never mind run. Literally, within a week the turf shoes solved the problem. This seems a very common problem and we've told others to try the turfs and they have had equal success. My daughter wore turfs for a good 18 months with the added advantage that she could wear them indoors and out, so I only had to buy shoes when she outgrew them rather than when she changed seasons.

And one other thing, the older indoor facilities can be brutal on kids' knees. Half of my youngest's U11 team was crippled by the end of the winter season, although it might not have been just the floor contributing, but the fact that most of them were playing on 2 soccer teams and playing basketball too. The wisest words I have ever heard, if athletes want to perform at the best of their abilities, they must include in their schedules, along with games and practices, periods where their mind and body can rest and recooperate. This is especially true for athletes with growing bodies, yet I think a lot of us think our kids are the Energizer Bunny until they prove otherwise.

 

Our 10 year old girl is 'playing up' on the U12 this year. They have two practices a week along with 2 games every weekend. This winter the team wants to play in an indoor league.

I'm thinking I'm going to hold her out of the indoor league. The team will still practice once a week in a gym and also participate in the tournaments.

It just seems like to much soccer for her over a 10 month period. Thoughts anyone?

 

What does she want to do?? As long as she isnt in a win win win position to play indoor during the winter, shouldnt be a problem. Mine played indoor & played BB at the same time at the younger ages, switched to Futsol for U12 and up during the winter.

 

She could take it or leave it. She'd be just as happy ice skating every weekend.

 

a nice break from a sport goes a long way for the kids. sometimes though they realize they don't really miss it much and would rather do something else (happened to me with baseball at about her age).

it's real easy to get wrapped up into what the other kids are doing and being afraid your daughter will fall behind. especially if you or the child fear she needs the year round experience in order to hang in there with the others.

we had/have the same thing going on. our daughter is no burner, and with her recent growth spurts that seem to come quickly, she lacks a lot of strength. i can see it when she's defending and striking the ball (but she can maintain thru skill), and even more obvious when she throws the ball in. it takes all she can muster sometimes

as long as she is showing effort and having fun, i'm happy. we recently told her if it's too much, take a year off and play rec, or not at all. she thinks she's going to play rec soccer next fall and try field hockey at the same time.

 

This seems like a very reasonable and sane approach to your child's athletics. I think some time away from any sport is a good thing and can recharge a child's interest in the playing the sport. 10 months a year (travel team) plus summer soccer camps seems like it's too much at the age of 10 or 11. Maybe when they're older like 15.

After reading earlier in this thread about these girls of 12 or 13 coming down with foot and knee problems I feel even more strongly about this. We know 10 year old girls who play on a travel soccer team and a rec team at the same time. Seems like they're prime candidates for these kind of injuries. They will play 2 games a day during the season for different teams.

I think there was some great wisdom in the academic based model for youth sports. This being that youth sports were seasonal (football in the fall, basketball in winter, etc.) and a sporty kid usually played several sports during the school year until they were maybe in high school when they began to specialize in their favorite. This has all changed now with the ascension of 'club/travel teams' in youth sports. These teams go year round with only a short break in the summer.

If a child finds they don't like soccer enough to continue it after taking a break from playing it then so be it. Better for them not to play soccer and be happy then be forced to play it and be miserable.

We all want happy girls right?

 

i coach rec lax as well and have friends from HS that coach HS and college programs in many sports and they all say the same thing.

if you think your child needs to play a sport year round to be successful or keep up, than it is probably not the sport for him/her (at least at the level they would like). it may create the illusion at younger ages of success, but things even out

coaches WILL FIND your kid if they are that good.

what would be worse, playing 2 or 3 sports growing up, and not playing them at a high level. or devoting years or year round time and money to one (incl camps and traveling to tournies, etc) to not play at a high level?

 

I too have concerns about "too much soccer." But how do you keep them from playing??? My daughter begs to play constantly! She gets asked to guest play all the time. Every training session, clinic, camp or program, she begs to go to. She offers to pay her own way, give up birthday and Christmas presents, etc. She plays for a Club team, a travel team, and trains with a co-ed group. She also has a personal trainer to work with her on plyometrics and injury prevention due to our concerns. We try everything to make her take a break from it. After attending several soccer camps this summer, there was a break from her Club team and travel team, so she had no soccer going on. All she did all day was find kids in the neighborhood (usually older boys; she's nine) to play soccer with. When everyone else was sick of playing, she'd head the ball hundreds of times against the garage, kick it around, juggle, make up moves. In the evening in the living room, she juggles the ball, does Coervers. She brings a ball to her room and kicks it around. She has to be told to get in out of the pouring rain because she's playing. We enrolled her in basketball, which she excelled at, but every time she is waiting for a drill, sitting on the bench...the basketball is a soccer ball. She juggles it, dribbles it! At recess EVERY day, the monitors say she organizes a soccer game. We had her in Brownies/Girl Scouts, and all she would talk about was soccer. When she chose a badge...field sports...with soccer as the sport to fulfill all the requirements...was the choice!

I guess the problem is, everyone keeps talking about these 12 and 13 year old girls with overuse injuries...how does one stop a kid from playing! Even with all her organized soccer, all she wants to do outside of it is play soccer, and if she's not playing it, she watches it. She has never been injured, but I would like to prevent this....I don't want to forbid it or punish her for playing; she just LOVES it so much I would not want to take it away! Any suggestions or ideas?

 

This is complete crap. Most High School coaches are clueless what it takes to get recruited in soccer. I can tell one thing it is not through High School.

Things even out, Are you kidding me? skill can only be greatlty improved upon at a younger age. Past 12 skills can be refined but not drastically improved upon.

They are correct in one thing if High School soccer is your goal you do not have to play year round.

Most soccer budgets are slim to none so this they will find you attitude is a bit outdated.

 

We do not play nearly as much soccer as our European counterparts. The problem we have we often play the wrong kind of soccer.

It takes hours and hours of practice to become proficient with a soccer ball (bird do you have those stats) so do not believe this drivel that if a kid has to play year round they are in the wrong sport.

Rest is usually the key as lond as they are getting sufficient recoup time for their bodies I would not worry.

Injuries happen in High School soccer becasue they go everyday without proper recoup time.

 

Psychologists and neurologists have determined that it takes 10,000 of practice to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert, whether that is in sports, or music, or art, whatever. That is equivalent to roughly three hours per day, or twenty hours per week, of practice over ten years.

SM444, I think the biggest issue is not how much kids play in any particular sport. The concerns are more directed toward forced repetition in those sports that formally structured sports programs create. That's different then when kids play on their own. That is one of the reasons there is a drive to replicate street soccer and create more informal playing opportunities in soccer programs. These kind of programs allow kids to determine for themselves how much they want to play and at what intensity without an adult calling the shots. It's a real benefit both mentally and physically.

 

i think we are talking about 2 different things here. sure, skills take hours and hours of practice. but, thinking that playing year round is going to make your son or daughter the high level player they dream of isn't true. and if you ask the COLLEGE coaches I am friends with and not just the HS they will support that fact.

i'm not talking about playing around with the ball in free time. i'm talking about the parents and kids that have tryouts in MAY camps and club practices all summer, then fall season, then two indoor sessions, then into a spring session and right back into tryouts. and the thought process being that if my kid doesn't do it, they will fall behind.

i don't think you will find too many high level coaches support players not taking off at least 2-3 months a year, or not supporting youth players playing other sports.

 

I can tell you, you will fall behind in soccer if you take a significant amount of time off. Good athletes can compensate for some of that with pure athleticism but as the women's game matures this is less and less likely.

I encourage my kids and my daughter to play other sports. Soccer is her passion and for her to achieve her goals she cannot take take significant time off with the ball and still be successful.

 

CVAL- I agree with all of your post except the above. My kid is in a residential Academy and trains everyday. They are well taken care of and well coached. It is my belief that you are partially correct in your assesment....if I were the King I would re-state your post and say:

Injuries happen in High School soccer because they go everyday without qualified coaches who know how to correctly take care of the athletes (ie- cool-downs, proper training sessions, use of the athletic training staff, etc).

Just my $.02

 

R2? Where are you? Please tell them how much time your kid took off on her road to playing for the Youth Nats, ESP Camp, Nike Premier 50 Camp, winning a USYS National Championship (including taking home the Golden Boot), and being a highly recruited player headed to College? (Is this a high enough level player for you guys?) I highly doubt that she was able to get to the level she is and accomplish what she has while taking 3 months off per year.

Can one of you please define what "high level player" means to you. If you are talking about being a good player on a decent local/State level team....fine. I won't argue with you. If you are talking about a key player on a Regional or National level team....I will say that I don't believe you'd find more than a handful of players at that level who take more than 4-6 weeks off per year.

Time off, sure. They need it. Months off....not such a good idea IMO.

 

you are taking what i said and applying to a a fraction of one percent of the US soccer population. there are going to be kids that want to play 24 hours a day/365 days a year, and that's just going to be considered an appetizer. when you have the 'perfect storm' of an athlete, that's when special things happen.

higher level... yes, it will be the decent club, HS and lower tier college programs that many will strive to reach... as their pinnacle. it isn't lost on kids playing today (esp the girls) they know that for the most of them HS is probably it. maybe a div 3 team, if they have the time, at college level.

so, again my point is still that playing organized competitive soccer 12 months out of the year, is probably not going to make the bubble player into a world cup teammate.

sure, you'll be able to find the needle in the haystack that went from nobody to somebody special, but often it it's becasue they were behind in growth. and occasionally, it's becasue they decided to focus and dedicate in a way they have never done so before.

and the comparison between the US and other countries and how much their kids play is not relative either, because of how that 'soccer play' is structured. or unstructured

 

Poog- fair enough. The first hurdle in this discussion (as it seems to me) was to define what a "high level" is for the purposes of this discussion. For the level you are talking about, I do not disagree with your arguments.

 

It seems there is more wishful thinking than analysis based on solid research in what people believe is the correct training regime for young players.

First, cross training is essential for any athlete. It does not matter if they are playing soccer or another sport. At young ages, at least 12 and below, children should be exposed to sports with different training and physical demands; Soccer and swimming, basketball and softball/baseball. Training for different sports allows cardio fitness to remain high, keeps core strength at a peak level, but allows muscle groups to rest and avoids over use.

Second, the training should be fulfilling. This means more than fun, though fun/enjoyment is an important factor. What is full filling for one child, indeed what is fun for one child, may be anathema to another. A child may enjoy one sport because of the social aspects or the because the coach is very motivational and passionate. Another may detest a sport because of the coach and yet fall in love with it when exposed to a different coach.

Because each child is different, each parent has to watch, learn and decide. There are no universal rules.

Third, each sport is unique. Some sports have fairly simple technical requirements. Soccer is not one of those. The coordination, skill and balance required for soccer have much in common with sports like figure skating or gymnastics. To master the control takes hours and hours of practice. You cannot take months off without losing valuable training time and falling behind relative to those players who train on a regular basis.

Further, you cannot reason that the odds are poor for my child of going beyond high school or only playing for a "low level college" (whatever that is). If you do, there is a very strong likelihood that you will have cast a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the player does not train, they will not advance beyond high school.

Children do need rest. They need to recover. At young ages, they will tell you by their actions in most cases when they need rest. They will sit down and pout. As they reach 10 or so you can drive them too hard. Injuries are often the result. At a minimum, they need training two times a week. If you can arrange free play beyond that, you have the ideal situation. When tires, and without a demanding parent or coach mumbling the mantra, "NO PAIN, NO GAIN”, children will play till tired, rest and return on their own.

If they do not enjoy the game they will not play or will prefer to play something else and again their actions will tell you want you need to know.

Some players by the time they are 12 or 13 will know that soccer is their sport. They will relish practicing three or four times a week. You will recognize them for they are the ones who do not want to leave practice or want to stay late even when alone and work with the coach or by themselves. By 15, the truly serious must be training three to four sessions a week.

To avoid overuse injuries the good coach balances this training. It is not all physically demanding. Sometimes it is shadow play as you work through functional training or pattern play. Sometimes it is working on set plays. Going full tilt four days a week is a recipe for disaster.

You also work in an entire week off and sometimes two weeks. Let the bodies completely rest, and then you return to moderate training for a week before you begin rigorous workouts and practices.

Taking months off though is a great mistake. There is research that indicates that even for professionals a month away from training (four weeks) can lead to a noticeable reduction in fitness and touch and that after about two weeks away this reduction sets in. In then takes about two weeks of work to recover for each week beyond two weeks that a player was away from the sport. This pattern seems to hold true for most ages. Thus, a player who takes three months off from soccer will not return to the complete form they were at (unless they were at a very low level to begin with) until they have trained for about five months. The higher the level of performance, the longer the recovery takes.

Finally, more recent studies on player retention in soccer indicate that players who have a higher level of technical skill remain in the sport longer. To reach this level they have of course, invested considerable time and many people, even children, like to protect and value what they invest it. However, there is more to this reason for retention. The players derive more enjoyment from being able to play skillfully, even if they lose frequently. For most players, being able to play skillfully has greater value than winning.

So want do you do as the parent of a child? You let your child guide you by their actions what they are willing to do. Sometimes you will have to push a little, but if you have to push all the time you are wasting your time and your relationship with your child.

Come puberty your child may fall behind, especially if they are a developing later than others their chronological age. Be patient. Give their bodies time to catch up. Help with refine their skills. Those that are winning and dominating at these ages all too often fall behind because they do not put the time in practicing their skills; rather they rely on their athleticism and soon that will balance out.

 

"low level college" (whatever that is)

You are kidding, right? There are a lot of college soccer teams (especially on the girls side Div 3) that have a tough time filling rosters. I know one program that has about quite a few roster spots taken by girls that didn't make their HS teams.

It's all relative to the school. My buddy played Div 3 Men's Basketball on a team at a Div 3 college known for Women's Field Hockey and Lacrosse. Another girl I know played Div 1 lax because the program was new at the time. She hadn't played since 9th grade.


This isn't the argument I'm trying to make though. My point was, and still is, often parents think that putting their kids into a sport year round will make the difference.

There are a few different viewpoints being expressed as well. We have the Original poster that is worried about his daughter keeping up possibly due to puberty issues. And we have a few other viewpoints (such as my own and icepicks - parents of 10 year old girls) that maybe don't jive with the parents/coaches of true elite/ODP type programs.

Personally, I love the sport. And i think it's growing by leaps and bounds and can't wait to see what comes of the current youth as they hit older ages. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to see. But, the pressure to go year round at such early ages is getting too intense for a lot of kids. And it's really easy to get wrapped up into it as a parent if you let it.

 

poog,

I am not kidding. The term "low level college" is largely meaningless. There are certainly lower level college teams, but low lwevel is not the same as writing "Div. 3". There are Division 3 NCAA teams that are very good. There are Division 1 NCAA teams that are horrible. There is very little correlation in soccer between the quality of the program and the NCAA's classications of play. About all you can safely suggest is that the very elite programs - the top 15 in the country - are predominantly from NCAA Division 1 schools.

Your comment,

suggested that a "div 3 team" maybe a lower tier college program. That is a common misconception. I know of Divsion 3, Division 2 and NAIA teams that can handle most Division 1 programs. Hence my comment, "what ever that means".

Second, I also know of college programs that have openings and will take any player who can run ten feet without gasping for air. They are not all Division 3 programs, but, that was not the point. The point I made was that you should not train a player as if all they will ever accomplish is to play for such a program. They should be given training that will allow them to become skillful and enjoy that skill when they play. If you do this they will play longer and have greater enjoyment.

Not putting your child in a year round program will make a difference in their soccer - a difference that is not good. That child will likely quit the game. The largest drop out rates in the sport come from players who play recreationally and practice on less than a year round basis.

If your point is that a simply playing year round guarantees nothing, then you are right; however, that does not justify taking months off. Soccer is a highly technical sport. The most critical years to learn the technical skills are when a child is between 8 and 12. To learn these skills at these ages takes hours and hours of time. Not just in practice, but on their own. A child who is removed from the environment where such training takes place, an environment all too sadly that is usually limited to practices for there is still little "street soccer", has only a negligible chance of staying in soccer beyond middle school, let alone playing even for a "lower level college" (whatever that is ).

These conclusion are supported by a great deal of research. For when children can best learn the technical side of the game perhaps the best source is, Jozef Drabnik's book, Children and Sports Training , which is available at amazon.com. For research on why child leave, and more importantly why they stay in soccer, there is an excellent piece of research published in the NSCAA's magazine, Soccer Journal, in the Jan./Feb., 2003 edition, entitled "Why They Play, Why They Quit: Players have good reasons but they may not be what you think" by Douglas Barnes and Len Oliver. Finally, as to the ages players quit the data can be obtained from US Youth on player ages and numbers from year to year. I see this data on a quarterly basis and it is very clear what is happening.

Year round training in soccer does not preclude learning other sports. In fact, cross training as I wrote is essential and makes a young person stronger and a better athlete.

The key in all of this is to listen to the child. If the child is interested in soccer, let them develop in the game. If they are more intersted in another sport, let them persue that sport. In any case, give them the proper training so they can develop in the game they enjoy. Less than year round training in soccer, i.e., taking months off at a time as opposed to a week or so every few months, is insuring that the only thing you are developing is someone who will quit the sport at age 14 or so.

 

What I meant by the Div 3 being lower level isn't that all Div 3 is lower level, but that there are plenty of programs that are looking for soccer players (especially girls). I think you know that though.

And again, we are talking about two different kinds of players here. Nothing wrong with a player loving the sport and playing year round. Nothing wrong with a kid playing soccer here and there and ice skating, or dance class or whatever.