In the summer, when it was just practices happening... it seemed like forever before actual games were going to get underway. Fast forward to today, my kid has played in 12 games already, between the various tournament and league games. I'm guessing he'll play in another 10 or so before the winter break. That's just way more than if he had gone to a rec league. Most of those do 10 games in the fall season, one per week for 10 weeks. Also digging the robustness of the variety of games, some quite competitive, some less so. But a good mix.
That's a lot of games - good argumnent in there for recovery time otherwise by 14 he may be on the bench and you'll be posting in the "Injury" thread. Glad it's going well though
I don't think that's a lot. Assuming at least one game Saturday, one game Sunday, if they started Labor Day weekend, that's 10 games. If they started the week before you're at 12. A couple tournaments would probably be 3-4 games on a weekend. We're also talking 25 minute halves (at most). Our leagues end around the middle of November, so another 10 games isn't unreasonable.
OP states 12 games with another 10 prior to winter. Trust me - they start falling like dead flies when they hit 14 and 15. All the repetitive movement, overuse and so on catches up with them.
Right. But IMO, 22 games over a 14 week period doesn't seem too much, especially at the age of the OP's son. I know plenty who get injured when they hit the teens, but I also know plenty who decide to drop out or cut back for a variety of reasons OTHER than injury. My son's HS team has played 19 games since August 10. Three other games were cancelled. I'm hoping we play eight more by the end of the month.
How many regular season games are HS teams allowed in KY? For Ohio, it's 16 regular season, plus 4 scrimmage/pre-season games. Playoffs can add anywhere from 1 (every team makes playoffs) to 7 or 8, if you would go all the way to the finals (7, usually, as most teams that play in the state championships usually have a first round bye).
19 since Aug 10 sounds like a lot! Oh so... in HS they play during one or two during the week yeah? They aren't doing weekend tournaments where they squeeze in 3-4 games in a weekend? Also, they aren't holding practices during the week if they have a couple games?
On average, our HS team plays twice a week, typically for us it's a Tuesday night game and a Saturday afternoon/evening game. They normally practice 2 hours a day (Mon-Fri) on non-game nights, although often on days after a game, it will be light workouts and/or film study of past games, so they can recover.
My son's team has played 20, starting in the last week of August, including a stretch with six games in eight days, which was brutal and too much, to me. Their biggest local rival has played 15 over that span. Not sure what the state association here allows.
I should add that the heaviest stretch included one game that wound up there after being rescheduled. I also think there's some pressure/desire from the coach and kids and parents to play as much as possible this fall after the truncated spring schedule last school year (there no post season and they played a short schedule). So I can't say it's all the work of the coach.
Answering some questions... 1) Ky allows two scrimmages before regular season starts. BUT, our "State Games" (three games each team over 2-3 days) do NOT count toward that. We had two scrimmages and the three games in the State games that I did not count in the 19 I posted earlier. Our Stage Games were the weekend of July 24, and we had our scrimmages the following two weekends. 2) Ky allows 21 regular season games before post season play starts. One of the three cancellations we had was replaced, so we would have had 21 regular season games and five pre-season scrimmages. 3) The maximum number of post season games will depend on how the district is set up. Some districts have five teams, some have three (all teams make districts). Ours has four, so we have two district games (championship tonight), potentially three regional games (district champion & runner up advance to regionals), and potentially four state games (16 regions). 4) We would usually have two games during the week, and sometimes a game on Saturday. Boys usually play Tues/Thurs/Sat and Girls usually play Mon/Wed/Sat. 5) Coaches will either not have a practice or have light practices if it's a "game heavy" week. The quality of the upcoming opponent also factors in.
For context, I'm comparing U9 comp to U9 rec. Not quite at HS yet. But, if we're looking at HS... our club takes a break for HS season. So the teenagers here would play maybe 20 games in club fall, 20 in HS winter, and then 20 in spring club. Something like that I'm guessing. So 60 in an entire year? not including whatever else they get into (indoor, futsal, pickup, etc).
God, that seems like a LOT of games to me. Here's our breakdown of seasons... Fall (July - Oct/Nov) U14 & Below: Club/Rec (Practice starts end of July?) U15 & Up: High School (Practice starts 2nd week of July) Winter (Nov-Feb) U14 & Below: Maybe some indoor. Indoor training U15 & Up: Possibly some showcases and/or a handful (like less than 5) league games. Possibly some indoor Spring (March-June) All: Club/Rec State tournaments (Presidents Cup and State Open) are the last week of May/1st week of June. Winners of those competitions go to regions the 3rd & 4th week of June.
When my son was U9, I think his year consisted of 8 league games each fall and spring, with 1-2 tournaments each season (so another 6-8 games). Winter, we would play a game or two every week or two, maybe 8-10 games in total, so probably 30-35 games in a calendar year. Practices were two nights a week typically, with usually an optional footskills session or goalie training.
I may be off on the number of games for HS kids. Just an estimate, but now I'm curious and will get more clarity. I just know that some clubs here have a fall and spring season and take a winter break so their kids can play HS ball.
You may be totally right. 60 games in what, 8 months(?) just seems like a lot to me. I never really kept a count on how many games we played in a year/season. It would be interesting to know if the HS aged club teams do an abbreviated fall or spring season.
I'd say the main benefit of club soccer, especially starting around U10 and up, and to a certain extent below, is most kids are not only skilled, they WANT to get better, they WANT to learn, they WANT to be there. It's not the amount of games.
I agree those are important, but I also think more games is important imo. With a club there's opportunities to play on the teams within the club. There's 2 or 3 tiers in each age group. And some kids play up a year in some games here and there. So just overall more opportunities to get more touches in various types of matches. And then yes, the instruction is better too... but it also seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. Not all coaches are equal. I'd almost say that it's better to seek out a good coach than a good club. If I found a good coach and he moved clubs I'd rather follow him to the new club.
There are many reasons to move clubs, but my 20 plus years of parenting thru youth, high school, academy and college soccer tells me this is not one. Coaches come and go, your sons reactions to their various coaching styles will tell you more than anyone coach can possible tell you about how he is developing. Youth soccer is not a sprint, it is a marathon. If your son truly loves the game and wants to get better , a year of subpar coaching will not hinder him. Plus you are already exposing him to various coaching styles by letting him play on multiple teams, something I did with both my boys.
Based on what I've experienced in the past with my daughter, I'm going to take a somewhat contrary stance and say that a particular coach (or set of coaches) can be a good reason to change clubs. Making such a change depends, as always, on the specific situation. If the coach/player situation is---for lack of a better word---toxic, you do not want your player sitting in that stew for long, particularly if your kid's confidence/mindset is being continuously eroded at training sessions. Poor coaches can do a lot of damage, especially in the younger age groups (U10-U14). I do agree, however, that such experiences can be educational for the players. It's often an eye-opener for kids to learn that not everyone who's labeled a "coach" actually performs as one, or even the facsimile of one. It's also good for them to comprehend that not everyone deserves to be included in their personal solar system, and that some personalities are better left in the Oort cloud, or perhaps in some other galaxy altogether (lol). When you encounter an obvious subpar coach, that's the time to test the club's administration a bit. I'm not saying that you or your player should be in the ear of the DOC every other day, but when you do discuss the issues with this person, I don't think it's a bad thing to evaluate the organization in an exacting, careful manner (Is the club at all responsive? Does the DOC treat your discussion points seriously? Is there a sense that this club is looking to improve itself? Is there an entrenched "good old boy" network operating underneath the publicly-displayed organizational hierarchy?). I'm not even necessarily suggesting that you should always change clubs when things don't measure up, but I am saying that that option should be on the table for the player. Ultimately, though, it must be the player's decision. While I won't go into details, I will say that my daughter went through a particularly rough time---a couple of years ago (when she was a U13 player)---with an odd, unmotivated, passive-aggressive coach who just so happened to be very good friends with the club's DOC. The experience did not help her in any way, shape, or form, other than to highlight items/personalities/approaches that simply should not be in her life. The way that she exited the club, however, did empower her (I think), as I encouraged her to look at the situation much like a highly sought-after freelancer might think about their association with wealthy client who refuses to pay for services rendered. To be brief, she elected to use the planned exit as a motivational tool to help her improve her overall game, and essentially said goodbye to the coach/club/DOC with a series of training videos, one of which depicted her performing 2000+ continuous juggles. Call it a life lesson about the nature of power.
All that you have stated are reasons to leave, but NewDadaCoach said he would "follow" a good coach to new club. Yes, I brought in subpar coaching, but nothing to the extent that you stated. Over our years we explored changing clubs, some for reasons very similar to your experiences. We had good coaches leave for nearby clubs, but the move was not in our family's best interest. This is all very situational, but I know coaches leave clubs for all sorts of reasons, and chasing them is not something I would put my family through.
That's certainly a legitimate approach. In terms of importance, we tend to rate relationships with individual coaches and coaching above club philosophy/approach. That is, yes, I can envision a scenario where my players---I have two---would follow a good coach to another club. There's one in particular, who's currently not coaching in the club scene (but is privately training my daughter), who she'd play for any time, anywhere. She is the kind of kid, though, who's quite comfortable packing up and leaving everything behind.
To be clear, though, I am not---in general---a fan of the U.S. club scene as it currently exists, and I am more than willing to let my dollars and words indicate as much.