2-Sport Keeper and SCDSL Ft1 / Discovery/ ECNL

[Soccer1Bball5]

Looking for advice for my son. He's one of the best 2006 keepers around. DA is not a goal because he also plays baseball at a high level. Since he will play baseball in High School we plan on playing soccer in High School as well.

That being said, he has offers from 3 different teams and I'm trying to find balance with baseball. The priority is minimal conflict with practices. The level of the teams differ and they will play in different leagues. I am not placing a priority on which is the "better" team. If anything, I am of the mindset that a weaker defense would be better for his overall development as a keeper.

Should the league the teams will play in be a factor in my decision?

• ECNL would probably be most difficult with conflicts due to the travel involved.
• Discovery could be problematic due to games being in Norco and most of our baseball tourneys are in Orange County.
• SCDSL Flight 1 would probably have the least amount of conflicts.

Right now, SCDSL Flight 1 seems to be more balanced with our overall schedule, but with the best teams going to Discovery, would the drop off in talent be detrimental to my son's development?

 

[CaliKlines]

Coaching and instruction are just as, if not more, important than logistics. Which team will provide your keeper with the best instruction/coaching and competition?

 

[Soccer1Bball5]

Coaching and instruction are just as, if not more, important than logistics. Which team will provide your keeper with the best instruction/coaching and competition?

Coaching is great on all teams. His current team, which will play Discovery, had a lot of conflicts with his baseball for keeper training and he missed the vast majority of them. Going with the SCDSL flight 1 team will mean participating in more team and keeper practices.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Looking for advice for my son. He's one of the best 2006 keepers around. DA is not a goal because he also plays baseball at a high level. Since he will play baseball in High School we plan on playing soccer in High School as well.

That being said, he has offers from 3 different teams and I'm trying to find balance with baseball. The priority is minimal conflict with practices. The level of the teams differ and they will play in different leagues. I am not placing a priority on which is the "better" team. If anything, I am of the mindset that a weaker defense would be better for his overall development as a keeper.

Should the league the teams will play in be a factor in my decision?

• ECNL would probably be most difficult with conflicts due to the travel involved.
• Discovery could be problematic due to games being in Norco and most of our baseball tourneys are in Orange County.
• SCDSL Flight 1 would probably have the least amount of conflicts.

Right now, SCDSL Flight 1 seems to be more balanced with our overall schedule, but with the best teams going to Discovery, would the drop off in talent be detrimental to my son's development?

Trying to fit everything is going to be an issue regardless, have to accept that.

ECNL, imo not worth the travel and expense - especially given your son already has same level competition available to him

Discovery at least allows you to know you can bank on being in one spot every week . Rumors every year they will be moving some games to OC Great Park, but not something you can bank on until they actually do it.

Flight 1 is fine for your goals, but have to make sure he is maximizing instruction available.

Regardless of where you place your son, not showing up to keeper training or other specialized training only hurts your son. Again, have to maximize training to get better. I see a lot of multi-sport kids, which is fine, but not okay when they constantly miss games or training. Not fair to teammates and coaches. My main advice is to play ONLY soccer during soccer season and baseball during baseball season. Often hard to rely on multi-sport players. Parents often start to lie about why they miss events (tournaments, training, games) - but kids often spill the beans to other kids who go to school with them or play online games with them. Have to be upfront with the coaches as well, can often determine if they want to add the player to their roster. I dont see it as a huge issue, as long as the seasons are completely separated. Some "high level" coaches will balk at that, but plenty of other coaches who will understand.

 

[mirage]

Looking for advice for my son.......I'm trying to find balance with baseball. The priority is minimal conflict with practices...............Right now, SCDSL Flight 1 seems to be more balanced with our overall schedule, but with the best teams going to Discovery, would the drop off in talent be detrimental to my son's development?

Its hard to generalize about this situation so I'll share what we did with our older son (now in college). From U10~U13, he played club soccer and travel ball (AYSO and LL before that) year around. Since your son is 12~13 yrs old, I think it might help to share our experience. Its worth mentioning that we were completely transparent to both the soccer and baseball coaches and told them upfront what we were doing. Luckily, our coaches were willing to work with us.

Here is a typical weekend in the summer - Soccer tournament and baseball tournament on the same weekend. We would goto one game (say soccer), then he would change and eat in the car, while getting to the baseball game. Once done, drive back to the soccer game -- or vise versa. If the games overlapped, we made a call based on which was more important at the time (e.g., type of tournament, roster situation and so on). We balanced doing both for those 3~4 years.

Practice wise, we were able to coordinate with coaches so that M/W was one, and T/Th was the other most of the time. When they were on the same day, we did both - to go from one to another. When we were gearing up for a big tournament (e,g., National qualifier or big away tournaments), we emphasized one sport over another. Also, if you're wondering about school work, we always had HW and school priority 1. Sports came after that. As such, he is a better time manager than myself and very efficient with his time.

Shortly after doing the Cooperstown tournament at 12U, our son told us that he lost some interest in baseball (we got to R16 out of 100 teams). He found the game too slow and like the constant action of soccer better. He was a middle infielder so he was involved more than the corners or outfield but there were lots of standing around times. At U14, he joined a DA team and gave up baseball. He's now playing in college. I'm convinced that kids select the right sport for themselves. In our case, he was one of the top middle infielders at his age group in south OC but I came to learn later that he had started to lose interest in baseball couple of years earlier.

So, you son, may over the next year or two, decide that he wants to focus on one or the other (or not). My recommendation is to let him tell you how much he wants to do. At his age, he definitely has likes and dislikes and given a choice, may surprise you, if you haven't asked already.

As for picking the right soccer team, our son was always in top tier at the time (Gold, then Flight 1, NPL) while playing both. We made it work...did drive a lot though.

Good luck

 

[mirage]

...My main advice is to play ONLY soccer during soccer season and baseball during baseball season...

Except that both are year around at a competitive level. Only rec has season....

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Except that both are year around at a competitive level. Only rec has season....

Aware of that, but something has to give. Had keepers play travel league baseball and F1 soccer. If you know the child is in "full baseball mode", you can bring on someone to play or borrow from another team. Not a big deal if you know what is going on. The issues come when its a last minute "Have a conflict in the schedule". Then its what sport is more important at that point in time. This is when the excuses start happening because parents dont want to upset the coach - I understand most people dont want to be the bad guy or make the kid look bad. In either case one coach/team is not going to be happy. Parents I know who manage this well separate fall & spring. Early summer is usually baseball and end of summer is when soccer starts.

 

[LASTMAN14]

Its hard to generalize about this situation so I'll share what we did with our older son (now in college). From U10~U13, he played club soccer and travel ball (AYSO and LL before that) year around. Since your son is 12~13 yrs old, I think it might help to share our experience. Its worth mentioning that we were completely transparent to both the soccer and baseball coaches and told them upfront what we were doing. Luckily, our coaches were willing to work with us.

Here is a typical weekend in the summer - Soccer tournament and baseball tournament on the same weekend. We would goto one game (say soccer), then he would change and eat in the car, while getting to the baseball game. Once done, drive back to the soccer game -- or vise versa. If the games overlapped, we made a call based on which was more important at the time (e.g., type of tournament, roster situation and so on). We balanced doing both for those 3~4 years.

Practice wise, we were able to coordinate with coaches so that M/W was one, and T/Th was the other most of the time. When they were on the same day, we did both - to go from one to another. When we were gearing up for a big tournament (e,g., National qualifier or big away tournaments), we emphasized one sport over another. Also, if you're wondering about school work, we always had HW and school priority 1. Sports came after that. As such, he is a better time manager than myself and very efficient with his time.

Shortly after doing the Cooperstown tournament at 12U, our son told us that he lost some interest in baseball (we got to R16 out of 100 teams). He found the game too slow and like the constant action of soccer better. He was a middle infielder so he was involved more than the corners or outfield but there were lots of standing around times. At U14, he joined a DA team and gave up baseball. He's now playing in college. I'm convinced that kids select the right sport for themselves. In our case, he was one of the top middle infielders at his age group in south OC but I came to learn later that he had started to lose interest in baseball couple of years earlier.

So, you son, may over the next year or two, decide that he wants to focus on one or the other (or not). My recommendation is to let him tell you how much he wants to do. At his age, he definitely has likes and dislikes and given a choice, may surprise you, if you haven't asked already.

As for picking the right soccer team, our son was always in top tier at the time (Gold, then Flight 1, NPL) while playing both. We made it work...did drive a lot though.

Good luck

Agree with you. And, may have to add that there will be moments where one sport will have to be prioritized over the other. In this players situation I suggest prioritizing the sport where this player shines and put them in the best situation to continue to develop.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Its hard to generalize about this situation so I'll share what we did with our older son (now in college). From U10~U13, he played club soccer and travel ball (AYSO and LL before that) year around. Since your son is 12~13 yrs old, I think it might help to share our experience. Its worth mentioning that we were completely transparent to both the soccer and baseball coaches and told them upfront what we were doing. Luckily, our coaches were willing to work with us.

Here is a typical weekend in the summer - Soccer tournament and baseball tournament on the same weekend. We would goto one game (say soccer), then he would change and eat in the car, while getting to the baseball game. Once done, drive back to the soccer game -- or vise versa. If the games overlapped, we made a call based on which was more important at the time (e.g., type of tournament, roster situation and so on). We balanced doing both for those 3~4 years.

Practice wise, we were able to coordinate with coaches so that M/W was one, and T/Th was the other most of the time. When they were on the same day, we did both - to go from one to another. When we were gearing up for a big tournament (e,g., National qualifier or big away tournaments), we emphasized one sport over another. Also, if you're wondering about school work, we always had HW and school priority 1. Sports came after that. As such, he is a better time manager than myself and very efficient with his time.

Shortly after doing the Cooperstown tournament at 12U, our son told us that he lost some interest in baseball (we got to R16 out of 100 teams). He found the game too slow and like the constant action of soccer better. He was a middle infielder so he was involved more than the corners or outfield but there were lots of standing around times. At U14, he joined a DA team and gave up baseball. He's now playing in college. I'm convinced that kids select the right sport for themselves. In our case, he was one of the top middle infielders at his age group in south OC but I came to learn later that he had started to lose interest in baseball couple of years earlier.

So, you son, may over the next year or two, decide that he wants to focus on one or the other (or not). My recommendation is to let him tell you how much he wants to do. At his age, he definitely has likes and dislikes and given a choice, may surprise you, if you haven't asked already.

As for picking the right soccer team, our son was always in top tier at the time (Gold, then Flight 1, NPL) while playing both. We made it work...did drive a lot though.

Good luck

I think a lot of this also involves other factors. How many kids does the person have? Do other kids play sports or into other activities? Do you have kids with special needs? How much does the wife enjoy the scenario - most love the idea of sports every weekend? Etc. Can get complicated even if you have one child.

Commend you for your effort and letting him select his path. Sounds like your kid had a fun-filled youth.

 

[LASTMAN14]

I think a lot of this also involves other factors. How many kids does the person have? Do other kids play sports or into other activities? Do you have kids with special needs? How much does the wife enjoy the scenario - most love the idea of sports every weekend? Etc. Can get complicated even if you have one child.

Commend you for your effort and letting him select his path. Sounds like your kid had a fun-filled youth.

Those are the dynamics of life. And it gets crazy. We let our kids decide what they wanted to pursue. Just gave them options, put them in situations where they could make a good decision, and helped them when wanted it or most needed it.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Those are the dynamics of life. And it gets crazy. We let our kids decide what they wanted to pursue. Just gave them options, put them in situations where they could make a good decision, and helped them when wanted it or most needed it.

yeah i hear you, dynamics of life can be an understatement. good outlook an agree 100%

 

[socalkdg]

Two sport keeper here as well. We chose the coach for soccer that consistently plays possession soccer and has the keeper involved in all plays when the ball is on our side of the field. Trust me many coaches don't push playing back to the keeper, and when they do they just want the keeper to boot it. Our coach wants her to play out of the back to start the offense. The team continues to get better and and moving up. For basketball found a travel team close that runs from her future High School and she plays when possible. She will play High School basketball and club soccer. As a keeper there are so many camps, day training, etc that you can go to if you need to make up some practices if needed. For my daughter she can practice with the 01/02 Premier team as they practice different days than our practice or we can book an extra hour with a keeper trainer. Really believe playing basketball makes her a better keeper. Find the right coach from the three teams that want your son. That would be my advice.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Two sport keeper here as well. We chose the coach for soccer that consistently plays possession soccer and has the keeper involved in all plays when the ball is on our side of the field. Trust me many coaches don't push playing back to the keeper, and when they do they just want the keeper to boot it. Our coach wants her to play out of the back to start the offense. The team continues to get better and and moving up. For basketball found a travel team close that runs from her future High School and she plays when possible. She will play High School basketball and club soccer. As a keeper there are so many camps, day training, etc that you can go to if you need to make up some practices if needed. For my daughter she can practice with the 01/02 Premier team as they practice different days than our practice or we can book an extra hour with a keeper trainer. Really believe playing basketball makes her a better keeper. Find the right coach from the three teams that want your son. That would be my advice.

Yes, keepers who don't get the ball, even to play out the back are going to lose interest - also doesn't allow for them to be flexible in new systems they might have to play in as they age.

A few weekends ago at Silverlakes watched/heard an oc varsity high school coach, who was there with a younger team, telling the keeper to "PUNT THE BALL" every time he got the ball. Could hear him from the parking lot. Amazing.

 

[MWN]

For a boy keeper at 12/13, getting shots and and a good keeper coach is critical. The team for me is an after-thought and I might suggest playing up a level at Flight 2 or Flight 3, assuming he has the size. My son's path was at age 12/13, play on the crappiest team around, get 20 shots per game to re enforce technique and work with a good keeper coach, see everything he could in those years. At age 14 (puberty in full swing), play up 1 year (Flight 2 team). At age 15 (U16), play up 2 years (U18) Flight 1 team, become the starting keeper on his HS Varsity team as a sophomore. My kid hasn't played his age group for a few years and declined a DA invitation because of the travel and impact to his schooling (no DA teams around for at least 1 hour drive).

Pick the best GK coach (the team coach is an afterthought) and crappiest team you can IF you want him to develop quickly and build up his shot and situational experience. The advantage to the crappy team is they value the GK much, much more and are more than happy to be flexible than the higher level teams that demand commitment, which is good for dual sports kids.

 

[mirage]

I think a lot of this also involves other factors. How many kids does the person have? Do other kids play sports or into other activities? Do you have kids with special needs? How much does the wife enjoy the scenario - most love the idea of sports every weekend? Etc. Can get complicated even if you have one child.

Commend you for your effort and letting him select his path. Sounds like your kid had a fun-filled youth.

That's exactly why I mentioned that its hard to generalize and could only share what we did. It may or may not apply to his situation - who knows...

We have two boys - both plays sports (soccer). Luckily, my wife was an athlete too in her youth and loves all sports. So we split and conquered when both boys had games/practices. At other times, we dragged both to their respective games as we drove from one to another. I think we averaged about 50k miles/year between the two kids during those 3~4 years using multiple cars.

Your last point is not lost on our older son. He tells me that he wishes he was 8 yrs old again! I wish he was 8 again too - he has grown up so fast. Enjoy the journey.

 

[socalkdg]

Pick the best GK coach (the team coach is an afterthought) and crappiest team you can IF you want him to develop quickly and build up his shot and situational experience. The advantage to the crappy team is they value the GK much, much more and are more than happy to be flexible than the higher level teams that demand commitment, which is good for dual sports kids.

The worry is you don’t develope his passing skills with a crappy team. I’d prefer a good team playing the right way while playing tougher opponents.

 

[fotos4u2]

FWIW I have another take on this. Playing both soccer and baseball in high school may not be possible even though the seasons are different. My EX is the freshman baseball coach at our high school. Their pre-season starts in the summer and runs throughout the soccer season. As a coach he's had to scramble to even see our kid play in some of the high school soccer games. Our high school has very competitive soccer AND baseball programs, any kid that would miss practice or even a game because of conflicts would not be on their starting roster (huge for a keeper since in our program if the player doesn't start it's a rare occurrence for that keeper to even see the field at all during the season--our team had 3 keepers this year, two of them probably saw 30 minutes of playing time total for the entire season).

Unless your kid isn't interested in playing either sport at a higher level (college or beyond), I'd suggest your kid decide what sport is most important to him and focus on that. Then maybe play a rec version of the other sport for fun.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

FWIW I have another take on this. Playing both soccer and baseball in high school may not be possible even though the seasons are different. My EX is the freshman baseball coach at our high school. Their pre-season starts in the summer and runs throughout the soccer season. As a coach he's had to scramble to even see our kid play in some of the high school soccer games. Our high school has very competitive soccer AND baseball programs, any kid that would miss practice or even a game because of conflicts would not be on their starting roster (huge for a keeper since in our program if the player doesn't start it's a rare occurrence for that keeper to even see the field at all during the season--our team had 3 keepers this year, two of them probably saw 30 minutes of playing time total for the entire season).

Unless your kid isn't interested in playing either sport at a higher level (college or beyond), I'd suggest your kid decide what sport is most important to him and focus on that. Then maybe play a rec version of the other sport for fun.

or the child has to be an absolute game changer. my friend's son play 3 sports at varsity level (football, basketball, baseball). freak athlete and game changer in two sports - so coaches put up with not being at practice in the new crazy extended off-season training. depends on the coaches - and how much they value the player. of course they treat everyone differently.