# Number of practices per week?



## zebrafish (Nov 28, 2017)

How many team practices does your kid's team do per week?

Next year, my kid's club (for a 2007 team) is having 3 practices per week for tier 1. Tier 2/3 teams have 2 practices per week.

When does your club move to 3 team practices per week? 

I can see doing that over a short burst or season, for example (hey, in HS I practiced 5 days a week, but I only played in the fall). But to me, that seems like a lot of practice for year-round. No wonder all these kids are tearing ACLs. 

For my own kid, doing 1 on 1 training rather than a team practice has helped them a ton. So I definitely don't fancy the move to 3x week team practice. Curious what is happening out there at various ages.


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## Bananacorner (Nov 28, 2017)

My DD had 2-3 practices a week mostly year-round (some breaks) U8-U12 when it started to become more intensity.  At U13 practices moved to 3-4 times per week year-round with 6 practices a week all summer, including 2 days with "doubles" of two 2-hour practices (one early in the morning, one in the evening).  I put her in injury prevention (strengthening, band work, etc) because I am worried about the volume.  Not enough time anymore to do 1 on 1 training to work on specific weaknesses, which has hurt her because she has some things that would benefit concentration.


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## Justafan (Nov 28, 2017)

Bananacorner said:


> My DD  At U13 with 6 practices a week all summer, including 2 days with "doubles" of two 2-hour practices (one early in the morning, one in the evening).


Never heard of that, which club/team?


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## zebrafish (Nov 28, 2017)

ATRTDT said:


> If your concerned about 3 practices weekly  being too much for an 07 its time to switch teams or look into something more recreational


Yes, I'll be the first to admit my kid isn't a professional soccer player. And perhaps one can argue that a sub-tier 1 level team is the "new" recreational as the "old" recreational soccer has been pillaged by the clubs and is laughable. But I still find it hard to believe that playing soccer 48 weeks of the year from age 8+ to 18+ years at frequency 2x/week -> 3x/week and beyond is going to burn the desire and/or the ACLs from a lot of kids.

But your point is taken, I guess.


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## davin (Nov 28, 2017)

My daughter plays on a U14 ECNL team in NorCal. We practice 2 times a week, with an optional(paid) small group clinic. Most of the girls choose to do the clinic, but not all. At U15 next year, we are supposed to start practicing 3 times a week. It probably doesn't seem like much practice time, but the team is pretty good. They won the Surf Cup Super Black championship 2 years in a row.


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## Surf Zombie (Nov 29, 2017)

We live in the Boston area, so our soccer seasons are a bit different.  My 2007 daughter practices 3x week in Fall & Spring with her club team, plus Town travel games on Saturday & club games on Sunday. 

In the winter they practice indoors 2-3x per week, with 3-5 hours of indoor turf & futsal games on the weekends. 

In the summer they are “off” for the month of June with “optional” 2x week practices in July, first half of August.


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## Mackerel Sam (Nov 29, 2017)

zebrafish said:


> Curious what is happening out there at various ages.


For reference - from this year's DA rules:



> 1. Training Days: Each Academy team at the U-13, U-14, U-15/16 and U-17/18 age groups is expected to hold at least four training sessions per week while the team is competing during the Academy Season. Teams competing in the U-12 age group are required to train a minimum of three times per week throughout the duration of theseason.
> 
> 2. Rest Days: Each Academy team at the U-13, U-14, U-15/16 and U-17/18 age groups is expected to provide at least one day of rest per week during the Academy Season. The U-12 age group is expected to provide at least two days of rest per week during the AcademySeason.


https://ussoccer.app.box.com/s/ddh3x0fztgwufv8x1bc3dep1i97t0q5h


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## 46n2 (Nov 29, 2017)

3 days a week is nothing, especially if the kid loves the game.  Its a crunch on a parents free time thats for sure , but 3 days shouldnt burn them out or make them prone to more injuries. 

IMO I like 3 days a week, seems to be the perfect amount of soccer , if you break it down thats every other day if you include game day.  Plus add in a fun day to just kick the ball around and goof off and you got a winning combination.


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## Eagle33 (Nov 29, 2017)

46n2 said:


> 3 days a week is nothing, especially if the kid loves the game.  Its a crunch on a parents free time thats for sure , but 3 days shouldnt burn them out or make them prone to more injuries.
> 
> IMO I like 3 days a week, seems to be the perfect amount of soccer , if you break it down thats every other day if you include game day.  Plus add in a fun day to just kick the ball around and goof off and you got a winning combination.


3 and 4 times a week is all great until you kid goes to HS, where it becomes more of an issue with homework and school events. I can not believe ridiculous amount of school and homework my kids have.


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## 46n2 (Nov 29, 2017)

Eagle33 said:


> 3 and 4 times a week is all great until you kid goes to HS, where it becomes more of an issue with homework and school events. I can not believe ridiculous amount of school and homework my kids have.


you are 100% correct.  School work will always come first.  I am hearing from friends with older kids(highschool) that the level and amount of schoolwork their having is overwhelming.....


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## mirage (Nov 29, 2017)

zebrafish said:


> .........But I still find it hard to believe that playing soccer 48 weeks of the year from age 8+ to 18+ years at frequency 2x/week -> 3x/week and beyond is going to burn the desire and/or the ACLs from a lot of kids......


I'm guessing that you weren't expecting the kind of responses you're getting by posting this question.

This is a soccer dedicated, over the top forum where parents treat the game far beyond the norm, including most soccer parents (just consider the group of people posting that keeps showing up and compare that to all the club soccer players, including DA, ECNL population - this is a very small sampling).

All that said, for our SON (not daughter), who is now 18 yrs old and still playing soccer, practiced at least 3x week from U7, 50 weeks/yr and often more.  He also played travel baseball until 13U and was in DA and high school team at different times.  During the 10 years or so from U7 to now, he had privates time to time and practiced with two teams (usually couple of years older) most of U12~U15 years. 

So it just depends on the kid and how much the kid is into it.  You'll know if the kid is burning out because the motivation is not there and is interested in doing other things.

Also, school grades and sports are not mutually exclusive.  Many, many kids handle both just fine playing at the highest level and carry A average in HS.


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## hydraulic42 (Nov 29, 2017)

Bananacorner said:


> Not enough time anymore to do 1 on 1 training to work on specific weaknesses, which has hurt her because she has some things that would benefit concentration.


This is what I struggle with. My DD is in DA, has big soccer ambitions, and has truly improved with all the DA training. But school is tough enough, and practice/play 5 days per week leaves very little time left to improve, e.g., her shooting or footwork. Adding to the time crunch is injury and pain recovery time, coach-mandated rest days (coach is very aware that the team is banged up after the fall season), and my own desire that she have some time to just, you know, decompress and be a kid.

I know that it's easy to say that "if she wants to succeed badly enough, she'll find the time," and I can't really argue with that, but it doesn't make doing so easy. 

I cannot really force her to train, but I believe it's important as a parent to teach time management to my daughter before she regrets wasting too much of it.


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## davin (Nov 29, 2017)

hydraulic42 said:


> This is what I struggle with. My DD is in DA, has big soccer ambitions, and has truly improved with all the DA training. But school is tough enough, and practice/play 5 days per week leaves very little time left to improve, e.g., her shooting or footwork. Adding to the time crunch is injury and pain recovery time, coach-mandated rest days (coach is very aware that the team is banged up after the fall season), and my own desire that she have some time to just, you know, decompress and be a kid.
> 
> I know that it's easy to say that "if she wants to succeed badly enough, she'll find the time," and I can't really argue with that, but it doesn't make doing so easy.
> 
> I cannot really force her to train, but I believe it's important as a parent to teach time management to my daughter before she regrets wasting too much of it.


Is it really necessary to commit to that many days of official training mandated by the DA to be able to play soccer at the next level? Two of the starters from the Stanford team that is playing in the College Cup this weekend, and one starter from UCLA played at the same ECNL club where my daughter now plays. Those three were able to meet their goals of playing and starting at two of the highest profile programs in the country, even though our club's philosophy is 2 mandatory practices a week until U15.


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## hydraulic42 (Nov 29, 2017)

davin said:


> Is it really necessary to commit to that many days of official training mandated by the DA to be able to play soccer at the next level? Two of the starters from the Stanford team that is playing in the College Cup this weekend, and one starter from UCLA played at the same ECNL club where my daughter now plays. Those three were able to meet their goals of playing and starting at two of the highest profile programs in the country, even though our club's philosophy is 2 mandatory practices a week until U15.


It's a good question. It's the first year of the Girls DA, and ideally US Soccer will ask for feedback from players, coaches, and maybe parents on what they feel is working and what is not. I doubt they will, but if they did, I think there would be a lot of strong opinions about how the catchphrase "player development" jibes with such intensive team-centric (as opposed to individual) training.


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## growingpains (Nov 29, 2017)

davin said:


> My daughter plays on a U14 ECNL team in NorCal. We practice 2 times a week, with an optional(paid) small group clinic. Most of the girls choose to do the clinic, but not all. At U15 next year, we are supposed to start practicing 3 times a week. It probably doesn't seem like much practice time, but the team is pretty good. They won the Surf Cup Super Black championship 2 years in a row.


How many of the girls on that team also does privates outside of team practices?


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## socalkdg (Nov 29, 2017)

Is 6 hours of training really that much training per week?  It shouldn't effect school or their physical well being.


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## Multi Sport (Nov 29, 2017)

Eagle33 said:


> 3 and 4 times a week is all great until you kid goes to HS, where it becomes more of an issue with homework and school events. I can not believe ridiculous amount of school and homework my kids have.


My dd was juggling track/club soccer as well as AP classes. She would take cat naps at 1 and 3 am while doing her homework then sleep from 4-6. Did it impact her play? Of course. But there was nothing I could do about it since I was asleep and she was a 4.0 student. Her senior year was a bit better as she normally got to bed around 12... honestly I don't think I could have done that. Then again my oldest son would tell us about how sleep deprived he was in college so I'm thinking todays kids are wired differently.


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## davin (Nov 29, 2017)

growingpains said:


> How many of the girls on that team also does privates outside of team practices?


Most go to a weekly small group clinic that is run by the coach or the DOC. Each clinic is focused only on individual skills. These are great, but the availability is inconsistent, as the coaches cancel them quite often. I only know of 1 that player that consistently does individual privates. I've heard of a couple of others that take privates occasionally. A few of the girls play futsal on a regular basis. One practices occasionally with an older team because her parent is the coach.


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## mirage (Nov 29, 2017)

hydraulic42 said:


> It's a good question. It's the first year of the Girls DA, and ideally US Soccer will ask for feedback from players, coaches, and maybe parents on what they feel is working and what is not. I doubt they will, but if they did, I think there would be a lot of strong opinions about how the catchphrase "player development" jibes with such intensive team-centric (as opposed to individual) training.


LOL, you do know that USSDA been doing boys side with the same rules for 5~6 years now right?  Before that they used to break for HS season and Claudio Reyna changed it to 10 months schedule with rigid no HS rule before moving on to NYCFC.  The only exception is for scholarshiped players in HS.

Things can always change but I wouldn't hold my breath....


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## espola (Nov 29, 2017)

mirage said:


> LOL, you do know that USSDA been doing boys side with the same rules for 5~6 years now right?  Before that they used to break for HS season and Claudio Reyna changed it to 10 months schedule with rigid no HS rule before moving on to NYCFC.  The only exception is for scholarshiped players in HS.
> 
> Things can always change but I wouldn't hold my breath....


Many participants in this forum have posted that there are no high school athletic scholarships, despite evidence to the contrary.


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## Bananacorner (Nov 29, 2017)

espola said:


> Many participants in this forum have posted that there are no high school athletic scholarships, despite evidence to the contrary.


A unicorn will most always be found.


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## mirage (Nov 30, 2017)

espola said:


> Many participants in this forum have posted that there are no high school athletic scholarships, despite evidence to the contrary.


that's true.  Its "needs based" for private HS for students to attend.  They just happen to play sports and are wanted by the teams....


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## espola (Nov 30, 2017)

mirage said:


> that's true.  Its "needs based" for private HS for students to attend.  They just happen to play sports and are wanted by the teams....


...and are recruited.


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