When to move up

S

SDSoccerMom13

BRONZE
My son is a "very good" player, having led his current team the last two years. His team will be moving up a level this year

A new coach has come to his club and will be coaching a higher level team than his current team. The new coach wants my son to join his team.
There are rumors about some baggage about this coach and my son is "very comfortable" with his current team and established coach. His current coach has been around a long time and has been great for our team and our club.

Is there a certain age when it is important to move up to the highest level and an age where it is more important to be comfortable and enjoy your teammates?
 
SDSoccerMom13 said:
My son is a "very good" player, having led his current team the last two years. His team will be moving up a level this year

A new coach has come to his club and will be coaching a higher level team than his current team. The new coach wants my son to join his team.
There are rumors about some baggage about this coach and my son is "very comfortable" with his current team and established coach. His current coach has been around a long time and has been great for our team and our club.

Is there a certain age when it is important to move up to the highest level and an age where it is more important to be comfortable and enjoy your teammates?
Click to expand...
what age is your son?
depending on goals but I think it's always good to be on a team where you have the trust of the coach and be one of the main players so I wouldn't move simply to go to a higher level team for the sake of it.
I think people will have different opinions on the age but IMHO it's beneficial to just get as much playing time as possible until like u10 or u11 level.
However, if the goal is to try to reach highest levels possible in youth soccer, probably would start to look around u10 or u11 level to get to a club with competitive teams in ECNL or MLS Next for olders (it does seem MLSN is winning the battle for elite boys soccer though so I would lean there).

and which level to which level?
since you mentioned he's played 2 years, it sounds like he's a younger and he's in SoCal League...
so his current team is moving up a level... but this new coach is going to have a team above that?
so is it like his current team is going form flight 3 to flight 2... but the new coach will have a flight 1 team?

I don't want to sound like a youth soccer elitist.. but I think flight 3 is basically rec soccer... with flight 2 marginally better... So I would just bucket them in the same... If your son wants a challenge, try the higher level team with the new coach. It sounds like the coach specifically wants him so that's a good sign. You don't want to go to a higher level team just to sit on the bench.
 
Socal-Soccer-Dad said:
what age is your son?
depending on goals but I think it's always good to be on a team where you have the trust of the coach and be one of the main players so I wouldn't move simply to go to a higher level team for the sake of it.
I think people will have different opinions on the age but IMHO it's beneficial to just get as much playing time as possible until like u10 or u11 level.
However, if the goal is to try to reach highest levels possible in youth soccer, probably would start to look around u10 or u11 level to get to a club with competitive teams in ECNL or MLS Next for olders (it does seem MLSN is winning the battle for elite boys soccer though so I would lean there).

and which level to which level?
since you mentioned he's played 2 years, it sounds like he's a younger and he's in SoCal League...
so his current team is moving up a level... but this new coach is going to have a team above that?
so is it like his current team is going form flight 3 to flight 2... but the new coach will have a flight 1 team?

I don't want to sound like a youth soccer elitist.. but I think flight 3 is basically rec soccer... with flight 2 marginally better... So I would just bucket them in the same... If your son wants a challenge, try the higher level team with the new coach. It sounds like the coach specifically wants him so that's a good sign. You don't want to go to a higher level team just to sit on the bench.
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They dominated F3 last year and will be F2 this year.
He is 12

He would likely get a good amount of playing time if he moved up to the F1 team. But this is taking the coach at his word and not sure how much that is worth.

He never comes out of the game with his current team. (Middle defender with some time as midfielder)
 
SDSoccerMom13 said:
They dominated F3 last year and will be F2 this year.
He is 12

He would likely get a good amount of playing time if he moved up to the F1 team. But this is taking the coach at his word and not sure how much that is worth.

He never comes out of the game with his current team. (Middle defender with some time as midfielder)
Click to expand...

Is the F1 team formed already? Would be helpful to see him in practice with other kids. Would get a sense of where he belongs on that team pretty quickly, though it seems like he'll be one of the main players on the team.

It sort of sounds like he's outgrown the current team... but again, depends on his goals... He's got a good thing going playing every min for a good coach. That's a dream scenario :)
But maybe he wants a challenge - I'd ask him.

One of my kids preferred comfort and friends so he stayed on his teams longer.
Another kid is more competitive and always wanted to go to the better team where she can still contribute.

To each his or her own!
 
Socal-Soccer-Dad said:
Is the F1 team formed already? Would be helpful to see him in practice with other kids. Would get a sense of where he belongs on that team pretty quickly, though it seems like he'll be one of the main players on the team.

It sort of sounds like he's outgrown the current team... but again, depends on his goals... He's got a good thing going playing every min for a good coach. That's a dream scenario :)
But maybe he wants a challenge - I'd ask him.

One of my kids preferred comfort and friends so he stayed on his teams longer.
Another kid is more competitive and always wanted to go to the better team where she can still contribute.

To each his or her own!
Click to expand...
My child chose high school soccer and friends over playing with the top club in the country and a known liar for a Doc with the goods. Another player went with all access connections and later quit the game altogether because of the cost to get the access.
 
SDSoccerMom13 said:
My son is a "very good" player, having led his current team the last two years. His team will be moving up a level this year

A new coach has come to his club and will be coaching a higher level team than his current team. The new coach wants my son to join his team.
There are rumors about some baggage about this coach and my son is "very comfortable" with his current team and established coach. His current coach has been around a long time and has been great for our team and our club.

Is there a certain age when it is important to move up to the highest level and an age where it is more important to be comfortable and enjoy your teammates?
Click to expand...
This year every team is moving up a “level”. With the creation of MLS next 2, EA2 becomes EA, Flight 1 becomes EA2, Flight 2 becomes flight 1. Are you sure your son’s team is not moving up a level in name only?
An U11 parent was visibly upset after the tryout and said he was offered MLS next 2. He wanted MLS next 1. One EA2 parents was very happy when his offer says his child has been accepted into EA.
 
Jamisfoes said:
This year every team is moving up a “level”. With the creation of MLS next 2, EA2 becomes EA, Flight 1 becomes EA2, Flight 2 becomes flight 1. Are you sure your son’s team is not moving up a level in name only?
An U11 parent was visibly upset after the tryout and said he was offered MLS next 2. He wanted MLS next 1. One EA2 parents was very happy when his offer says his child has been accepted into EA.
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New team is playing what I am told is Flight 1.
Old team should be moving up to Flight 2 as they went undefeated in flight 3 last year.

Does this mean flight 3 is being erased?

Our club currently has MLS, EA, EA2
 
Jamisfoes said:
This year every team is moving up a “level”. With the creation of MLS next 2, EA2 becomes EA, Flight 1 becomes EA2, Flight 2 becomes flight 1. Are you sure your son’s team is not moving up a level in name only?
Click to expand...
This happens periodically as the age range increases and different leagues become accessible; it's something to be aware of.

As an example, I believe it was two years ago (someone can correct me if I'm wrong, son is B2011) that the age group became eligible to field an NPL team. The top B2011 team moved "up" from F1 to NPL, and the second tier team moved from F2 to F1. This was pretty much in designation only, though; the teams hadn't significantly changed ability-wise, they just "moved up" because the new flight became available at that age.

As noted above, this year MLSN is creating MLSN2, and some teams will move "up" to that group, with no significant ability changes. Everyone else will shuffle around accordingly as well, and many other teams will move up artificially as a result. The lower flights/groupings don't go away or anything (until there are not enough teams in them to keep them around), but moving "up" in this context doesn't mean the team is necessarily better either.
 
SDSoccerMom13 said:
New team is playing what I am told is Flight 1.
Old team should be moving up to Flight 2 as they went undefeated in flight 3 last year.

Does this mean flight 3 is being erased?

Our club currently has MLS, EA, EA2
Click to expand...

A club with MLSN and EA, at U13 or U14 would probably not field a Flight 3 team anymore at that age group.

With that context, then I agree with @Jamisfoes , it might not be a "promotion" after all.

But you can be sure by looking at for your son's age group, how many teams are ahead of the current team vs how many teams will be ahead for the new coach's F1 team.

Could be 1st team = EA, 2nd team = EA2, 3rd team = F1, 4th team = F3 this year but next year 1st team = MLSN, 2nd team = EA, 3rd team = EA2, 4th team = F1, 5th team = F2...

In that sense, it could be both F1 and F2 could be downgrades... or maybe they won't field an EA2 team.... and 1st team = MLSN, 2nd team = EA, 3rd team = F1, 4th team = F2...

Clubs do not typically field every level of every league for every age group... so just look at it for your specific club and your son's age group.
 
Socal-Soccer-Dad said:
A club with MLSN and EA, at U13 or U14 would probably not field a Flight 3 team anymore at that age group.

With that context, then I agree with @Jamisfoes , it might not be a "promotion" after all.

But you can be sure by looking at for your son's age group, how many teams are ahead of the current team vs how many teams will be ahead for the new coach's F1 team.

Could be 1st team = EA, 2nd team = EA2, 3rd team = F1, 4th team = F3 this year but next year 1st team = MLSN, 2nd team = EA, 3rd team = EA2, 4th team = F1, 5th team = F2...

In that sense, it could be both F1 and F2 could be downgrades... or maybe they won't field an EA2 team.... and 1st team = MLSN, 2nd team = EA, 3rd team = F1, 4th team = F2...

Clubs do not typically field every level of every league for every age group... so just look at it for your specific club and your son's age group.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the replies.

This year they did have MLS, EA, EA2, three F3 and two F4 teams.
And a new coach, the one that wants my son, has brought two full teams over. So I am not sure they will be eliminating any levels.

We just need to decide if being comfortable or being challenged is more important at this stange and we are struggling with that. $3400 (pre uniforms and tourney fees) is a lot to pay if he isn't going to be challened. But we don't want to force it upon him and possibly lead to a miserable year that makes him want to quit.
 
SDSoccerMom13 said:
My son is a "very good" player, having led his current team the last two years. His team will be moving up a level this year

A new coach has come to his club and will be coaching a higher level team than his current team. The new coach wants my son to join his team.
There are rumors about some baggage about this coach and my son is "very comfortable" with his current team and established coach. His current coach has been around a long time and has been great for our team and our club.

Is there a certain age when it is important to move up to the highest level and an age where it is more important to be comfortable and enjoy your teammates?
Click to expand...
If this is only about soccer and he is clearly one of the top 2 or 3 players on his current team, I would move him to the higher team. Iron sharpens iron. Practicing with stronger players every day and against better competition is how you get stronger. We have not had a coach that was so brilliant that we were willing to play a flight lower just to stay with the same coach.

The non-soccer factors (friends on the team, whining parents about every single call, coach who screams instead of giving instructions, etc.) are entirely based on your own preference and tolerance.
 
I would have him try out at the highest level he can try out for. Too many times you get "sandbagged" by coaches trying to stack their lower level teams. Look for the highest level team your club has at his age group. That will give you a good gauge of what level your player is at.
 
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