your thoughts

When considering to either stay with your current team or find a new soccer home...do you consider "playing time" a factor OR playing with a "better overall team" (with less playing time) a factor?

Find a good coach with a good team that will develop your player. Playing time will come. Then winning games.

Playing time is always a factor. If my kid isnt playing at least half each game, not worth it in my opinion. Yes, kids can develop and yes, kids need to "earn" time. But kids play soccer to play soccer.

Playing time is #1 factor. You want your kid to be in the top 5 or 6 players on the team. If not, move down a level to find the place where she is not the best, but is an essential part of the team. Nothing gained from playing 5 minutes a half.

You will get 100 different answers to this. Not all will get same minutes, its just the nature of the beast. Players must develop to "EARN" and "CHALLENGE" for a position and more minutes. Good problem for a Coach to have players challenging at all positions, but nightmare for parents who don't look at it that way.

This is my dilemma, my daughter gets at least 90% playing time on her current team, but she's playing with a group where most girls had never even played on an academy team prior to signing up for select. So, do we stay with the team where she has great playing time or move to a team with more experience and fight for playing time??   

Go to some other teams and check them out. Make an honest assessment of where your daughter fits on the new team. ( that is the hard part) If she is one of the top 6 or so, then move her for a better overall team. But Playing time is main priortity.

Playing time is important for most girls at this age because it helps them to develop/enhance self confidence, improve by playing under pressure, and have fun. However, this is also the age where she should be learning about and developing passing, spacing, formations, etc. If she is with a team where most of her teammates are behind her in terms of soccer skills, she will be less successful in developing/building her team soccer skills. Having said that, for many girls, switching teams could be traumatic and could damage her love of the game especially if she is not successful in "earning" her playing time with a better team. You know your DD best, so you should make that tradeoff yourself. Don't listen to others, especially "blind" recommendations like "playing time is main priority."

jae wrote:Playing time is important for most girls at this age because it helps them to develop/enhance self confidence, improve by playing under pressure, and have fun.  However, this is also the age where she should be learning about and developing passing, spacing, formations, etc.  If she is with a team where most of her teammates are behind her in terms of soccer skills, she will be less successful in developing/building her team soccer skills.  Having said that, for many girls, switching teams could be traumatic and could damage her love of the game especially if she is not successful in "earning" her playing time with a better team.  You know your DD best, so you should make that tradeoff yourself.  Don't listen to others, especially "blind" recommendations like "playing time is main priority."

  

Unicorns wrote:Playing time is #1 factor.  You want your kid to be in the top 5 or 6 players on the team.  If not, move down a level to find the place where she is not the best, but is an essential part of the team.  Nothing gained from playing 5 minutes a half.  

Pretty much this.

My opinion is that if you can objectively analyze your daughter and respectively consider her between #3-8 on the team, then you should be in a pretty ideal situation.

You really don't want your daughter to be the best, regardless of the playing time, because she will have no one who can help her develop. Conversely, if she is below #8, then her playing time will most likely be reduced, not to mention she will be in danger of losing playing time or a spot on the team if even slightly better players (in the opinion of the coach) should appear.

Plus, a slight factor to consider is the position she plays. If she is a midfielder or forward (without blazing fast speed), then there is a slightly worse chance for her, since most teams play a lot of kickball. If she is a defender, she is in a better spot, since there are less girls that play that position.