I grew up in the late 80’s playing recreational soccer because my parents needed an outlet for me to release some energy. They didn’t know much about soccer, but they knew it involved running. Beyond that, they had no expectations. Why would they? Soccer wasn’t popular. Now, soccer is popular in the US and it can be as competitive as ever.
Times have changed over three decades and its become a major sport/business. What’s great about today’s game is that you can find every level of play for your kid. On one end of the spectrum, your kid may want to play for fun with their friends at a casual competitive level. On the other end, its’ all about results starting at under 7. You can even find a mix in-between.
Let’s talk about if your kid is wanting to test the waters on the results end side. How and where did all of these kids come from…
About 15 years ago when I started coaching, youth soccer clubs began organizing “Youth Academies”. Up until then, kids would play recreational soccer until they were 10 or 11 and then show up to “club” tryouts to join a more competitive team. That’s what I did. Well, the demand for parents to pay to put their kids into more organized environments provided clubs the opportunity to form teams younger than that and make more money. From that point on, youth clubs around the country officially began forming teams as young as under 7.
Fast forward to a few years ago, you started to see leagues promoting under 4, under 5, and under 6 age groups. That is insane right? Kind of. The more time I spent at the fields coaching the more I could see the level of play increasing. There were a lot of really good teams with great little players showcasing their skill and IQ at U7.
There are small 4v4 fields set up and you see the little ones U4-U6 running around playing in games, which means they are having more dedicated practices with coaches that teach some skill. You can’t see it totally during the games because it looks like bunch ball, but you better believe all those touches are adding up.
Once the kids hit U7, their coordination is vastly improved and their skills start to show. At U7 there are A LOT of kids around the country that look and play like real soccer players. There are so many good athletes now choosing soccer as their main sport. Even parents are, in the grand scheme of things, more knowledgeable because they may have played at the club level when they were younger.
If you’re serious about playing real competitive soccer, the sooner you can get your kid into something at U4, U5, and even U6 the more likely they’ll be ahead of the curve when Youth Academy Soccer starts.
I’d love to hear your stories of when you started your kid in soccer and where they are now.
