Kid size hurting her.....

Ooh, do explain! Sounds juicy!

This is all my opinion, but team sizes are simply too large, especially with top teams.

If you're bringing subs, play them. If your backups are not playing half a game and really pushing your starters, you have the wrong backups. IMO they SHOULD put players 12-18 on the 2nd team and pick 3 to practice and play up regularly (or as many as you're allowed subs that you WILL PLAY). If your top team and your 2nd team are training that differently, Houston, you have a problem. The ones below that should be starters for the lower team. Ego/status aside, every player on a pay-to-play youth team should get "meaningful minutes". ECNL makes it even easier because you can sub again after the half.

2nd teamers should be the backups for your first team, 3rd team for 2nd team, etc.

Ok, you gotta stop. You are making too much sense.

I've been reading through this thread, and we have small players in our household on both the boys and girls side. I'll speak to the original posters issue with his female player. Our daughter has always been undersized, but she is very quick, and she fast. It is the quickness that helps. We also made sure to improve her technical abilities. She started soccer late (u10), and started out playing on the second team, but quickly moved to playing a year up. The issue for small (and tall) players is that a lot of coaches make up their mind about the player as soon as they see them coming. She once had a coach tell her (after a tryout) that when he first saw her, he immediately thought that she would struggle. By then, she was used to hearing that from coaches so it didn't phase her. We learned a few things, though, that may help your daughter.

1) Teach your daughter to be "tiny but mighty." It's a phrase that we use often. Strength matters. The best "small" players I have seen do not get easily knocked off the ball. And, when they get the ball taken from them, they get it back quickly. They are not afraid of bigger players. They are fun to watch.

2) Develop something special about your player. I think every player needs to do something well, but small players have to work a little harder to be noticed. I think the easiest thing to do is to develop great technical skills since a lot of taller players rely on speed/strength. One of my favorite smaller players (not my kid) can play in multiple positions on the field with the same excellence as her natural position. Her shot is brilliant.

3) Watch small players who play professionally or in college. Crystal Dunn. Kante. Mallory Pugh. Kiki Pickett. While your child may not aspire to play professionally, they can still be inspired by professional players and see how they fit into the different systems and how they compensate for their size.

4) Switch clubs when necessary. This year has been a little crazy for tryouts, but one thing that we learned is that small players need encouraging coaches. Some coaches like bigger players. Some think small players are liabilities. Some do not care about size. Go with a coach that will push her to succeed at her highest level. If she is not being challenged, ask to at least practice with a higher level team.

5) Give ODP a try when she is of age. They don't seem to care as much about size in our experience.

While I think all players should be doing this, there are some real obstacles for smaller kids playing soccer in the US. And, not every girl sees that jump in height and reaches 5'5"+. So, train her to be mental tough, physically tough. All the best to your daughter!