Playing u12 teams up at classic u13 II and III levels

LSA's top U12s are playing U13 Classic II as well.

Club Passing U11s to U13 - In theory - yes. Unless they have changed it, the system could allow it. As a U12, when club passing players from U12 to the U13s, the team selection drop down showed ALL possible teams to club pass to, not just one age group up. Unsure of whether or not that has changed.

Correct me if I am wrong, but i think these teams then will be unable to play Academy Cup. They would have to play State Cup if they were going to play in a Georgia State Championship. Maybe this does not matter to them. Academy Cup does not seem to be what i once was for teams getting ready for Select soccer.

do you think this will become the standard for top 12s. playup at u13 classic 2 or 3?

anyone ever figure out if a u11 then could club pass to a u12 roster playing u13?
not sure why you would want to do this as a parent, but just wondering.

leem not to come across the wrong way, but can you get consistent competition in a bottom bracket if you are a top team?

seems to me you would be playing against a lot of 3rd and 4th teams from bigger clubs. not to slam those teams, but a top level player is on different level than most 3rd/4th tier teams.

i'm worried about the trend, if 4 other top teams do it, then who are you left to play during the year.  

seems to me georgia soccer just shouldn't allow it.  there is my 2 cents!  

We switched to 11v11 in the spring of U11, we basically scrimmaged older teams within our own club. At the end of the season, we played 11v11 at tournament with other local U11 teams doing the same. Its common for the top teams to do this, we didnt have a shortage of competion.

Yes, it's common for the top teams to do this.

They do it for two main reasons, in my opinion:

1) so they will have a head start on 11v11 and can ensure more wins
2) so they can carry more players on their roster and have a higher player/coach ratio (i.e. money)

Yes, I'm cynical, but if everybody stuck with 8v8 for U12 (which is claimed to be better for them developmentally) then everybody would be in the same boat for fall of U13, and there would be no need to 'get ahead'.

Yes, SOME players are ready for 11v11 at 11 years old.  No, most aren't.  And are the early bloomers really losing that much development by playing 8v8?  I don't believe they are.

I think it's a matter of a couple years before we have full-on select 11v11 soccer for all of U12.  Then coaches can start forcing their players to play 11v11 for spring of their U11 year.

Personally I was very happy when we switched, I hated 8v8, theres just too many players in such little space. Yes we did it to get a head start, but so did almost everyone else. as far as more $$, we don't really carry a big roster (13-14) so only a couple more players than before. the few clubs that didn't switch before are still trying to catch up, not everyone is ready to make the switch at that age, we were. We didn't enroll into Athena, we just played up within our own club

Im pretty sure almost all TOP teams are playing 11v11 at u12

I would have to disagree about development, my kid and her teammates have developed tremendously if not more since they switched, they were stuck at 8v8. Not everyone is the same

I'm another one who thinks they are going to 11v11 too soon. It has been demonstrated that playing 8v8 at U12 creates better players in the long run and makes kids have to perform with more pressure on them, therefore improving their foot skills. I think the number of kids who are truly ready to move up and don't need this skill/pressure is no where near correlative to the amount of teams who are moving to the big field early. This is why we, (Ga and the US) are behind in soccer. Where does it end? Ga Soccer should put their foot down.

This is a classic example of it depends. Though it is rare, there are some teams out there that can compete and be successful at an age group above. However my definition of success may be defined differently. If success is merely looking at the score sheet for wins and losses, then you may say that teams shouldn't play up. Though winning may be important, it shouldn't be the end all. If you define success as development, then success comes comes in the form of having to develop a better first touch, the quickness in decision making, the vision required for that game breaking pass, the magisterial dribble through the last line of defense. At this young age, a year or two apart is oceans apart in terms of physical maturity. A team that is able to do this is rare and I would consider pretty special. Before we give a blanketed judgement, we should go out there and watch a game or two and then make judgement for ourselves. Some of us may change our current view.

I think we should stop them because it is developmentally inappropriate for their age.

It may seem like the kids are developing faster and learning more, and in some areas of the game a few of the kids are, but mostly they are missing out on critical development phases in their overall career.  This is why we have a curriculum (such as it is, and even though it is now ignored by GA Soccer).

I also think we should stop them because it isn't just the top teams.  It is all the teams and clubs who feel like they have to do it to "keep up with" the other teams.  Parents say "hey, so and so is playing 11v11 so they must be elite.  We think we are elite so we should be too".

Now that the U11s are playing 11v11 (10 year old kids on a full-sized field -- awesome!) how long will it be before clubs feel like they need to start 11v11 at U10?  Then U9?

Heck in a few years we'll have our U5 kids playing 11v11 on full-sized fields.  I'm sure they can learn a lot doing so!

As I said previously I don't think teams should play up unless it's a very special circumstance, I don't see any top u 12 team consistently beating everyone of comparable competition by four or five goals every week. Most people in their late 30's or 40's remember playing 11 v 11 when they were 10 years or so, I know I did. It wasn't until a decade or so ago that teams were mandated to play 8 v 8 at U12 and 6 v 6 at U10, because of that our young players are much further along today technically/tactically versus a decade ago. Think about a female goalkeeper at 11 or 12 being asked to defend the same area/goal size that Hope Solo does, they lack the vertical range and height to do so, too many games on the wrong side of a 5-0 loss because balls are going past her that realistically she can't save, she will probably get demoralized and quit soccer.

As I said above unless it's a very special circumstance, kids should play within their own age group, a U13 classic 3 team is not the same quality of a top u 12 team. I've been in coaching 12 years and I can say maybe two teams I've ever seem could have realistically played up: The current TH 17 Gold team: they haven't lost to an in state team in three or four years I believe, they played a year up in Athena A a few years ago and finished in 1st or 2nd I think, the other was Terry Wilson's old U10/U11 TYSA boys team back in the early 2000's, the team was a very special group that was National level. I don't know of any teams of Georgia that are comparable to that level. Gaucho's U14 team at UFA which won the National Championship is maybe another but don't know if they ever played up.

I'm in between games at the moment and I've never had an alcoholic beverage in my entire life (honest truth) but will for sure find a great seafood place tonight once the games are over