Hi David,

QUESTION: I would very much be interested in your opinion on moving my team up 1 year early, NEXT Fall to U14s. First, remember we are 1st year U12s going into our second season, my team has some really good speed, play a very aggressive game, are strong defensively and as 1st Year U12s they went 9 - 0 on the season, outscoring their opponents 31 - 2 over the nine games. We played in a post season tournament and went 2 -1, losing in the semi-finals. On Day One of that tournament (we were the ONLY 1st year U12 team there) we were the only undefeated team, and were leading the points race in a 6 team bracket! I am thinking of moving them up to U14s next fall because our State Governing Body the GSSA, (Georgia State Soccer Assoc) has mandated that by next fall, all U12s play an 8 v 8 format, which translates to a max roster size of 12 players. I currently have 17 and although I have probably three "Cones"(weak players) and four moderate players, the other 7 or 8 are strong kids and I do NOT want to take the team apart, then try to regroup them together a year later.

Teams in our league have done this before and I am thinking hard about it. I would not expect to win a lot of games in that first year, but it would certainly force my kids to grow quickly and progress quickly. I would love to know what you think if you can afford to spend a minute or two to drop me a note back.

Tony

Hi Tony,

If you're playing Rec, yes, I think you should move up. If Travel, maybe not.

BTW, you made excellent choices -- Gol, Systems of Play and Coaching Set Plays are great, and real bargains!!! Play like Champions is good, and fun.

If you Google "Coaching Soccer", you'll see we're # 1 of 3 million sites, and # 3 for "Youth Soccer" of 7.6 million sites.

Best wishes,
David

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