Junior High soccer

Next year my DD will be a 7th grader at Harwood JH in Bedford. Here in HEB ISD we start playing girls soccer in 7th grade. Is there any other girls that will be attending Harwood next year? My DD is worried that she will be playing with a bunch of rec players. But I guess she will get to be to the super star if that's the case. LOL

I don't about Harwood but it's an interesting topic. Lots of schools have soccer starting in 7th grade. Not Plano--hard to believe with their fascination with sports....... well mainly football. But they have track, basketball and volleyball. Any other big school districts not have soccer in 7 and 8 grade?

sideline fan wrote:I don't about Harwood  but it's an interesting topic.   Lots of schools have soccer starting in 7th grade.   Not Plano--hard to believe with their fascination with sports....... well mainly football.   But they have  track, basketball and volleyball.   Any other big school districts not have soccer in 7 and 8 grade?

Keller removed it for a few years, but it is returning this year.

LISD has it.

Most of the bigger private schools have it too.

McKinney doesn't have it.

Allen ISD doesn't but Frisco ISD & Little Elm do.

My dd is a 7th grader in Frisco ISD and just made the team. Strong possibility she might help the 8th grade team too. At our school there are a handful of club players and some that used to play club but now are playing another club sport. There are also girls that I am not sure ever even played soccer or if they did way back in rec at a young age.

For my dd she is doing it to just have some fun and to say she played school soccer.

Frisco ISD has it. DD's 7th Grade team just finished tryouts and will have approximately 6 that currently play competitive soccer (2 that play LHGCL and 4 that play PPL) and 1 that went back to rec this past year. Rest come from rec teams, but not necessarily bad players though. There's a girl in her grade that plays on a top 5 LH D1 team that isn't playing, whether by choice or at the request of her club coach, I don't know. A friend of her at another school has at least 4 LH players on it so far, not sure what the remainder of the team will be made up of.

My DD's approach is it's going to be fun for her to get to play with her friends (a couple of which are former club teammates) and have her school friends come out and watch her, you know, see what she's been doing 3-4 days a week since she was 7 years old. My only fear is that players without competitive experience will be reckless with their challenges (ie they'll hit the player first and worry about getting the ball second) and potential for injury will increase, but won't know until I start seeing them play.

If you're looking at this as something that's going to continue her development and progression as a player, then look again. If your DD's been playing competitive for a while, then keep your expectations of Middle School soccer low.

Thanks for the input. I know this won't be a development thing for her but more for her to have fun with the game. She is looking forward to showing a lot of those girls a thing or two. LOL. It will be nice for her to get out there and not really stress over about losing a place in the standings.

Wish we had middle school soccer in McKinney - my '01 DD does competitive cheer, school cheer (not technically athletics), and rec soccer.  No 7th or 8th grade girl in their right mind can be seen doing PE.  

She would love to fill that PE requirement with school soccer, but no, she will either have to run track or tryout for basketball and/or volleyball.  With all the demands on her time, sadly, this will probably be her last season playing soccer. 

As a warning, the level of play in middle school soccer is much lower than what you will see at a LHGCL game. Most schools in Frisco have 4-6 club players and the rest are made up of rec players or kids who have never played. The clock is set on the board and the buzzer ends the game, not the ref. If it is a tie, they go into PKs like at the high school. Some schools have coaches that know soccer and other schools have a coach who got stuck with soccer. It just depends on the school. The kids seem to have fun, though. There are some crazy/dangerous plays when you have kids who don't know the game well, so it is smart to be careful.

ledger wrote:As a warning, the level of play in middle school soccer is much lower than what you will see at a  LHGCL game. Most schools in Frisco have 4-6 club players and the rest are made up of rec players or kids who have never played. The clock is set on the board and the buzzer ends the game, not the ref. If it is a tie, they go into PKs like at the high school. Some schools have coaches that know soccer and other schools have a coach who got stuck with soccer. It just depends on the school. The kids seem to have fun, though.  There are some crazy/dangerous plays when you have kids who don't know the game well, so it is smart to be careful.

yep, prepare yourself for a hack fest and pray no one gets hurt...and have fun!

Midlothian ISD (not a huge school district but getting bigger with 7 Elementarys, 2 Middle schools, and 2nd HS currently being built). does not have soccer in middle school. But because of only 1 HS right now, it is hard to make a soccer team...even LHGL players aren't guaranteed a spot. Hoping the 2nd high school will help more girls get to play.