9th Grade HS/Select soccer workload advice

Hello,
Curious for those of you that had DD's that went into 9th grade HS soccer and play Select.
Were they able to handle playing the two AND have time for their homework without being
stressed out or having to stay up late on a regular basis to get schoolwork done?

Thanks for the input.

Well, first off, you need to qualify what you consider "having to stay up late on a regular basis to get schoolwork done."

Are you talking about staying up to 10-11pm 2-3 nights per week?  If so, I would not consider that out of the ordinary for a 9th grader playing HS and a club sport (not just soccer) simultaneously.

Are you talking about staying up past Midnight 4-5 nights per week?  If that's the case, I would take a closer look at what my kid is loaded up with, how his/her time management skills are, and figure out if something has to give.

A few of my general thoughts and opinions on this:

Don't know about your school district, by in my kid's school district, 9th grade was their heaviest class load their entire 4 years of HS.  They were not allowed to have an off-period in 9th grade.  In 10th they could have 1 off-period, 11th up to 2 off periods, and 12th they could have 3 off periods.  Yes, the classes tend to get a bit harder in the upper class years, but eliminating classes each year made a BIG difference in workload.  For all of my kids, their Freshman year was the highest load.

Also, it's likely that the poor weather last fall has exacerbated the situation this year with regards to club practice/game schedule.  Usually, LH and ECNL (don't know about DA) frontload their schedules for the HS age groups in the fall, then have a sparse schedule from Jan-April to avoid HS season.  On all of the team's mine played on, the coach backed off the club practice schedule to usually a max of 1 night per week and 1 weekend practice during HS season.  However, if the weather last fall has led to a bunch of league makeups having to be scheduled during HS season, I wouldn't be surprised if a club Coach is using a heavier practice schedule to be prepared for the makeups.

On the schoolwork side, I can tell you that all of my kids participated in both HS and club/select in their sport of choice.  When their sport was in season for HS, they made extensive use of weekends for getting HW completed ahead of time.  They knew that their sacrifice for playing their competitive sport  of choice, was that their in-season weekends were going to be used to stay on top of school work instead of hanging out with friends, or spending a bunch of time in front of the TV or on their phones.

Also, this is my opinion and will probably be the most controversial, but if your kid is spending more than 15-20 hours per week on homework (2-3 hours per day) because they are taking multiple Honors/Pre-AP/AP/IB courses, I believe you need to re-evaluate your kid's course load and back off to an on-level course in 1 or 2 of those subjects.  Just like some kids are capable of playing ECNL/DA, while some kids are only capable of playing LH, and some kids are only capable of playing PPL/APL; some kids can handle taking 3-4 Honors/AP level courses simultaneously, and still complete all of their work in 15-20 hours per week, while some kids can't.  Academics are important, but if you are pushing your kid too hard and they are having to do 5-6 hours of work every night to keep up, you are setting your kid up to be a workaholic and/or have a nervous breakdown by the time they are 30.  Just like with extra-curricular activities, there is a balance to academics as well.  That balance was actually different for each of my kids, so we approached their class scheduling differently to ensure the best balance for each of them.

When it comes to gaining acceptance into colleges, it is true that at the best of the best (the Ivies, Stanford's, Duke's, Rice's, etc. of the world) they will want to see a curriculum that is heavy on honors/AP, and that class rank will be an important factor.  However, once past that top tier, the fact that your kid took only 2 honors/AP level classes per year vs someone who took 4 or 5 every year, is not going to be a significant deciding factor on admittance as long as your kids class rank and test scores are where they need to be.

Also, let me clue you in on a dirty little secret...  When is comes to awarding Merit-Based Scholarship money to incoming Freshman, most schools use UNWEIGHTED GPA in their criteria.  I just went through a financial aid award appeal for one of my kids, and the fact that she took at least 2 Honors/AP level courses every year of HS actual had a NEGATIVE effect on the amount of her merit award.  She would have been awarded more merit money if she took an on-level class getting a 95, than taking an AP class and getting an 85 or even a 90, because they used straight, unweighted GPA in their model.

There is no absolute right or wrong answer to your issue/concern, as every child, family, situation, and perspective are different.  However, I do believe strongly that if your kid is truly managing their time wisely, and between their school work and activities, they are not able to get a solid 8+ hours of sleep every night and/or they are showing signs of being highly stressed on a regular basis, then you need to look at their total load, and back off in one of the areas.  Also, it's not a given in my opinion, that the extra curricular activity is always what needs to be cut back first.

I would have to agree with Delta on this one. My daughter is a freshman this year and we took the year off of select to concentrate on school. She wanted to play for the school with taking 2 AP classes and all the Pre-AP ones she could. It is definitely up to the kid and parent but with us, it was a good year to relax and get healthy (physically and mentally.) She has maintained an A average and is the #2 keeper for the Varsity. She now wants to play select again for the upcoming year and is very excited about it.

DeltaTauChi wrote:Well, first off, you need to qualify what you consider "having to stay up late on a regular basis to get schoolwork done."

Are you talking about staying up to 10-11pm 2-3 nights per week?  If so, I would not consider that out of the ordinary for a 9th grader playing HS and a club sport (not just soccer) simultaneously.

Are you talking about staying up past Midnight 4-5 nights per week?  If that's the case, I would take a closer look at what my kid is loaded up with, how his/her time management skills are, and figure out if something has to give.

A few of my general thoughts and opinions on this:

Don't know about your school district, by in my kid's school district, 9th grade was their heaviest class load their entire 4 years of HS.  They were not allowed to have an off-period in 9th grade.  In 10th they could have 1 off-period, 11th up to 2 off periods, and 12th they could have 3 off periods.  Yes, the classes tend to get a bit harder in the upper class years, but eliminating classes each year made a BIG difference in workload.  For all of my kids, their Freshman year was the highest load.

Also, it's likely that the poor weather last fall has exacerbated the situation this year with regards to club practice/game schedule.  Usually, LH and ECNL (don't know about DA) frontload their schedules for the HS age groups in the fall, then have a sparse schedule from Jan-April to avoid HS season.  On all of the team's mine played on, the coach backed off the club practice schedule to usually a max of 1 night per week and 1 weekend practice during HS season.  However, if the weather last fall has led to a bunch of league makeups having to be scheduled during HS season, I wouldn't be surprised if a club Coach is using a heavier practice schedule to be prepared for the makeups.

On the schoolwork side, I can tell you that all of my kids participated in both HS and club/select in their sport of choice.  When their sport was in season for HS, they made extensive use of weekends for getting HW completed ahead of time.  They knew that their sacrifice for playing their competitive sport  of choice, was that their in-season weekends were going to be used to stay on top of school work instead of hanging out with friends, or spending a bunch of time in front of the TV or on their phones.

Also, this is my opinion and will probably be the most controversial, but if your kid is spending more than 15-20 hours per week on homework (2-3 hours per day) because they are taking multiple Honors/Pre-AP/AP/IB courses, I believe you need to re-evaluate your kid's course load and back off to an on-level course in 1 or 2 of those subjects.  Just like some kids are capable of playing ECNL/DA, while some kids are only capable of playing LH, and some kids are only capable of playing PPL/APL; some kids can handle taking 3-4 Honors/AP level courses simultaneously, and still complete all of their work in 15-20 hours per week, while some kids can't.  Academics are important, but if you are pushing your kid too hard and they are having to do 5-6 hours of work every night to keep up, you are setting your kid up to be a workaholic and/or have a nervous breakdown by the time they are 30.  Just like with extra-curricular activities, there is a balance to academics as well.  That balance was actually different for each of my kids, so we approached their class scheduling differently to ensure the best balance for each of them.

When it comes to gaining acceptance into colleges, it is true that at the best of the best (the Ivies, Stanford's, Duke's, Rice's, etc. of the world) they will want to see a curriculum that is heavy on honors/AP, and that class rank will be an important factor.  However, once past that top tier, the fact that your kid took only 2 honors/AP level classes per year vs someone who took 4 or 5 every year, is not going to be a significant deciding factor on admittance as long as your kids class rank and test scores are where they need to be.

Also, let me clue you in on a dirty little secret...  When is comes to awarding Merit-Based Scholarship money to incoming Freshman, most schools use UNWEIGHTED GPA in their criteria.  I just went through a financial aid award appeal for one of my kids, and the fact that she took at least 2 Honors/AP level courses every year of HS actual had a NEGATIVE effect on the amount of her merit award.  She would have been awarded more merit money if she took an on-level class getting a 95, than taking an AP class and getting an 85 or even a 90, because they used straight, unweighted GPA in their model.

There is no absolute right or wrong answer to your issue/concern, as every child, family, situation, and perspective are different.  However, I do believe strongly that if your kid is truly managing their time wisely, and between their school work and activities, they are not able to get a solid 8+ hours of sleep every night and/or they are showing signs of being highly stressed on a regular basis, then you need to look at their total load, and back off in one of the areas.  Also, it's not a given in my opinion, that the extra curricular activity is always what needs to be cut back first.

Great long version of the answer.

My short version is.

Yes if they are athletic enough and smart enough.

It’s very tough. Expect weekends to be full of homework and projects. Many nights after school games or club practice she doesn’t start homework until 9pm and goes until 12-1.  That’s just the deal.  Probably not for everyone.

What is the benefit of playing club over HS? Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?

MurderWasTheCase wrote:What is the benefit of playing club over HS?  Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?  

Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

wazup wrote:

MurderWasTheCase wrote:What is the benefit of playing club over HS?  Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?  

Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

MurderWasTheCase wrote:What is the benefit of playing club over HS?  Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?  

Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

Ohh please! At this point 80% of club players play two touch kickball and she goes to Liberty. Waste of money.

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

MurderWasTheCase wrote:What is the benefit of playing club over HS?  Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?  

Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

Ohh please!  At this point 80% of club players play two touch kickball and she goes to Liberty. Waste of money.

Well, if your kid goes to Wakeland, HP, Grapevine, or most of the schools in 5-6A, 6-6A. or 9-6A, and she's playing rec or even PPL, then good luck to her making Varsity, let alone seeing the field, regardless if it's two-touch kickball or not.

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

MurderWasTheCase wrote:What is the benefit of playing club over HS?  Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?  

Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

Ohh please!  At this point 80% of club players play two touch kickball and she goes to Liberty. Waste of money.

Well, if your kid goes to Wakeland, HP, Grapevine, or most of the schools in 5-6A, 6-6A. or 9-6A, and she's playing rec or even PPL, then good luck to her making Varsity, let alone seeing the field, regardless if it's two-touch kickball or not.

Ohhh poppycock!  If a kid played select soccer at a high level for 5-6 years is athletic and in shape she will be fine. Especially if the team has a bunch of ecrl or PFDL players from what I've seen. Most select soccer has become such a joke she might be better off avoiding the injuries and beat down of what club has become. Heck wakeland will take any kid that's big and out of shape as long as she knows how to punch and trip.

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

MurderWasTheCase wrote:What is the benefit of playing club over HS?  Is HS soccer seasonal or do they practice year round?  

Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

Ohh please!  At this point 80% of club players play two touch kickball and she goes to Liberty. Waste of money.

Well, if your kid goes to Wakeland, HP, Grapevine, or most of the schools in 5-6A, 6-6A. or 9-6A, and she's playing rec or even PPL, then good luck to her making Varsity, let alone seeing the field, regardless if it's two-touch kickball or not.

Ohhh poppycock!  If a kid played select soccer at a high level for 5-6 years is athletic and in shape she will be fine. Especially if the team has a bunch of ecrl or PFDL players from what I've seen. Most select soccer has become such a joke she might be better off avoiding the injuries and beat down of what club has become.  Heck wakeland will take any kid that's big and out of shape as long as she knows how to punch and trip.

Cool. Wish any and all of you who believe that the best of luck. Come back in a couple years and let us know how it worked out your kid.

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:


Unless your dd has a chance and wants to play in college it's actually kind of silly to keep playing club in HS. Waste of money and time.

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

Ohh please!  At this point 80% of club players play two touch kickball and she goes to Liberty. Waste of money.

Well, if your kid goes to Wakeland, HP, Grapevine, or most of the schools in 5-6A, 6-6A. or 9-6A, and she's playing rec or even PPL, then good luck to her making Varsity, let alone seeing the field, regardless if it's two-touch kickball or not.

Ohhh poppycock!  If a kid played select soccer at a high level for 5-6 years is athletic and in shape she will be fine. Especially if the team has a bunch of ecrl or PFDL players from what I've seen. Most select soccer has become such a joke she might be better off avoiding the injuries and beat down of what club has become.  Heck wakeland will take any kid that's big and out of shape as long as she knows how to punch and trip.

Cool.  Wish any and all of you who believe that the best of luck.  Come back in a couple years and let us know how it worked out your kid.

Will do and thank you for keeping your reply to one paragraph instead of ten.

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

wazup wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

Depending on the HS, your kid may need to keep playing club if she ever wants see time on the field for the Varsity at her school.

Ohh please!  At this point 80% of club players play two touch kickball and she goes to Liberty. Waste of money.

Well, if your kid goes to Wakeland, HP, Grapevine, or most of the schools in 5-6A, 6-6A. or 9-6A, and she's playing rec or even PPL, then good luck to her making Varsity, let alone seeing the field, regardless if it's two-touch kickball or not.

Ohhh poppycock!  If a kid played select soccer at a high level for 5-6 years is athletic and in shape she will be fine. Especially if the team has a bunch of ecrl or PFDL players from what I've seen. Most select soccer has become such a joke she might be better off avoiding the injuries and beat down of what club has become.  Heck wakeland will take any kid that's big and out of shape as long as she knows how to punch and trip.

Cool.  Wish any and all of you who believe that the best of luck.  Come back in a couple years and let us know how it worked out your kid.

Will do and thank you for keeping your reply to one paragraph instead of ten.

Actually, I had a few paragraphs ready to go on how to avoid getting duped by a select soccer coach, but decided it would just be wasted on some people.

No clue what you're talking about, but thanks for keeping your reply brief.