Silly Question Why do clubs push players Up

[tobisaiah]

speaking to an overseas talent scout, he told me that if a coach at a junior club had his team regularly winning 8/9/10-0 then he should be sacked.

Reason being that he is holding these kids back and not challenging them.

He believed that a mid table squad is where you want to be for development ie still being relatively challenged with the scope to improve.

As a parent of a child playing in a team winning like this, I would have to say the boys are all hungry for challenges. The coach actually does an amazing job keeping them motivated and playing good football and a strong training regime. To have seen how this team has progressed in terms of skill from last season is a credit to the coach and the boys. Unfortunately given the league structure they are in (JSL), for many of them they are likely to need to look at other clubs next season to be "challenged". 1 or 2 cup games (depending on their progress) doesnt work.... and there's only so many times the coach can arrange friendlies against strong teams. As I have been told by a number of parents, this is what is expected with the structure to eventually even out the competition more so the better kids are playing JPL. Whilst I understand it all, I find it a shame as I think this coach can still develop these boys further for another year or two.

[kikit2me]

Silly Question Why do clubs push players Up, in discussions with various people from overseas ie uk and portugal they made the statement pushing players up a grade or two is not a common practice unless they are something very special. so i wondering why do they continually persist with this Adelaide and i assume rest of Australia.

Hey i don't pretend to be a soccer/football expert i just got bit curious after discussions with these people

But a much asked question, with many varied answers and a number of cans of worms opened. IMO the reason this should be done is to further develop a player who is prepared for the step up. There is no growth or development for a player who is "a stand out" (best player in the team) in their own age group, in fact the growth and development is for the team itself being in proximity of this player.

At the next level the player then receives the lessons of team play and is stretched to improve further. I believe that too many people forget that this is a team sport and we don't teach these players best when the team is focused on the one player (which often happens with stand out players). To grow they must be challenged

[spooky1972]

I personally do not have any issue with players playing up, my issue is the throwing around at times of these players, one week 14s, next week 15s, week after both.

I personally think when players are registered they should be registered for that age group, and only play for that age group, if they are good enough to play up so be it, but we should not allow snakes and ladders.