Hey all, soccer dad here with a question. I grew up playing baseball in a small town and basically all the boys played for our town's team versus other towns (both in little league and eventually high school). Never really opportunity choose different clubs.
Fast forward 35 years later I have a 7 yo daughter who has been playing soccer since she was 3 with the same club. She was in rec until she was 5 and then she was placed into the club's accelerated program which is like a gateway between rec and competitive.
Problem is, she is consistently only 1 of 2 or 3 girls in this program. She is now at an age that she wants to play with more girls instead of all boys. This sentiment kickstarted when she aged into her school's team which splits between girls and boys. The school team borderline intramural with other schools and she wants something more competitive.
Her current club sucks in terms of numbers for girls, both in competitive and in rec. In competitive they basically only have teams that are U14-U18 and can't seem to get girls to compete at younger ages and can't hold girls in rec. We have stuck around because the park is located 3 blocks from our house and my daughter hasn't minded playing with boys in the past.
Her club is now having tryouts for girls from U7-U11, but as one team due to lack of numbers, so she will be on the younger end. She will be trying out for them but she is also signed up for tryouts at two other clubs a little further away but with much better number for girls and they have 2 dedicated teams per age group.
So I guess my question is, during the tryout period (seems all the clubs are doing it around the same time) is it normal for kids to do tryouts across different clubs? Any experience in having to decline an offer despite trying out? Also, any insight on experiences in leaving a club where you a majority of your time and know all the coaches, etc.? Don't want to burn any bridges with anyone and definitely want to leave the possibility of coming back if my daughter wants to if and when the club ever gets their ducks in a row.