To let DS do an academy football trial?

[Yesterdayyesterday]

DS10 loves football, both playing and watching. He's pretty much obsessed. He plays for a local team and is average or a bit below in terms of skill level.

He found out that you can book trials with the local League 1 team for their development squad (so not technically academy but the dev team that feeds into it). Unfortunately I think he's going to be disappointed in the outcome and I'm not sure whether to book it. On the other hand it's his (not very realistic) dream to become a professional footballer. I think he knows that it's unlikely, but I also don't think he's let go of that dream...What should I do?

I’d let him. Just make sure he’s realistic about the potential outcome, etc. Is there anyone at the local team who can give you any insight or a view on how good he is? He must be at least competent to hold down a place in a team, and we are just talking about a development team, not Real Madrid.

Let him go, op! He'll never know unless he tries - just teach him how to react if it doesn't go his way x

Book it but make it clear the standard is high to get in. He’s 10 so he should understand.

I think my choice of action would depend on his maturity level. Is he mature enough for you to have a realistic conversation with him about his dream? How does he handle rejection? How does he deal with his emotions? It could do more harm than good if he's not emotionally mature enough to handle rejection. Love of a sport is key, and you don't want to kill that. If he's quite immature, I might be making some excuses for a year or two

Let him go for it and be positive but point out how few actually get in

It would be a good experience for him , even if he doesn’t get picked! It will give him something to aspire to.

Of course you let him go and help him deal with disappointment, a very valuable life lesson!

Talk to the coach of his current team and get their thoughts on whether he’s ready. They might suggest another year before he tries. Although time is off the essence as many pros are in an academy from 6 or 7 years old.

Then, depending on what they say and how resilient your son is to possible rejection, makes your decision.

Also, if you don't let him go he would never know if he would have been selected and might resent you for not letting him pursue his dream.

I thought I was great at tennis aged 10 until I did my first competition and did so badly. I still remember what a negative experience it was and put me off playing. I agree it could be good to find out a bit more about his chances and the way the test runs to help decide

I had similar with one of my DS. He plays grassroots, was the top goal scorer for three years running and won players player for 3 years in a row. We thought to put him for a few trials last year and we soon realised he was not at that level. It was a good experience as it gave us and him a good indication of what is expected and what those leagues require. I would say still go but have a talk with him about expectations. He loves football but does realise how competitive it is and not being accepted in the trials made him train better after.

So, I would say it’s always good to try something new and may give your kid an idea of where he is and may offer him some positive development points from some new coaching.

I think you may have to gently let him know that there is development, then possibly elite and then signing for an academy. And then academies following a category status, so for example Brentford which is a premier league side has a category 4 academy which is quite low. Reading on the other hand is League One (first team) but is a Category One (Premier league) so the team attached doesn’t mean as much as the level of the academy.

I know of a couple of kids that went from development to signing but it’s rare. They had to do an 6 week trial which is the norm. If you are paying then it isn’t a real academy. Honestly the foundation teams of category 1 academies aren’t that good. The parents pay because there is a big kudos attached to the club but they can have advances, elite and then full academy.

They say 1% of kids go to academies and that you can’t just be the best on your team, but you have to be the best in your league (at the highest level - JPL for example) and even the year above.

Having said all this, scouts from big clubs just scout from each other so getting scouted isn’t like it used to be. They don’t travel around waiting to find someone and almost never go to grassroots clubs. JPL is a good place to be as they do tend to go there. They will keep an eye on the kids they like and see their progress. Plus all games are video’ed and analysed so access is everywhere. I kid you not, the last game my kid played in there were 15 scouts there (Category 1).

I’d let him go and hope this helps, but just wanted to give you a bit more info in case it helps? Good luck!

Yes and no. They go at that age and then puberty and ability hit. On my kids team (Category 1 Academy) there are only three kids from that age still signed - the rest were released.

My boys both play tennis and a few years ago they made it into the development squads for Tennis Australia for their age groups. Both found it, understandably, very tough with a very high standard.
My oldest basically told me “I don’t want to do tennis at this level, I like playing it, but it’s just one thing I do, and it’s not my main focus”. He dropped the squad but still plays 4 times a week, is on the school 1sts team etc and enjoys it.

My younger son felt encouraged by it and still trains a lot, plays regular tournaments and competitions and it’s his main sport. He knows he won’t be a professional but it showed him how to strive and train and that has continued.

However, it could easily have backfired and if they hadn’t got in, or had felt they were no goodc it could have made them want to give up - so only you know your son’s temperament in that regard.

I'd say definitely let him go. If he fails he won't be the only one there to fail, and if he's successful, great. Worth noting though that only 1-4 % of academy players go on to be professional footballers.

Yes it's a brilliant age to learn that sometimes you are not good enough at something. Harsh, but hear me out.

If he is not picked then you talk to him about hard work, being resilient and getting over the knock, getting better by practice, by eating right, sleeping right. After he's bounced back, and he will, you have another chat about how he might never make that level, but football will always have a level that he can play at and enjoy.

Tell him it's about the game and that the parents at Barcelona academy are not allowed to ask their kids if they won. The best academy in the world wants them to be asked if they had fun.

It's an important lesson in life in something in the scope of things isn't that important. Ok to a 10 year old boy it is, I know I was (still mentally am) one. But learning to survive and fight back from set backs now is so important.