Team E

[Mim1086]

My bright DS was recently assigned Team E (the bottom team) in football. He came home very upset and disappointed. He is not the most athletic boy but enjoys sports and does play football outside of school where he performs at a decent level.

I don’t understand how they have assigned teams already after the boys have barely played three or four times once the term started. Any experienced mum who can shed more light on this? Are these teams fluid? Will he move up? Just as an FYI he is in year 3 at a selective independent school.

Anybody?

This is what you get when you choose a competitive independent school.

I think you would be better off asking parents of the particular school or the teachers or his outside of school coach - rather than strangers who have no idea which school it is, what their system is, how well they already know the boys, what your sons standard of football is, why your son is in the E team etc

But as a general rule, of course kids would be moved up if it comes to light that they've been placed in the wrong team and/or they improve.

His level of brightness does not automatically reflect his football skills. Can he not just be encouraged to accept the team he's been put in and if he wishes to move up then he might get promoted so to speak

It seems strange that you think his intelligence community should be on a better football team. You say yourself is not the most athletic boy

Isn't it pretty obvious that the other boys are better footballers than him.

An important life lesson to learn - that we can't be the best at everything.

If he isn't the most athletic and plays decent as opposed to talented to very talented then team E may be his ranking.

It can be challenging for child to have their ability ranked low if all they have known is top or near top place.

Ideal opportunity to discuss or reinforce everyone has different talents. Talents don't dictate level of enjoyment.

They will be fine once they see and hear modeling of the above.

Just tell him to play his absolute best and give it his all. There's something to be said for being the strongest player on the E team - he'll get to feel he's adding a lot of value and will stand out! If he's clearly head and shoulders above the rest then of course he'll be moved up and if for some reason he isn't, then you can go and chat to the sports staff to see what they're thinking. Mine are at a competitive prep too and boys are moved in and out of teams regularly. Don't sweat it.

I'll be really honest... it's a popularity contest. There is very little between Y3 players except some basic awareness (fighting for the ball, initiative off the ball) and maybe fitness/speed.

As it's a popularity contest the hardest decision is to demote a player rather than leaving the stays quo.

The problem with going into the E team is it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy as you can usually check and recurring theme is that the A doesn't change much over the entirely of prep.

Rather than just play and hope you will be noticed your son will probably need to ask what to improve in and make the coach aware of their ambition so this is hopefully resolved by Y4.

The easiest way into the top team is marketing yourself as a goal keeper (even with the rotation) but only do that if they actually like that position.

How can they not assign teams already? Presumably they need to assign teams to they can crack on with training and play. I'm sure there will be fluidity and if he plays out of school he's bound to improve.

I disagree that all children are pretty much the same in year three though.

I doubt there is actually much difference between the teams at Year 3 stage.

Has he been told that E is actually "bottom"? Does he feel his footballing ability is significantly higher than the other boys in the group?

DSs were at a selective independent secondary and the teams were fluid.

of course they can select teams this early and a you say yourself that your DS isn't the most athletic. It's not that he's rubbish, it's just that in a selective environment there will be people that are better than him. In Y3 the differences are likely to be fairly slight in the most part.

it's the same as if he was put in the top set for maths and someone else in the bottom set.

Most independent schools play other schools and an E team will face another E team. When you go to watch the games there's a difference (usually E team players just don't want to be there).

Also the A team is the one that goes to out of school time competitions from Y4.

I completely agree with @elij ’s point - my DS’ year is pretty small (for boys), and they can only manage 2 teams. This means his default B team ends up playing against other school B teams that are clearly WAY better than they are! There are maybe two boys who would ordinarily be B team standard, the others are Cs and Ds
(my DS is not good at sport - but enthusiastic! - and has always been in the bottom team). It is really demoralising for them.

Sadly the A team is unlikely to change, and is usually dominated by kids who play that sport intensively outside of school. But there could be some scope for moving around in the other teams if he really applies himself. It really depends on the school’s attitude to it all.

Steaming of kids that young so early is also a bit of a farce. Count the Sept/Oct borns in the A team