Guest playng - best practices, your experiences, etc....

We have done a lot of guest playing over the years within our club - playing up in older age groups, or on other teams within the same age group. This year we have had a few opportunities outside our club. They haven't worked, for one reason or another, but I would be curious to hear your feedback on guesting for other clubs - have your coaches been OK with it? How do your kids react? Mine seems to be concerned it's not OK to do that... I think it really depends on your coach. There are some great opportunities so I would be curious to hear your experiences, etc. Thanks
 
We just started guest playing this year. I wanted my daughter to gain more experience, more touches, and get accustomed to going into a different environment and getting comfortable in a new system with new players. It seems to be that goal keepers are a different breed than the rest of the players as most teams don't have backups, and the position can't be plugged in easily by another player on the team. I was up front with our coach. He doesn't gain much from the guest playing(maybe a slightly better goal keeper), but already knows my daughter has been recruited by a few teams already and that we honor our commitments. I just want her improving every year and this is just another avenue for her to improve. It also helps us parents see what other teams are like, and what the competition looks like outside. Not all that different from one club to the next, except that most need good goal keepers. :)
 
My kid is an '05 and started guest playing 3 years ago. She has guested for her club teams and with completely random teams. She was able to play with a team from Central California at Surf Cup one year when her team wasn't paying in the tournament. My analogy is that her brain is a computer and we need to feed it data, the data being: breakaways, corners, crosses and plays developing. The more data the better. Every team that she has guest played with treated her well as they were happy to have a FT keeper available to them. Now the recommendations:

1 - ALWAYS let the coach know/get approval 1st,
2 - If there is an opportunity to guest play with the home club, do that 1st,
3 - Don't be surprised when EVERYONE on the team knows that your kid guested,
4 - Remind your kid that if they had a FT keeper they wouldn't need him/her; relax, take ownership of the defense (I don't care that you just met them), have fun.

Guesting can be a great chance to meet other soccer players, get experience and be exposed to other styles of play. I recommend it. Good luck.
 
My DD is in HS and we did our first guesting at U11. At first within the club and then as she got older, we guest played with a few other clubs. We found it highly valuable in the early years but not as much anymore as she's on a highly competitive team and the opportunity for injury doesn't seem worth the risk.
have your coaches been OK with it?

All of her coaches have been totally fine with her guest playing within the club. Guesting with another club? I would say that they all frowned on it generally, but most of them were ok if the club in question was located far away. Clearly, this is because they are worried that your kid is being recruited away from them, and only approved guesting if the club wasn't a realistic option for us to jump ship to. Even then, they would always mention the possibility of injury, especially if we had a tournament or games coming up ourselves. Her coaches were most supportive of her guest playing at another club if: a. It was not a direct competitor in their geography. b. Our team was in a dark or slow period as far as games. c. There was some compelling opportunity for her (guesting at Surf Cup or Players in Las Vegas) that she couldn't get on her team/club. In those cases, we could convince the coach to endorse it, even if they didn't like the idea much.

How do your kids react?
The big thing about guest playing as a keeper is mentality and confidence. I had to talk her into it most of the time. She can be a creature of habit and forcing her out of her comfort zone was something we as parents tried to do in order to get her to come out of her shell and learn. It was hard on her initially, but each time that it worked out well, she would gain more and more self-confidence.

My kid was a lot like yours in the beginning. She liked her first club and didn't want to play for anyone else. But her club fired her coach and when another coach in her club passed her over for a kid from another club, she learned very quickly that "loyalty" means nothing in the club soccer game. After that experience, she understood the value of guest playing - even if you're happy with your current coach and club, making connections with other coaches and players will create opportunities down the road that really can pay off. The team/club she ended up with (and hopefully will finish out her youth soccer career with) was a team she guest played for once several seasons before actually joining them. We stayed in touch with the coach and guested a couple times over the years and when she was finally ready to make the leap to a higher level team, they were in need, and it worked out perfectly for both sides. When she had first guest played with them, she had actually been referred to the opportunity through another coach that she had guest played for at a different time. If it weren't for getting out there and seeking guest playing opportunities, she wouldn't be where she is, and wouldn't be getting the recruitment opportunities she currently has. In our case, networking really paid off in the end.
 
One more thing I forgot to mention...

Because of the scarcity of good goalkeepers, there are more opportunities (compared to field players) to guest play for teams at significantly higher levels than your child is currently playing. This is really good, even if it doesn't go so well at first. Giving your child a chance to see the difference in speed, precision, power, physicality of players and teams at higher levels will help them understand what they need to do to improve. In my opinion, there isn't much value to guest play at a lower level unless they have friends on the team or you are helping your club out in a pinch.
 
The big thing about guest playing as a keeper is mentality and confidence. I had to talk her into it most of the time. She can be a creature of habit and forcing her out of her comfort zone was something we as parents tried to do in order to get her to come out of her shell and learn. It was hard on her initially, but each time that it worked out well, she would gain more and more self-confidence.
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I'll admit some bribing had to be done to get her to agree. Now she tells her grandparents that they need to check with her agent(me) if they want to know if she is guest playing again.

The previous two years she did guest play with AYSO Extra teams as a forward. She hadn't decided if keeper was going to be a full time job so getting field time was nice. She usually know a few of the kids then. Have to admit that every parent likes to see their kid score, although I'm mostly over that.

Guest playing helps get other coaches perspective and instruction for you kid as well, always a good thing.
 
I'll admit some bribing had to be done to get her to agree. Now she tells her grandparents that they need to check with her agent(me) if they want to know if she is guest playing again.

The previous two years she did guest play with AYSO Extra teams as a forward. She hadn't decided if keeper was going to be a full time job so getting field time was nice. She usually know a few of the kids then. Have to admit that every parent likes to see their kid score, although I'm mostly over that.

Guest playing helps get other coaches perspective and instruction for you kid as well, always a good thing.

I did not know that you can guest with AYSO extra....
 
I did not know that you can guest with AYSO extra....
Only if you were signed up in the fall. My daughter was pulling double duty so she could still play forward. Which of course forced me to coach so we could work around the club schedule. Still miss those days.
 
Only if you were signed up in the fall. My daughter was pulling double duty so she could still play forward. Which of course forced me to coach so we could work around the club schedule. Still miss those days.

I highly suggest to try Mexican League instead.
 
@Mystery Train pretty much covered it all. Well said.:)
We usually need to check the schedule/location to see if we can make it work. My GK likes a little bit of bio on the team if I can get it. Level of play or anything that tells her what the work load might be like. Always equal level or above since playing down may help them but it's not going to help her in any way so the return on investment of time/money/gas/etc isn't worth it. Not trying to sound snobbish by any means..it's just the reality. Especially if you consider I'm going to miss work to guest. It's always been a good experience. Most times they coaches have taken my word sight-unseen that she'll take care of their team. Which she has. She's not perfect but she's dependable and will get the job done. Only once did we make it out to train with one team because they were close enough to make a training session prior to a tournament. One tournament earlier this year the team wasn't listening to her provide direction/instruction/etc and the Team Captain started shouting at the girls.."Listen to your keeper..she's trying to help you!!" That one was priceless.
And as @Mystery Train said before..the experience and future networking can really pay off down the road. We've been at other tournaments and had players or parents from a few of those teams see us and come up to say hi. It's a good feeling to see her get some recognition for a job well done.
 
This website is great for that. Go to the specific age group forums, that's where most of the requests for guest players are posted. There's also a FB page that is great for it, but I can't remember what it is...someone else may know .
 
So how have you convinced your kids that playing for another club is OK? That is my biggest stumbling block right now. She guest played last weekend with another team, this weekend with another team - same club - but try to get her to consider outside the club and it's like - no I'm good. I don't think we're supposed to do that. And I think this is the year to do that for sure...
 
So how have you convinced your kids that playing for another club is OK? That is my biggest stumbling block right now. She guest played last weekend with another team, this weekend with another team - same club - but try to get her to consider outside the club and it's like - no I'm good. I don't think we're supposed to do that. And I think this is the year to do that for sure...
If she really doesn't want to do it, then don't push it. Perhaps try to get her to play arena/futsal/pickup games or take some lessons with people outside the club. That should open up her mind to the idea that there is more than just her current club. Good luck.
 
So how have you convinced your kids that playing for another club is OK? That is my biggest stumbling block right now. She guest played last weekend with another team, this weekend with another team - same club - but try to get her to consider outside the club and it's like - no I'm good. I don't think we're supposed to do that. And I think this is the year to do that for sure...

If you find yourself wanting something more out of her playing than she does, then it's time to step back and rethink your involvement. Besides, there is nothing wrong with Loyalty.
 
So how have you convinced your kids that playing for another club is OK? That is my biggest stumbling block right now. She guest played last weekend with another team, this weekend with another team - same club - but try to get her to consider outside the club and it's like - no I'm good. I don't think we're supposed to do that. And I think this is the year to do that for sure...
It depends on what your motivations are for finding guest playing opportunities outside your own club. In no particular order, these might be:
a) Get more playing time because there isn't enough with your club
b) Thinking of leaving the club in the future, need to check out other clubs to evaluate options
c) Exposure to a higher level of play than available at your club
d) Chance to play at a showcase tournament that your club is not participating in

It sounds like there are plenty of A, if you've already guested twice in the last two weeks. So if it is b, c, or d, you should probably gain her agreement that these things are necessary in order for her to achieve whatever goal she has with soccer. If her goal is to just play lots, get better and have fun, then I wouldn't worry about guest playing at other clubs if she's getting all of that at her own club. In my DD's case, she just didn't have enough opportunities for advancement within her first club. She got pigeon-holed at the u-little ages as a B-team level player, mainly because she was a late bloomer. We didn't know much better, and assumed our club had her evaluated accurately. When she guest played for teams who were competing at a higher level than our club's A team, the coaches for those clubs recruited her hard, and we realized that maybe our club was doing her a disservice. Sure enough, her opportunities blossomed when she left. But our situation may not be equivalent to yours, so don't assume that guest playing for another club will end up producing better results in the long run. It did for us, but it's important for your kid and you to be on the same page about the reasons. Is she content with her playing time and her growth at her current club?
 
So how have you convinced your kids that playing for another club is OK? That is my biggest stumbling block right now. She guest played last weekend with another team, this weekend with another team - same club - but try to get her to consider outside the club and it's like - no I'm good. I don't think we're supposed to do that. And I think this is the year to do that for sure...
Cold hard cash. Yes, I said it, I bribed her for her first guest playing stint. Call me a bad parent, but both my wife and I knew she would end up enjoying it, knew it would be a great experience, and felt it was a worthwhile thing to do. She was just nervous about meeting new girls and if she would meet expectations. So many positives that we had to come up with a way to convince her. Now she tells the grandparents to check with her agent on when she plays again.
 
Cold hard cash. Yes, I said it, I bribed her for her first guest playing stint. Call me a bad parent, but both my wife and I knew she would end up enjoying it, knew it would be a great experience, and felt it was a worthwhile thing to do. She was just nervous about meeting new girls and if she would meet expectations. So many positives that we had to come up with a way to convince her. Now she tells the grandparents to check with her agent on when she plays again.
No judgement here when it comes to sports bribery. I told my then 7 year old son (who was giving zero effort in his AYSO games) that if he scored a goal, I'd take him to the Lego store. He scored in the first quarter, and without even celebrating with his team, he sprinted over to where I was sitting and asked if we could go to the store now. LOL
 
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