I coach a 3rd Grade boys. The team has done reasonably well in the Rec league the last two seasons and we're considering whether to stay in Rec or move to Upper House in the fall.
The webpage about Upper House was helpful but it's hard to get a sense of how big the step up is. I was wondering if you might have any insights around how many teams generally move up or how they do, or if there any other SFUSD school teams playing the Upper House leagues? I think my concern is if it's a lot of teams formed by selecting the top kids within club programs, the level is likely to be too much of a step.
A question we get asked a lot, especially when considering the verbiage in the web page that explains how Upper House can be a significant step up.
17 'independent' teams, out of 63 total, played Upper House in spring 2024. Just about a quarter of all teams.
It is true that you will face more club teams.
Why is that? Well, they tend to advance their teams with more training (increased resources for additional fields is a huge plus!), and are able to attract more players from outside of singular schools, which is what most independent teams are comprised of.
Upper House is that next step for teams before fully comitting to travelling. The competitive leagues play in games all over the peninsula and beyond, so Upper House provides the next level of competition that successful teams are looking for, whilst also not wanting to spend hours in the car on the weekend to play a 50-75 minute game.
Note that most club teams playing in Upper House have other teams already playing travel, where you would likely see the 'top kids' playing.
SFYS aims to build to a copper-bronze level of play within the league, whilst encouraging clubs to travel at silver/gold level, and older ages. Therefore, the Upper House is an excelent development league for players to get an experience of competitive soccer without much of the other time and cost commitment.
Should you play in it, knowing the landscape, as an independent team?
17 other teams say yes.
But, why should you?
The easy answer - play for a season, and see how it goes. .500 on the year? You're in the right place! Get whacked every week? You learned the hard way with some great experience, but moving back into recreational soccer is easy to do for the next season.
You might also move up if you know some players are looking for 'the next level' and if that challenge will encourage the rest of your team.
If you think it'll cause more issue than help, it might be time to encourage those players to find a new, competitive team and remain in recreational soccer.
One way to help.
Look at your flight. Are you in the A or the B flight?
Did you win all of your games, or just lose 1 or two?
Did you win them well, or do you have an athletic player who runs past everyone? Essentially, HOW DID YOU WIN?
Did you concede many goals?
If you lost one or two, and we're moving those teams up, you'll b ecome the defacto best team - in that case, do you want challenge?
Now, what is the make up of your team?
How do the players, and you as the coach, feel about increased competition with a step up?
Could they handle a scenario in which they don't win a game? Can you create an environment that changes the focus from winning?
Invites are about to go out to teams to 'promote' into the upper house divisions, and you likely received the link to this article from the invite.
Please leave a comment with any questions or thoughts!
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I took our 3rd Grade Boys independent (parent/vol run) school team to Upper House, and it was great. We had finished in top 2-3 for a couple seasons at highest level in Rec. We were intimidated by the idea of playing against clubs and Upper House, but turned out we were fine. A couple things I'd reccommend: 1) increase to 2x/wk practice (typical as you go up); 2) find some younger (e.g. college or post-college) player to join a practice a week for new/latest drills, especially if parent coach vols haven't played in a while (or ever). One of hardest parts was that we had several kids who loved the social aspect, but not that interested or motivated by soccer. Ultimately our team fell apart, because those who wanted more competition went to clubs. In retrospect, I wish I would have gently encourages kids who weren't motivated to move aside for other school kids who were...we might have kept the community team together longer and enjoyed the competitive play in Upper House (which is like Norcal Copper/Bronze...plenty of competition for those not gunning for College+ ball). That said, there's something really powerful about kids playing with their friends. A year later, I've had many kids coming back wishing they had their old team back.
I think independent teams actually have some advantages (now that I've experienced club w/ my son for a year). 1) More time/attention on individual player development. While clubs boast of it, I haven't seen it except for the higher level teams (Norcal Gold/Premier). 2) Friends playing together for longer - team cohesion can help a lot against new club teams where players haven't played with each other. 3) If you like the parents in your community (ours were amazing), then it's a lot more fun on the sidelines. It's about the chauffeurs too!! (parents)