5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Changing Teams
As an athlete you get used to training, practicing, school, and homework all jam-packed into your schedule. You understand there is more to sports than showing up for practice, especially since you want to take your competitiveness to the next level. You put everything you have into your team and understand what’s needed to get recruited.
How You Get There
Being competitive and wanting to compete in your sport or sports is natural for youngsters. You begin building your confidence in recreation leagues, move up to playing for your school and then, find a club or travel team that meets your needs. Year round play is what you strive for and you love the higher competition of travel team play.
Being a part of an established team can help work wonders when it comes to improving your college sports opportunities.
When the Team Does Not Work out the Way You Planned
Like all sports teams, nothing is a sure fit. You can start your season with high expectations and then realize halfway through that you clash with the coach or a teammate, so you hop to another team. It’s somewhat easy at the high school level to bounce around club teams in this manner, until you find the right program, but is it really going to be worth it?
Changing high schools is not as easy as bouncing back and forth from club teams, since it deals with open enrollment and players having to sit out a year depending on school district rules. It is understandable that athletes and their families want to have the best high school playing opportunities, but are they really considering all the options when they make such a drastic decision?
What to Consider Before Making the Change:
1. Why do you need to change teams?
2. What will be the benefit of you changing teams? …More exposure, better coaching, more tournament or game time, more or less traveling…
3. Will you be able to have more or less playing time with the new team?
4. Will there be any rules concerning playing time if you change teams at the high school level? Is the change going to be worth it if you have to sit out a season?
5. What will be your plan if the team you change to does not work out as hoped?
How Many Moves Does it Take?
Club teams are designed to give athletes more opportunities to play and compete. Families sometimes spend hundreds of dollars traveling and paying club fees. To make sure you are getting your money’s worth you want to make sure you are getting the exposure you are paying for.
Jumping from team to team can be confusing. Getting set and comfortable with a new club can take time to fit in. Athletes need to consider all that goes into joining a new team before making the change, especially before heading up to college.
Here is our new transfer guide for athletes and families. We break down all of the complex NCAA transfer rules and explain what you need to do, step by step.
Transferring at any level can be confusing. If you have more questions concerning switching teams or finding the right travel team than leave a comment below for feedback or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+!