Maintenance and Growth
"MLS Next won't let my kid play High School." "Our coach says High School isn't very good so we shouldn't play." "Should we play pickup? Even if there is no coach?" "There's adults playing."
Instead of weighing up which of these activities is more likely to get your player to where they dream of (college, pro), try weighing them fairly as either maintenance or growth activities.
Then consider the second factor: for every hour your player is not playing soccer, there are thousands of players all over the world who are.
What "Maintenance" and "Growth" Really Mean
Every soccer hour a young player puts in does one of two things — and both matter. The trap is treating only one as "real" soccer.
Growth is structured time, with intent. It's where players are taught, stretched, and held to a standard.
Maintenance is unstructured (or differently-structured) time. It's where players touch the ball more, play more games, take more risks, and stay in love with the sport.
Neither replaces the other. The best young careers run on both.
Why It Matters
Players develop in hours, not in seasons. The clubs that produce the most players in the world don't get there only through better training — they get there because their kids are around the ball constantly, in every kind of environment.
When growth and maintenance work together:
Players accumulate the hours they need without being burned out.
Skills learned in training get tested in less-pressured games.
Creativity has room to live alongside structure.
Players experience different coaches, teammates, and styles — which builds adaptability.
The love of the game stays intact, which keeps players in the game long enough to grow.
Here It Is Laid Out
Your club team = Growth. This is where you spend 2, 3, 4, 5, even 10 hours per week learning and competing. You likely pay good money for this. The environment should be purposeful and connected to a master plan — a serious periodization plan that outlines development and readiness for your player and the team throughout the season. There should be purposeful breaks, ramped-up intensities for showcases and tournaments, and a clear arc as the season progresses. This is the growth factor.
Pickup soccer, part-time soccer like school soccer, indoor teams, or guest play = Maintenance. It should be fun. It should be with friends. It should be informal, or for a short duration (e.g. the high school season). Your player might learn, and they might have a different coach than they do in club, but they need to be independent here and experience the game in a different way. They should be able to express themselves, play differently, and — importantly — accumulate hours of play that every player desperately needs.
Common Gaps in Young Players (and Their Families)
When families only think in one mode, development quietly stalls. Common patterns include:
All growth, no maintenance. Three club practices and a game, every week, every season — and no other touches. Skills get coached but never freely tried.
All maintenance, no growth. Lots of pickup and informal play, but no structured environment teaching the standards needed to compete at the next level.
Treating maintenance as "wasted" time. Saying yes to club but no to high school, pickup, or backyard play because "it doesn't count."
Growth without a real plan. Hours logged at a club that has no periodization, no purposeful breaks, and no clear development arc — so it acts like maintenance disguised as growth.
Forgetting the global hours gap. Players elsewhere are getting both, every day. American players who choose only one are leaving real time on the table.
How to Use This at Home
The point isn't to do more. It's to think clearly about what each hour is doing.
Audit the week. What's growth (purposeful, structured, with a plan)? What's maintenance (free, fun, more game-play than training)? Are both present?
Protect both. Don't let club crowd out free play. Don't let free play crowd out the structured environment that teaches standards.
Embrace the high school season, the indoor league, the pickup game. Reframe them as maintenance: short, fun, useful hours of play that complement club, not threaten it.
Ask your club about the plan. If the growth environment isn't periodized, isn't intentional, and doesn't have purposeful breaks, you may be paying growth prices for maintenance soccer.
Watch for "play" moments. Backyard juggling, driveway 1v1s, kicking the ball against a wall — those count. Encourage them like you'd encourage homework.
Why "Play" Matters
With a lacking culture of play, pickup and informal soccer become essential. Maintenance lets players love the game without a focus on growth all of the time. Development isn't linear — playing in different situations, with different people and different voices, gives a player room to play. And when they play, they can be creative, have fun with the ball, try a new position, and gain confidence in new ways.
Importantly, it teaches them to play without the club structure guiding them. They can be free. Which, in turn, prepares them to be coached — and to grow.
Parent Tip
Stop choosing between growth and maintenance — choose both, and notice the ratio. If your player is drowning in structure but never just playing, add maintenance. If they're playing constantly but never being held to a standard, look hard at whether their growth environment is actually growing them. The best young players' weeks have both, and the best parents resist the cultural pull to over-pick one.
The Goal
A player who's growing on purpose and maintaining a real love for the game. Both factors provide hours of play — and hours of play are what every young player desperately needs. When growth and maintenance live side by side, the player on the field isn't just better trained. They're freer, more creative, and more ready for whatever comes next.
