So here's a legit question and not asking anyone to name clubs or do any club bashing but looking for feedback from people who have left a club and felt they made the right decision. Our daughter is a few years younger but looking for feedback from folks with a few more years under their belt. It would also help if you state why you left and if you found it someplace else. Would also like to hear if anyone regretted or returned to their former club.
I'll bite. My daughter played for a club for two years, when she was a rising 6th and a rising 7th grader. The first year was okay. The second year we had a new coach and even that was okay.
What changed was the entire roster except for my daughter. Okay, maybe three girls stayed. The rest were grandfathered in from another club and that was problem number one.
Problem number two was the atmosphere of the team. The grandfathered-in girls and their parents were chummy, and my daughter, practically the only original member of the team was suddenly an outsider, as was I. No one would pass her the ball, I'd try to chat with the parents and they'd respond politely but never innate any conversation. They included us in nothing, and how frigging awkward when you take your daughter to a local attraction and there's the team enjoying themselves. It was a clique and we were not in it.
The final straw was a complete lack of communication from the club directors and their apparent disinterest in the girls' side of the program. I touched base with parents from the first year and we moved on and had zero regrets.
What you need to look for as you shop around is partly the club specifics, how much, how far, what's included, which tournaments. But also very important is the age level and the team you expect her to play with. Are there girls your daughter knows? Do you know the parents? How well would the fit be?
