Girls on Boys Academy Team

Hey can anyone tell me if there are any U8 academy boys teams with girls on it? I have twins (boy and girl) and my little girl does not want to play for a girls academy team, she wants to keep playing with her brother, which frankly works out better for me scheduled wise, but not sure if this is customary or acceptable.
I believe that from a rules standpoint there are no issues with the SDL league or the team, but how common is this at that age level? Eventually I know I'll have to get her to play with girls, but not at least till U9.
Any thoughts are appreciated....

When my son was younger and he was on a academy team that had two girls and it worked out great.

Girls can play academy on boys team anytime but Boys cannot play Girls academy, it's been a long time for us since the academy days but from what I know; this rule still exists.

Fort Worth United 02 has a girl on their team. My DD played with boys some when she was younger. If the girl can hang then there should not be a problem. Plus I always thought it was cool when my DD would put it to the lil boys.

We had boy/girl twins on our academy boys team last year and the girl was one of the better players on the team

We have a girl on my sons' U8 academy team.

If you can put your daughter with girls it is only to her advantage!

I have heard the same thing. It can be fun and challenging for a very good girl to play with the boys. I was told that if she does, she should also find a girls team to play on. Eventually she will be outsized in boys soccer and have to transition to girls. The ones that have never played with the girls can find it very difficult to trasition. The style of play and practice is different and also emotionally different. During my sons practice I watched a 98 girls team run 2 laps. They talked and chatted the entire time. There was more talking than my sons entire practice. My son would have been pulling his hair out after the first lap. The Admin for the club told me that they often found that those girls who only played with boys often ended up quitting the girls teams and not for soccer reasons.

There is a girl that played with boys until last year and she is Select now. She actually has great pace, physical, and is very competitive. I put my daughter with boys every chance I got and did nothing but help her. Boys style of play is very fast and physical. They are more apt to try skill moves during a game. I watch girls who played with boys and see a POSITIVE difference. Her play has been infectious to her team.

I think it can be great for them to play on boys teams also. But maybe not to the exclusion of playing on a girls team.

Having coached several teams that had girls on a boys team I would have to say that the positives outway any negatives. The girls I had competed with boys until they were 14 or so years of age. This was the timeframe when the physical make up of the 2 started to lean towards the boys. All 4 girls I coached begin playing with older girls ages when they transitioned over to an all girls team, mostly due to the fact that their ability and physicalness was far superior to girls of their own age. The most talented one played with u-18s as a 15 yr old and was one of the best players on the team. On the other side of the ball having a girl on the team motivated my boys especially at a young each to compete harder to gain a spot and as time went on the girls seemed to be the calming and mature brains on the team. Probably due to the fact that they seemed to mature much faster than the boys. Point is I truly believe it helped both the boys and girls to be mixed, but it does take an athletic confident girl as time goes by. It also built a bit of comradery in the club as the boys followed the girls team after the split and vise versa. If you can find a team that will let her play go for it.

so do you know what has happened to the girls? Are they still playing? What have they gone on to do? How long have they been playing with the girls team?

Positive for the girls....but to what benefit to the serious minded boys? I say no.

soccerrus2 wrote:Positive for the girls....but to what benefit to the serious minded boys? I say no.

So what you are saying is that these boys at 8 thru 13 are so seriously devoted to being the best at this sport that there is no possible way a girl could possibly bring out a little more work ethic or intensity out of them. Physically most girls at 10,11, and 12 that are athletic and train accordingly are stronger and more coordinated than their boy counterparts. Im not saying they stay that way, but during that period on average this is the case its just genetics.

If your not a believer I know a 12 yr old girl keeper that could probably stomp most of the boys I have watched at the same age group and her training intensity is second to none.

go99 wrote:so do you know what has happened to the girls? Are they still playing? What have they gone on to do? How long have they been playing with the girls team?

3 of the girls have gone on to play at the college level( 1 sophmore& 2 freshman)& 1 picked up other interests in high school. They started playing with their girls teams in High school because in the state I resided HS girls played in the fall and HS boys played in the spring making it impossible for them to stay, but even then we had one that would guest with us at certain tourneys if the timing was right. At one point that particular team was ranked 5th in the state and she competed as if there were no gender difference (she gave as good as she got)

I think girls at that age tend to be bigger and at times stronger and faster than the boys. I have seen in the club on more than 1 occasion where things did not turn out well. Boys and girls are emotionally different. This can be as much nurture as it is nature. At some point the girl will not be able to play with the boys. I would guard against putting her into a position where she does not like playing with girls as much as she did with the boys.

If you're going to have "girls" teams and "boys" teams then stick with it. Letting girls on the boys teams (but not vice versa) just goes back to some ancient time when their weren't any girls sports available. As it is now, it discriminates against the boys since they can't go to the girls' teams. If the girl isn't challenged by the other girls, then let her play on an older girl's team. The brother/sister thing probably has more to do with the parents' convenience than anything else.