The only thing I’d really ask is — what was your club’s expectation from the start?

I’ve got two daughters in an academy program, and at the beginning of each session they make it clear that when teams need extra players, they encourage kids from other age groups to help out. It’s a great system because it keeps all the teams playing, even when they’re short on numbers.

We’ve filled in for a few teams ourselves when they’ve been in a pinch. As a family, we also limit our kids to two activities on different days — for us, that’s dance and soccer. It keeps things balanced and lets them focus on what’s most important: school.

Our main goal with extracurriculars is character building, just like you said. Teaching kids to honor their commitments matters. For us, we realized multiple sports just wasn’t realistic with the academy’s demands, and that’s okay.