easy for you to say bc your kids are big. xsboy is small for his age, and his entire team tends toward smallish. and you see them playing against teams of kids SUPPOSEDLY the same age (they go by birth year) and the dang opposing team kids look like they SHAVE!!!!
Well, my boys are both big, but rather i speak from my own experience, I was smallish (5'8").... that only makes one more determined to hit harder.
When I was 16 or so, we travelled north to play against some team that was all grown men, and they were like, "oh we play no checking...etc.." and then proceeded to play dirty, and almost beat us, in the second game we took off the self imposed restraints, and gave them a shellacking, and a bruising.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight......
We used to joke that some of the boys on oppposing soccer teams drove themselves to the game. And that was 10 and under! They don't check ages as thoroughly as they should.