Travel Soccer for Dummies

[Anonymous]

I take it your son is a 2008 being 10 years old. Both clubs have strong A teams with Alexandria having the edge. Below that, I would stick with Alexandria teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I take it your son is a 2008 being 10 years old. Both clubs have strong A teams with Alexandria having the edge. Below that, I would stick with Alexandria teams.

PP. Didn't realize it wasn't all Alexandria ages moving to CCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take it your son is a 2008 being 10 years old. Both clubs have strong A teams with Alexandria having the edge. Below that, I would stick with Alexandria teams.

PP. Didn't realize it wasn't all Alexandria ages moving to CCL.

What age groups are not moving?

[Anonymous]

I have a real dummy question. Can a kid play travel soccer fall only and do other sports in winter and spring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a real dummy question. Can a kid play travel soccer fall only and do other sports in winter and spring?

Yes, in MD.

VA is full of clubs with year long committments in CCL, NCSL, etc. That's the downside of VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Do you think the club would charge less for training if there was less travel?

No. Clubs don’t typically include travel in their fees. Those are additional fees managed by the team treasurer. Club fees typically only cover coaching costs, league admin and registration fees, field costs, and some admin costs. Travel per diem for coaches as well as tournament fees and uniform costs are typically separate.

Club will also try to persuade you to spend more money on summer camps, winter indoor or futsal, and maybe even Super Y summer leagues. Until the kid is a freshman in HS, try to avoid most of those add on activities (except maybe a week of summer camp). Instead, have them play other sports in summer and winter to cross-train to avoid injury and prevent burnout. Spending time outside of fall and spring seasons on individual training (see the Techne app, or things like HP Elite or Corver), fitness, and/or playing pickup game will be more beneficial than structured club training.

Think about your kid’s goals with soccer, their innate talent, and their passion for this one thing. If athletically gifted and very passionate then there is nothing wrong with going all in towards the top tier DA or ECNL routes. EDP is next level down but still very competitive, then you get to leagues/programs like NPL, CCL, NCSL, ODSL, etc. If not super passionate (again talking about your kid, not you), then look for a good team environment with friendly teammates and reasonable parents and coaches at the desired level of competition. Avoid over spending time and money as this will likely just be a youth activity to keep the kid busy, healthy, and happy. Do NOT get into travel because you think your kid can get a free ride to college. There are many other scholarship opportunities out there that won’t cost you all the time and money travel sports will. Also, focus your kid’s priorities on school not sports, as probabilities indicate it will benefit their future personal wealth much more greatly.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:Been playing around with a diagramming tool today.

I'd like some thoughts on this mapping of leagues to clubs:

DC-Area Youth Soccer Clubs Info Map (<== link)

The "original" data comes from my spreadsheet (see signature). I'm sure some of the source data needs updates, and I'll process changes as necessary.

Awesome!! You should start a youth soccer consulting service.

[Anonymous]

Here is another dummy question. Are there more popular “entrance years” or times when it is easier/harder to onboard to travel soccer in terms of openings, assuming the skills were there? Or are these clubs so oversubscribed that there’s relatively little wiggle room after the youngest level forms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is another dummy question. Are there more popular “entrance years” or times when it is easier/harder to onboard to travel soccer in terms of openings, assuming the skills were there? Or are these clubs so oversubscribed that there’s relatively little wiggle room after the youngest level forms?

Kids move constantly and kids change constantly-so there is always room for good players in all clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I take it your son is a 2008 being 10 years old. Both clubs have strong A teams with Alexandria having the edge. Below that, I would stick with Alexandria teams.

The 2008 red boys team is very good, very, very good.

[Anonymous]

Here’s another question—when people in the DC area say “travel” soccer, how far are you traveling for regular season games? I would assume that with so many clubs in the area, you’re not going beyond the DC suburbs, or maybe the exurbs on a regular basis.

We live out west now and one of my kids had a game 200 miles away this past weekend. Of course, with the traffic you all have we may have gotten home faster than someone driving from Montgomery county to Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can name the clubs. The important things at that age are:

1) positive and fun environment.
2) commute - 15-20 minutes max
3) program that develops individual skill/technical skill to u13

Things that really do not matter
1) what league your kids plays in
2) what team your kid in on(as long as you are okay with the cost)
3) u9-u12 travel soccer wins. A lot of leagues do not post scores at those ages.

This is pretty much it. You don't have to drive very far to get to very good competition. Baltimore at the farthest. Definitely don't pay attention to scores at the U12/fifth grade level or below, those are pretty much dependent on which team has a goalie or not and have no indication on overall quality or if your child will have a good time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is another dummy question. Are there more popular “entrance years” or times when it is easier/harder to onboard to travel soccer in terms of openings, assuming the skills were there? Or are these clubs so oversubscribed that there’s relatively little wiggle room after the youngest level forms?

it's constant. It's easiest to "onboard" if you're good, lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s another question—when people in the DC area say “travel” soccer, how far are you traveling for regular season games? I would assume that with so many clubs in the area, you’re not going beyond the DC suburbs, or maybe the exurbs on a regular basis.

We live out west now and one of my kids had a game 200 miles away this past weekend. Of course, with the traffic you all have we may have gotten home faster than someone driving from Montgomery county to Alexandria.

a team going more than 200 miles (National Championship in Kansas or the big time expo in Florida exceptions) is only doing that so that the team can beat inferior competition and justify their existence and cost to the parents cutting the checks back in DC. ESPECIALLY if the game is in West Virginia or some shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you think the club would charge less for training if there was less travel?

No. Clubs don’t typically include travel in their fees. Those are additional fees managed by the team treasurer. Club fees typically only cover coaching costs, league admin and registration fees, field costs, and some admin costs. Travel per diem for coaches as well as tournament fees and uniform costs are typically separate.

Club will also try to persuade you to spend more money on summer camps, winter indoor or futsal, and maybe even Super Y summer leagues. Until the kid is a freshman in HS, try to avoid most of those add on activities (except maybe a week of summer camp). Instead, have them play other sports in summer and winter to cross-train to avoid injury and prevent burnout. Spending time outside of fall and spring seasons on individual training (see the Techne app, or things like HP Elite or Corver), fitness, and/or playing pickup game will be more beneficial than structured club training.

Think about your kid’s goals with soccer, their innate talent, and their passion for this one thing. If athletically gifted and very passionate then there is nothing wrong with going all in towards the top tier DA or ECNL routes. EDP is next level down but still very competitive, then you get to leagues/programs like NPL, CCL, NCSL, ODSL, etc. If not super passionate (again talking about your kid, not you), then look for a good team environment with friendly teammates and reasonable parents and coaches at the desired level of competition. Avoid over spending time and money as this will likely just be a youth activity to keep the kid busy, healthy, and happy. Do NOT get into travel because you think your kid can get a free ride to college. There are many other scholarship opportunities out there that won’t cost you all the time and money travel sports will. Also, focus your kid’s priorities on school not sports, as probabilities indicate it will benefit their future personal wealth much more greatly.

+1. This is really excellent advice.