Travel Soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:another travel parent here and i agree with 15:20. I don't understand the bitterness. Being child molested in the 70s was not only a soccer thing. People were dumb about guarding their children then.

We try to organize pickup games by email.

Sometimes it works.

Ha! This makes me laugh...and people in another post wondered why Americans suck in soccer. In other parts of the world the streets are filled with kids playing soccer...often without a real ball. Just saying...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put them in a different sport. Sibling did get a full-ride...but was outstanding..and known nationwide. He played professional.

do you have any idea what a professional US soccer player makes? Ha! Have your kid spend his hours studying instead.

did he not enjoy his time playing or have regrets? i hope he liked it, but then again, how many of us really love our jobs? and if your goal is for your kids to make top money and that they can spend hours studying, then by all means, study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put them in a different sport. Sibling did get a full-ride...but was outstanding..and known nationwide. He played professional.

do you have any idea what a professional US soccer player makes? Ha! Have your kid spend his hours studying instead.

did he not enjoy his time playing or have regrets? i hope he liked it, but then again, how many of us really love our jobs? and if your goal is for your kids to make top money and that they can spend hours studying, then by all means, study.

Hindsight is 20/20. He hated the politics that consumes the sport is the country. He enjoyed playing though he says he would have enjoyed the college experience much more as solely a student and not a 'ncaa college athlete'. It is very time-consuming.

He is the one strongly advising me and my siblings not to put the emphasis on sports and not to have them go the soccer route. He says be 'happy if you have geeks".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put them in a different sport. Sibling did get a full-ride...but was outstanding..and known nationwide. He played professional.

do you have any idea what a professional US soccer player makes? Ha! Have your kid spend his hours studying instead.

did he not enjoy his time playing or have regrets? i hope he liked it, but then again, how many of us really love our jobs? and if your goal is for your kids to make top money and that they can spend hours studying, then by all means, study.

Hindsight is 20/20. He hated the politics that consumes the sport is the country. He enjoyed playing though he says he would have enjoyed the college experience much more as solely a student and not a 'ncaa college athlete'. It is very time-consuming.

He is the one strongly advising me and my siblings not to put the emphasis on sports and not to have them go the soccer route. He says be 'happy if you have geeks".

well then it sounds like what he's saying is don't do sport at all - which contradicts your comment Put them in a different sport. but i digress. grass is always greener on the other side. (i don't have geeks but i'm sure life is not all fun at TJ either)

[Anonymous]

So few of us are going to have NCAA athlete children. The value in sports for children is the physical challenge and life lessons that it gives them that academics doesn't really have. Plus a life long love of physical activity. Additionally there are studies that show that physical activity helps development of the brain. You want to match the challenge and level of sport to the kid and that's where more selective teams comes into play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So few of us are going to have NCAA athlete children. The value in sports for children is the physical challenge and life lessons that it gives them that academics doesn't really have. Plus a life long love of physical activity. Additionally there are studies that show that physical activity helps development of the brain. You want to match the challenge and level of sport to the kid and that's where more selective teams comes into play.

yes that sounds good but not @ $1,500 - $2K/yr.

[Anonymous]

Development of the brain comes with the physical activity, not with the level of competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So few of us are going to have NCAA athlete children. The value in sports for children is the physical challenge and life lessons that it gives them that academics doesn't really have. Plus a life long love of physical activity. Additionally there are studies that show that physical activity helps development of the brain. You want to match the challenge and level of sport to the kid and that's where more selective teams comes into play.

yes that sounds good but not @ $1,500 - $2K/yr.

I agree its ridiculously expensive. But many other activities cost about the same - piano lessons come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Kids playing at the ncsl d1 level or the academy level are paying a lot more than $1500-$2000 per year. Add in winter training, travel to tournaments, the "voluntary" trips to europe or south america in the summer and you probably have a bill closer to $10,000 per year.

[Anonymous]

D1 is elite group and older. U9-u12 the cost is around 725 per season plus summer camp and 1 tournament per season and your share of team incidentals (tent, bench, extra fees, etc). We are going to do a summer camp anyway and they are similar priced to other camps (around $300 per week). The tournaments are really fun and at u9/u10 in the DC area. At U11/u12 you are more likely to go to pennsylvania or virginia beach or florida. Beyond that i suppose you could be going more exotic places (like Las Vegas) but i haven't heard about SA / europe trips yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:D1 is elite group and older. U9-u12 the cost is around 725 per season plus summer camp and 1 tournament per season and your share of team incidentals (tent, bench, extra fees, etc). We are going to do a summer camp anyway and they are similar priced to other camps (around $300 per week). The tournaments are really fun and at u9/u10 in the DC area. At U11/u12 you are more likely to go to pennsylvania or virginia beach or florida. Beyond that i suppose you could be going more exotic places (like Las Vegas) but i haven't heard about SA / europe trips yet.

from Arlington Travel Soccer Club website:

Annual player fees for the year beginning July 1, 2010 are $1,650.00.

[Anonymous]

there are 2 seasons per year so stoddert is a bit lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So few of us are going to have NCAA athlete children. The value in sports for children is the physical challenge and life lessons that it gives them that academics doesn't really have. Plus a life long love of physical activity. Additionally there are studies that show that physical activity helps development of the brain. You want to match the challenge and level of sport to the kid and that's where more selective teams comes into play.

yes that sounds good but not @ $1,500 - $2K/yr.

I agree its ridiculously expensive. But many other activities cost about the same - piano lessons come to mind.

but what about other sports? do they cost as much? i was there's travel for everything - baseball etc. but don't know the costs. anyone care to compare soccer to the others? tks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So few of us are going to have NCAA athlete children. The value in sports for children is the physical challenge and life lessons that it gives them that academics doesn't really have. Plus a life long love of physical activity. Additionally there are studies that show that physical activity helps development of the brain. You want to match the challenge and level of sport to the kid and that's where more selective teams comes into play.

yes that sounds good but not @ $1,500 - $2K/yr.

I agree its ridiculously expensive. But many other activities cost about the same - piano lessons come to mind.

but what about other sports? do they cost as much? i was there's travel for everything - baseball etc. but don't know the costs. anyone care to compare soccer to the others? tks!

I think you might get responses if you open a new topic on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a heirarchy to DC area travel teams? It seems there is for everything Washington, related. Just curious.

bump