Club Soccer

[Anonymous]

For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

Your kid isn't going to be a musician, interpreter, or coroner either, but they study music, foreign language, and biology. Point taken on the cost - we all agree - it's a problem in US sports. But, the rewards and lessons are in the journey, not the final outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

Your kid isn't going to be a musician, interpreter, or coroner either, but they study music, foreign language, and biology. Point taken on the cost - we all agree - it's a problem in US sports. But, the rewards and lessons are in the journey, not the final outcome.

For what it's worth, my kids love traveling 3.5 hours on a Sunday to play . . . another team from the same club or local area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

Books have been written on this topic. No one reads them because they can't afford to, given all the money they're spending on club sports.

The smart people in soccer know we shouldn't be putting 9-year-old kids in red, bronze, silver, fuchsia or gold silos. Clubs should have professional training available for anyone who wants it. Kids should be playing, not traveling. You don't become a better soccer player in an airplane or a car, traveling to play a team that's no better or worse than the one five miles away or the one with your next-door neighbor.

Our typical peer nation doesn't have "travel" as we have it. They have professional academies, and then they have what most would consider "rec" soccer. (It helps that soccer is so big in most other countries that you may have your choice of a dozen clubs within a 10-mile drive, or a couple within walking distance in a big city.) They have networks of scouts and "representative" clubs so that talented pro academy-level players can be identified.

And they're doing better than we are.

[Anonymous]

Someone missed the point of lessons learned from playing in team sports. There is more to sports than ending up playing in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

Bronze teams aren't getting on a plane to travel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone missed the point of lessons learned from playing in team sports. There is more to sports than ending up playing in college.

Yes, and you cannot fully grasp those lessons by playing equally-talented teams less than 10 miles away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

Books have been written on this topic. No one reads them because they can't afford to, given all the money they're spending on club sports.

The smart people in soccer know we shouldn't be putting 9-year-old kids in red, bronze, silver, fuchsia or gold silos. Clubs should have professional training available for anyone who wants it. Kids should be playing, not traveling. You don't become a better soccer player in an airplane or a car, traveling to play a team that's no better or worse than the one five miles away or the one with your next-door neighbor.

Our typical peer nation doesn't have "travel" as we have it. They have professional academies, and then they have what most would consider "rec" soccer. (It helps that soccer is so big in most other countries that you may have your choice of a dozen clubs within a 10-mile drive, or a couple within walking distance in a big city.) They have networks of scouts and "representative" clubs so that talented pro academy-level players can be identified.

And they're doing better than we are.

That requires professional clubs that are integrated into their communities. Aside from their being no professional club with ties to large swaths of the county, the clubs we have are not integrated into communities the same way the European clubs are. Right now, FC Barcelona has their men's senior team, a men's reserve team, a mens U19, a futsal team, a beach soccer team, women's , women's reserve, women's second reserve team, a men's basketball team, a men's reserve basketball team, a wheel chair basketball team, a handball team, a handball reserve team, a roller hockey team, an ice hockey team, a field hockey team, a ruby team, a rugby reserve team, a men's volleyball team, a women's volleyball team, and an e-sports team. That is a club that is willing to be part of the city and sponsor teams even in sports where it will lose money. It's closer to the way a D1 college operates their athletics department than a professional American soccer team

[Anonymous]

You know what's worse? Having a volunteer parent coaching who knows nothing about soccer

[Anonymous]

It's called capitalism and individual choice. Everything in the US works this way. The market ultimately decides how these things work, not some top down authority saying how everything should be. Customers willing to pay for something drives it. Is it the ideal way to develop soccer players? Probably not but not necessarily because the same types of systems exist in other sports and it works (sometimes).

[Anonymous]

If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. That’s totally fine. Some kids love it and the parents have fun (or at least don’t mind it). Mine never played with the plan he’d go pro or play college. He played because he loved the game. A soccer tournament that required hotels was exciting for him. Offer him a choice between attending a friend’s party and soccer, he picked soccer every time. A choice between a trip to Disney or a soccer tournament, he’d pick the soccer tournament. Beach or soccer. Soccer hands down. His team missed making it to regionals in WV this year and he was devastated. DH and I had zero desire to spend our time or money in WV but he was all in. And since he asks for little else in life, we’d have been fine supporting him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the life of me I do not understand the select/club sports mindset.

Why are we paying thousands of dollars to join clubs so kids can play on the bronze team, to travel to Topeka, to play another bronze team, to go 1-3, stay in a hotel, eat crappy food, while mom and dad bring the younger siblings along, just so they can end up fighting over who forgot to pack snacks for the kids.

How about, you save the money, spend time with the family doing something fun, productive or educational, and play school or Rec ball.

Your kid isn’t going to college on a scholarship or going to the Olympics. Most won’t even be playing the sport they are in after their sophomore year of high school.

Books have been written on this topic. No one reads them because they can't afford to, given all the money they're spending on club sports.

The smart people in soccer know we shouldn't be putting 9-year-old kids in red, bronze, silver, fuchsia or gold silos. Clubs should have professional training available for anyone who wants it. Kids should be playing, not traveling. You don't become a better soccer player in an airplane or a car, traveling to play a team that's no better or worse than the one five miles away or the one with your next-door neighbor.

Our typical peer nation doesn't have "travel" as we have it. They have professional academies, and then they have what most would consider "rec" soccer. (It helps that soccer is so big in most other countries that you may have your choice of a dozen clubs within a 10-mile drive, or a couple within walking distance in a big city.) They have networks of scouts and "representative" clubs so that talented pro academy-level players can be identified.

And they're doing better than we are.

That requires professional clubs that are integrated into their communities. Aside from their being no professional club with ties to large swaths of the county, the clubs we have are not integrated into communities the same way the European clubs are. Right now, FC Barcelona has their men's senior team, a men's reserve team, a mens U19, a futsal team, a beach soccer team, women's , women's reserve, women's second reserve team, a men's basketball team, a men's reserve basketball team, a wheel chair basketball team, a handball team, a handball reserve team, a roller hockey team, an ice hockey team, a field hockey team, a ruby team, a rugby reserve team, a men's volleyball team, a women's volleyball team, and an e-sports team. That is a club that is willing to be part of the city and sponsor teams even in sports where it will lose money. It's closer to the way a D1 college operates their athletics department than a professional American soccer team

To your point on D1 college....high school is this model. All the different sports and other activities. And there are parts of the country where the high school sports team is the big deal and a big part of the community.

[Anonymous]

What bronze-level teams are doing all this alleged traveling? Name them or stop making stuff up. The whining is out of control

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What bronze-level teams are doing all this alleged traveling? Name them or stop making stuff up. The whining is out of control

http://google.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's called capitalism and individual choice. Everything in the US works this way. The market ultimately decides how these things work, not some top down authority saying how everything should be. Customers willing to pay for something drives it. Is it the ideal way to develop soccer players? Probably not but not necessarily because the same types of systems exist in other sports and it works (sometimes).

I don't know -- we're not as dominant in basketball as we used to be.

You're right -- the market is deciding such things. US Soccer *could* step in and try to sort it all out, but they're already facing enough lawsuits.

So the key is trying to educate parents to make better choices. Along those lines: No, volunteer parents aren't necessarily worse than "pro" coaches. A volunteer parent may have the same level of coaching education as the "pro," and they're going to be better at dealing with kids than some 25-year-old who hasn't around 9-year-olds since he was 9 himself.

I see so many travel coaches out there who I can't believe get paid for what they do. Meanwhile, in Iceland, everyone and his dog has a B license.