Sharing my experience as a parent through a few seasons....
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Anonymous
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Here is the trajectory of my daughter during her youth career. Any thoughts on how it compares or what it offers to your own situation? There are some minor details in this that aren't obvious. She became a GK because nobody else was interested and she was good. Moral, be careful of playing GK unless you really like it. We did. We sought playing time at the highest level of competition we could make during tryouts. We actually embraced crappy teams, because as a goal keeper you need to have a ton of action (to this day i don't remember a single final game score but a do remember certain plays - i'm also a golfer). Coaches are a good reason to leave a club, but rarely do you have enough to go on to join a club based on your first impression. Not enough women coaches for girls. Driving was a measured sacrific for us when we decided trying out for a national team was our objective. We had one GA offer. But once we played at the higher level (against local ECNL teams) it became a question of which system gave us better access to college coaches (Take a look at colleges that show up to GA events and then look at the same colleges that show up to ECNL events - night and day). Your investment as a parent is variable, and the cost is too. I hope this is helpful to other parents to think about how this progression might look like from somebody who has walked the road to this point. This doesn't capture all the "administrative" work that has to be done regarding the recruiting process (e.g., emails, emails, id sessions, emails). There can be a bunch of club shit, player shit, parents shit. We haven't found a club that is divorced from the shit (just read this board). If you took all the money spent on club fees and put them into a brokerage account you would make out WAY BETTER with less soccer memories. Maybe you could invest in more family vacation memories other than hotels in shithole towns in the mid Atlantic. If you have the means, it may not matter. I love watching my daughter play - I've spent my hard earned dollars on worse things.
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Anonymous
| Sorry for the bad table formatting. If you grab the lower right corner and stretch it out you can see things line up a little better. |
Anonymous
| What is the moral of the story? |
Anonymous
| People have different experiences and pathways. There are a lot of ways to get from point A to B, but never is it a smooth process. Don't always assume the bad is something to move on from. |
Anonymous
| Oh I see, what we have here is a crusader |
Anonymous
Coca8ne and a hatred of GA arent a good mix? I couldn't figure out what the OP was trying to relay. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Wow I read this post. What the hell is going on.
We need a headline OP. Not sure what the point is. |
Anonymous
I think the GA people have broken one of the ECNL hats. Wow. |
Anonymous
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Thanks OP for your perspective. We have a kid who loves soccer and works hard. She isn't top team material yet, even though several of her friends have gotten there. But she really wants to get there and play in college. She practices every day and has made up a fitness workout for herself. She's determined more than anything. It's nice to see that your DD started a little later and wasn't on the top team at the beginning. But she made her way there over time when it really counts without burnout.
Appreciate your perspective and the table is helpful for us to have hope she will reach her goals of an eventual top team. Also agree on coaches. We are really excited about the coach she will have next year. |
Anonymous
| McLean GA in the house, congrats! Instead of fitness she should work with the ball and a wall and then she can make a first team 👍 |
Anonymous
Not good advice. Work on both. I've seen plenty of GK's who look like 120-200 lbs of chewed bubble gum (girls) through the years. Fitness is definitely a requirement. How many lard ace college/professional men or women GK do you see? Zero. Of course, they don't have to run as much but you have to be strong and fit. You're still a g-d athlete. The fat ones are bottom feeders. Also, mental and physical courage is key. If the kid is a coward they won't make it |
Anonymous
| Clear out let this guy cook 🤡 |
Anonymous
| Does that say right and left ballsac? |
Anonymous
| Omg you are a soccer parent? First one ever, glad you posted |