Is travel soccer the best way for soccer growth?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
My daughter started rec soccer a little late, close to 8 years old. We played rec for Loudoun for year, and then moved up to challenge. Although she wasn't naturally athletic, she learned the fundamentals and understood the game quickly. She's moved around from team to team quite a bit (every 1-2 seasons). and learned a lot from the different coaches while playing many of the positions (except goalie and centerback). We have been trying different sports in the off seasons, but just recently tried futsal which has really elevated her game and confidence.
She's turning 11 soon, and is now in the U12 category. Many of her friends moved on to travel soccer last season, but at different clubs. She has been doing travel tryouts each year, but have not accepted any offers. They were for the lower or middle teams, and we were not willing to commit the time and money if the players and coaches were of a similar quality to what she has now. She's been invited to practice with a few travel teams, and has really enjoyed the more intense and longer practice sessions. We recently heard about USL-Y, and tried out at various clubs. Although she did not receive any offers, I think she still gained a lot of confidence and experience getting to play with older girls (u12 was mixed in with u13 and u14) and boys (not enough girls showed up). Lately, she's been asking if she can join in pick up games, but I've only seen ones with grown men locally. She's signed up for challenge again in the spring, but I think she'd fit in well on a travel team. The question is whether it is worth the extra money and travel time for weekend tournaments? We aren't in it for a college scholarship or becoming a pro, but she wants continue growing. She just loves the game and challenge. There's some added pressure because kids at this age are thinking about GA or ECNL. If she's not playing on the 1st teams, is that something to even worry about? At what age is it too late to make sense for joining travel soccer? |
Anonymous
| I have a kid playing soccer in college soon. I think you are overthinking travel soccer. As long as the kid enjoys it, I don’t see why not. Time and money will be well spent. |
Anonymous
|
Does she want to play in high school?
Our school soccer team was very competitive. All the kids that made the team were travel. My daughter was on the 2nd tier travel team, good growth but not cut-throat. |
Anonymous
|
With everything you said, it seems like she should play travel as long as you don't mind the huge cost difference. My kid has a great time playing travel and has made some great friends. So it's worth it for us. It will also help her grow as a player. And the travel coaching will be a lot better than the challenge coaching unless you somehow found a dad coach who is great and is teaching them tactical/technical stuff at practices.
If she tries out for Loudoun, she will prob be on 3rd or 4th team and the more serious girls will probably be on higher teams which sounds like it fits what you're looking for. |
Anonymous
We haven't thought about high school yet, but you make a good point. It would be nice for her to have that option if she continues to love the game at that time. |
Anonymous
| Realizing that travel is a huge expense that might not pay off is part of the experience join now and hope she makes some great friends and learns enought to make her HS team |
Anonymous
| Our DD is probably not on track to play college etc. but shifted to travel because she wanted to practice and play with other kids who were serious about getting better at soccer. I would say that whatever you might think, there is a marked difference between rec coaching and having a paid coach and after a couple years it's night and day on skill levels both for her and her current teammates vs her friends on her former rec team. Perhaps we were lucky with coaches. She enjoys playing with other kids who are serious and the challenge of tough competition in games and tournaments. From our perspective it was worth the investment for her growth both in technical skills and being part of a team, and for the possibility of making a high school team in the area. |
Anonymous
|
Based on the previous responses, hopefully, you've gleaned that travel soccer isn't a bad investment if you can afford it and want a more competitive training environment for your kid. That being said, just being on a travel soccer team, alone, won't necessarily ensure your child is ready for more competitive teams or to make their HS varsity team. To answer your question about "is it too late to join travel?" I don't think so. I've seen some girls who started around U11/U12 and make a ton of progress via their committment to train. They have to work harder to catch up and are aware of it.
At your DD's age, most clubs will prioritize physical attributes when making offers, as they aren't focused on long-term development, but near-term winning since players and coaches switch clubs so often. What travel soccer provides that rec and challenge can't is an opportunity to drastically improve their speed of play, or speed of decision-making. That's not something which is easy to replicate unless you're actually in it. It's also worth noting that just playing on a team with similarly skilled kids won't prepare your DD for advancing to a higher team on its own. IOW, she has to be committed to training outside of her team trainings if she wants to catch up to where her current mid-level team opportunities are and, ultimately, a earn a spot on a higher team. When they get a little older, and everyone has gone through puberty and the physical differences are much more minimal between players, it becomes very obvious which kids rested on their early physical advantages and didn't put in the extra work, and which kids had to focus on advancing their skills and game IQ to compete. IMO, the latter are the ones who can be better off because they were constantly having to earn it until their bodies caught up. My DD is one of those "latters." She started off on her club's 6th team as a U9 and was pretty undersized until U14, and through tons of outside (in addition to team) training, has steadily progressed up to her club's top team. The other dirty secret about advancing to better teams is that you often have to be willing to switch clubs. Although you'd think that a club would want to reward loyalty and promote from talent within, it rarely happens as they get older and a shiny new player (& money) from another club is almost always more attractive to a higher-team-level coach than a kid who's been labeled as a 2nd or 3rd teamer within the club. So, just be prepared for what's really involved (at least in the DMV) when it comes to supporting your DD's budding soccer career. Net net is that your DD should be having fun along the way, constantly striving to improve (if she wants to), and that travel soccer can provide a great environment in which that growth can occur. |
Anonymous
|
I think every player and family situation is different. As someone who is budget conscious and just over the long distance travel and grind of it all, if I could do it over I would seek out a travel club close to home that is as low cost as possible. And I would get some small group technical training sessions on the side for my kid. Then I would let their passion dictate the path forward and how serious it becomes.
I think a lot of families, myself included, take it too seriously too early on and get in deep and next thing you know it becomes your life whether you like it or not. Then it ends and your kid doesnt continue in college and you think this taking over our lives and the financial cost wasn't really necessary. |
Anonymous
The big quit age is 13/14 so if have the $/interest, try now for year to test waters. And at 11, your daughter can have say if SHE wants travel and if she does, tell her you’re willing to try for 1 year then re-decide. |
Anonymous
Good idea. Our daughter really wants to continue with the intensity and competition of the travel style practices and games, so she will be going through the ID sessions and and tryouts this month and we will pick one that seems to best suit her growth for a the next year. It seems like the prices are relatively the same from the clubs we have been looking into ($3k+), with the exception of Sterling. Transitioning to middle school should also help with her decision of she wants to continue. |
Anonymous
Also be careful if club doesn’t tell you who their coaches are when try out and where they’ll practice. |
Anonymous
| 8 years old is not late, you psychotic freak. |
Anonymous
| Oh honey, you know she has to EARN that spot on the higher level travel team by playing on the lower level team first, right? They don't know her, they won't slot her in the highest level team right off the bat based on one or two tryouts. What a silly assumption! |
Anonymous
|
No way is 11 too old to start, if she wants to have fun with a cool uniform and make new friends. If she cares about winning or has some other goals like playing varsity in HS will require extra work and luck. I’d imagine you’d already know if she could be a college athlete by now.
My daughter started at 11 on a 2nd team. Saw her brother playing and said hey I want to do that 1/she liked it and started doing extra work most days and over summer 2/she got taller, faster, and stronger than the other girls 3/a couple girls went to other clubs or quit She moved up to top team at u13, made high school team as freshman, and new friends for hs. Still Loves playing and traveling w/ her club team That said to be fair only one thing was in her control. Having fun and doing extra work. |