Travel Soccer?

[Anonymous]

Well you can go to DCSL (boys) http://www.ncsl-soccer.com/ and WAGS (girls) http://www.wagsl.com/ check the division standings to see which teams do the best. They don't start recording standings until u12 i believe. Personally our choices were driven by location more than anything. Carpooling is the only way we could make it work for us.

[Anonymous]

What percentage of your senior travel team typically goes on to play college level soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of your senior travel team typically goes on to play college level soccer?

http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer/articles/Honors/verbal-commitment-list/2011-Boys-Soccer-Verbal-Commitments.aspx?pursuit=BoysSoccer

You see the same clubs on DC area lists-DC united and Mclean. I assume some kids also are D3. Very few get recruited. Crew/kayak, lacrosse, fencing are the best bets for college admissions boosts for the DCUM crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of your senior travel team typically goes on to play college level soccer?

http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer/articles/Honors/verbal-commitment-list/2011-Boys-Soccer-Verbal-Commitments.aspx?pursuit=BoysSoccer

You see the same clubs on DC area lists-DC united and Mclean. I assume some kids also are D3. Very few get recruited. Crew/kayak, lacrosse, fencing are the best bets for college admissions boosts for the DCUM crowd.

I'm not saying I disagree, but how do you know this to be true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

D1 or Academy with one of the strong clubs is about $2500-3500/year. That usually includes the winter training. There are tournament costs on top of that which will vary depending on how far you go. So far ours have not been that much and it's all been driving distance. Academy may be more because many of their games are out of the area. This summer my DC will probably spend 3-4 weeks in soccer camps (1 or 2 sleepaway and 1-2 weeks of pre-season day camp for HS soccer) that will run another $1500 or so. So we are probably looking at $5-6k for a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

bump

I'm sure others will differ but for boys the top is DC United Academy, followed by the McLean and Potomac Academies. Those all start at U14. Below that you have the top teams in various clubs. Some play in Region 1, some in the new ASL and most in NCSL (D1 is the top). There are a few clubs that consistently have strong teams across most age groups (Bethesda, McLean, Potomac, Freestate, Vienna, Olney, Reston, Baltimore Bays, etc.) and some that will have a strong team every once in a while. The GotSoccer site ranks teams across Region 1 and MD and VA. The NCSL site has the division structure and you can see what clubs/teams are in each division - it changes each season based on results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes travel soccer is more important than HS soccer for D1 college. Club teams play in tournaments over the summers where many college coaches attend to scout out potential recruits. For boys, the new hot travel league is the pre academy and academy. Many D1 ncsl teams in U13 left to go to this league.

Can you post a link?

Does an entire team enter the academy, or are their individual tryouts?

[Anonymous]

It does seem crazy. I'm one from the generation of spending days on end just going outside and playing with friends. All that said, having descended into the "craziness" of very busy kids, I do think my kids are getting a much broader extra-curricular education than I ever did, and have started to develop a certain expertise in things like music and certain sports that I wish I had.

Ditto.

Our son is in travel soccer because he wanted to be. He loves to play soccer. He is also in the Chess Club because he wants to. IMHO Chess tournaments are much more of a time commitment and hassle than travel soccer. The expense at the high levels is equal to that of any travel sport. Heck the parents treat it just like any other sport, coaching, practices, review of mistakes etc. crazy.

[Anonymous]

9 year old just tried out. It was a mess. Not sure how they can truly assess each of the 100 plus players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9 year old just tried out. It was a mess. Not sure how they can truly assess each of the 100 plus players.

raw talent. athleticism trumps skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:raw talent. athleticism trumps skills.

Yes, especially at that age.

I coach (one of the few parent coaches) in NCSL (Div 5) and a U10 WAGS team. I know of a college coach (NCAA Div III) who totaled up how much he and his wife spent on their son's pre-college "career" of soccer. It was over $50k. His son only ended up playing Division III. Only put your child in travel soccer if it is because THEY want, and can handle, more competitive atmosphere and you are happy with the coach/club philosophy.

[Anonymous]

Amen. Totally agree with this.

Anonymous wrote:I am as much a soccer fan as anyone could be in the US, played since 5th grade and am still playing in my 40's.

The concept of the weekday and weekend madness that the travel soccer team has created is simply absurd. No reason that rec league as a maximum isn't sufficient. Good sportsmanship and a love of the game are all that is necessary until about 6th or 7th grade.

Friends I had who participated so heavily in sports at the younger years were generally burnt out from competition by the time high school rolled around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes travel soccer is more important than HS soccer for D1 college. Club teams play in tournaments over the summers where many college coaches attend to scout out potential recruits. For boys, the new hot travel league is the pre academy and academy. Many D1 ncsl teams in U13 left to go to this league.

Can you post a link?

Does an entire team enter the academy, or are their individual tryouts?

There are individual tryouts. They are generally in May/June as it is a year long program, but I know some kids who have gotten developmental spots later in the year. There are 3 academy/pre academy programs in this area (DC United, McLean and Potomac) with one team at each age group (U-14, U-15, U15-16 and U17-18). So that is a total of 60 boys across the whole metro area in each age group playing academy. It is VERY selective and you try out every year - no guarantee of keeping your spot at all. No NCSL teams go to academy but some of the D1 teams lose their best players to the academy and as a result have ended up folding or combining with other teams.

[Anonymous]

Our 8 year old is on his first travel team in the Stoddert league. We loved the Stodder rec league. But the travel league seems an altogether different animal. Or should I say so many parents are like animals at the games. They grunt, they groan, they growl. What's with these parents. Do they really think their little Timmy will be playing college, let alone pro soccer, one day. Why do so many act like the fate of the world hinges on little Timmy scoring? Truly a spectacle, not unlike to going to a zoo on a Sat. morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know,as the other PP's have said, travel soccer attracts a different kind of parent than rec soccer does. And frankly, after 2 years of travel soccer, I have to admit I'm scared of alot of them. We will not be signing up again although the coach has made it clear that he expects to see my son there as my son was key to their record last season.

We have two NFL (current Redskins) players in our elementary school, and both of them will not allow their sons to play on the travel teams. When I asked one of them about it at a rec soccer game where our daughters were playing he said that sports are suppposed to be fun and relaxing for the family, and that they'll get enough of that in high school. I already felt that way, but when he talked to my husband about it that day, you would have thought GOD spoke. Now my DH is totally behind me on withdrawing from the travel league.

NFL does not equal soccer. Soccer starts early and without travel it is unlikely a serious player will ever reach their potential. The difference is there is no potential in US soccer...while there is plenty in the NFL!

And please--professional soccer players make nil.