Does a market exist for a "travel-lite" club? (I'll describe my idea in this post)

[Anonymous]

Beach FC has exactly that program called Travel Lite. You should ask them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BRYC has something like this - the BRYC "bridge" teams. They are separate from BRYC Elite and play in NCSL. They usually are parent coached/run.

I thought they got rid of these

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teams in the DMV that charge that amount to be on a lower level NCSL team.

Which teams?

There are several at NCSL division 4. This was awhile ago. I think it was $500 a season at the tjme.

[Anonymous]

This is the same challenge that has been mentioned on this board before

You want
1. Competitive/more serious kids on your team
2. Professional Coach
3. Not travel far away for games
4. Play against other reasonably competitive kids
5. Want it cheaper than travel
6. A yearlong commitment but also not so committed that you can't play other sports
7. Practice once or twice a week
8. Focus on development
9. Practice location needs to be reasonable commute/decent fields

Am I missing anything?

[Anonymous]

What type of professional coaching would you get at that price point? And how will the kids improve if they are only practicing 1x week? The entire point of a travel league is 1) more touches on the ball, more frequent play and 2) better coaching. Those take time and money.

You can find small clubs that try and develop talented players without all of the pomp. FPYC and BRYC have fees around $1500/year because they use volunteers and fund raising that I know of. But the kids still have to (and want to) show up to play 3 or 4 times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What type of professional coaching would you get at that price point? And how will the kids improve if they are only practicing 1x week? The entire point of a travel league is 1) more touches on the ball, more frequent play and 2) better coaching. Those take time and money.

You can find small clubs that try and develop talented players without all of the pomp. FPYC and BRYC have fees around $1500/year because they use volunteers and fund raising that I know of. But the kids still have to (and want to) show up to play 3 or 4 times a week.

Tehehe...I wonder what the project management golden triangle looks like for competitive sports

[Anonymous]

Vienna used to have "academy-style" programs for U9 and U10 (and maybe older?) in which parents were the official coaches of each team, but each age group's four teams trained together twice a week with the professional staff. Two teams played NCSL; two played ODSL.

Funny thing -- going without a "professional" coach at a lot of games didn't stop the kids from becoming All-District and even All-Met high school players. The best ones typically moved on (aside from some girls players on their best teams a couple of years ago) to DA or ECNL or whichever alphabet seemed more appealing than NCSL, but they didn't suffer from having their peak development years take place with (gasp!) parents.

The parents generally had the same licenses, anyway. The only difference was that the "pros" were younger and had often played at a decent level more recently. But they were less adept than the parents at wrangling 9-year-olds, which is a primary skill of U9 and U10 coaching that they don't teach in the grassroots or D-license courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vienna used to have "academy-style" programs for U9 and U10 (and maybe older?) in which parents were the official coaches of each team, but each age group's four teams trained together twice a week with the professional staff. Two teams played NCSL; two played ODSL.

Funny thing -- going without a "professional" coach at a lot of games didn't stop the kids from becoming All-District and even All-Met high school players. The best ones typically moved on (aside from some girls players on their best teams a couple of years ago) to DA or ECNL or whichever alphabet seemed more appealing than NCSL, but they didn't suffer from having their peak development years take place with (gasp!) parents.

The parents generally had the same licenses, anyway. The only difference was that the "pros" were younger and had often played at a decent level more recently. But they were less adept than the parents at wrangling 9-year-olds, which is a primary skill of U9 and U10 coaching that they don't teach in the grassroots or D-license courses.

That is an interesting model.

In general...do volunteer rec (parent) coaches get a training curriculum or guidance?

[Anonymous]

When I was a kid in NOVA back in 80s
we had rec soccer , select soccer and travel soccer. What.I recall was Select soccer was a step up from Rec but not as intense as Travel soccer.

[Anonymous]

If I were to do it again (and let me tell you the cost of travel at upper tier is no joke) it would pick a Latino team. Get solid training tactics and a new Language!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know about the professional coaches + less than $1k.

In Md, SAM Select and MSI Classic seem to be sort of the model you are looking for… more competitive than rec and the players are more dedicated, but the games are close by and it’s less pressure. We have experience with both.

Two practices a week, one game per week in moco, and a couple of tournaments each season. Many kids play other sports or have other big interests and this allows them to play competitively, train consistently, and still have a life. Both kids a practice or a fame here and there and it’s 100% NBD.

Volunteer coach team is about $1k a year plus kit. Paid coach and bigger club is more like $2k per year.

Classic or SAM Select with a volunteer coach should not cost anywhere close to 1k unless the team is hiring a coach or trainer part time or paying to rent space over the winter, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know about the professional coaches + less than $1k.

In Md, SAM Select and MSI Classic seem to be sort of the model you are looking for… more competitive than rec and the players are more dedicated, but the games are close by and it’s less pressure. We have experience with both.

Two practices a week, one game per week in moco, and a couple of tournaments each season. Many kids play other sports or have other big interests and this allows them to play competitively, train consistently, and still have a life. Both kids a practice or a fame here and there and it’s 100% NBD.

Volunteer coach team is about $1k a year plus kit. Paid coach and bigger club is more like $2k per year.

Classic or SAM Select with a volunteer coach should not cost anywhere close to 1k unless the team is hiring a coach or trainer part time or paying to rent space over the winter, for example.

Since when are volunteers paid? Ncsl is $1500 per high school team. A 15 person team roster is $100 per person. Add in a basic uniform and field rentals, you are barely approaching $500 a player.

[Anonymous]

SCAA is a step up from REC. You get the 'travel' title, play NCSL and have very mediocre coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vienna used to have "academy-style" programs for U9 and U10 (and maybe older?) in which parents were the official coaches of each team, but each age group's four teams trained together twice a week with the professional staff. Two teams played NCSL; two played ODSL.

Funny thing -- going without a "professional" coach at a lot of games didn't stop the kids from becoming All-District and even All-Met high school players. The best ones typically moved on (aside from some girls players on their best teams a couple of years ago) to DA or ECNL or whichever alphabet seemed more appealing than NCSL, but they didn't suffer from having their peak development years take place with (gasp!) parents.

The parents generally had the same licenses, anyway. The only difference was that the "pros" were younger and had often played at a decent level more recently. But they were less adept than the parents at wrangling 9-year-olds, which is a primary skill of U9 and U10 coaching that they don't teach in the grassroots or D-license courses.

That is an interesting model.

In general...do volunteer rec (parent) coaches get a training curriculum or guidance? [/quote

The expectation as I understood it in Vienna 10-12 years ago was that rec coaches were expected to get a USSF license. In those days, the F and probably the E. Today, that would be a couple of grassroots modules.

But I know not all the coaches did that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Over the years, I've seen many kids with good soccer skills drop out of travel soccer because they lack time, or because the parents lack the financial resources. Rec soccer remains an option for these kids, but some of them don't pursue rec soccer because they don't find it challenging. So, soccer stops being a part of their lives.

This leads me to my idea for a new soccer "product". Actually, I think Arlington's ADP program already captures this idea, but it has a max age of 11, so that leaves the kids who are 12+ out in the cold. Here is the idea:

1. Aim for a price of $1000 per year
2. One two-hour practice per week, coached by a pro
3. One scrimmage per week. To save money, there is no coach (just a parent or team manager to supervise).
4. Competes in a lower level of the NCSL (but some teams might be able to aim higher)

Does a market exist for this "product"?

Perhaps this isn't possible in dense, urban suburbs like Arlington due to constraints on field space, but further out it seems like it might be feasible.

Trying to wrap my head around #2 and #3 . So you want a pro to coach the team but not a coach, whose asking price is probably less than a coach? Also, NCSL has requirements for their member clubs which I believe includes that their coaches are licensed.

It sounds like you want rec but are just worried about the stigma associated with it. I get it. Good luck!