Getting Out Of The Rat Race Early - Looking For Others

[Anonymous]

psst...this is not getting out of the rat race

[Anonymous]

You are not getting out of anything. You are creating your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish you all the best in creating this training environment for your child. I don't have a kid that you could add to your training group, but was just thinking about my child's experience.

So, just finished U9. At that age, our club was still running a pool program and it also had a spring season. I thought that worked great for the kids. Everyone trained together, no set teams. Lots of different skills were worked on. Players groups mixed up regularly, though the best players did tend to stay together more frequently, and play was all small sided. 4x4 with the pop-up goals.

Not until U10, your sons year, did any real "teams" form and they played 7x7. My child played on one of the top teams and they practice 3 days a week plus 1 game on weekends. It meant making some changes for them and they had to drop another activity that they liked, but here we are now.

Good Luck.

That sounds great! Happy to hear your son enjoyed his environment and made the top team. I hope it continues for your family. I appreciate your understanding that I'm trying to create a middle ground.

[Anonymous]

I think its bad for your father-son relationship for you to try to be his trainer also.

[Anonymous]

If you're interested, you can contact me at [e-mail]. Admins please let me know if this is ok, if not, remove this post, I will try find another avenue for interested parties to contact me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're interested, you can contact me at [e-mail]. Admins please let me know if this is ok, if not, remove this post, I will try find another avenue for interested parties to contact me.

Thank you! I am not in your age range but I created a random email address to start to build my tribe here on DCUM. That was going to be my suggestion.

I feel for you as I have been there but managed to carve out my niche while staying in the rat race (club soccer). Once your kid is good enough, most stuff is free and you dictate terms which make it not a race at all. You are on the right track.

Hint: your tribe will not come from DCUM. Search Youth Soccer Playbook from Kyle Wilson on YouTube. He is fairly obnoxious on social media but that playlist gives the blueprint on how to develop a high level player. He grew up in NOVA and he rails against the system while promoting his own $30k a year residency program subject to the “elite” Florida educational standards. Annoying but nothing in this world is perfect and his free content is really money (pun intended). Read the Croatian Curriculum which is the base of his playbook. You really don’t need $150/hour private training when you have these blueprints and are active parent as long as you don’t take yourself too seriously. The way to know is to watch how your player react to a mistake on the pitch. If they are looking for you, you are moving in the wrong direction and need to ease up a bit. My kid and I have a blast but I don’t take myself nearly as seriously as most of these parents although his training curriculum is serious.

Your best bet is to get talk to parents of kids in your club and other clubs in the spring. I literally walk across the pitch get the contact info for ballers that I saw in those days. These group exists all over but they just aren’t publicized. Most parents are really sick of the club system as the training models are poor and don’t focus on individual ball mastery which is the most important thing you can learn by age 14. You will get shouted down publicly by all of the parents who will be complaining about not getting recruited in a decade so it is best to move in silence and build a tribe behind the scenes. A few folks think the same way you do but it is not the masses. Enjoy the ride!

[Anonymous]

Just curious what your plan is for field space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think its bad for your father-son relationship for you to try to be his trainer also.

I agree. Its not something I wanted to originally do. Its no fun to be trained by dad. What kid does? Thats why I joined club to get the training and games and stay out of it. But there are also bunch of issues that come along with club that everybody knows. And he started to lose the interest and desire.

But my son started to realize how I have helped him to get better. He wants to get better and ask me to teach cool moves. He sees his own progress with me. Im just here to help him. I dont just drill him and scream like he has seen other coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious what your plan is for field space?

curious as well. 10 kids getting together for training need a field permit. What's your plan for that?

[Anonymous]

If this clown had a real plan they wouldn't post anonyomosly. When this pipedream is real, post correctly with contact information and you won't get responses like this.

[Anonymous]

These never work, you'll end up with a really good rec team or bolt onto an existing club as their lowest level team. Some have gone the route of Vista (club, but not a club). You'll get 1-2 years and the good kids will want more and move on and you will be scrambling to find new players to keep your team a float.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These never work, you'll end up with a really good rec team or bolt onto an existing club as their lowest level team. Some have gone the route of Vista (club, but not a club). You'll get 1-2 years and the good kids will want more and move on and you will be scrambling to find new players to keep your team a float.

It doesn't sound like he wants to play games, just lurk around the edges of a local field with a bunch of kids annoying the people with the proper permits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These never work, you'll end up with a really good rec team or bolt onto an existing club as their lowest level team. Some have gone the route of Vista (club, but not a club). You'll get 1-2 years and the good kids will want more and move on and you will be scrambling to find new players to keep your team a float.

It doesn't sound like he wants to play games, just lurk around the edges of a local field with a bunch of kids annoying the people with the proper permits.

HAHAHA we've all seen those "trainers". Setting up a thousand cones like a turf field on a Wednesday at 6 pm will just happen to be free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, I don't think the OP ever said club training was too rigorous or hard. Travel soccer is already on average 4 times a week. He stated child mentality and taking away pressure from travel. So maybe talking the politics of it all. Just my guess.

Its not four times a werk at U9.

Two to 3 practices a week plus a weekend game or two is pretty standard for club soccer, even at U9

Fiction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think its bad for your father-son relationship for you to try to be his trainer also.

OP, it's good to do when they are little, but somewhere around 9-10 the kids start to resist parent guided practices a lot. It's a tough road.

But yeah, you will save time and aggravation. currently we are U12 and practice consumes about 3 hours per day 3x days per week. Getting ready, driving to practice early and the practice. I wish I could save myself 2 hours each time and just do practice at home too! Good luck!