Why is soccer such a big deal?
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Anonymous
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It's the unregulated travel sports club's. They are given non-profit status, which means the county allows them to run the Rec Programs in their areas. They get a monopoly over the county sports assets, like turf fields.
They run the Rec Soccer programs and lots of families sign their kids up at ages 4-8. But then, at age 9, a lot of kids and some coaches leave the Rec Teams to join the Travel team. They report back it is better and more fun. They get real referees and real turf fields and better playing conditions! And look how good they have become. This creates FOMO for the families who stayed in Rec. Then a few years later, the kids don't like Rec anymore and insist on playing Travel Too like their friends are. Now, Rec sports is only for poor people and kids who are not very good at all. High turn over and lots of dissatisfaction. And lots a families have to justify spending $2000 on something they used to only spend $200 on. They travel sports families will talk and talk about it, until everyone thinks they are crazy, but lots of kids have to sign up for it because of FOMO and their friends are doing it and because its better than Rec. But then, all the High School spots are taken up by kids who played Travel Sports, because the kids in Rec are no where near as good. The outcome will be the same however, kids will play sports and very few will play in college in the end. But along the way, lots of money and attention is paid to Travel Sports, because they took the Rec programs and made them terrible. |
Anonymous
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Interesting point. I’ve been wondering about the non profit status for for profit businesses. The Rec to Travel progression happened naturally for my kids based on the level of play they were looking for.
Would love to prolong the Rec years to at least 10 if not up to 12 years old to keep kids playing in their communities and make things easier on families. We really need parent representation at the league level. I do believe there is value in playing at every level. Get out and play! My son has played MoCo Rec all the way to 12th grade. Long live Rec! |
Anonymous
| It’s interesting that so many blame the system - leagues, non profit status, etc - instead of recognizing the reason why these systems exist. Without demand from parents these things wouldn’t exist. As long as enough parents feed the system it will continue. We get what the parents want. |
Anonymous
| Soccer is different especially with girls now because of the professional level. There’s no professional lacrosse or softball for women. Girls play and then can go to a Washington Spirit pro game or turn on the tv and watch the Premier League. It’s really a sport that sucks you in on all levels not just playing it. And it’s a very fun, strategic game like chess when other games like baseball and basketball are like checkers. |
Anonymous
It is a fun game and easy to learn the very basics at an early age. Then the nutso parents take over. They create their own special h3ll and drag their kids into it. And the clubs just rake in the money. Read any thread on this subforum. It’s insane. |
Anonymous
This. It's the parents who demand Travel, who allow their kids to play on a 4th, 5th, 6th and lower level Travel team that might as well be playing Rec, but instead choose to pay thousands of dollars for the status of the word Travel |
Anonymous
| And how do we all get so caught up in this? Like why is there a forum devoted to soccer and people (us!!) on here daily. Why are we all so worried about our kids ending up on the 'right' team? I know this occupies more of my mind than it should but I can't make it stop! Must be severe FOMO. |
Anonymous
A combination of FOMO mixed with a lot of disposable income. Welcome to 2026. |
Anonymous
I have asked myself the same thing, and here is what I have decided for myself: life is honestly kinda boring at this stage — no major life milestones, working at the same job for a long time now, a significant amount of free time is spent driving to and from practices and games — so it’s where my focus ends up when I am not at work or with family/friends. Even when socializing, the conversation somehow ends up turning to youth sports too much of the time, so clearly others are in the same boat. The other reason for me is… our country and the world is kinda falling apart. It’s all so heavy and I feel anxious if I dwell on it. I can’t control world events, but I can trick myself into feeling a sense of control over where my kids play soccer. |
Anonymous
| For many people. watching their kids play and do something great is the only time they truly feel alive. The rest of life is just so dull. |
Anonymous
Wow! it's like you can see into my soul |
Anonymous
| And it’s always about youth sports. Sports are the national religion now. |
Anonymous
There is definitely some truth to the bolded, but there's also no other good alternative for kids who are really into soccer and want more of it. My kids had a good experience with rec soccer. When they started wanting to practice more than one day a week, though, the only option would have been to try and sign up for multiple rec teams. And schedule-wise, I'm not sure that could have worked easily. |
Anonymous
8 Pinocchios for this lie |
Anonymous
Check phone, computer screen times then come back with what's excessive with kids these days Many kids are doing two or three 1.5hrs training sessions a week with one game Not sure how that is taking up all their time |