Am I spending too much time on travel soccer?

[Anonymous]

Yes.

If you post on this board regularly, there is no doubt on this question whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

It was for us for many reason... the ones listed are great.

Even if he plays rec it will be 6-10 hours a week. That seems like a very low number of hours for exercise per week.

[Anonymous]

Thank God my kids never played on a travel sports team for any sport. We loved cheering them on on their zero pressure Saturday morning rec league basketball games in the winter and their B Team swim meets in summer. That was it. It allowed for all of us to have a balanced life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are not on top level teams at the big clubs, so definitely a different demand than the OP describes, but I think there are a lot of benefits and none of them include college scholarships.

-Learning that increased effort results in improvement
-Learning how to communicate with the various coaches
-Learning about good and bad sportsmanship
-Learning how to control emotions
-Learning to work through challenges to improve on certain skills
-Fitness
-Friends
-Time management skills
-Commitment to your team (showing up & doing your part)

I do think these life lessons make it worthwhile and wish I had this type of opportunity when I was younger. Of course, there are other ways for kids to get experiences to learn these types of life lessons, but mine gravitated towards sports.

+1 Good post and these are the reasons we're spending all that time and money. It makes DS happy and he's learning a lot. And we're happy he's not on a top team with a lot of pressure to win.

[Anonymous]

Excellence breeds excellence. In all things. Like the poster mentioning music. DD took piano, intensely, for 9 years. Stopped. Enrolled in HS band and was predictably put in Beginning Band due to new instrument, but within 1 semester jumped 3 levels to highest Symphonic Band.

Your soccer players may end up in another sport. They certainly will have confidence that they are athletic. They will have confidence to compete, and train, and persist.

Having said all that, if it's a major strain on the entire family, those skills can be developed elsewhere. It's alright to say no, to pull the plug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Excellence breeds excellence. In all things. Like the poster mentioning music. DD took piano, intensely, for 9 years. Stopped. Enrolled in HS band and was predictably put in Beginning Band due to new instrument, but within 1 semester jumped 3 levels to highest Symphonic Band.

Your soccer players may end up in another sport. They certainly will have confidence that they are athletic. They will have confidence to compete, and train, and persist.

Having said all that, if it's a major strain on the entire family, those skills can be developed elsewhere. It's alright to say no, to pull the plug.

That's a very solid post. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

DC is on the top team. Travel is the only option to have decent level of competition. Tried playing a few indoor games with the former rec team and just ran/dribbled circles around those kids. It wasn't fun or worth the time.

[Anonymous]

Does he want to do it? I would probably let him & his interests lead.

I did D1 sports in college and I am also not sure I want that for my kids but I did truly love HS sports.

[Anonymous]

Yes! My son started playing competitive soccer at 6. He played up on a u8 team (we moved to Southern California and club soccer starts earlier out here.). He played club soccer and on another soccer team in a primarily Hispanic league. We spent weekends at soccer tournaments or league games. He went to soccer camps, clinics, practices, etc. He had some injuries by the time he was 10 and we realized he needed to try other sports while he was young.

He started playing basketball, learned to surf, played baseball. Now at 12 he is learning how to play volleyball this spring.. All of his soccer skills make it easy for him to pick up new sports. We have so much more time as a family. After taking a couple of years off soccer he is thinking about playing again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are not on top level teams at the big clubs, so definitely a different demand than the OP describes, but I think there are a lot of benefits and none of them include college scholarships.

-Learning that increased effort results in improvement
-Learning how to communicate with the various coaches
-Learning about good and bad sportsmanship
-Learning how to control emotions
-Learning to work through challenges to improve on certain skills
-Fitness
-Friends
-Time management skills
-Commitment to your team (showing up & doing your part)

I do think these life lessons make it worthwhile and wish I had this type of opportunity when I was younger. Of course, there are other ways for kids to get experiences to learn these types of life lessons, but mine gravitated towards sports.

Great List!! Exactly the reason I have my my kid playing travel soccer. I have no allusions about him taking it to the next level (Ok, maybe sometimes), but these are the reasons I think are the most important and long lasting for his overall development. what is interesting are the motivations of other parents I see that do not align with this. Makes for some interesting practices and games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does he want to do it? I would probably let him & his interests lead.

I did D1 sports in college and I am also not sure I want that for my kids but I did truly love HS sports.

Me again but I also wanted to add that I do agree with other PPs and I do really think skills learned in one sport are often helpful for others sports. I played quite a bit of soccer myself and also dabbled in field hockey and lacrosse which I think were very similar to soccer in terms of positions, etc. and the soccer background helped.

Furthermore, my ultimate sport ended up being XC/ track but I really did quite a bit of conditioning in soccer and lacrosse which was probably better than a lot of straight up track running at a young age and where I saw others burn out. In these other sports I was always leading the running drills and at the end of the season when they’d talk about my soccer or lacrosse skills - they would say I could keep running the whole game and never get tired

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Does he like it or does he love it?

I was a kid devoted to my sport. I still, at 38, spend a ton of time and money pursuing it. I was a pro for a few years but it was never my plan to make that a career. Still, it is a huge part of my life. I am glad my parents supported me as much as they could.

If he just likes it, meh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is on the top team. Travel is the only option to have decent level of competition. Tried playing a few indoor games with the former rec team and just ran/dribbled circles around those kids. It wasn't fun or worth the time.

Thing is, it shouldn't be Travel vs. Rec. It should be Travel (in one league) vs. Nearby Travel (which happens to be in a different league).

You could have a decent level of competition within 1 hour of the DMV if teams would be willing to break out of their league-imposed shackles and play those around them who could give them a good game. Instead we go to Richmond and New Jersey and Philly, all in a quest for 'elite' while other 'elites' are hanging around the Beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank God my kids never played on a travel sports team for any sport. We loved cheering them on on their zero pressure Saturday morning rec league basketball games in the winter and their B Team swim meets in summer. That was it. It allowed for all of us to have a balanced life.

Good work! Preparing kids not to deal with pressure in their lives is a bold move.