9 years of travel socce for DC, I regret it

[Anonymous]

DH is always asking what the endgame to all this money, energy, time is and I don't have a good answer. Although DD is only age 9, she has invested even at this young age her time and energy in it.

She identifies herself with soccer as her sport. Is she great? Not really. She made the top team but the top team is not exactly in a top club playing in a top league so there is that consideration! Nevertheless it's something that is hers. She doesn't want to play another sport besides soccer even though I think she has that natural athleticism that would allow her to excel maybe more (ie lacrosse as all the soccer moms tell me) which is why she has been doing so well. She isn't out there kicking and loving and watching the sport like some of these stories of kids I'm reading about, like some of her teammates do. But she is also the youngest on a U11 team. It's now our 3rd year on travel and it's hard for me for sure.

I say to myself, what else is she going to do if not this? She would be on electronics all day that's what. I wish for both her and me, we would see the friendships that could develop and learn the lessons of losing/hard work/etc. but I do think that doing travel soccer is better than not doing anything.

I see her working as hard as she can in practices and there is nobody who has ever seen her play, her coaches, her teammates and all the parents who would ever say that she doesn't put her all out there. For this I am so proud of her. So whether she has learned the life lessons valued from sports consciously or not, she has demonstrates to me her innate commitment to an activity and if nothing else, at least being in travel soccer has allowed us to take satisfaction from this.

Maybe she'll get better, or quit, or just continue as she has, but we're at that point that there's no reason to stop, no matter how grueling the schedule is for me, working mom!

[Anonymous]

What I don't understand is why it has to be all or nothing. People say of their kids aren't activities they'd only sit on screes. Why not just prevent them from so much screen time and let them learn to entertain themselves? I can understand sort why this would be more difficult with a high school kid, but younger than that you have alot more power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is always asking what the endgame to all this money, energy, time is and I don't have a good answer. Although DD is only age 9, she has invested even at this young age her time and energy in it.

She identifies herself with soccer as her sport. Is she great? Not really. She made the top team but the top team is not exactly in a top club playing in a top league so there is that consideration! Nevertheless it's something that is hers. She doesn't want to play another sport besides soccer even though I think she has that natural athleticism that would allow her to excel maybe more (ie lacrosse as all the soccer moms tell me) which is why she has been doing so well. She isn't out there kicking and loving and watching the sport like some of these stories of kids I'm reading about, like some of her teammates do. But she is also the youngest on a U11 team. It's now our 3rd year on travel and it's hard for me for sure.

I say to myself, what else is she going to do if not this? She would be on electronics all day that's what. I wish for both her and me, we would see the friendships that could develop and learn the lessons of losing/hard work/etc. but I do think that doing travel soccer is better than not doing anything.

I see her working as hard as she can in practices and there is nobody who has ever seen her play, her coaches, her teammates and all the parents who would ever say that she doesn't put her all out there. For this I am so proud of her. So whether she has learned the life lessons valued from sports consciously or not, she has demonstrates to me her innate commitment to an activity and if nothing else, at least being in travel soccer has allowed us to take satisfaction from this.

Maybe she'll get better, or quit, or just continue as she has, but we're at that point that there's no reason to stop, no matter how grueling the schedule is for me, working mom!

Your husband sounds like a peach if he is looking for a return on investment or justification for spending money on an activity for his child. This isn't about sports, either. People do band and the goal is to play in coach. Or dancing or choir or piano. There are tons of non-sports activities that cost thousands of dollars that kids love to do and are healthy for many of the reasons you state - positives of working hard, health, life lessons and time management and keeping busy to avoid idle time wasted.

I can appreciate the struggles about the schedule. Was/is very difficult on myself as single parent. But the kids love it and I love to support them. That's why I became a parent. If you're chasing a scholarship or professional sports then I understand why you might question it because the likelihood is low. Not always about that. They'll be better people and learn so much from the process if you have the right perspective on what it is.