Soccer Coach in Northern VA - Ask me anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am saying that the training is the most important thing. You can accomplish the training without playing travel but you must be more creative. But find the training first and worry about the level of competition later. The games at the younger ages are just a way to apply what is taught in training. Look for those outcomes versus the score. The real victories are when the kids start connecting their passes, switching the field or dropping the ball back. Start to look for actual soccer moments versus who racked up up 5 goals on athletic breakaways.

That's helpful. We're looking at some camps this summer to get in some training, so hopefully that will help at least a little should we/he chose to do travel at U10 or U11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

asksoccernova wrote:I think it all comes down to the coach - if the coach is good at communicating to the parents and letting them know the benefits and the required commitment, they can find a balance.

Some players and families are ready to jump into the deep end with travel soccer, but a lot of very high potential players (and their families) need to be eased into it one step at a time.

There are a LOT of U8's out there that show potential that unfortunately miss out on the opportunity to at least train with a travel team and see the results because coaches and clubs are too black or white about it (either YES you're on board or NO you're not).

We have a parents meeting for U8s tonight, which is what prompted my initial post - genuinely trying to understand something that makes no sense at all to me before I'm in a meeting in real life with real people about it. I will definitely ask the coach about training/alternate opportunities. That sounds like a fantastic middle ground for now. Because I fully realize that my kid may want to do this in a year or two and it seems bat-shit crazy that 7 and 8 year olds have to make some sort of life-long commitment like that. (Right now, DS seems to not care at all one way or the other what team he's on. He just wants to play soccer.)

Sadly, I'm in Anne Arundel Co in MD, otherwise I'd track you down and put my son on whatever team you'd recommend. (And do my best to avoid some of the other parents who have responded)

Yes, PLEASE avoid us by staying in REC.

[Anonymous]

Think of travel soccer as an activity that many, many kids and their families enjoy because of the fun of the sport itself, the flashy uniforms, the little trips to different neighborhoods, the elitist sense of differentiation, the pageantry of the tournament fields, the healthy exercise, the bonds with other kids and families. And just forget about whether travel soccer is also a good way to develop great soccer players. In other words, travel soccer is not a means to an end; it's an end in itself that a lot of people like. If you're interested in a family activity to pass the time, give it a try. If you're focused on developing an elite footballer from the ground up, there are better, more efficient ways of doing that than signing up for a travel soccer team.

[Anonymous]

As to the question why travel soccer....you don't want your son left behind in rec soccer. When you take about the top 20% of rec, rec becomes absolute garbage unfortunately. Now I think the question is...why not everyone just stay in REC and maybe bring in professional soccer coaches? Again, because some rec players don't want to put in the extra work. As a matter of fact, some travel players don't want to put in the extra work. That's why their are tiers. So the most dedicated, hard working, skilled kids can compete against and train with similar kids. Kids/Parents think that they can just show up to regularly scheduled team practices and every thing will be fine. It be fine for very long. There are some kids working every day. Team practices are for team training - tactics and multiple person drills. Kids need to work their butts off outside of practice on dribbling, receiving, passing, shooting, chipping, all those 1v1 scenarios, etc.

My younger son plays U8 rec and his games are competitive; however, the quality of soccer is crap. I can't wait to get out of rec.

[Anonymous]

^^ Dude--there is no point to it anymore. You are on a Board that loves travel soccer ---and it's a 'mom's blog' so you aren't going to get honest answer. Club big-wigs also come on here and try to plant seeds, etc.

I started playing travel in this area in 1980--back when the Mia Hamms and Jill Ellis and Bruce Murrays and John Kerr Jr were playing in the DMV and it was the "Washington Diplomats' and later "Washington Stars--when Pro soccer folded' and then back to 'DC United'. There used to be 1 team per Club (2 at the very most). It was very competitive to get on a team. Given the small number of teams (yes less players played--but the competition was just as high but smaller numbers and concentrated). You had lots of people that were former professionals or European youth academy U-17 National players that came to play for US colleges in the US when they weren't going to make the first team. They were very knowledgeable. There wasn't a lot of licensing and nobody cared what your license said if you knew your stuff. Many coached for free and volunteered at Clubs because they loved it. There were fewer leagues (at the time just one for girls in the area)--given the small number of teams and the one league--you traveled to play. Some of the best talent did happen to be right in the NoVa area--along with a few other hotspots in the US.

There were very few kids walking around in those jackets where you sewed all of the out of state tournament patches, and league winner patches (remember those?) because so few kids played travel soccer. I swear to god every single kid at my children's elementary school comes out of the doors wearing a travel jacket---with player numbers going up to the triple digits.

Over time, more and more people got tuned into soccer --which is good. We want that. The problem is that things got crazy and greedy and expensive. For instance, Patrick sponsored my travel team (does it still exist?--flashbacks)---they gave us cleats, uniforms and bags. We were a top team in the area and we did not have to pay for any of that. Our coach was not paid. His kid played on the team. The fees were not there. Our parents only paid a lot in hotel rooms for travel---air travel when we made it to Regionals and Nationals--but NOTHING like parents pay today for inferior product. For regular out-of-town tournaments, we were hosted by families in that town. There were less 'con artists'. We did travel far---league make-up games were weeknights(on a work night as my parents used to lament) ---sometimes very far.

Nowadays so many kids play travel soccer at the very lowest levels in so many different leagues that it is now akin to playing REC for a handsome price. Now--we have nobody in Rec after 3rd grade since every kid can basically find a travel team---so people pay these ridiculous fees just to find other kids to play with that will actually show up for a game/practice. Parents that are new to the whole thing fail to question anything--not really their fault they trust all of these guys and gals with the fancy licenses and resumes. They get told they'll be black-balled or to be quiet if they do anyways. We no longer have renegades that just say 'f_ck this and go out on their own' because its become virtually impossible since leagues and Counties place so many restrictions on little start-up teams.

Some of your best players can't afford to play and even with sponsorship have nobody able to get them all the places they need to be. It used to be easier for them--at least fee wise.

It's a shit-show pure and simple. I will say the technical skill of young kids today is higher these days--but I see that even with a good rec program or leagues just below travel. Coaches don't train like they used to though because parents would complain they were 'too tough'. We've all gone soft. And, since coaches are ultimately paid by parents they just try to make everyone happy.

A lot of 2nd and 3rd generation players have already started to move past 'travel' soccer and all these fancy DA teams. Their kids are being developed outside of the system because they can see the product inside and find the dilution of talent a real problem. They don't care about the 'fancy jackets' or the 'status'. They care about soccer and development. They also have the balls to say "hell no, I'm not going to drive my kid 3.5 hours one-way for a single league game". Really stupid thing to do.

So that is a long-winded story of how travel soccer has ended up like it is now. As for the people telling you to: just shut up and play Rec--they are a lot of the problem. They will do anything a Club asks of them like good little lemmings.

[Anonymous]

I rarely disagree with the good coach here, but as someone who has coached rec through U14 (a volunteer parent with an E license, half of a D and a lot of other training) and has a kid who has played travel through U11, I dispute the idea that the travel kids start racing away from the "rec" kids.

I've seen too many players come back to rec after a couple of years of travel -- decent players, just making the mature decision that they don't want to focus that much time and energy on soccer at the expense of other things -- and they're not necessarily the best players in the league. They're usually *good*, sure. But it's far from shocking to see a player spend U9-U11 in travel, then come back to U12 rec and not make the All-Star team.

I've also seen some SFL teams that are probably more selective than the SFL would want, and they have decent coaches. They would certainly give my son's travel team a good game.

The difference between rec and travel is this: In travel, all the kids either have the aptitude, the athleticism or the interest to be a halfway decent player. (Ideally, all three, or at least two.) In rec, maybe 20-30% of the players meet that description -- in unbalanced leagues, you may have teams in which more than half of the players are travel-quality, and they remain travel-quality because they challenge themselves and each other in practice (and maybe pickup games).

I've seen some horrible rec coaches, some of whom refuse to go to even a two-hour seminar or take the online F license course, let alone learn anything else. But I've seen a lot of E- and D-licensed "pro" coaches who are certainly no better than the parent coaches with the same licenses. I see a lot of pro coaches who ignore everything we're taught. They're joystick coaches. And they have MORE pressure to win games rather than develop players because they think that's how they'll keep earning their paychecks.

Ideally, you'd like to see everyone between U8 and U10 get at least *some* access to good coaches. It can just be practice -- it doesn't have to be gameday.

And for older ages, it'd be nice to have more "travel-lite" programs in this area. Our pyramid is upside-down. Everyone wants to be in an "elite" league and drive all over creation as a badge of honor, claiming there's no competition for their DC in Northern Virginia. Ninety percent of the time, that's a crock. "Elite" should be smaller. "Travel-lite" should be bigger. Give kids the fun parts of "travel" while giving the parents a manageable driving load, and keep them in a developmental pyramid so the "travel-lite" U11s may become "elite" U14s.

[Anonymous]

You touched on the heart of my long-winded post above you. It's so diluted, nobody is left in Rec. So--parents pay travel just to find other kids that will at least show up for the games/practices. Paying $3k for a level of play that isn't worth it, nor the driving. You can train just as well without that. Get the kids a $40 fancy track jacket and they can feel just as much a part of it as all the kids driving all over the dmv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You touched on the heart of my long-winded post above you. It's so diluted, nobody is left in Rec. So--parents pay travel just to find other kids that will at least show up for the games/practices. Paying $3k for a level of play that isn't worth it, nor the driving. You can train just as well without that. Get the kids a $40 fancy track jacket and they can feel just as much a part of it as all the kids driving all over the dmv.

I think clubs should make the track jackets available to all players. Travel, rec, TOPSoccer. Make everyone feel a part of the club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Dude--there is no point to it anymore. You are on a Board that loves travel soccer ---and it's a 'mom's blog' so you aren't going to get honest answer. Club big-wigs also come on here and try to plant seeds, etc.

I started playing travel in this area in 1980--back when the Mia Hamms and Jill Ellis and Bruce Murrays and John Kerr Jr were playing in the DMV and it was the "Washington Diplomats' and later "Washington Stars--when Pro soccer folded' and then back to 'DC United'. There used to be 1 team per Club (2 at the very most). It was very competitive to get on a team. Given the small number of teams (yes less players played--but the competition was just as high but smaller numbers and concentrated). You had lots of people that were former professionals or European youth academy U-17 National players that came to play for US colleges in the US when they weren't going to make the first team. They were very knowledgeable. There wasn't a lot of licensing and nobody cared what your license said if you knew your stuff. Many coached for free and volunteered at Clubs because they loved it. There were fewer leagues (at the time just one for girls in the area)--given the small number of teams and the one league--you traveled to play. Some of the best talent did happen to be right in the NoVa area--along with a few other hotspots in the US.

There were very few kids walking around in those jackets where you sewed all of the out of state tournament patches, and league winner patches (remember those?) because so few kids played travel soccer. I swear to god every single kid at my children's elementary school comes out of the doors wearing a travel jacket---with player numbers going up to the triple digits.

Over time, more and more people got tuned into soccer --which is good. We want that. The problem is that things got crazy and greedy and expensive. For instance, Patrick sponsored my travel team (does it still exist?--flashbacks)---they gave us cleats, uniforms and bags. We were a top team in the area and we did not have to pay for any of that. Our coach was not paid. His kid played on the team. The fees were not there. Our parents only paid a lot in hotel rooms for travel---air travel when we made it to Regionals and Nationals--but NOTHING like parents pay today for inferior product. For regular out-of-town tournaments, we were hosted by families in that town. There were less 'con artists'. We did travel far---league make-up games were weeknights(on a work night as my parents used to lament) ---sometimes very far.

Nowadays so many kids play travel soccer at the very lowest levels in so many different leagues that it is now akin to playing REC for a handsome price. Now--we have nobody in Rec after 3rd grade since every kid can basically find a travel team---so people pay these ridiculous fees just to find other kids to play with that will actually show up for a game/practice. Parents that are new to the whole thing fail to question anything--not really their fault they trust all of these guys and gals with the fancy licenses and resumes. They get told they'll be black-balled or to be quiet if they do anyways. We no longer have renegades that just say 'f_ck this and go out on their own' because its become virtually impossible since leagues and Counties place so many restrictions on little start-up teams.

Some of your best players can't afford to play and even with sponsorship have nobody able to get them all the places they need to be. It used to be easier for them--at least fee wise.

It's a shit-show pure and simple. I will say the technical skill of young kids today is higher these days--but I see that even with a good rec program or leagues just below travel. Coaches don't train like they used to though because parents would complain they were 'too tough'. We've all gone soft. And, since coaches are ultimately paid by parents they just try to make everyone happy.

A lot of 2nd and 3rd generation players have already started to move past 'travel' soccer and all these fancy DA teams. Their kids are being developed outside of the system because they can see the product inside and find the dilution of talent a real problem. They don't care about the 'fancy jackets' or the 'status'. They care about soccer and development. They also have the balls to say "hell no, I'm not going to drive my kid 3.5 hours one-way for a single league game". Really stupid thing to do.

So that is a long-winded story of how travel soccer has ended up like it is now. As for the people telling you to: just shut up and play Rec--they are a lot of the problem. They will do anything a Club asks of them like good little lemmings.

+1 best post I've read in awhile. Multiple kids playing travel, and this summary nails it all. I am going to print it and pin it to every U9 family that enters the system and doesn't get it. who the heck are you and where do you live?!? i am surrounded by lemmings at my club who just love to pay, pay, pay (camps, summer league, etc.), and they don't even ever attend a practice to watch the actual training. massive carpools by clueless soccer moms and dads

[Anonymous]

U8 mom that started this chaos here...

Just popping back in to thank the recent posters who spent time to write so much and share their perspective. It's really helpful as we try to understand this whole youth soccer stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Dude--there is no point to it anymore. You are on a Board that loves travel soccer ---and it's a 'mom's blog' so you aren't going to get honest answer. Club big-wigs also come on here and try to plant seeds, etc.

I started playing travel in this area in 1980--back when the Mia Hamms and Jill Ellis and Bruce Murrays and John Kerr Jr were playing in the DMV and it was the "Washington Diplomats' and later "Washington Stars--when Pro soccer folded' and then back to 'DC United'. There used to be 1 team per Club (2 at the very most). It was very competitive to get on a team. Given the small number of teams (yes less players played--but the competition was just as high but smaller numbers and concentrated). You had lots of people that were former professionals or European youth academy U-17 National players that came to play for US colleges in the US when they weren't going to make the first team. They were very knowledgeable. There wasn't a lot of licensing and nobody cared what your license said if you knew your stuff. Many coached for free and volunteered at Clubs because they loved it. There were fewer leagues (at the time just one for girls in the area)--given the small number of teams and the one league--you traveled to play. Some of the best talent did happen to be right in the NoVa area--along with a few other hotspots in the US.

There were very few kids walking around in those jackets where you sewed all of the out of state tournament patches, and league winner patches (remember those?) because so few kids played travel soccer. I swear to god every single kid at my children's elementary school comes out of the doors wearing a travel jacket---with player numbers going up to the triple digits.

Over time, more and more people got tuned into soccer --which is good. We want that. The problem is that things got crazy and greedy and expensive. For instance, Patrick sponsored my travel team (does it still exist?--flashbacks)---they gave us cleats, uniforms and bags. We were a top team in the area and we did not have to pay for any of that. Our coach was not paid. His kid played on the team. The fees were not there. Our parents only paid a lot in hotel rooms for travel---air travel when we made it to Regionals and Nationals--but NOTHING like parents pay today for inferior product. For regular out-of-town tournaments, we were hosted by families in that town. There were less 'con artists'. We did travel far---league make-up games were weeknights(on a work night as my parents used to lament) ---sometimes very far.

Nowadays so many kids play travel soccer at the very lowest levels in so many different leagues that it is now akin to playing REC for a handsome price. Now--we have nobody in Rec after 3rd grade since every kid can basically find a travel team---so people pay these ridiculous fees just to find other kids to play with that will actually show up for a game/practice. Parents that are new to the whole thing fail to question anything--not really their fault they trust all of these guys and gals with the fancy licenses and resumes. They get told they'll be black-balled or to be quiet if they do anyways. We no longer have renegades that just say 'f_ck this and go out on their own' because its become virtually impossible since leagues and Counties place so many restrictions on little start-up teams.

Some of your best players can't afford to play and even with sponsorship have nobody able to get them all the places they need to be. It used to be easier for them--at least fee wise.

It's a shit-show pure and simple. I will say the technical skill of young kids today is higher these days--but I see that even with a good rec program or leagues just below travel. Coaches don't train like they used to though because parents would complain they were 'too tough'. We've all gone soft. And, since coaches are ultimately paid by parents they just try to make everyone happy.

A lot of 2nd and 3rd generation players have already started to move past 'travel' soccer and all these fancy DA teams. Their kids are being developed outside of the system because they can see the product inside and find the dilution of talent a real problem. They don't care about the 'fancy jackets' or the 'status'. They care about soccer and development. They also have the balls to say "hell no, I'm not going to drive my kid 3.5 hours one-way for a single league game". Really stupid thing to do.

So that is a long-winded story of how travel soccer has ended up like it is now. As for the people telling you to: just shut up and play Rec--they are a lot of the problem. They will do anything a Club asks of them like good little lemmings.

+1 best post I've read in awhile. Multiple kids playing travel, and this summary nails it all. I am going to print it and pin it to every U9 family that enters the system and doesn't get it. who the heck are you and where do you live?!? i am surrounded by lemmings at my club who just love to pay, pay, pay (camps, summer league, etc.), and they don't even ever attend a practice to watch the actual training. massive carpools by clueless soccer moms and dads

Dude, Mia Hamm was 8 in 1980. She was in NoVa for one year in 1989.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Dude--there is no point to it anymore. You are on a Board that loves travel soccer ---and it's a 'mom's blog' so you aren't going to get honest answer. Club big-wigs also come on here and try to plant seeds, etc.

I started playing travel in this area in 1980--back when the Mia Hamms and Jill Ellis and Bruce Murrays and John Kerr Jr were playing in the DMV and it was the "Washington Diplomats' and later "Washington Stars--when Pro soccer folded' and then back to 'DC United'. There used to be 1 team per Club (2 at the very most). It was very competitive to get on a team. Given the small number of teams (yes less players played--but the competition was just as high but smaller numbers and concentrated). You had lots of people that were former professionals or European youth academy U-17 National players that came to play for US colleges in the US when they weren't going to make the first team. They were very knowledgeable. There wasn't a lot of licensing and nobody cared what your license said if you knew your stuff. Many coached for free and volunteered at Clubs because they loved it. There were fewer leagues (at the time just one for girls in the area)--given the small number of teams and the one league--you traveled to play. Some of the best talent did happen to be right in the NoVa area--along with a few other hotspots in the US.

There were very few kids walking around in those jackets where you sewed all of the out of state tournament patches, and league winner patches (remember those?) because so few kids played travel soccer. I swear to god every single kid at my children's elementary school comes out of the doors wearing a travel jacket---with player numbers going up to the triple digits.

Over time, more and more people got tuned into soccer --which is good. We want that. The problem is that things got crazy and greedy and expensive. For instance, Patrick sponsored my travel team (does it still exist?--flashbacks)---they gave us cleats, uniforms and bags. We were a top team in the area and we did not have to pay for any of that. Our coach was not paid. His kid played on the team. The fees were not there. Our parents only paid a lot in hotel rooms for travel---air travel when we made it to Regionals and Nationals--but NOTHING like parents pay today for inferior product. For regular out-of-town tournaments, we were hosted by families in that town. There were less 'con artists'. We did travel far---league make-up games were weeknights(on a work night as my parents used to lament) ---sometimes very far.

Nowadays so many kids play travel soccer at the very lowest levels in so many different leagues that it is now akin to playing REC for a handsome price. Now--we have nobody in Rec after 3rd grade since every kid can basically find a travel team---so people pay these ridiculous fees just to find other kids to play with that will actually show up for a game/practice. Parents that are new to the whole thing fail to question anything--not really their fault they trust all of these guys and gals with the fancy licenses and resumes. They get told they'll be black-balled or to be quiet if they do anyways. We no longer have renegades that just say 'f_ck this and go out on their own' because its become virtually impossible since leagues and Counties place so many restrictions on little start-up teams.

Some of your best players can't afford to play and even with sponsorship have nobody able to get them all the places they need to be. It used to be easier for them--at least fee wise.

It's a shit-show pure and simple. I will say the technical skill of young kids today is higher these days--but I see that even with a good rec program or leagues just below travel. Coaches don't train like they used to though because parents would complain they were 'too tough'. We've all gone soft. And, since coaches are ultimately paid by parents they just try to make everyone happy.

A lot of 2nd and 3rd generation players have already started to move past 'travel' soccer and all these fancy DA teams. Their kids are being developed outside of the system because they can see the product inside and find the dilution of talent a real problem. They don't care about the 'fancy jackets' or the 'status'. They care about soccer and development. They also have the balls to say "hell no, I'm not going to drive my kid 3.5 hours one-way for a single league game". Really stupid thing to do.

So that is a long-winded story of how travel soccer has ended up like it is now. As for the people telling you to: just shut up and play Rec--they are a lot of the problem. They will do anything a Club asks of them like good little lemmings.

+1 best post I've read in awhile. Multiple kids playing travel, and this summary nails it all. I am going to print it and pin it to every U9 family that enters the system and doesn't get it. who the heck are you and where do you live?!? i am surrounded by lemmings at my club who just love to pay, pay, pay (camps, summer league, etc.), and they don't even ever attend a practice to watch the actual training. massive carpools by clueless soccer moms and dads

Dude, Mia Hamm was 8 in 1980. She was in NoVa for one year in 1989.

And- I was 10 then. Yes--she was here only briefly. That era had great soccer and people had balls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U8 mom that started this chaos here...

Just popping back in to thank the recent posters who spent time to write so much and share their perspective. It's really helpful as we try to understand this whole youth soccer stuff.

Good luck. We have two children below U-13 at one of the Big 3 CCL clubs. It is a machine and will take many parents' money for fear of a TD or coach labeling your family, especially if the children are on 1st teams. Our approach has been that we pay the bare minimum required to be on the travel team so that they have a team, but then we turn down the myriad of other options (private training groups with the IN crowd, ODP, Super Y, endless camps) in order to use that time to train on our own, with siblings, and with friends. I am no expert, but I see my children improve and learn new things kicking it around with a former dad player and good friends, more then any of the club training. Their footskills come entirely from what they do on their own. It seems crazy to pay all the money, but it seems necessary to be able to play with schoolmates and good player friends. The recreational league is one of the best organized, but the play and competition is so horrible at U9 that travel was the best choice. We have been told it is virtually impossible to get into these big clubs after U9, and that does seem to be our experience. We do have lots of friends who have no problem joining a smaller club later on, but they have had to drive farther and they are not with their schoolmates if that matters to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

asksoccernova wrote:I do not worry about U6's bunching up. They only play 3v3 anyway.

You can't expect kids to stop bunching up until they learn passing technique, and understand that in order to make passes, they have to spread out.

Just saying "spread out" 100x does nothing. They have to know WHY. There are plenty of fun passing exercises / games that you can do, and then its obvious to them that making a 1-foot pass has no benefit.

You can also start to have them pass in triangles, 3v0 and eventually 3v1. I've been able to get U7's to understand it, U8's can really start to move the ball around if reinforced, and U9's (if taught properly) can actually play 3v1 and 4v2 possession games. They just have to be taught the right way. It does break down on game day sometimes, so you still have to reinforce it over and over again in practice.

thank you coach for the reply.

i just want to mention that in our league U6/U7 play 4v4, and with the 'add a player if up 4+ goals' rule, it could be 4v5 for most of the games. really not ideal but it's just a phase and age appropriate.

why not remove a player from the stronger team to play 3v4 instead? much better than 4v5 with more touches, more spaces, smaller scrums, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Dude--there is no point to it anymore. You are on a Board that loves travel soccer ---and it's a 'mom's blog' so you aren't going to get honest answer. Club big-wigs also come on here and try to plant seeds, etc.

I started playing travel in this area in 1980--back when the Mia Hamms and Jill Ellis and Bruce Murrays and John Kerr Jr were playing in the DMV and it was the "Washington Diplomats' and later "Washington Stars--when Pro soccer folded' and then back to 'DC United'. There used to be 1 team per Club (2 at the very most). It was very competitive to get on a team. Given the small number of teams (yes less players played--but the competition was just as high but smaller numbers and concentrated). You had lots of people that were former professionals or European youth academy U-17 National players that came to play for US colleges in the US when they weren't going to make the first team. They were very knowledgeable. There wasn't a lot of licensing and nobody cared what your license said if you knew your stuff. Many coached for free and volunteered at Clubs because they loved it. There were fewer leagues (at the time just one for girls in the area)--given the small number of teams and the one league--you traveled to play. Some of the best talent did happen to be right in the NoVa area--along with a few other hotspots in the US.

There were very few kids walking around in those jackets where you sewed all of the out of state tournament patches, and league winner patches (remember those?) because so few kids played travel soccer. I swear to god every single kid at my children's elementary school comes out of the doors wearing a travel jacket---with player numbers going up to the triple digits.

Over time, more and more people got tuned into soccer --which is good. We want that. The problem is that things got crazy and greedy and expensive. For instance, Patrick sponsored my travel team (does it still exist?--flashbacks)---they gave us cleats, uniforms and bags. We were a top team in the area and we did not have to pay for any of that. Our coach was not paid. His kid played on the team. The fees were not there. Our parents only paid a lot in hotel rooms for travel---air travel when we made it to Regionals and Nationals--but NOTHING like parents pay today for inferior product. For regular out-of-town tournaments, we were hosted by families in that town. There were less 'con artists'. We did travel far---league make-up games were weeknights(on a work night as my parents used to lament) ---sometimes very far.

Nowadays so many kids play travel soccer at the very lowest levels in so many different leagues that it is now akin to playing REC for a handsome price. Now--we have nobody in Rec after 3rd grade since every kid can basically find a travel team---so people pay these ridiculous fees just to find other kids to play with that will actually show up for a game/practice. Parents that are new to the whole thing fail to question anything--not really their fault they trust all of these guys and gals with the fancy licenses and resumes. They get told they'll be black-balled or to be quiet if they do anyways. We no longer have renegades that just say 'f_ck this and go out on their own' because its become virtually impossible since leagues and Counties place so many restrictions on little start-up teams.

Some of your best players can't afford to play and even with sponsorship have nobody able to get them all the places they need to be. It used to be easier for them--at least fee wise.

It's a shit-show pure and simple. I will say the technical skill of young kids today is higher these days--but I see that even with a good rec program or leagues just below travel. Coaches don't train like they used to though because parents would complain they were 'too tough'. We've all gone soft. And, since coaches are ultimately paid by parents they just try to make everyone happy.

A lot of 2nd and 3rd generation players have already started to move past 'travel' soccer and all these fancy DA teams. Their kids are being developed outside of the system because they can see the product inside and find the dilution of talent a real problem. They don't care about the 'fancy jackets' or the 'status'. They care about soccer and development. They also have the balls to say "hell no, I'm not going to drive my kid 3.5 hours one-way for a single league game". Really stupid thing to do.

So that is a long-winded story of how travel soccer has ended up like it is now. As for the people telling you to: just shut up and play Rec--they are a lot of the problem. They will do anything a Club asks of them like good little lemmings.

+1 best post I've read in awhile. Multiple kids playing travel, and this summary nails it all. I am going to print it and pin it to every U9 family that enters the system and doesn't get it. who the heck are you and where do you live?!? i am surrounded by lemmings at my club who just love to pay, pay, pay (camps, summer league, etc.), and they don't even ever attend a practice to watch the actual training. massive carpools by clueless soccer moms and dads

Dude, Mia Hamm was 8 in 1980. She was in NoVa for one year in 1989.

Can you start a separate thread for questions about history of soccer in DMV? I have some ?s but don't want to infiltrate coach's thread. Thanks.