Is Division 1 really a worthwhile goal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were terrible at sports and we were so thrilled about it. No travel teams etc to ruin our weekends. We were quite happy to full pay for the elite colleges that they all went to, we could easily afford it, and it was all so stress free. We always felt sorry for parents whose lives revolved around their kids' athletic pursuits. It's all so fleeting for the vast majority, then what?

The vast majority of the kids play travel because they really like to play soccer. That’s the ends, not the means. And it keeps kids off their screens and actually gives kids more time with their parent.

+1

The anti-sports parents (but who weirdly read the sports threads) just don't get it.

I have a teen who is obsessed with soccer. DC might play in college or maybe not, but that's not the goal. I joke that soccer is DCs happy pill, but it's not a joke. Last year I got a really clear picture of just how much soccer keeps DC happy. DC broke his foot badly playing soccer and was out for a season. He went from being a sweet and happy good student to a sulky, moody kid whose grades dropped like a rock. He was irritable, easily angered, and often rude (a total change). He started spending hours on the phone and screens, isolated in his room. (I finally understood why parents complain so much about screens, something I hadn't experienced before). His teachers reached out to me because they were so concerned with the change in classroom behavior. His orthopedic surgeon eventually agreed to a quicker than normal return to soccer because the doctor was worried about the overall impact of not playing. I had never really understood why people complained about teenagers until that injury. Then I got it.

One month after getting cleared to play again, my sweet and physically active kid was back. No more hours on the phone or screens; he went back to voluntarily spending hours outside kicking the ball around or playing pick up when he wasn't formally practicing. No more sulking. His grades climbed right back up. He started laughing again. We have our long, enjoyable conversations on the road again. He again comes up all the time and gives me hugs. My happy, steady, sweet teenager came back. I genuinely believe that soccer literally acts as an antidepressant for my DC. I sometimes wonder how many other kids out there might react the same way to hard physical exercise. I don't know, but all I know is that I am grateful for soccer because I think it's getting my teenager through his teen years much happier and safer than he might be otherwise. Knowing what I know now, I do want him to play some form of soccer in college so he stays happy, but intramural or club would be fine.

[Anonymous]

Soccer is a great way for kids to be active and to be able to encourage them to eat healthy. Practicing soccer with my DD is a great bonding experience. While travel can be painful and time consuming, it’s also a great family bonding and a means to spend quality time with the family.

I doubt if my DD would make D1 soccer but it doesn’t matter. As competitive as college entrance is nowadays, being a well-rounded individual helps as academics alone might not be enough to get into good schools.

Additionally, I’ve noticed that my DD is gaining self-confidence, challenges her, exposes her to new environments and she also has friends outside her classmates.

She hasn’t reached the teenage years yet, so I will have to see if/how her personality will be or changes.

But thus far, all of this makes it worthwhile for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were terrible at sports and we were so thrilled about it. No travel teams etc to ruin our weekends. We were quite happy to full pay for the elite colleges that they all went to, we could easily afford it, and it was all so stress free. We always felt sorry for parents whose lives revolved around their kids' athletic pursuits. It's all so fleeting for the vast majority, then what?

I don't know why anyone would be thrilled that their kids are terrible at something, especially something pretty central to the human spirit. Sports at all levels are wonderful for what they are - a chance to compete, challenge one's self, develop friendships, teamwork, get exercise, use this amazing body that we've been given. Many adults play sports for these same reasons. It's fun! And anyone can play sports, even non athletic types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:d1 soccer should be used to get into a better collrge. It's a hook.

A lot of the best universities don't play D1, especially for males.

Yes. But if you are a D1 recruit D3's are basically a shoe in.

[Anonymous]

U MD in the national championship game Sunday.

[Anonymous]

college soccer becomes a 1-sentence blip on a resume for applying to your first job. After a couple of years, it disappears altogether unless you go into the coaching, physical education, or perhaps another sports-related profession. But still, employers don't care that you have a great left-footed cross.

It's more about what you got out of it personally at the end of the day and a sense of personal accomplishment/achievement. Learning to deal with adversity and be mentally tough. That is valuable in life for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were terrible at sports and we were so thrilled about it. No travel teams etc to ruin our weekends. We were quite happy to full pay for the elite colleges that they all went to, we could easily afford it, and it was all so stress free. We always felt sorry for parents whose lives revolved around their kids' athletic pursuits. It's all so fleeting for the vast majority, then what?

The vast majority of the kids play travel because they really like to play soccer. That’s the ends, not the means. And it keeps kids off their screens and actually gives kids more time with their parent.

+1

The anti-sports parents (but who weirdly read the sports threads) just don't get it.

I have a teen who is obsessed with soccer. DC might play in college or maybe not, but that's not the goal. I joke that soccer is DCs happy pill, but it's not a joke. Last year I got a really clear picture of just how much soccer keeps DC happy. DC broke his foot badly playing soccer and was out for a season. He went from being a sweet and happy good student to a sulky, moody kid whose grades dropped like a rock. He was irritable, easily angered, and often rude (a total change). He started spending hours on the phone and screens, isolated in his room. (I finally understood why parents complain so much about screens, something I hadn't experienced before). His teachers reached out to me because they were so concerned with the change in classroom behavior. His orthopedic surgeon eventually agreed to a quicker than normal return to soccer because the doctor was worried about the overall impact of not playing. I had never really understood why people complained about teenagers until that injury. Then I got it.

One month after getting cleared to play again, my sweet and physically active kid was back. No more hours on the phone or screens; he went back to voluntarily spending hours outside kicking the ball around or playing pick up when he wasn't formally practicing. No more sulking. His grades climbed right back up. He started laughing again. We have our long, enjoyable conversations on the road again. He again comes up all the time and gives me hugs. My happy, steady, sweet teenager came back. I genuinely believe that soccer literally acts as an antidepressant for my DC. I sometimes wonder how many other kids out there might react the same way to hard physical exercise. I don't know, but all I know is that I am grateful for soccer because I think it's getting my teenager through his teen years much happier and safer than he might be otherwise. Knowing what I know now, I do want him to play some form of soccer in college so he stays happy, but intramural or club would be fine.

This was me as a kid. Soccer saved my life! Allowed me to be aggressive, competitive and get out all my anger (nothing feels better than kicking a ball when you’re angry inside). On the surface my life looked charming (upper middle class, good grades, tons of friends) but I was molested as a kid and never had any help or outlet for dealing with that, other than soccer. I played for hours a day. Went on a full ride to one of the best academic DI schools. My parents didn’t care at all about my soccer (they never went to my games). Soccer gave me self esteem and an identity, it gave me a family and some of the best friends I’ve ever had. The one time I was injured and couldn’t play....I was a totallly different person. Anyway, DI soccer was worth it for me, because it helped me immediately fit in and have a group of friends at college and be with a group of girls who had the same passions I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:college soccer becomes a 1-sentence blip on a resume for applying to your first job. After a couple of years, it disappears altogether unless you go into the coaching, physical education, or perhaps another sports-related profession. But still, employers don't care that you have a great left-footed cross.

It's more about what you got out of it personally at the end of the day and a sense of personal accomplishment/achievement. Learning to deal with adversity and be mentally tough. That is valuable in life for sure.

And after your first job, nobody really cares about the college you went to either. That also becomes a 1 second blip. It is always about the last accomplishment that leads to the next one that matters.

[Anonymous]

Going back to OP's question, I'd note that players on the boys' youth national teams are increasingly skipping college to go pro. Ten years ago, the majority of the U18-U20 YNTs would spend at least some time in college, now the vast majority have gone pro already or are searching out pro deals prior to HS graduation.

A few do still play D1 with an eye toward a pro career afterward, and I'd guess that most of these have parents similar to the DCUM demographic--highly educated people who have emphasized the value of working hard at school and getting good grades throughout their kids' lives. I was thinking about this while watching the NCAA semifinals last night. Did anyone read this story in the Post about Donovan Pines, one of UMD's stars https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/12/06/maryland-soccer-players-field-work-preventing-goals-saving-frogs/?utm_term=.c47ffbf15e7f ? Sounds like he's a serious student, and his dad is the dean of UMD's engineering school. Akron's Carlo Ritaccio (who had a great game last night) is another with good pro potential who opted for college.

If you are a boy who is only focused on being the best soccer player you can be, then of course you are going to look to play at a higher level than college, and as soon as you can. But you can still have a reasonable expectation of a pro career after getting a valuable degree from a number of excellent schools, like Stanford, Wake Forest, Duke, Notre Dame, Indiana, Georgetown, UVA, UMD, etc. Even if you stop playing after college, the value of a 50% to 100% guaranteed athletic scholarship at some of these schools is quite significant, not to mention your earning potential once you finally hang up the cleats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean speaking worldwide, NCAA Division 1 soccer is kind of the 'community college' of world football. Yet this forum and websites are filled with brags about how many D1 athletes such and such club has produced. Parents are bending all out of shape chasing that D1 dream when it seems, looking globally, that's really kind of aiming only halfway. American D1 teams struggle against similarly aged (and younger) reserve sides of most professional clubs in Europe. Shouldn't kids be aiming higher than just Division 1?

Let's level set. According to the NCAA (http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/estimated-probability-competing-college-athletics), only 5.5% of boys and 7.1% of girls will ever play ANY level of college soccer. Those percentages drop to 1.3% and 2.4%, respectively, for D1 soccer. I am sure someone else can find a site that has the exact percentage for professionals, but it is simply stating the obvious that less than 1% of all boys and girls will ever play professionally (after all, the vast majority of D1 soccer players never play professionally).

Given that reality, kids (and parents) need to be realistic in setting goals that are achievable for their soccer future. For roughly 95% or so of those kids, their goals should be to have fun playing soccer, make some friends, learn some good life lessons as a participant in a team sport, etc., etc., and maybe, if they are extremely good, get a chance to play for their high school team.

For the few kids who find themselves in the top 5% or so of all kids playing soccer in the US, then those kids should set some higher goals, but they still need to recognize how difficult and unlikely it is for them to play D1, let alone play professionally.

So in response to your question, the vast majority of kids should not even be aiming for D1, as it is completely unrealistic for them. For the elite kids, D1 is a pretty damn good goal. Yes, the super elite should maybe strive for a professional career, but "settling" for a D1 college playing career would be quite an accomplishment. Using the NCAA percentages of D1 players (1.3% for boys and 2.4% of girls), how many of us parents can say that we are in the top 1.3% or 2.4% of our respective fields? To state the obvious, the answer to that question is "not many," even in a region as affluent as the DMV.

What % of D1 soccer players are even on full-rides? I was shocked to learn much of the teams are walk-on and only partial TUITION scholarship players . I'm really not sure why parents are so obsessed with this crap. If you're D1 talent gun for an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college soccer becomes a 1-sentence blip on a resume for applying to your first job. After a couple of years, it disappears altogether unless you go into the coaching, physical education, or perhaps another sports-related profession. But still, employers don't care that you have a great left-footed cross.

It's more about what you got out of it personally at the end of the day and a sense of personal accomplishment/achievement. Learning to deal with adversity and be mentally tough. That is valuable in life for sure.

And after your first job, nobody really cares about the college you went to either. That also becomes a 1 second blip. It is always about the last accomplishment that leads to the next one that matters.

Only people who went to nobody colleges say ignorant crap like this. My husband's alma mater has repeatedly opened doors 25 years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college soccer becomes a 1-sentence blip on a resume for applying to your first job. After a couple of years, it disappears altogether unless you go into the coaching, physical education, or perhaps another sports-related profession. But still, employers don't care that you have a great left-footed cross.

It's more about what you got out of it personally at the end of the day and a sense of personal accomplishment/achievement. Learning to deal with adversity and be mentally tough. That is valuable in life for sure.

And after your first job, nobody really cares about the college you went to either. That also becomes a 1 second blip. It is always about the last accomplishment that leads to the next one that matters.

Only people who went to nobody colleges say ignorant crap like this. My husband's alma mater has repeatedly opened doors 25 years later.

Different poster. Who here knows where their doctor went to school? I don't. Not a single doctor, not a single dentist. The only profession I've heard it matters maybe is lawyer? But even then, reputation supersedes the degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were terrible at sports and we were so thrilled about it. No travel teams etc to ruin our weekends. We were quite happy to full pay for the elite colleges that they all went to, we could easily afford it, and it was all so stress free. We always felt sorry for parents whose lives revolved around their kids' athletic pursuits. It's all so fleeting for the vast majority, then what?

I don't know why anyone would be thrilled that their kids are terrible at something, especially something pretty central to the human spirit. Sports at all levels are wonderful for what they are - a chance to compete, challenge one's self, develop friendships, teamwork, get exercise, use this amazing body that we've been given. Many adults play sports for these same reasons. It's fun! And anyone can play sports, even non athletic types.

I was thrilled because we didn't have to spend endless gruesome weekends traveling to god knows where and dealing with sports obsessed parents. That's why. The kids did county league non=travel sports with other non-athletic kids and their friends and got their exercise and jollies that way. I couldn't imagine having to deal with the whole travel thing. Sounds like a total nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were terrible at sports and we were so thrilled about it. No travel teams etc to ruin our weekends. We were quite happy to full pay for the elite colleges that they all went to, we could easily afford it, and it was all so stress free. We always felt sorry for parents whose lives revolved around their kids' athletic pursuits. It's all so fleeting for the vast majority, then what?

I don't know why anyone would be thrilled that their kids are terrible at something, especially something pretty central to the human spirit. Sports at all levels are wonderful for what they are - a chance to compete, challenge one's self, develop friendships, teamwork, get exercise, use this amazing body that we've been given. Many adults play sports for these same reasons. It's fun! And anyone can play sports, even non athletic types.

I was thrilled because we didn't have to spend endless gruesome weekends traveling to god knows where and dealing with sports obsessed parents. That's why. The kids did county league non=travel sports with other non-athletic kids and their friends and got their exercise and jollies that way. I couldn't imagine having to deal with the whole travel thing. Sounds like a total nightmare.

Then why are you on a message board that predominately discusses travel soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were terrible at sports and we were so thrilled about it. No travel teams etc to ruin our weekends. We were quite happy to full pay for the elite colleges that they all went to, we could easily afford it, and it was all so stress free. We always felt sorry for parents whose lives revolved around their kids' athletic pursuits. It's all so fleeting for the vast majority, then what?

I don't know why anyone would be thrilled that their kids are terrible at something, especially something pretty central to the human spirit. Sports at all levels are wonderful for what they are - a chance to compete, challenge one's self, develop friendships, teamwork, get exercise, use this amazing body that we've been given. Many adults play sports for these same reasons. It's fun! And anyone can play sports, even non athletic types.

I was thrilled because we didn't have to spend endless gruesome weekends traveling to god knows where and dealing with sports obsessed parents. That's why. The kids did county league non=travel sports with other non-athletic kids and their friends and got their exercise and jollies that way. I couldn't imagine having to deal with the whole travel thing. Sounds like a total nightmare.

Yeah, we thought so too, but you know what? It's a blast! Nice kids and parents, we enjoy watching the kids play, and our son loves it. He wants to do well and is learning how hard work pays off. If he stops enjoying it, he can do something else. Don't knock it until you try it.