At what point do you hang up the travel soccer cleats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got off the travel train this year at U13. My DSs (twins) enjoyed the practices and games, but didn’t like the stress and the intensity. Whatever skills they learned didn’t stick in between seasons. They would spend the winter and spring playing with the club team, get really good at playing possession and making quick decisions, but then lose ground in the fall with the town travel team, where the pace of play is much slower and the coaches favor a kickball style that rewards size and aggression.

They played with two different clubs starting at U8. IME, clubs don’t spend a lot of time working on dribbling, shooting, and basic footskills. It’s expected that kids work on their own to develop those. Practices focused more on rondos, passing lanes, attacking 2v2 and 3v3, and small-sided games. Kids will pick up footskills during those drills, but they advance more quickly if they work on their own.

During that time, DS #1 would frequently go out in the backyard and work to develop foot skills and first touch. DS #2 never once touched a ball outside of practice, but because he’s a speed demon and has a high soccer IQ, he got more playing time and better positions. That frustrated DS #1 no end, who felt like all his effort was for nothing.

They weren’t loving the club atmosphere, so this year we switched to a winter futsal league. It was more relaxed and they had a lot more fun. It’s all about their goals (enjoyment and socialization? skill mastery? make a high school team? get a college offer?) and pursuing the things that light them up. DS #1 stopped practicing soccer and started spending all his free time on coding and music (I can barely pry him away from the piano at dinner and bedtime), so that was a clear signal to me about where his heart currently is. DS #2 has discovered that he loves running and considers cross country his #1 sport now. If they get passionate about soccer again, we’ll give club another try, but I think town travel and school teams will be enough for them.

You really don’t know until you give it a try for a few years. As other posters have said, things change rapidly from U8-U12.

From your first few sentences, it was clear a long time ago your kids were recreational level players only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We only do rec soccer. I’m pretty sure my kid is good enough for travel but why? It’s more expensive, more of a time commitment and more competitive and less fun.
Travel soccer or any travel sport actually is marketed to parents the way gifted magnet programs are.
Let your kid be a kid and enjoy a relaxed childhood.

This!!!! Or find a less intense travel team- being on a travel team doesn’t make your elite, except in a few instances. This is a pay to play situation. There are so many levels of teams. Play rec and try other sports. Don’t force this. It is a big, huge, time commitment - too many people start these teams that travel far and wide too young. It is costly financially but also costly in terms of time as a child during their development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We only do rec soccer. I’m pretty sure my kid is good enough for travel but why? It’s more expensive, more of a time commitment and more competitive and less fun.
Travel soccer or any travel sport actually is marketed to parents the way gifted magnet programs are.
Let your kid be a kid and enjoy a relaxed childhood.

This!!!! Or find a less intense travel team- being on a travel team doesn’t make your elite, except in a few instances. This is a pay to play situation. There are so many levels of teams. Play rec and try other sports. Don’t force this. It is a big, huge, time commitment - too many people start these teams that travel far and wide too young. It is costly financially but also costly in terms of time as a child during their development.

The eating into the kids child development time is a red herring false narrative.

One kid on a Saturday spends 4 hours away from home for a travel game.
One kid is spending 5 hours playing video games and on phone.

The travel soccer kid isn't harming child development years compared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We only do rec soccer. I’m pretty sure my kid is good enough for travel but why? It’s more expensive, more of a time commitment and more competitive and less fun.
Travel soccer or any travel sport actually is marketed to parents the way gifted magnet programs are.
Let your kid be a kid and enjoy a relaxed childhood.

This!!!! Or find a less intense travel team- being on a travel team doesn’t make your elite, except in a few instances. This is a pay to play situation. There are so many levels of teams. Play rec and try other sports. Don’t force this. It is a big, huge, time commitment - too many people start these teams that travel far and wide too young. It is costly financially but also costly in terms of time as a child during their development.

The time we spent traveling was some of the best family and fun times we had. Plenty of free time hanging out with his buds in a new place. Lots of 1:1 time with my kid driving in cars and staying in hotels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get off the travel soccer wheel is it impossible to get back on?

LOL! That's ridiculous. There is always a travel team that will take your money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got off the travel train this year at U13. My DSs (twins) enjoyed the practices and games, but didn’t like the stress and the intensity. Whatever skills they learned didn’t stick in between seasons. They would spend the winter and spring playing with the club team, get really good at playing possession and making quick decisions, but then lose ground in the fall with the town travel team, where the pace of play is much slower and the coaches favor a kickball style that rewards size and aggression.

They played with two different clubs starting at U8. IME, clubs don’t spend a lot of time working on dribbling, shooting, and basic footskills. It’s expected that kids work on their own to develop those. Practices focused more on rondos, passing lanes, attacking 2v2 and 3v3, and small-sided games. Kids will pick up footskills during those drills, but they advance more quickly if they work on their own.

During that time, DS #1 would frequently go out in the backyard and work to develop foot skills and first touch. DS #2 never once touched a ball outside of practice, but because he’s a speed demon and has a high soccer IQ, he got more playing time and better positions. That frustrated DS #1 no end, who felt like all his effort was for nothing.

They weren’t loving the club atmosphere, so this year we switched to a winter futsal league. It was more relaxed and they had a lot more fun. It’s all about their goals (enjoyment and socialization? skill mastery? make a high school team? get a college offer?) and pursuing the things that light them up. DS #1 stopped practicing soccer and started spending all his free time on coding and music (I can barely pry him away from the piano at dinner and bedtime), so that was a clear signal to me about where his heart currently is. DS #2 has discovered that he loves running and considers cross country his #1 sport now. If they get passionate about soccer again, we’ll give club another try, but I think town travel and school teams will be enough for them.

You really don’t know until you give it a try for a few years. As other posters have said, things change rapidly from U8-U12.

From your first few sentences, it was clear a long time ago your kids were recreational level players only.

Hence why they stopped playing club. Try to keep up.

[Anonymous]

My daughter moved from high level team to rec this year. It's been great. No stress. Can miss a game here or there. No travel. Cheap. Coaches are pretty good. Def not missing spending at least 3K a year for travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter moved from high level team to rec this year. It's been great. No stress. Can miss a game here or there. No travel. Cheap. Coaches are pretty good. Def not missing spending at least 3K a year for travel.

Great that it's good for you and your daughter, but my daughter would hate teammates missing "a game here or there" so I'm glad travel exists for those who want to fully commit. I agree that far too many people are roped into travel without the associated commitment and it sucks for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. Agree on missing games. She is fully committed to another sport so rec is perfect.

[Anonymous]

NP. My kid who was on the fourth team, barely above rec, at age 8 is now a college starter who had several offers (D1 and D3).

But my kid was obsessed. Spent hours on his own in the back yard.