Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What are odds of getting back on a DA after being cut? Do they give you a fair "new"look at tryouts ?

My guess would be if you didn't address any of the issues of why the player was cut then the odds are nill getting back on that team. Especially at older ages where age groups are combined and the number of clubs are reduced.

But the first thing to do is talk to the coach about why your kid was cut and work towards improving those deficiencies.

There is a glaring misconception of what DA should be by having a parent actually asking this question. If all DA, in this area anyway, is a club's first team that bestows bragging rights to to both parent/child, then yes treat DA like trying to get promoted within a club rising through the ladder of teams.

My assumption, at this point is that if DA technical coaches saw what they liked at tryouts, but after a FULL season of training and matches decided they were going to give other players opportunities and no longer wanted that player on their DA roster, I can't imagine what a player would do over the course of one year, that wasn't
already addressed during their time at DA, that would convince the technical staff to again take a chance and offer the player a spot.

If I were in the same spot, I would go for another club's DA.

Was there any feedback or evaluation given during the year? I find the programs in this area completely worthless. There is zero evaluation of value given to players in the developmental years. We received a 6-page detailed evaluation from a foreign coach down to how the kid held his foot when receiving a pass, etc. Each part of the player was broken down from mechanical, decision-making, etc.

The douche-Mcdouchey programs around here are the worst.

A really good youth program lets the kid know where they stand, especially as tryouts near.

We've been at Clubs with great transparency where things weren't a 'secret' and the kid was part of the process and knew if he./she was out of their league, struggling, etc.

If this is older than U-16 I get it, but for the DA u12-u14 they really should be providing detailed evaluations for all players.

You know those games where your kid is getting ten minutes? Take the hint and have your kid talk to the coach or do so yourself. No kid is just cut out of the blue without warning.

I call BS on this theory. I had a kid that played the entire game of every game and the Coach always appointed him Captain. He said he was the hardest working, well-behaved/respectful and smartest player. The other players and parents on the sideline were always complimenting him. He had just about every assist, perfectly set the plays. Coach repeatedly would tell us he was the top player on the team, was advancing tremendously and would be moved up without a doubt the following season.

What happened after tryouts? They moved 5 bench sitters over him the following season. My kid was on the A field during the entire 3 tryouts while the bench sitters were on the lower fields with the 3rd and 4th teams. Coach told us he was extremely upset and fought hard for my kid, as did the age group director. He didn't fault us for leaving the Club. The other kids did have a long family history at the Club and knew the next age group coaches well.

We went somewhere else. The new Coaches in summer training told us my kid was too advanced for his peer group and they were placing him in the older age group/year above where he is currently thriving.

The thing you can deduce from a kid not getting playing time is that the Coach 'thinks' he is not a value, but in our experience being the 'clutch' player and playing the entire game can also mean shit when the Coaches don't have final say over their own rosters or the next age group knows nothing about the kids the age group below and have never, ever watched them play.

Unlike your wife, I know a lot about soccer and I see really great players getting the shaft a lot. We have a kid on my other son's team who is responsible for about 90% of goals scored against us. He is well below the level of every other kid on the team and the teams below son's. The parents are heavily involved in the Club and older sibling is on an A team which is the only reason anyone can fathom how he was moved onto the team and better players demoted.

Weird shit happens.

Similar view, but opposite event happened to us. Our child is an awesome Rec player and single handedly took their Rec team from obscurity to the top place in the top division after several seasons. They decided to tryout for Travel, and was able to get onto a high Travel team - we were excited since we knew our kid was great. Well, our kid is talented, but on that high of a team our kid just kind of blended in and was not aggressive like in Rec, and definitely was not the play maker - our bubble was burst. S/He scored enough to be noticed and usually played half of the game, but there were others on the team that are/were much better. We had hoped our kid would be moved down a travel level after this past tryout, so they could be the play maker again. Didn't happen and made the same travel team, and some kids we thought were just as good or better got moved down to a lower travel team. We can't figure why our kid stayed and others moved down. Our kid has great foot skills when dribbling, better than many, but can get shut down easily when there is more than one defender, and he doesn't chase after the ball - doesn't have the aggressive gene when playing Travel. Maybe the coaches see something we don't - we do know a lot of soccer parents and coaches since we have other kids that play soccer - but we were not out lobbying for our kid to stay at a high travel level, and were kind of rooting for our kid to be moved down.

If you really wanted him to be on the lower team, you just have to ask. It's done all the time. We've done it.

To the other poster, it sounds like both the coach and current age group director (not the parent) were the ones advocating the move. If that's the case and the new place values the player, the correct choice was made to leave. You shouldn't stay somewhere with that inconsistency/lack of communication of coaching staff. The opinion of the Coach who watched the player 10 months vs the Coach or TD that saw the kids for a mere 3 hours should take precedence and be given more weight.

Coaches get kids wrong, I stated that, but the kid wasn't "cut". It sounds like the kid wasn't promoted. Two different things entirely. It kind of sounded like they felt entitled to the spot and left the club when the spot wasn't offered. But the reality is that in order to cut from the team you have actually have played on the team. But for a coach to take five, FIVE "bench sitters" over their kid tells me that there are other things at play here and I would point my suspicions to the parents or they simply don't trust the previous coaches opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any statistics on how many players end up playing in college from all these clubs/ leagues? That is the end game right? A college scholarship?
The way I see it, and I've been duped myself, is that it is all a $$$ grab and we are all falling for it.

Granted my kids are still young in soccer, but this year we will spend close to $10K on youth soccer for multiple kids.

http://time.com/4913284/kids-sports-cost/

No plans for them to play soccer in college - but a great way for them to keep active in a group sport, keeps them too busy for computers and TV, and we love hanging out with other soccer parents and families - it has become one of our more regular social outlets. And if they did get a college scholarship, I'd rather send them to a strong academic university rather than a small college. And do kids really get full college scholarships in Soccer? Doesn't seem like the money is following the sport yet.

You can check out stories about local soccer clubs here http://www.soccerwire.com/ , and might give an indication if some go on to play college soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any statistics on how many players end up playing in college from all these clubs/ leagues? That is the end game right? A college scholarship?
The way I see it, and I've been duped myself, is that it is all a $$$ grab and we are all falling for it.

pretty much all the sports are like this, aren't they? few make a career out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any statistics on how many players end up playing in college from all these clubs/ leagues? That is the end game right? A college scholarship?
The way I see it, and I've been duped myself, is that it is all a $$$ grab and we are all falling for it.

The answer to the question of how many play in college is on the NCAA website. For girls 7.2% of HS soccer players play in college. For boys, 5.6% play in college.

[Anonymous]

Maybe 300 pages ago in this thread, it was brought to my attention that a lot of people use sports to *get in* to the college of their choice. Not pay for it.

You may not get a scholarship to UVA -- the limits are 9.9 on the men's side and 14 for women -- but you might get in. A college roster might have 30 or more players.

That's not new. In my high school's class of 1996, the valedictorian didn't get into an Ivy, but the best basketball player did, even though he wound up not making the team.

Now I have a ninth-grader, and I have access to Naviance. I can see the scattergrams showing me the test scores and GPAs of people who were accepted or denied to almost any school I want. It's not hard to spot the athletes.

All that said -- that's still not the endgame for a lot of people. In some cases, it's just life lessons and fun experiences. I'll probably end up spending a ton of money on my kids' music and theater activities, and I'm under the no illusion that they'll be the next Justin Timberlake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any statistics on how many players end up playing in college from all these clubs/ leagues? That is the end game right? A college scholarship?
The way I see it, and I've been duped myself, is that it is all a $$$ grab and we are all falling for it.

The answer to the question of how many play in college is on the NCAA website. For girls 7.2% of HS soccer players play in college. For boys, 5.6% play in college.

Girls college teams have more scholarship $$ for soccer because it isn't eaten up by football and baseball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any statistics on how many players end up playing in college from all these clubs/ leagues? That is the end game right? A college scholarship?
The way I see it, and I've been duped myself, is that it is all a $$$ grab and we are all falling for it.

It is not the end game for everyone. I for one just support my kid playing at the highest level he can and provide him the best opportunities to develop...today. I don't focus on tomorrow. They are too young and so many things can happen. Do full college scholarships even exist? We should all know that travel soccer isn't a good investment. It's for teaching life skills. That's the end game for me.

Agreed a college scholarship should not be the end goal. Similar to parents who put their kids in little league or basketball or football or basketball don't expect their kids to become Olympians or professional players. Soccer is really no different, just that too many parents don't have a clue what good training is, so it has been believed that club soccer prepares a kid for college soccer. This is wholly untrue, club soccer at it's best will provide a form of recreation a little higher than recreational. The DA and ECNL/ENPL have a bit higher levels of competition, but the majority will still not be good enough for college soccer, let alone being good enough that a college will give you money to come to their school for soccer glory.

D1 soccer schools rely on a run & shoot game for the most part, so all of the possession that is learned, if any, is really useless and what every college coach wants are strong fast players that can control a ball long enough to shoot. GK should be able to punt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any statistics on how many players end up playing in college from all these clubs/ leagues? That is the end game right? A college scholarship?
The way I see it, and I've been duped myself, is that it is all a $$$ grab and we are all falling for it.

It is not the end game for everyone. I for one just support my kid playing at the highest level he can and provide him the best opportunities to develop...today. I don't focus on tomorrow. They are too young and so many things can happen. Do full college scholarships even exist? We should all know that travel soccer isn't a good investment. It's for teaching life skills. That's the end game for me.

Agreed a college scholarship should not be the end goal. Similar to parents who put their kids in little league or basketball or football or basketball don't expect their kids to become Olympians or professional players. Soccer is really no different, just that too many parents don't have a clue what good training is, so it has been believed that club soccer prepares a kid for college soccer. This is wholly untrue, club soccer at it's best will provide a form of recreation a little higher than recreational. The DA and ECNL/ENPL have a bit higher levels of competition, but the majority will still not be good enough for college soccer, let alone being good enough that a college will give you money to come to their school for soccer glory.

D1 soccer schools rely on a run & shoot game for the most part, so all of the possession that is learned, if any, is really useless and what every college coach wants are strong fast players that can control a ball long enough to shoot. GK should be able to punt.

Sadly, that is true.

[Anonymous]

As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

The amount of money you pay from Rec to U18 will far surpass many state schools. If you are after the $$ part of college soccer, you have made a really bad investment. Play for the right reasons, not money. My son would love to play college and then pro one day like many of your kids, but it will not be at the expense of going to the best school possible. We would be willing to settle for UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

The amount of money you pay from Rec to U18 will far surpass many state schools. If you are after the $$ part of college soccer, you have made a really bad investment. Play for the right reasons, not money. My son would love to play college and then pro one day like many of your kids, but it will not be at the expense of going to the best school possible. We would be willing to settle for UVA

For UVA it costs $30,000 (in-state) per year to attend. $15,000 just in tuition per year. The costs of soccer at a "high level" will amount to one year of UVA. Not a drop in the bucket by any means but not exactly "far surpassing" either.

Out of state will set you back $59,000/year.

Essentially the end game is being admitted to a school that your kid might not be accepted at otherwise and hopefully enough scholarship money just to cover the money spent on soccer. Free rides are not a realistic option but partial scholarships are possible. For a A or A- student playing soccer in college can give an admissions cushion that is a difference maker.

http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1571

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

Very much unlike basketball and football playing college soccer is not a pipeline to playing pro. Soccer, or as is known through the rest of the world as futbol, has a global marketplace with scouts all over the global soccer hotbeds. If playing any soccer in college is the goal, then yes if you continue club and get on a DA team throughout your teen years you will be in a better position than others to be selected to play on college's soccer teams. Yet we all know the school you choose to go to matters, so why would a person average at academics with a chance to go to a college in VA with in-state tuition choose to play in any other college out of the state? The prospects that you will be drafted are not that great to begin with, the college coaching staff are very much the dinosaurs of old and they're more of a Bruce Arena than a Jurgen Klinsman. This matters because as player in their late teens early twenties with dreams of going pro, when it comes to soccer, should be concerned about development of all skills and playing time and less concerned about winning.

Any young HS student with great academic achievement and a good soccer player should hang up their club uniform and play intramural/pick-up with whomever. If you haven't been scouted by professional academies or took the right steps to be scouted by time you're 17, at least in the USA, it's just not going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

The amount of money you pay from Rec to U18 will far surpass many state schools. If you are after the $$ part of college soccer, you have made a really bad investment. Play for the right reasons, not money. My son would love to play college and then pro one day like many of your kids, but it will not be at the expense of going to the best school possible. We would be willing to settle for UVA

For UVA it costs $30,000 (in-state) per year to attend. $15,000 just in tuition per year. The costs of soccer at a "high level" will amount to one year of UVA. Not a drop in the bucket by any means but not exactly "far surpassing" either.

Out of state will set you back $59,000/year.

Essentially the end game is being admitted to a school that your kid might not be accepted at otherwise and hopefully enough scholarship money just to cover the money spent on soccer. Free rides are not a realistic option but partial scholarships are possible. For a A or A- student playing soccer in college can give an admissions cushion that is a difference maker.

http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1571

Your numbers are low because you are just using club dues. Factor in things like cleats, jerseys, gas, showcases, soccer summer camps, travel tours (we had one that was 10k alone). I think it's more than 4 year tuition for instate. Room and board should not be counted. Ok, done with living in the weeds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

The amount of money you pay from Rec to U18 will far surpass many state schools. If you are after the $$ part of college soccer, you have made a really bad investment. Play for the right reasons, not money. My son would love to play college and then pro one day like many of your kids, but it will not be at the expense of going to the best school possible. We would be willing to settle for UVA

For UVA it costs $30,000 (in-state) per year to attend. $15,000 just in tuition per year. The costs of soccer at a "high level" will amount to one year of UVA. Not a drop in the bucket by any means but not exactly "far surpassing" either.

Out of state will set you back $59,000/year.

Essentially the end game is being admitted to a school that your kid might not be accepted at otherwise and hopefully enough scholarship money just to cover the money spent on soccer. Free rides are not a realistic option but partial scholarships are possible. For a A or A- student playing soccer in college can give an admissions cushion that is a difference maker.

http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1571

Your numbers are low because you are just using club dues. Factor in things like cleats, jerseys, gas, showcases, soccer summer camps, travel tours (we had one that was 10k alone). I think it's more than 4 year tuition for instate. Room and board should not be counted. Ok, done with living in the weeds.

So you are claiming that soccer will set a family back $120,000 per player? Because that is what 4 years in state will cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As for playing in college - in a state like VA most of the kids on the top 3-4 teams still playing their Junior year will play in college at some level. Of course kids from weaker teams will also play. All of the best players are not on the top level teams.

As for scholarships that varies widely. Schools can give partial soccer scholarships and lots of schools do not fully fund their programs meaning that they might have 4 scholarships to divide up even though the NCAA would allow 9.9. Level of play makes a difference here too. A kid might be a walk on at Norte Dame but have a full ride offer at a smaller D1.

Very much unlike basketball and football playing college soccer is not a pipeline to playing pro. Soccer, or as is known through the rest of the world as futbol, has a global marketplace with scouts all over the global soccer hotbeds. If playing any soccer in college is the goal, then yes if you continue club and get on a DA team throughout your teen years you will be in a better position than others to be selected to play on college's soccer teams. Yet we all know the school you choose to go to matters, so why would a person average at academics with a chance to go to a college in VA with in-state tuition choose to play in any other college out of the state? The prospects that you will be drafted are not that great to begin with, the college coaching staff are very much the dinosaurs of old and they're more of a Bruce Arena than a Jurgen Klinsman. This matters because as player in their late teens early twenties with dreams of going pro, when it comes to soccer, should be concerned about development of all skills and playing time and less concerned about winning.

Any young HS student with great academic achievement and a good soccer player should hang up their club uniform and play intramural/pick-up with whomever. If you haven't been scouted by professional academies or took the right steps to be scouted by time you're 17, at least in the USA, it's just not going to happen.

Eddie Pope would beg to differ. Jay DeMerit would certainly beg to differ.

Geez, even Clint Dempsey went to college.