Youth Soccer Hours Per week

[Anonymous]

So I was playing with a spreadsheet today about how much time is devoted to youth soccer per week per kid. I made a few assumptions in this based on some estimates, but here is what I came up with.

For my kid in a Development Academy (4x practices a week, 1x game a week, 30 week season)

Practice:
90 minute practice
50 minute roundtrip (25 there, 25 back)
40 minutes transition (packing backpack, walking to field, post game pickup, shower, etc)

Each practice session takes 3 hours of time. Per week that is 12 hours. Per season that is 360 hours.

Games
90 minutes game
30 minutes pre-game
60 minute drive (trying to average out home and away matches)
40 minutes transition (packing backpack, walking to field, post game pickup, shower, etc)

Each game is a 3 hour and 40 minute event, taking up 110 hours per season.

470 hours per season dedicated to soccer, or about 15.66 hours a week.

I realize estimates for some of these things (driving, transition) may vary but thought it was an interesting exercise. We are supposed to arrive early for practice but most people straggle in just at the start so I didn't put that in. Anyone have any other numbers / times they can share?

[Anonymous]

80-90 min round trip for us. (40-45 min each way).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was playing with a spreadsheet today about how much time is devoted to youth soccer per week per kid. I made a few assumptions in this based on some estimates, but here is what I came up with.

For my kid in a Development Academy (4x practices a week, 1x game a week, 30 week season)

Practice:
90 minute practice
50 minute roundtrip (25 there, 25 back)
40 minutes transition (packing backpack, walking to field, post game pickup, shower, etc)

Each practice session takes 3 hours of time. Per week that is 12 hours. Per season that is 360 hours.

Games
90 minutes game
30 minutes pre-game
60 minute drive (trying to average out home and away matches)
40 minutes transition (packing backpack, walking to field, post game pickup, shower, etc)

Each game is a 3 hour and 40 minute event, taking up 110 hours per season.

470 hours per season dedicated to soccer, or about 15.66 hours a week.

I realize estimates for some of these things (driving, transition) may vary but thought it was an interesting exercise. We are supposed to arrive early for practice but most people straggle in just at the start so I didn't put that in. Anyone have any other numbers / times they can share?

My DD also plays DA and we spend a bit more to and from, and also arrive 15-20 minutes early. But she also spends 4-5 hours/week outside of practice on soccer training away from the team. So add 4 hours x 40 weeks to be conservative -- that's another 160/year even ignoring the travel time....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:80-90 min round trip for us. (40-45 min each way).

Ridiculous. I’m embarrassed on your behalf.

[Anonymous]

maybe they live in Martinsville WV. stop the hate!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:80-90 min round trip for us. (40-45 min each way).

Ridiculous. I’m embarrassed on your behalf.

how is it embarrassing? dmv area with traffic can easily make a 15 mile commute 40 min after work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:80-90 min round trip for us. (40-45 min each way).

Ridiculous. I’m embarrassed on your behalf.

how is it embarrassing? dmv area with traffic can easily make a 15 mile commute 40 min after work

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:80-90 min round trip for us. (40-45 min each way).

Ridiculous. I’m embarrassed on your behalf.

how is it embarrassing? dmv area with traffic can easily make a 15 mile commute 40 min after work

+1

Another +1

[Anonymous]

ECNL player
90 mins per practice x 3
20 minute drive (40 mins round trip) x 3
1 to 2 games a weekend at 90 minutes (w/ halftime) so we'll use a factor of 1.5
All this adds up to 525 minutes or 8.75 hrs per week.

Travel to and from games / tourney's is not every week but adds up to about 976 hours per season, given lots of trips to NC/SC and Richmond for league games, showcases, and even tourneys about 45-50 minutes away with DC traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ECNL player
90 mins per practice x 3
20 minute drive (40 mins round trip) x 3
1 to 2 games a weekend at 90 minutes (w/ halftime) so we'll use a factor of 1.5
All this adds up to 525 minutes or 8.75 hrs per week.

Travel to and from games / tourney's is not every week but adds up to about 976 hours per season, given lots of trips to NC/SC and Richmond for league games, showcases, and even tourneys about 45-50 minutes away with DC traffic.

Thanks. I added a bit of transition time too (i.e. getting off the field, packing bags, etc) which made my number a bit bigger too. Didn't have as long as a drive though so good to hear some other numbers.

[Anonymous]

Are your kids interested in college play or going pro? Not you, but your kids. I’m legitimately curious so please no snark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are your kids interested in college play or going pro? Not you, but your kids. I’m legitimately curious so please no snark.

My kid is in DA but is not interested in playing at university. He has said it would just take too much time. We have relatives who played for D1 schools and the feedback they all gave us was "lots of fun playing but off-field was an absolute miserable grind of homework and fitness." I think my husband is actually kind of anti-sports in college and would prefer a more intense academic focus (he comes from a family of university professors).

We are interested in any potential admissions office bounce that may come from playing sports though but are exploring if he needs to stay in DA for that or can switch to a less time-consuming club or HS and still get that admissions office bump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are your kids interested in college play or going pro? Not you, but your kids. I’m legitimately curious so please no snark.

My kid is in DA but is not interested in playing at university. He has said it would just take too much time. We have relatives who played for D1 schools and the feedback they all gave us was "lots of fun playing but off-field was an absolute miserable grind of homework and fitness." I think my husband is actually kind of anti-sports in college and would prefer a more intense academic focus (he comes from a family of university professors).

We are interested in any potential admissions office bounce that may come from playing sports though but are exploring if he needs to stay in DA for that or can switch to a less time-consuming club or HS and still get that admissions office bump.

I appreciate the honesty. So he’s playing DA, and all of those hours committed for a bump that may or may not happen and he does’t even want to play in college? It sounds like he’s playing only to get a bump whether it’s for DA, HS whatever. Actually, is it you who wants this or him - is he even in HS yet? Does he even want to play at all? I ask bc my DC recently quit playing due to burnout. Not worth the potential bump in his case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are your kids interested in college play or going pro? Not you, but your kids. I’m legitimately curious so please no snark.

My kid is in DA but is not interested in playing at university. He has said it would just take too much time. We have relatives who played for D1 schools and the feedback they all gave us was "lots of fun playing but off-field was an absolute miserable grind of homework and fitness." I think my husband is actually kind of anti-sports in college and would prefer a more intense academic focus (he comes from a family of university professors).

We are interested in any potential admissions office bounce that may come from playing sports though but are exploring if he needs to stay in DA for that or can switch to a less time-consuming club or HS and still get that admissions office bump.

I appreciate the honesty. So he’s playing DA, and all of those hours committed for a bump that may or may not happen and he does’t even want to play in college? It sounds like he’s playing only to get a bump whether it’s for DA, HS whatever. Actually, is it you who wants this or him - is he even in HS yet? Does he even want to play at all? I ask bc my DC recently quit playing due to burnout. Not worth the potential bump in his case.

He is playing DA now BUT...this may be his last year. He's been making hints about that. It's just so many hours to dedicate to something he's not 100% fully going to pursue as a career long-term.

I should note--he loves playing. Likes his team and his teammates, and has remarked to us he just "feels better" after playing a game. I guess maybe that 'runners high' people talk about. He realizes though that long term he has to have more balance than the DA allows. 400+ hours a year is a lot, especially when you compare it to the fact they are only in school for 1080 hours a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are your kids interested in college play or going pro? Not you, but your kids. I’m legitimately curious so please no snark.

My kid is in DA but is not interested in playing at university. He has said it would just take too much time. We have relatives who played for D1 schools and the feedback they all gave us was "lots of fun playing but off-field was an absolute miserable grind of homework and fitness." I think my husband is actually kind of anti-sports in college and would prefer a more intense academic focus (he comes from a family of university professors).

We are interested in any potential admissions office bounce that may come from playing sports though but are exploring if he needs to stay in DA for that or can switch to a less time-consuming club or HS and still get that admissions office bump.

This really doesn’t make sense. The only admissions bump you get is if your kid commits to play for the college team. If your son doesn’t want that, no,bump, no matter how good he is.