Anonymous wrote:How far can you punt a *real* football?

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

It sounds like you have made your decision so I'm not really sure why you are even asking this question but I'll try and answer with a little more respect than the questions was posed.

I'm not going to get into the structure of leagues because it is what it is at this point.

1. "My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes. "

Well, this may not be YOUR idea of fun but did you ask your son? So if you are not willing to support his interests because they don't interest you then who are you really thinking about? Does this mean that you have to fined the BEST team in the BEST league? No, at U9 that isn't necessary but perhaps you can look around enough to find a balance that works for everyone.

Not having him play travel at U9 is not what will "doom" him to never play good soccer, but your attitude has doomed him to never exploring his potential based on nothing more than your idea of fun. Your expectation of what U9 travel soccer looking like "slightly above average soccer" is not inaccurate but that misses the point. Nobody at 8 years old is finished product. Yes, U9 travel soccer does not look that much different than it does at Rec right now, but that changes every year and it does improve because of training. Training that even at travel soccer's most mediocre will still improve a player over time more than playing rec soccer that is mostly social in nature.

asksoccernova wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.




Alright, I'll do my best with this question. This is pretty common - many parents have signed their kids up for soccer programs all the way through 4/5/6/ and its all about fun, exercise, the kids getting to run around, be social, learn a few skills, and play 3v3 or 4v4 soccer games in the local neighborhood with families they all know and other kids that go to the same school. It's all great fun for the player and for the family.


Then, U-8 arrives and all of a sudden there are extra training programs to sign up for, skills clinics, coaches wandering around taking mental notes of talented, skilled, or more athletic players, etc. Your player is being evaluated informally. The reason for this is that clubs form travel teams every year for U9, and the main source of players are the current U8's.

Why do travel teams exist? Because there are leagues, coaches, and organized soccer clubs to put them together. Why do those exist? Because US Soccer has been making grass roots initiatives to teach coaching courses in every state, even reaching out to rural areas so the quality of soccer education improves. Then players improve, and eventually the national teams improve, which is why this is all happening. There are also enough kids that want to participate, and enough parents that can pay fees for it. All of this is being driven by the fact that soccer is much more accessible than it was to the average Joe than in the 90's, when there was very little, if any exposure to international soccer in the US. Now you can just youtube and see all of the famous players, Barcelona, English Premier League, and anything you want.

The great thing about soccer is that the barrier to entry is very low - all you need is a ball and a place to play. This is why millions of kids around the world play it. There are also few genetic qualities that help you in soccer, other than maybe speed - so its more merit-based around how much time and effort you have put into training and playing the game, rather than just being a "stronger/bigger/faster kid" only. A "faster kid" with no foot skills will just run themselves out of breath.


So here's the logic behind a "travel" team -
At U8 and below, a parent volunteers to coach the kids on game day, and maybe run 1 or 2 practices a week. The parent is an unpaid volunteer.



If your son/daughter were in school, would you want an unpaid parent volunteer as their teacher? It would be outrage. Teachers in schools are required to be certified and meet certain standards, or they cannot teach.

Track an 8 year old with an unpaid volunteer teacher who is doing it for the first time and an 8-year old with a professional teacher (with 5-10 years of full-time teaching experience) after a year and see how they progress.

After a year, those kids are at 2 very different levels. Putting them in the same classroom would be hard because they need different curricula to be challenged.


This is the same in soccer - when kids start receiving professional training (if the coach / trainer knows what they are doing), after 1 or 2 full seasons, the teams are on completely different levels.
I'll give you an example - typically, "travel" players are selected based on TIPS - technique, insight, personality, and speed. There are other posts here that go into what those mean in more detail.

When you take the top, say 12 kids out of a pool of 60 playing U8 recreation, you could look at it as an "all-star" team, or whatever. Some clubs do that and then they play against other recreational "all-star" teams at the end of the season.

If that "all-star" team played against a standard recreational team (with no "all star" players), its a complete massacre and not fun for anyone to watch.

Now, after those kids have been selected for travel and received professional training for a season or two, you really can't even put them on the same field with a rec team anymore. This is why rec tournaments don't allow travel teams, and travel tournaments don't allow rec teams - there is too much of a difference in playing level.



As an example, the club I coach for has an informally run U-8 team where kids are invited onto and they play against other clubs a few times in the spring. One team we have played had a group of kids that have not had any professional training, but have just played "backyard soccer". It was really, really bad. Our team scored within the first 15 seconds, and after 4-0 within 3 minutes, some of their players started crying. We pulled the goalie and a field player off and made our kids complete 10 passes before scoring, can only play with your left foot, and all of these restrictions to even the game up. And with that, it was still terribly lopsided. Our kids were getting frustrated that they could not play "real" soccer at their level, and the other team had kids crying.

So that's why we have it - because kids that have higher ability levels to begin with start getting professional training, they get even better, and then they need players at their own level to play and compete against.
It doesn't mean you should be giving your life up for it. The most important part is the training. Lost time is lost time.


A word of caution - here's what happens during the fall of U9 - after the travel team has been selected after the spring U8 season, all of the best players are picked out of the recreational league, and then the talent gets watered down.

If your player is very good, he/she could end up scoring all the team's goals and not be challenged, and therefore not improve much. You see this more on the girls side. On the boys side, the kids have the athleticism to cancel out stronger players.


After a year or two of missing out on professional training, it becomes harder and harder to join a more competitive team later because the training curriculum is above the level that your player is.


Again, its the same as a school classroom - if you select a group of advanced math students, put them in the same class together, and then give them the best math teacher in the school, they are going to be far ahead of the rest of the kids in 1-2 years. If an average student is signed up for the class right at the beginning, they can still catch up with a lot of effort, but the window starts to close as time goes by.



Just find what you think is the best fit for your son/daughter. There are plenty of intermediate options if you are not ready to commit to a travel team, but your player still enjoys the sport and wants to improve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

It sounds like you have made your decision so I'm not really sure why you are even asking this question but I'll try and answer with a little more respect than the questions was posed.

I'm not going to get into the structure of leagues because it is what it is at this point.

1. "My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes. "

Well, this may not be YOUR idea of fun but did you ask your son? So if you are not willing to support his interests because they don't interest you then who are you really thinking about? Does this mean that you have to fined the BEST team in the BEST league? No, at U9 that isn't necessary but perhaps you can look around enough to find a balance that works for everyone.

Not having him play travel at U9 is not what will "doom" him to never play good soccer, but your attitude has doomed him to never exploring his potential based on nothing more than your idea of fun. Your expectation of what U9 travel soccer looking like "slightly above average soccer" is not inaccurate but that misses the point. Nobody at 8 years old is finished product. Yes, U9 travel soccer does not look that much different than it does at Rec right now, but that changes every year and it does improve because of training. Training that even at travel soccer's most mediocre will still improve a player over time more than playing rec soccer that is mostly social in nature.

I admit I could have written my post more diplomatically, but I let my frustration at the system through in the writing. Because I *AM* frustrated, because of course I want my kid to explore his potential. And I genuinely do not see how adding long commutes in any way improves his ability to explore his potential, except that "everyone else is doing it"
So your answer seems to be that the reason travel soccer is important is because you get training - is that what you're saying? And basically "it is what it is" as far as the structure so there's no point in trying to question it or to find it frustrating.

Anonymous wrote:did Pulaski play on a travel team?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Sounds like this isn't for you an you need to make your kid find something else to do.

Well for now the "something else to do" is to continue playing in the rec league he enjoys. So we've found that, but thanks for the suggestion. But you haven't answered my question. And it's a sincere question. I'm trying to understand what's best for my son, and really struggling to see ANY benefit in travel soccer at his age.

What's the point of travel soccer? What's the benefit to the kids in the top 15-25% of the team (rather than the tippy-top kids who truly don't have peers in their local club)?
For those think travel soccer is for them (at the U9/U10 level) - why? What good comes of it as a family or as a player that the kid can't get in a decent rec or county league?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

It sounds like you have made your decision so I'm not really sure why you are even asking this question but I'll try and answer with a little more respect than the questions was posed.

I'm not going to get into the structure of leagues because it is what it is at this point.

1. "My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes. "

Well, this may not be YOUR idea of fun but did you ask your son? So if you are not willing to support his interests because they don't interest you then who are you really thinking about? Does this mean that you have to fined the BEST team in the BEST league? No, at U9 that isn't necessary but perhaps you can look around enough to find a balance that works for everyone.

Not having him play travel at U9 is not what will "doom" him to never play good soccer, but your attitude has doomed him to never exploring his potential based on nothing more than your idea of fun. Your expectation of what U9 travel soccer looking like "slightly above average soccer" is not inaccurate but that misses the point. Nobody at 8 years old is finished product. Yes, U9 travel soccer does not look that much different than it does at Rec right now, but that changes every year and it does improve because of training. Training that even at travel soccer's most mediocre will still improve a player over time more than playing rec soccer that is mostly social in nature.

I admit I could have written my post more diplomatically, but I let my frustration at the system through in the writing. Because I *AM* frustrated, because of course I want my kid to explore his potential. And I genuinely do not see how adding long commutes in any way improves his ability to explore his potential, except that "everyone else is doing it"
So your answer seems to be that the reason travel soccer is important is because you get training - is that what you're saying? And basically "it is what it is" as far as the structure so there's no point in trying to question it or to find it frustrating.

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).

asksoccernova wrote:I mean, you can ask the coach if your son can be a development player and just train with the team and be an alternate if they need an extra person at tournaments of it short-handed for a game but not officially be "on the team". Maybe you just pay training fees.

You have to ask these questions to the coach.