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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks - we are a brand new family.  DD was born in late 2010 and we live in Vienna.  I see that VYS is a hot topic for many based upon that other thread.  DD loves soccer and we are torn between having her try out for travel or having her stay in rec.  She is competitive.  All I care about is that she has fun.  We are not concerned with the finances.

So my question, she has been playing with friends on her team since K.  I know the age groups are different for travel and it is a matter of time before they all go in their own directions anyway.  We also want this to be a fun, social experience.  What are the benefits of her trying out now or waiting until later?  She will always be one of the oldest in rec or one of the youngest in travel.  [/quote]

Our DD is slightly older but we made the mistake of doing travel at u9. If I had it to do over I would find a select/classic team that is competitive and has a good coach who knows the game. Maybe even a parent coach who has played soccer at a high level. At the end of the day, what killed travelfor me at that age was the actual travel. We traveled all over to play against teams that weren't that good. The reality is that at that age, it does not make sense to travel all over the DMV playing games. It is probably more efficient to use that time training. U12 or u13 is the age when travel becomes critical. By u14 for sure. Don't fall into the trap that you have to do travel at u9 because you don't. Use your time and money to invest in training. [/quote]

And yes, traveling "all over the DMV". How terrible.

When I see comments like this I can pretty much just picture the parents right away. They are the parents who view sports as a social outlet or just a way to get some exercise. But most of the time it is not much more than a box to check that says "I'm Parenting". When you are already bemoaning traveling "all over the DMV" before you have set foot on a practice field I'm pretty sure the kid picks up on that.

Taking the fiscal issues out of it and assuming money isn't the driving factor the decision of the level that a kid plays at should be player driven. But once the decision is made then you need to be supportive and that means not bitching about driving to Alexandria on a Saturday morning for a 8:00am tourney game. Yes, your weekends are no longer your own. It sucks, UNLESS your kid loves what they are doing and they will love it more if you just bite your tongue when around them.

[/quote]

I have been a travel sport parent for 5 years now with daughters playing softball and soccer. My older daughter is committed to play softball in college when she graduates this year. She never played any sports until she was 13 and "decided' to try out for the MS Softball team. She LOVED it and decided that she wanted to play travel softball. She knew she would be playing catch up, and that she would have to start on a "lower" level travel team, but that was ok. She has worked her butt off, and as a senior she is her HS Captain and plays 18UA travel softball. In September she was able to commit to play softball at a D3 College here in VA. We have went from weekend after weekend in Sterling playing tournaments to travelling up and down the mid-Atlantic. I can only imagine we will be following the college team next year as well. My younger daughter started travel soccer at U9. She loves playing and watching soccer. She is currently playing U14 ECNL/DA soccer, and loves the competition and the comraderie. My wife and I have LOVED every minute of the time that the kids playing sports has "forced" us to spend together. The memories we have made and time we have spent together is worth every penny we have put into youth sports. In all honesty I wonder what we will do with ourselves when they are done...... [/quote]

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