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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

Sounds like this isn't for you an you need to make your kid find something else to do.
 :roll: [/quote]

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?[/quote]

[b]Level of competition.[/b] Travel is for competitive types who like to compete and to keep going higher and higher in levels of competition.

[b]Development.[/b] Training by a volunteer parent (who may or may not know anything about soccer)  vs. training by a paid professional. For athletes who want to keep developing to reach their maximum potential.

[/quote]

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