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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]^^  Dude--there is no point to it anymore. You are on a Board that loves travel soccer ---and it's a 'mom's blog' so you aren't going to get honest answer.  Club big-wigs also come on here and try to plant seeds, etc.

I started playing travel in this area in 1980--back when the Mia Hamms and Jill Ellis and Bruce Murrays and John Kerr Jr were playing in the DMV and it was the "Washington Diplomats' and later "Washington Stars--when Pro soccer folded' and then back to 'DC United'.  There used to be 1 team per Club (2 at the very most).  It was very competitive to get on a team.    Given the small number of teams (yes less players played--but the competition was just as high but smaller numbers and concentrated).  You had lots of people that were former professionals or European youth academy U-17 National players that came to play for US colleges in the US when they weren't going to make the first team.   They were very knowledgeable.  There wasn't a lot of licensing and nobody cared what your license said if you knew your stuff.  Many coached for free and volunteered at Clubs because they loved it. There were fewer leagues (at the time just one for girls in the area)--given the small number of teams and the one league--you traveled to play.  Some of the best talent did happen to be right in the NoVa area--along with a few other hotspots in the US.

There were very few kids walking around in those jackets where you sewed all of the out of state tournament patches, and league winner patches (remember those:)?) because so few kids played travel soccer.  I swear to god every single kid at my children's elementary school comes out of the doors wearing a travel jacket---with player numbers going up to the triple digits.

Over time, more and more people got tuned into soccer --which is good.  We want that.  The problem is that things got crazy and greedy and expensive.  For instance, Patrick sponsored my travel team (does it still exist?--flashbacks)---they gave us cleats, uniforms and bags.  We were a top team in the area and we did not have to pay for any of that.  Our coach was not paid. His kid played on the team. The fees were not there.  Our parents only paid a lot in hotel rooms for travel---air travel when we made it to Regionals and Nationals--but NOTHING like parents pay today for inferior product. For regular out-of-town tournaments, we were hosted by families in that town. There were less 'con artists'. We did travel far---league make-up games were weeknights(on a work night as my parents used to lament) ---sometimes very far.

Nowadays so many kids play travel soccer at the very lowest levels in so many different leagues that it is now akin to playing REC for a handsome price.  Now--we have nobody in Rec after 3rd grade since every kid can basically find a travel team---so people pay these ridiculous fees just to find other kids to play with that will actually show up for a game/practice.  Parents that are new to the whole thing fail to question anything--not really their fault they trust all of these guys and gals with the fancy licenses and resumes. They get told they'll be black-balled or to be quiet if they do anyways.  We no longer have renegades that just say 'f_ck this and go out on their own' because its become virtually impossible since leagues and Counties place so many restrictions on little start-up teams.

Some of your best players can't afford to play and even with sponsorship have nobody able to get them all the places they need to be.  It used to be easier for them--at least fee wise.

It's a shit-show pure and simple.  I will say the technical skill of young kids today is higher these days--but I see that even with a good rec program or leagues just below travel.  Coaches don't train like they used to though because parents would complain they were 'too tough'. We've all gone soft.  And, since coaches are ultimately paid by parents they just try to make everyone happy.

A lot of 2nd and 3rd generation players have already started to move past 'travel' soccer and all these fancy DA teams.  Their kids are being developed outside of the system because they can see the product inside and find the dilution of talent a real problem.  They don't care about the 'fancy jackets' or the 'status'.  They care about soccer and development. They also have the balls to say "hell no, I'm not going to drive my kid 3.5 hours one-way for a single league game".  Really stupid thing to do.

So that is a long-winded story of how travel soccer has ended up like it is now.  As for the people telling you to: just shut up and play Rec--they are a lot of the problem.  They will do anything a Club asks of them like good little lemmings.  [/quote]

+1 best post I've read in awhile.  Multiple kids playing travel, and this summary nails it all.  I am going to print it and pin it to every U9 family that enters the system and doesn't get it.  who the heck are you and where do you live?!?  ;) i am surrounded by lemmings at my club who just love to pay, pay, pay (camps, summer league, etc.), and they don't even ever attend a practice to watch the actual training.  massive carpools by clueless soccer moms and dads[/quote]

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