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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We’ve hit the end of our travel journey at u19. Here’s my advice.

Follow your kid’s lead. Make sure it’s fun. Make sure the coach and team environment is a good fit for your player (note that coach and team fit are very individual). Some coaches will recognize your player’s gifts and some will not. Find the coach who appreciates them.  Be quiet on the sidelines. If you don’t have something positive to say, don’t open your mouth. Don’t criticize the GK. Unless your child is a GK or you were, you likely have no clue about their role (even many coaches have no clue). Along those lines, if your kid wants to be a GK, make sure they are mentally tough as it’s a lot of pressure. And don’t let them specialize too soon as GKs need to be good with their feet. Don’t expect your players trajectory to be a straight line. Some kids look amazing at younger ages but quit or don’t keep developing. Some late bloomers end up making it to top teams (we know a kid who was on the 4th team when young but is playing D1 soccer). Don’t chase the alphabet soup of leagues if it doesn’t work for you. Kids can and are recruited outside MLS Next, ECNL and GA. Those can help with exposure but a strong player outside these leagues can market themselves and get offers. Know that very few kids will play in college and most who do will play D2 and D3. Let them play soccer for the sake of playing soccer without an agenda. If you have a boy, it’s a much more competitive road for college roster spots than for girls and it’s not remotely the same as even 3 years ago. Even if somehow your kid beats the odds and plays D1, you will spend more on travel soccer than the athletic scholarship (D3 has no athletic money).

Enjoy the journey! It goes fast! [/quote]

+1[/quote]

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