Reply to 9 years of travel socce for DC, I regret it

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, thanks for this post. My DS is early in the travel journey and we're debating whether this is a good decision or not. We already plan so much time around his sports' schedule that I can't imagine what it'll be like heading to SC/NC for weekends, too. At present, the kids all do well academically so I'd like to focus on that. Even if DS is good enough to play D3, what's the point in that? He'd spend so much time in practice and games that he'd miss out on the academics of college.

I think our kids would gain just as much athleticism and love of team sports playing on a lower tier team with less commitment as playing travel. I'm planning to get out while we still can and spend that extra time and money on academics and family time. [/quote]

[b]How he spends his time in college is really up to him.
[/b]
While kids activities should not be indulged beyond the families financial or real logistical or time constraints but purposely holding a kid back from their potential only closes opportunities later. I don't know if your son can play D3, D2 or D1 and it may not even matter to him but it is best to let him drive his ambition within the boundaries of what your family can reasonably accommodate. [/quote]

Nope, not really. If I'm paying for school at 100%, it's not entirely up to him to skip school for sports. And in all honesty, chasing a college soccer dream has very minimal ROI. There is little to no point in this country. Sports are great but academics are better. DS will get far more out of his studies than he ever will with travel sports. And let's just say kid - any kid- is good enough to play MLS, have you seen the average salary for that? Doesn't make any sense to me. Get a degree in a field that delivers a way to have a paying career. Sports only pay their way if you are in the top .001%. So study, kids![/quote]

Eh, I'd argue that there are different kinds of ROI. One of my best friends in college was captain of our football team. Did he go on to play in the NFL? Nope, he went into banking. But he left school with excellent time management skills and a HUGE network of friends with whom he's still in touch.

I think that counts for something.[/quote]

Being captain of football time is not the only way to gain time management skills or friends. [b]The argument here is that the time suck that is sports is not worth it long term to many families[/b], and those who have invested heavily in it come to regret it. So if you can gain same or similar skills (time management from, say, on campus employment) by investing less time and money that's a better ROI. The sad truth is that the majority of kids in travel will not benefit from it as much as they think. maybe the top 10% will but the rest may have been better off playing in local, cheaper leagues with friends. [/quote]

Well that is the problem, it isn't the "families time" in college, it is your son's. How many other things will you hold over is head to control how he spends his time?

At a certain point you have to let them manage their lives. Offer your support and input but otherwise butt out. Part-time jobs can be just as distracting and a time suck as well.

They have the rest of their lives to hate their career you don't need rush it with a part-time job during college. [/quote]

That's a pretty dense comment. It is the family's time with the kid in sports leading up to college. To play college football (or soccer) one must precede that with years of play in the sport in HS, MS and ES. So yeah, that's sort of the parents' business. And yes, we will absolutely control that. And guess what? That sports time can cost upwards of $30K, as OP has pointed out. We have a say in that, too. Kid can do what he likes when he heads off to college. If I'm paying that tuition bill, however, he's going to attend class and make the most of it. End of story. I'm not paying $150K for him to waste everyone's time. If kid wants to find himself in college he can do it for either less than $150K+ or not on my dime.

And I think you're massively out of touch with reality. I had a part time job in college - as did MOST students - because we needed the freaking money. Your princes may not have to do that but I think balancing my PT job at restaurant/gym/etc while in school helped with time management. So cheaper than football I guess?[/quote]

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