Reply to youth soccer participation down 23.5% in key 6-12 year age group...

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Too few clubs offer an alternative for U9-U12s.  Rec teams are not even serious and treated as a joke, and few selection-based teams offer something in between rec and full blown NCSL travel  ---- where we are with its big tourneys, winter practices, etc.

Can anyone name a VA club that has a U9-U12 select or travel-lite team that:

does not require a year commitment

practices only twice a week within 30 minutes of DC

plays in maybe one tourney a season

has all its home and away games within an hour drive of DC

has professional coaches

costs half of the usual $3K a year ---- because it doesn't have any DOCs, etc., etc.

[/quote]

YES. SFL and ODSL. Google them. TONS of clubs (BRYC and FPYC for example) in NoVa have teams in those leagues. They cost way less than travel leagues, require less commitment, etc., etc...all those things you mentioned... [/quote]

ODSL is still travel soccer, and the clubs certainly charge travel soccer fees.  I think what you mean is that the competition and quality of play is expected to be lower than that of NCSL and certainly VPL/CCL so the coaches shouldn't expect families and players to have as high a commitment to the team as they would if the players were to play in the top leagues or D1-D3 NCSL.  Of course this is a terrible way of teaching your kids commitment and hardwork paying off, if you're not able to commit and play for soccer at a intermediate level for your age, just do rec.  There would not be anything wrong with rec if the players that really cared about soccer but were on the 4th-6th travel team were to join rec.[/quote]

The real crux of the problem, for the PP, is that they want a Goldielocks situation. They want the commitment of Rec with the variety and organization of travel. Basically, they want to play other clubs but not have a regular travel commitment. Frankly, that just doesn’t exist outside of ODSL and registering through or joining a VISTA club (mileage in VISTA can vary as some teams are very good and very serious).

At 8-10 years old my best recommendation is to find the level of play and then try and work the schedule out with the coach. My kid was and played with multi sport kids at those ages and it was never a problem. Any reasonable coach will ultimately be in coaching to teach kids anyway and if all it takes to keep Johnny involved in the sport is making two practices instead of three is a small price to pay. [/quote]

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