Anonymous wrote:I realized something important yesterday. My kid begged me to take him to the park in the freezing rain to practice defending goals and run laps. Also on the field was an older kid getting a private training session. The coach was pulling teeth to get this kid to work through drills and the kid had a good attitude, but not the natural talent or the gritty, raw *drive* that my kid has. And that other kid can't do a single thing to gain those things.

Wait until puberty. lol. A lot of boys and girls that used to be like that lose the love of the game when they grow interest in the opposite sex. Also- the tedium of travel soccer and the way it is run so early can really burn kids out by HS.

That said --my Senior is still like your son, but I think the fact that he was injured for a 1.5 years early HS is the reason he still has a burning passion while a lot of boys on his MLSNext and ECNL teams stopped playing around Junior year.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Kid is very good but not elite level. ECNL but not MLSNext. Could likely get there with this kind of training, but no, we can’t afford it. That is my beef. It’s a massive advantage to be extremely wealthy in so many areas… and here is yet another one, where I was just thinking team training and kid practicing on their own (which he does every day) is enough. Such is life.

No need to be despondent.
Your kid doesn't have to be on one of the overpriced name-brand clubs or attend overpriced name-brand private training coach/group.

Several players playing at pretty high levels didn't take that route.

OP here. Kid is very good but not elite level. ECNL but not MLSNext. Could likely get there with this kind of training, but no, we can’t afford it. That is my beef. It’s a massive advantage to be extremely wealthy in so many areas… and here is yet another one, where I was just thinking team training and kid practicing on their own (which he does every day) is enough. Such is life.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why I hadn’t realized this til now with DC in U13 but I had no idea how much money it costs for a soccer player to become truly elite by high school. These kids have fitness, strength, running, technical work, periodization schedules mapped out around ID camps—all outside of team practices. It must run in the 10s of thousands per year as some of the coaches are hitting $200 per hour.
For those of you doing this: is it worth it? And in general, are there any really top kids who do NOT get this extra training? Am I the only clueless parent out here?

Yes, it's worth it. No, it's not needed.

Pretty much all of it can be done on your own with some effort. Probably the only thing that you couldn't do yourself is small group training and even that is achievable if you get a handful of like-minded parents together.

That said...if you're not paying for it AND you're not doing it yourself, your kid is going to fall behind the kids who are.

Anonymous wrote:I realized something important yesterday. My kid begged me to take him to the park in the freezing rain to practice defending goals and run laps. Also on the field was an older kid getting a private training session. The coach was pulling teeth to get this kid to work through drills and the kid had a good attitude, but not the natural talent or the gritty, raw *drive* that my kid has. And that other kid can't do a single thing to gain those things.

Yes, I'm sure your young kid has the raw drive to go far. But that doesn't mean he has the knowledge to know what to practice. Maybe the technique he's using to defend goals in the rain is not very good and he's only building bad habits. Running laps is not the best activity to build explosiveness on the soccer field and could actually slow him down. Again, it's great he is driven and hopefully it continues as he gets older. But at some point he'll need a coach to give him specific instruction and feedback, and most "elite" team coaches are not doing this as they focus on team tactics and organizing trainings for 20 kids and multiple teams.

It's unfortunate but the private and supplemental training is the norm at the MLS Next/ECNL levels where most of the kids have college hopes.

Is it worth it? Not from a financial perspective. If you are looking at some kind of ROI from a scholarship, it's not going to pay off. We do it for my DD but not for financial payoff, but because it's her passion (for now) and we are lucky to have the resources to help her. Just like if she were into playing music and we bought her a $5k instrument.

It's easy to say your kid will watch Youtube videos and work out on their own, but that's a bit unrealistic as they get to high school age. Strength and conditioning on your own if you aren't using proper form could do as much harm as good. Same with kicking a ball against the wall, which is great for younger kids but as they get older there needs to be some intentional direction from a knowledgeable coach. I'm sure there are some exceptions out there who learn to play guitar from watching videos and practicing, but most would do better to have an expert give them direct feedback, and experts cost money.

I realized something important yesterday. My kid begged me to take him to the park in the freezing rain to practice defending goals and run laps. Also on the field was an older kid getting a private training session. The coach was pulling teeth to get this kid to work through drills and the kid had a good attitude, but not the natural talent or the gritty, raw *drive* that my kid has. And that other kid can't do a single thing to gain those things.

This is OP. I mean kids who want to play college soccer. PPs point is true, hard to coach 20 boys of different skill levels for sure. I just hadn’t realized the extent of the private coaching scene and that this might have a lot to do with the kids who are real standouts on the field.

Even the club coaches who came from true strong soccer cultures and believe strongly in proper development struggle in this environment because most parents and other coaches and club directors are not on their page.
So individual development isn't happening much at team practices.

Also, folks need to realize, even a 3rd tier U13 team in South America or Europe has extremely qualified assistant coaches assisting the head coach to focus on important technical and tactical development.

We have a 'coach' coaching 20 kids of varying levels.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why I hadn’t realized this til now with DC in U13 but I had no idea how much money it costs for a soccer player to become truly elite by high school. These kids have fitness, strength, running, technical work, periodization schedules mapped out around ID camps—all outside of team practices. It must run in the 10s of thousands per year as some of the coaches are hitting $200 per hour.
For those of you doing this: is it worth it? And in general, are there any really top kids who do NOT get this extra training? Am I the only clueless parent out here?

"by' high school or "in" high school?

It may be what some "elite" level kids are doing, but we'll never do all that.

My kid plays for a top team and he likes to practice on his own (kicking a ball against the wall, practicing shots in the backyard) but that's about the extent of it. He does usually attend a 1 week soccer camp during the summer, and that's as much for the fun and experience as for the "training" aspect of it.

I think what he's doing is enough for him to be an "elite" high school player one day (just using your terminology). He doesn't appear to be destined for a professional soccer career, however.

U don’t “need it”. There are many economical options around. Internet has tons of drills and stuff for your kid to work on by themselves or with the parents.

Def would not paying $200 for individual training though but probably would pay somewhere $50-$70 if we feel like there’s a particular things to work on.

Otherwise, lots of quality clinics and camps around and to be honest, it’s more fun to practice with other kids anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why I hadn’t realized this til now with DC in U13 but I had no idea how much money it costs for a soccer player to become truly elite by high school. These kids have fitness, strength, running, technical work, periodization schedules mapped out around ID camps—all outside of team practices. It must run in the 10s of thousands per year as some of the coaches are hitting $200 per hour.
For those of you doing this: is it worth it? And in general, are there any really top kids who do NOT get this extra training? Am I the only clueless parent out here?

It's a mixture of having a quality coach that's focused on development (not all coaches are good) and an youth athlete who practices on their own. There is no such thing as a successful athlete who doesn't train not their own. Even if it's doing 500 touches on the ball at home a day which only takes 15-20 minutes.

Not doing it. It does suck, but it's what needed.

Not sure why I hadn’t realized this til now with DC in U13 but I had no idea how much money it costs for a soccer player to become truly elite by high school. These kids have fitness, strength, running, technical work, periodization schedules mapped out around ID camps—all outside of team practices. It must run in the 10s of thousands per year as some of the coaches are hitting $200 per hour.
For those of you doing this: is it worth it? And in general, are there any really top kids who do NOT get this extra training? Am I the only clueless parent out here?