Anonymous wrote:So you mean taking 8 year olds to tournaments across the country doesn't mean they will be D1 athletes?

That’s a low blow

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

We did not find this to be the case, but we were on a high-level team where virtually every kid had one or more very knowledgeable soccer parents (DH in my case), and the families who didn’t sought out advice from those who did. If you polled all the knowledgeable parents on the team about which kids at 12 had college potential if they kept their grades up, the results would have been at least 75% accurate. I agree that a parent who does not know the game is not going to be able to make that prediction, and kids can go in a variety of directions depending on personalities and circumstances.

NP. FWIW as a parent of a college soccer athlete, this wasn’t my experience at all. If you’d lined up the 12-year-olds on my DS’s team back then (playing at the highest possible level of play), you would not have been likely to correctly identify the kids who eventually played in college. We are in California where there is a very deep pool of soccer players, so maybe that’s the difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

I think parents have a pretty good idea of whether their kid can cut it and play in college, based on talent and willingness to put in the work. When it doesn't pan out, it's not because the kid lacked talent or that the parent's assessment was wrong, it's that the kid no longer wants to put in the work (maybe wanted to to focus on a diff sport, academics, social life, etc.). Sure, there are some parents who will force it but I think that's less common that what it seems like on the DCUM forums. I have middle school kids who are good enough to play in college if they stick with it. But I will heavily discourage them from playing in college. College is for academics, not sports. I'd rather they work in college (like their parents did) then put their bodies through that grind. Unless playing the sport in college is a prerequisite to be able to turn professional, I just don't see the point.

What will you do if your kids love the sport and want to see how far they can go with it? Not like getting a scholarship or going pro, but just seeing what they can achieve. An athlete with that internal drive isn't just going to want to quit because their parents think it's not worth it. Playing and being good at the sport may be a huge part of their identity and give them a lot of confidence and self-efficacy, which carries over to other areas of life. Maybe it's hard to understand if you don't have the drive. I did and I would have hated my parents if they had told me I couldn't continue competing in college. I knew academics came first and I graduated with a near perfect GPA, with scholar-athlete recognition at my university and at the conference level. My best athletic years were during college and I know that I am still reaping the physical benefits of having continued into young adulthood. Yes there is some wear and tear on my body but I learned so many important lessons about hard work, persistence, and delayed gratification that I now carry into my parenting and work life.

Anonymous wrote:17

Boy. Late grower

+1

So you mean taking 8 year olds to tournaments across the country doesn't mean they will be D1 athletes?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

We did not find this to be the case, but we were on a high-level team where virtually every kid had one or more very knowledgeable soccer parents (DH in my case), and the families who didn’t sought out advice from those who did. If you polled all the knowledgeable parents on the team about which kids at 12 had college potential if they kept their grades up, the results would have been at least 75% accurate. I agree that a parent who does not know the game is not going to be able to make that prediction, and kids can go in a variety of directions depending on personalities and circumstances.

Like Hampden Sydney, Christopher Newport, Randolph Macon, Mount St. Mary's to play? I have seen pretty much zero boys going to UNC, Stanford, Duke, UCLA, UVA, etc. from this area. I have been watching the commits at my kid's big Club (considered one of the best in the DMV) since 2010 and the neighboring MLSNxt Club's commits. There were a few that went over to DC United academy, but not many top colleges/programs. The girls were different, of course.

I have seen so many parents who told me their kid had 'pro potential' or would play D1 when these boys were little. Most had dropped the Club after Junior year of HS when it was apparent that wasn't panning out. I saw some families drive 1,000s upon 1,000s of miles and fly too and dump so much time and effort and to come up short. I am one of the parents you talk about-pro in the family and several D1 players (who I'm not sure would be D1 with the huge landscape and number of foreign players taking college spots today).

Where was your Club? I'd be very interested to know.

They are FOS. This post is spot on

D1 Track, male - didn’t start running until 8th grade, but started taking down county records in 9th and 10th, then went on to win 6 state championships. Started getting serious D1 interest in 11th grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

We did not find this to be the case, but we were on a high-level team where virtually every kid had one or more very knowledgeable soccer parents (DH in my case), and the families who didn’t sought out advice from those who did. If you polled all the knowledgeable parents on the team about which kids at 12 had college potential if they kept their grades up, the results would have been at least 75% accurate. I agree that a parent who does not know the game is not going to be able to make that prediction, and kids can go in a variety of directions depending on personalities and circumstances.

Like Hampden Sydney, Christopher Newport, Randolph Macon, Mount St. Mary's to play? I have seen pretty much zero boys going to UNC, Stanford, Duke, UCLA, UVA, etc. from this area. I have been watching the commits at my kid's big Club (considered one of the best in the DMV) since 2010 and the neighboring MLSNxt Club's commits. There were a few that went over to DC United academy, but not many top colleges/programs. The girls were different, of course.

I have seen so many parents who told me their kid had 'pro potential' or would play D1 when these boys were little. Most had dropped the Club after Junior year of HS when it was apparent that wasn't panning out. I saw some families drive 1,000s upon 1,000s of miles and fly too and dump so much time and effort and to come up short. I am one of the parents you talk about-pro in the family and several D1 players (who I'm not sure would be D1 with the huge landscape and number of foreign players taking college spots today).

Where was your Club? I'd be very interested to know.

I think after puberty you can assess whether they have a decent shot to play in college at some level. D1, D3 unknown at that age and depends on work ethic, size, academic fit, and a bit of luck. It is a lot of work, more than anyone who hasn’t seen it understands, to get recruited D1 and then to get there and play. Parents can’t make that decision - so you can only guess what the kid will decide to put into it.

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

Scholarship?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

We did not find this to be the case, but we were on a high-level team where virtually every kid had one or more very knowledgeable soccer parents (DH in my case), and the families who didn’t sought out advice from those who did. If you polled all the knowledgeable parents on the team about which kids at 12 had college potential if they kept their grades up, the results would have been at least 75% accurate. I agree that a parent who does not know the game is not going to be able to make that prediction, and kids can go in a variety of directions depending on personalities and circumstances.

Son is a D1 lacrosse player.

Athletic ability was apparent by 8 or 9, very apparent once in HS; at that point, lots of late bloomers have caught up. He was still a standout.

However, lots of kids have the ability to play at college level, but they have to have the internal drive and competitiveness to make it happen. Ours did. Many others didn't - and that's completely fine, they have other interests.

Good rule of thumb: a parent should never care more about the sport than the kid playing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

I think parents have a pretty good idea of whether their kid can cut it and play in college, based on talent and willingness to put in the work. When it doesn't pan out, it's not because the kid lacked talent or that the parent's assessment was wrong, it's that the kid no longer wants to put in the work (maybe wanted to to focus on a diff sport, academics, social life, etc.). Sure, there are some parents who will force it but I think that's less common that what it seems like on the DCUM forums. I have middle school kids who are good enough to play in college if they stick with it. But I will heavily discourage them from playing in college. College is for academics, not sports. I'd rather they work in college (like their parents did) then put their bodies through that grind. Unless playing the sport in college is a prerequisite to be able to turn professional, I just don't see the point.

Anonymous wrote:Boy D1 soccer. Was clear that was his likely path by age 12, 7th grade.

The problem is 99% of parents with 12-year old boy travel players on top teams at that she think they same. It rarely pans out.

Anonymous wrote:Getting to college and playing is different than continuing to play through college. Division I is an absolute grind.

The wrestling coach at a high profile wrestling program said "Academics, sport, social life" pick 2, you can't have all 3" and that is the most accurate statement I have ever heard about college sports at most levels.

The bolded was absolutely true for me and my teammates, as measly club rowers (though our women’s team was reasonably competitive nationally). I once fell asleep at 7:30pm on a Friday night; it was glorious.