Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find all this complaining kind of crazy. Your kid is going to wear the training gear 3-4 days a week, 10 months a year for an ECNL/GA team, and 8 months a year for other levels. Then game kit for between 20-30 games if you include scrimmages. Figure home and away each get a minimum of 15 uses. The socks, which usually get worn for both training and games, get the most use. But a basic breakdown is: Training gear is 240 days of use, game kit 30 days of use for each color per 2 year cycle.

The cost of a Dunkin’ Donuts latte is roughly 4 dollars. And the average American spends ~ $1,100 per year or $2,200 on coffee over the kit cycle.

Get a grip!

Waste is wasteful. Why should I be forced to buy training pants that will never leave the drawer? Or a new backpack when the one we have is like new?

It's about building a team culture. You can agree with it or not, and it was your choice to participate, but uniforms and similarity helps build team cohesion. Every professional and college, even high school teams do it. My kids played on the HS basketball and soccer teams and they had shirts they wore for warmups, track suits for away games, etc. that we were required to buy. Uniformity promotes team over individuals. It's why the military mandates everyone dress and look the same. Martial Arts studios make everyone wear the white robes and a colored belt.

So there is a legitimate rationale. And, yes, there is also a club marketing and profit motive for it. Clubs are very up front about this when you join. I don't see why you are complaining about something you voluntarily agreed to. It's like paying for an expensive vacation and then complaining about the cost of everything while you are there. You knew what it would cost going in so quit complaining and just enjoy it.

What’s worse is paying more money for the kit because the club has a uniform sponsor. So the club gets money from the sponsor, but the families have to pay more to have the logo screened on.

It would be interesting to see what the incentives are for the club in these contracts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any thoughts on sturdiest brands? Kids have capelli right now and I’m not impressed, falling apart pretty fast even when air dryed. They’re switching to Adidas and hoping that will last longer in terms of still looking nice.

Capelli is really cheaply made. Frays easily. Thin material.

My kids have capelli as well and it’s so cheap and poorly produced. I buy generic non-team adidas backpacks as they hold up for 4+ years. The capelli one is junky without even all the good pockets. My year 2 my sons capelli (air dried and washed inside out) has the numbers and logos falling off.

SYC is around $300 and they made you buy the $50 sweatshirt. Also had to get practice jerseys, which were overpriced.

Our club requires shorts, socks, and three jerseys (home, away, practice) - and then the ability to buy other items a la carte. For our first year, we got a second practice Jersey, backpack, and warm up jacket (not pants - my kid will never wear them). I agree with PP… at least three times a week, kid is going to wear this stuff. I am really not interested in doing that much laundry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find all this complaining kind of crazy. Your kid is going to wear the training gear 3-4 days a week, 10 months a year for an ECNL/GA team, and 8 months a year for other levels. Then game kit for between 20-30 games if you include scrimmages. Figure home and away each get a minimum of 15 uses. The socks, which usually get worn for both training and games, get the most use. But a basic breakdown is: Training gear is 240 days of use, game kit 30 days of use for each color per 2 year cycle.

The cost of a Dunkin’ Donuts latte is roughly 4 dollars. And the average American spends ~ $1,100 per year or $2,200 on coffee over the kit cycle.

Get a grip!

Waste is wasteful. Why should I be forced to buy training pants that will never leave the drawer? Or a new backpack when the one we have is like new?

Backpack makes sense, and we haven’t bought a new bag because the kid feels the old one is lucky anyway.

Training pants usually get trashed in our house, but YMMV, so I understand.

Most of the complaints here were around the mandatory jerseys and kit. That one seems odd given the use the kits get, and frankly until the teen years they outgrow them.

Anonymous wrote:I find all this complaining kind of crazy. Your kid is going to wear the training gear 3-4 days a week, 10 months a year for an ECNL/GA team, and 8 months a year for other levels. Then game kit for between 20-30 games if you include scrimmages. Figure home and away each get a minimum of 15 uses. The socks, which usually get worn for both training and games, get the most use. But a basic breakdown is: Training gear is 240 days of use, game kit 30 days of use for each color per 2 year cycle.

The cost of a Dunkin’ Donuts latte is roughly 4 dollars. And the average American spends ~ $1,100 per year or $2,200 on coffee over the kit cycle.

Get a grip!

Waste is wasteful. Why should I be forced to buy training pants that will never leave the drawer? Or a new backpack when the one we have is like new?

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any thoughts on sturdiest brands? Kids have capelli right now and I’m not impressed, falling apart pretty fast even when air dryed. They’re switching to Adidas and hoping that will last longer in terms of still looking nice.

Capelli is really cheaply made. Frays easily. Thin material.

Anyone have any thoughts on sturdiest brands? Kids have capelli right now and I’m not impressed, falling apart pretty fast even when air dryed. They’re switching to Adidas and hoping that will last longer in terms of still looking nice.

Yes our club does this as well. It was like this with Adidas and now with Capelli. We’re in our 2nd year of Capelli so next summer we’ll purchase a completely new kit

I find all this complaining kind of crazy. Your kid is going to wear the training gear 3-4 days a week, 10 months a year for an ECNL/GA team, and 8 months a year for other levels. Then game kit for between 20-30 games if you include scrimmages. Figure home and away each get a minimum of 15 uses. The socks, which usually get worn for both training and games, get the most use. But a basic breakdown is: Training gear is 240 days of use, game kit 30 days of use for each color per 2 year cycle.

The cost of a Dunkin’ Donuts latte is roughly 4 dollars. And the average American spends ~ $1,100 per year or $2,200 on coffee over the kit cycle.

Get a grip!

At our club, the practice and cold season gear are required purchases but the kids are required to wear proper wear during practices (including the proper color socks) and games and everyone gets the backpack and uses them all the time. Many also wear the club sweatshirt (which is not required). Our club is really strict abt it and the kids and parents don’t seem to mind it. I originally scoffed at the 2 year cycle but my kids def need it, the clothes get so worn out. Also, if there is no design change, there is no need to buy new uniforms.

We got an additional Jersey for one of our kids at no add charge bc his original one got so worn out in less than a year. The backpack and cold weather gear also do no need to be purchased every 2 years. That said, my boys outgrow theirs in that time anyway.

We’re moving to a new club and it’s the same deal and even more expensive. FWIW, my kids are on very competitive teams (top divisions of EDP) but if they played in rec or even lower levels of travel, I’d probably balk at the expense.

I never thought it was a big deal because the club charges about $160 if you are selected for allstar.

Anyone else end up giving away most of their old jerseys to new/guest players as a quick fix before their uniforms arrive? I am almost completely cleaned out.

I'm sorry, those requirements (warm up pant/jacket/backpack/3 jerseys) are crazy but the total cost doesn't seem that bad.
I'm in another part of the country and though they've never said "mandatory 2 year" purchase it has worked out to roughly every 2 years needing it due to assorted reasons.
They require 2 different game jerseys, coordinating shorts/socks, practice uniform but warm up/jacket/backpack is strictly optional.