Think it is a lot to do with costs.

If a boy has great talent, he can likely get on an mls DA team ans there is not a huge financial burden to the family. The male talent will play in that league for hsoe clubs if they have it in striking distance. This is not up for debate.

Girls soccer at the high levels comes with a significant time and cost burden to the families. They will argue till kingdom come about what teams and clubs are worthy of such a sacrifice and if is very much up for debate.

Plus - as the costs exclude many kids, the ones in it are form uber competitive affluent families.

Anonymous wrote:The point is that the best male athletes in this country do not play soccer. It is hard to argue against that. However many of the best female athletes in this country play soccer. Soccer is the top of the pyramid for girls and much further down for boys. The popular boys sport at Arlington High Schools is still football and basketball.

Many/most of the best male athletes in the world play soccer. Most of them do not resemble the "best male" American athletes; outside of the goalkeepers and backs, they tend to be of average height and weight. I can't think off-hand of a sport that offers more opportunities for an average/slightly above average size American male than soccer. There are more pro opportunities for men's soccer each year, and more kids going pro. The kids on youth national teams are heading out of the country in droves, while others try their luck here. People dump on MLS, but if you are a teenager or recent college grad and can make $75,00-$225,00 a year for your first real job (https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide) playing the sport you love, wouldn't you be happy to do that? Wouldn't you be excited for your kid to have the opportunity to do that for a few years?

Boys may have few college options than girls, but they have lots. People forget that the statistics about how likely your kid is to play D1 and/or get a scholarship are nationwide averages. Kids from soccer hotbeds like this are over-represented on college rosters. Using soccer as a step to elite college admissions is a whole separate conversation, but that's another area where kids from around here do much better than you'd expect if your only source was a table with nationwide percentages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point is that the best male athletes in this country do not play soccer. It is hard to argue against that. However many of the best female athletes in this country play soccer. Soccer is the top of the pyramid for girls and much further down for boys. The popular boys sport at Arlington High Schools is still football and basketball.

Well---yea because top players aren't even allowed to play HS soccer.

There are many reasons. Some of it is access, some is choice, some of it is tradition, some of it is money.

The male sports heroes in the U.S. play football, baseball, basketball. The female sports heroes play soccer.

So yes, the frenzy on the girl's side is soccer.

Anonymous wrote:The point is that the best male athletes in this country do not play soccer. It is hard to argue against that. However many of the best female athletes in this country play soccer. Soccer is the top of the pyramid for girls and much further down for boys. The popular boys sport at Arlington High Schools is still football and basketball.

Well---yea because top players aren't even allowed to play HS soccer.

My dad was just as involved with my sister and I as my brother in soccer. The moms back then were not really involved on any side (other than cheering and bringing orange slices) because they did not grow up playing team sports, there wasn't women's soccer in the 60s, 50s, etc. It didn't get going in this area until the mid 70s.

My generation (aged mid40s-early50s- think Jill Ellis, Mia Hamm, etc) was one of the first generations to reach high levels in the sport. Now--you have a moms with a soccer background heavily involved in their daughter's soccer. As a mom with only boys, I find the boy's side very much an all-boys Club and I am more often than not the only female on the sidelines. You get dads that never played really into it---and it's easier to just let them congregate and have their pow-wows, schmooze with the male Coaches, etc. I think the dynamic shifts when you have female coaches and female players, or even just male coaches coaching girls---they are more receptive to the mothers. Therefore, the mothers push more and become like stage moms. Boys' moms are ultimately ignored or assumed to be ignorant in the sport, even those of us that played D1 and beyond. Also, a teen boy does not want his mom getting involved---even when she knows more than him.

I think girl parents are riding off the high of the USWNT. Also, there is also that same sex living vicariously through your kid. You have always seen this with dad's living on the field/court/diamond through their sons. Now the mom's are doing this with their daughters.

Those are just some of my thoughts that I've noticed as a passive bystander around the girl parents and boy parents at our Club. There are definitely crazy parents on both sides, but with options more realistic for females the stakes are higher which does lend itself to more drama.

The point is that the best male athletes in this country do not play soccer. It is hard to argue against that. However many of the best female athletes in this country play soccer. Soccer is the top of the pyramid for girls and much further down for boys. The popular boys sport at Arlington High Schools is still football and basketball.

Anonymous wrote:The answer is soccer is not the top sport for boys, but it is for girls. If you have a stud athlete and you are a competitive parent, chances are you are pushing them towards football or basketball for boys and soccer for girls.

Definitely not in this area, especially Arlington. Maybe in the more rural counties.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer is soccer is not the top sport for boys, but it is for girls. If you have a stud athlete and you are a competitive parent, chances are you are pushing them towards football or basketball for boys and soccer for girls.

True re: the top sports point but hard to see why it is relevant to the maniacal behavior Are you saying top athletes have maniacal parents, all other things equal? Why would that be? Also, most football and basketball players won't go beyond high school. I think the excitement and mania probably have other sources aside from parents with top athletes.

Not top athletes, top sports.

I think a lot of posters who talk about boys' soccer on this thread and others don't actually have boys who have ever played high level soccer. Through our son's HS years, he and we have gotten to know boys who have skipped college and found success in Germany or other European countries; boys who have skipped college to sign contracts with an MLS or USL team; boys playing D1 on full rides to those playing D3; and boys who hung up their cleats after high school.

Every single one of those boys had parents who invested a ton of time in their son's soccer careers, were very excited to watch youth games, and were proud of their boys. Not a one of them would have preferred their son to play American football (except as a kicker). A few of them would have been happy if their kids could have made it as basketball pros, but that's not really realistic for any but goalkeepers and the occasional center back. Almost all of the ones who are playing at the higher levels and D1 came from soccer families, and that was the sport the kids were expected to play and that their parents were excited to help teach them.

Do you really think parents of boys who are involved in lacrosse, fencing, crew, curling etc. just sit around feeling sad that their kids don't play football or basketball? I can promise you that the competitive among them can be just as obnoxious as basketball parents.

Anonymous wrote:The answer is soccer is not the top sport for boys, but it is for girls. If you have a stud athlete and you are a competitive parent, chances are you are pushing them towards football or basketball for boys and soccer for girls.

True re: the top sports point but hard to see why it is relevant to the maniacal behavior Are you saying top athletes have maniacal parents, all other things equal? Why would that be? Also, most football and basketball players won't go beyond high school. I think the excitement and mania probably have other sources aside from parents with top athletes.

Anonymous wrote:The answer is soccer is not the top sport for boys, but it is for girls. If you have a stud athlete and you are a competitive parent, chances are you are pushing them towards football or basketball for boys and soccer for girls.

+1

Maybe boys' parents know to REALLY make it in soccer is to compete on the international stage so playing college soccer is a dead end and nothing to be bragged out.

Anonymous wrote:The answer is soccer is not the top sport for boys, but it is for girls. If you have a stud athlete and you are a competitive parent, chances are you are pushing them towards football or basketball for boys and soccer for girls.

Which is why it was suggested to compare basketball and football threads to girls soccer, not boys soccer to girls soccer.

The answer is soccer is not the top sport for boys, but it is for girls. If you have a stud athlete and you are a competitive parent, chances are you are pushing them towards football or basketball for boys and soccer for girls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, it might have to do with having a clear top league in BDA. With girls, it’s not clear in our area and some parents will make themselves feel better about their decision by putting down others.
Ridiculous, yes. But I think this will continue until we see a definite winner. I think that’s why the scrimmage scores between GDA and ECNL are bringing out such bad behavior.

I definitely think this is part of the issue. If you are a boy's parent, the path is pretty clear. Your kid works to get on a DA team, then they work to do well there, and if they succeed, they will have a lot of good college options at a minimum. Not to mention the boys' DA is cheaper than regular travel soccer, and in some cases (not here, sadly) free. There's no real reason to second guess playing for DA if your kid is enjoying it, so there is nothing to fret about or feel insecure about.

Its cheaper?

Much, in most places. All the MLS team DA programs are free other than DC United and MN United. DC United is heavily subsidized for the older age groups, and travel is generally free. Bethesda DA has much lower annual fees than regular travel ($1,200 if I recall), and though you are on the hook for bus fees for away games and two showcase flights, those are all discounted. I'm not clear on the rest of the non-MLS DAs, but I believe most of the clubs attempt to keep costs as low as they can for players.

Forgot to mention that for GA Cup, which all MLS DA older teams participate in over the course of a year, all costs of travel and lodging for players are picked up by US soccer. US Soccer also pays for travel for DA teams (MLS based or not) that make it to the quarterfinals or later of the DA playoffs.