Anonymous wrote:When does the "not so good kid" finally get to the point where their parent stops paying for club soccer? When the roster expands and the number of teams shrinks? When middle and high school sports take affect? Our team has a couple kids who just aren't at the same level and the coach gives them equal playing time (as he should).

At the same time parents stop coaching and thinking their kid is special>


What makes you an expert? And those "not so good kids" will grow and change and your kid will drop out of college after freshman year. Good luck with that.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, hopefully never. I hope the "not so good kid" keeps on playing because they like playing and because their coaches, team mates and other parents make them feel like a part of the soccer family.

Because Being Kind is the best thing we can do to others.

Because being good in Soccer does not translate to professional success in life for majority kids in life, but can translate to happiness and health for 100% of kids.

However that kid must give 100 % all the time . They must do all the things that are within their control:

1 Always be on time
2 be coachable
3 be a great teammate
4 work as hard as you can all the time

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As long as the kid is having fun and enjoys playing, find the right level play for them and let them play! Why parents keep spending thousands for 5th and 6th string club teams when there are so many Recreation kids having a ball is beyond me.

Which clubs have strong girls rec leagues after 4th grade? Because from what I've seen, as the kids get older, the rec leagues drop off significantly and you end up with combined age groups of 2 - 3 years. Not sure how that is better than playing on a lower level travel team. Also, typically the kids who play travel at least want to be there (not always, but the vast majority), even if they aren't the most skilled player. That alone was the reason my DD wanted to play travel. She was tired of playing with girls who literally would just stand there during the games. Her current team isn't amazing, but the kids are all trying.

In Virginia we have the Suburban Friendship League for inter-club rec soccer competition right up to U-19. https://www.sflsoccer.org
Age groups are split into Division 1 for stronger teams and Division 2 for weaker teams.
There is plenty of good rec soccer being played in SFL. My SFL team has several players who have played, or are currently playing, for their high school teams.

Kids typically self-select. Soccer is an easy sport to start very young. As kids get older they can try other sports -- swimming competitively, baseball (softball in a few areas), football though that is dying out, sometimes basketball. Until you hit middle school years there are really few options for kids in organized sports.

Once kids hit middle school there are the typical sports that will continue on through high school. That big slow kid might stick with soccer, but likely will end up playing football and basketball.

There is no life-long issue with starting soccer later, but there are few real alternatives for organized sports at young ages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As long as the kid is having fun and enjoys playing, find the right level play for them and let them play! Why parents keep spending thousands for 5th and 6th string club teams when there are so many Recreation kids having a ball is beyond me.

Which clubs have strong girls rec leagues after 4th grade? Because from what I've seen, as the kids get older, the rec leagues drop off significantly and you end up with combined age groups of 2 - 3 years. Not sure how that is better than playing on a lower level travel team. Also, typically the kids who play travel at least want to be there (not always, but the vast majority), even if they aren't the most skilled player. That alone was the reason my DD wanted to play travel. She was tired of playing with girls who literally would just stand there during the games. Her current team isn't amazing, but the kids are all trying.

This is PP - I really wish the kids here didn't start travel until 5th grade. The rec leagues would stay stronger for longer periods, families would save money and time not traveling.

I totally agree in there and probably less burn out too. Kids starting travel in the 2nd/3rd grade is really insane. They’re not able to diversify in other sports, which is important for developing athletes.

My kid is definitely on the lower end of their team, but they have a strong passion. We will continue to pay until they are no longer interested or they don’t make the team. The rec teams at their level (middle school) are in some cases very frustrating to play on. Kids only know how to kick the ball out of bounds and don’t understand positions? That’s what can happen with parent volunteers sadly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, hopefully never. I hope the "not so good kid" keeps on playing because they like playing and because their coaches, team mates and other parents make them feel like a part of the soccer family.

Because Being Kind is the best thing we can do to others.

Because being good in Soccer does not translate to professional success in life for majority kids in life, but can translate to happiness and health for 100% of kids.

+100000

+2 So well said. It is very hard to see when you are in the thick of it and every soccer related decision feels so important.

My experience watching my child in a different sport is that there’s a period of roughly 5-8th grade where the supposedly low-level teams are still filled with angst. But by high school, all the kids who are really talented and/or taking it seriously have filtered out to other teams/leagues. Which leaves the low-level teams to be filled with kids who just want to have a good time with their friends. Then it goes back to having fun watching the kids have fun, and it’s really a nice, low-stress experience again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As long as the kid is having fun and enjoys playing, find the right level play for them and let them play! Why parents keep spending thousands for 5th and 6th string club teams when there are so many Recreation kids having a ball is beyond me.

Which clubs have strong girls rec leagues after 4th grade? Because from what I've seen, as the kids get older, the rec leagues drop off significantly and you end up with combined age groups of 2 - 3 years. Not sure how that is better than playing on a lower level travel team. Also, typically the kids who play travel at least want to be there (not always, but the vast majority), even if they aren't the most skilled player. That alone was the reason my DD wanted to play travel. She was tired of playing with girls who literally would just stand there during the games. Her current team isn't amazing, but the kids are all trying.

This is PP - I really wish the kids here didn't start travel until 5th grade. The rec leagues would stay stronger for longer periods, families would save money and time not traveling.

Anonymous wrote:As long as the kid is having fun and enjoys playing, find the right level play for them and let them play! Why parents keep spending thousands for 5th and 6th string club teams when there are so many Recreation kids having a ball is beyond me.

Which clubs have strong girls rec leagues after 4th grade? Because from what I've seen, as the kids get older, the rec leagues drop off significantly and you end up with combined age groups of 2 - 3 years. Not sure how that is better than playing on a lower level travel team. Also, typically the kids who play travel at least want to be there (not always, but the vast majority), even if they aren't the most skilled player. That alone was the reason my DD wanted to play travel. She was tired of playing with girls who literally would just stand there during the games. Her current team isn't amazing, but the kids are all trying.

As long as the kid is having fun and enjoys playing, find the right level play for them and let them play! Why parents keep spending thousands for 5th and 6th string club teams when there are so many Recreation kids having a ball is beyond me.

Why not play rec? He could still play and have fun but the time suck would be much much less.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, hopefully never. I hope the "not so good kid" keeps on playing because they like playing and because their coaches, team mates and other parents make them feel like a part of the soccer family.

Because Being Kind is the best thing we can do to others.

Because being good in Soccer does not translate to professional success in life for majority kids in life, but can translate to happiness and health for 100% of kids.

This is a lovely post and the right idea. Too bad so many a-hole parents don’t act like this at all though. To their own kids or others on the team.

Wasn’t Michael Jordan cut from the team a couple of times too?

The answer to your question is when their parent gives up hope that they’re “almost there” or “on the cusp of greatness.”

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You realize none of these kids are going to the Olympics right...

The US men did not qualify, so that is a safe bet.