Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

I am really surprised that you are saying that as a former player. It seems like soccer has advanced a ton in the US in the last 2 decades and I think that is great. The growth of youth soccer has been the base of this advancement. With more kids playing there need to be good competitive opportunities for them. The whole structure has changed, especially with the introduction of the Development Academies. That is where the top kids are. But why not let the next tier of players be well coached too? In our experience the professional coaches have been excellent, parent coaches not so much.

i believe 17:25's point was, at $3K a pop, current travel soccer is more about money than talent/passion. other than the A teams the rest is just a bunch of rich wannabe kids who should just compete in rec leagues.

Yup. If you're willing to pay, your kid can play "travel" soccer somewhere. It's helps subsidize the good coaches for the A-team kids. It's such a joke

I'll never understand why people are so offended by the idea of letting more kids play travel. At younger ages, puberty has not yet sorted out the early bloomers from the actual talents. At older ages, why not let everyone have the experience?

No argument from me about the cost -- too many tournaments, too much travel, too many b.s. "elite" leagues, etc.

Didnt you just contradict yourself with the first and second part of your post?

Not at all. "Travel" itself isn't the ridiculous part. The trouble is that so many people get hyper about it. "More tournaments! We need GotSoccer points! And this 'elite' league wouldn't let us in, so let's form another one and drive to New Jersey for league games!"

The basic experience -- committing to a team, trying to get better, traveling (not too far away or too much) -- is fine. No reason that shouldn't be open to as many kids as possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

I am really surprised that you are saying that as a former player. It seems like soccer has advanced a ton in the US in the last 2 decades and I think that is great. The growth of youth soccer has been the base of this advancement. With more kids playing there need to be good competitive opportunities for them. The whole structure has changed, especially with the introduction of the Development Academies. That is where the top kids are. But why not let the next tier of players be well coached too? In our experience the professional coaches have been excellent, parent coaches not so much.

i believe 17:25's point was, at $3K a pop, current travel soccer is more about money than talent/passion. other than the A teams the rest is just a bunch of rich wannabe kids who should just compete in rec leagues.

Yup. If you're willing to pay, your kid can play "travel" soccer somewhere. It's helps subsidize the good coaches for the A-team kids. It's such a joke

I'll never understand why people are so offended by the idea of letting more kids play travel. At younger ages, puberty has not yet sorted out the early bloomers from the actual talents. At older ages, why not let everyone have the experience?

No argument from me about the cost -- too many tournaments, too much travel, too many b.s. "elite" leagues, etc.

Didnt you just contradict yourself with the first and second part of your post?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

I am really surprised that you are saying that as a former player. It seems like soccer has advanced a ton in the US in the last 2 decades and I think that is great. The growth of youth soccer has been the base of this advancement. With more kids playing there need to be good competitive opportunities for them. The whole structure has changed, especially with the introduction of the Development Academies. That is where the top kids are. But why not let the next tier of players be well coached too? In our experience the professional coaches have been excellent, parent coaches not so much.

i believe 17:25's point was, at $3K a pop, current travel soccer is more about money than talent/passion. other than the A teams the rest is just a bunch of rich wannabe kids who should just compete in rec leagues.

Yup. If you're willing to pay, your kid can play "travel" soccer somewhere. It's helps subsidize the good coaches for the A-team kids. It's such a joke

I'll never understand why people are so offended by the idea of letting more kids play travel. At younger ages, puberty has not yet sorted out the early bloomers from the actual talents. At older ages, why not let everyone have the experience?

No argument from me about the cost -- too many tournaments, too much travel, too many b.s. "elite" leagues, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

I am really surprised that you are saying that as a former player. It seems like soccer has advanced a ton in the US in the last 2 decades and I think that is great. The growth of youth soccer has been the base of this advancement. With more kids playing there need to be good competitive opportunities for them. The whole structure has changed, especially with the introduction of the Development Academies. That is where the top kids are. But why not let the next tier of players be well coached too? In our experience the professional coaches have been excellent, parent coaches not so much.

i believe 17:25's point was, at $3K a pop, current travel soccer is more about money than talent/passion. other than the A teams the rest is just a bunch of rich wannabe kids who should just compete in rec leagues.

Yup. If you're willing to pay, your kid can play "travel" soccer somewhere. It's helps subsidize the good coaches for the A-team kids. It's such a joke

Check out PPA premier - Player Progression Academy. Travel level kids. All games are at Germantown Soccerplex. Two midweek practices at reasonable locations. So much better than Stoddard or other Rec-league for a kid who is better than rec-league level but for whom a travel schedule isn't feasible for kid or parents. The PPA coaches are fantastic - real coaches, not the dad of one of the players. Coaches get out and do drills with the kids and are professional level players (from my sidelines perspective) themselves; they don't just yell drills from the sidelines. The coaches get to know the kids and the kids really seem to look up to them. So different from typical Rec-league coach where kid views coach sort of like a somewhat incompetent substitute teacher. As an example, a few seasons ago a parent on my DC's team mentioned that our PPA team's coach had been an Ivy League player (some were on pro or semi pro teams) so I googled him when I got home. In fact, he'd been a superstar player at a top Ivy from all the online write ups we found, having graduated a few years earlier (and presumably he was doing this coaching as a way to stay in the game, not as a full time job).

Tryouts should be coming up soon for the spring season - presumably they're listed on PPA's website.

Anonymous wrote:I just returned from a Stoddert travel soccer tryout. Am I the only one who feels so frustrated that half the time the coaches seem to be yukking it up with each other, or just missing much of the action. Not surprising as there were only 4 coaches and about 80 kids. How could they possibly be doing any quality observation? Is this par for the course, or just a Stoddert thing.

They are not and it's not just that club. Almost everywhere teams are pre-selected (all but the very youngest/entering age group).

We went to a tryout where the head coach apologized that he had no say in who was selected. He mentioned to us that our son had incredible talent, but selections went through committee and he didn't have a say. There were kids that weren't even at the tryouts that made the team. This one didn't require numbers or anything. There is no way they even knew the names of the kids there---but they knew the names of the kids they had preselected.

Needless to say--we aren't sticking around for this BS...but I am sad to read it happens in other clubs too. There are some kids out there that truly suck but they never get dropped or moved down. It makes no sense. Once they label the kid--it sticks--he's got the golden pass---at least until maybe he's 14 or so.

No just that it may seem like an overwhelming number of kids to evaluate but in reality they are just placing the new kids against the kids they alreaady know.

Anonymous wrote:What age group? Many of the kids are already in the program so they know them. Boys or girls?

So are you saying tryouts don't really matter that much?

What age group? Many of the kids are already in the program so they know them. Boys or girls?

I just returned from a Stoddert travel soccer tryout. Am I the only one who feels so frustrated that half the time the coaches seem to be yukking it up with each other, or just missing much of the action. Not surprising as there were only 4 coaches and about 80 kids. How could they possibly be doing any quality observation? Is this par for the course, or just a Stoddert thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

I am really surprised that you are saying that as a former player. It seems like soccer has advanced a ton in the US in the last 2 decades and I think that is great. The growth of youth soccer has been the base of this advancement. With more kids playing there need to be good competitive opportunities for them. The whole structure has changed, especially with the introduction of the Development Academies. That is where the top kids are. But why not let the next tier of players be well coached too? In our experience the professional coaches have been excellent, parent coaches not so much.

i believe 17:25's point was, at $3K a pop, current travel soccer is more about money than talent/passion. other than the A teams the rest is just a bunch of rich wannabe kids who should just compete in rec leagues.

Anonymous wrote:Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

I am really surprised that you are saying that as a former player. It seems like soccer has advanced a ton in the US in the last 2 decades and I think that is great. The growth of youth soccer has been the base of this advancement. With more kids playing there need to be good competitive opportunities for them. The whole structure has changed, especially with the introduction of the Development Academies. That is where the top kids are. But why not let the next tier of players be well coached too? In our experience the professional coaches have been excellent, parent coaches not so much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know,as the other PP's have said, travel soccer attracts a different kind of parent than rec soccer does. And frankly, after 2 years of travel soccer, I have to admit I'm scared of alot of them. We will not be signing up again although the coach has made it clear that he expects to see my son there as my son was key to their record last season.

We have two NFL (current Redskins) players in our elementary school, and both of them will not allow their sons to play on the travel teams. When I asked one of them about it at a rec soccer game where our daughters were playing he said that sports are suppposed to be fun and relaxing for the family, and that they'll get enough of that in high school. I already felt that way, but when he talked to my husband about it that day, you would have thought GOD spoke. Now my DH is totally behind me on withdrawing from the travel league.

NFL does not equal soccer. Soccer starts early and without travel it is unlikely a serious player will ever reach their potential. The difference is there is no potential in US soccer...while there is plenty in the NFL!

And please--professional soccer players make nil.

We were at a tournament recently and Charles Mann was there watching his daughter play travel soccer. So some football players see it differently.

Douchebags have taken over the sport in this country.

I grew up in this area and it used to be only the very, very best kids played travel soccer. There used to be one team per town. If you weren't one of the 15 kids you played "house league". Now there are "B", "C", "D" and so-on and if your parents are willing to take the time and $ you will be able to get your child on a traveling soccer team. Then- the rest of us get to hear you drone on and on about your 'superstar'.

I have a sibling that played professional and I played on a National team. The fact these traveling coaches get paid a salary is IMO ridiculous. My dad used to do it for free and was more knowledgable than what passes for coaches nowadays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know,as the other PP's have said, travel soccer attracts a different kind of parent than rec soccer does. And frankly, after 2 years of travel soccer, I have to admit I'm scared of alot of them. We will not be signing up again although the coach has made it clear that he expects to see my son there as my son was key to their record last season.

We have two NFL (current Redskins) players in our elementary school, and both of them will not allow their sons to play on the travel teams. When I asked one of them about it at a rec soccer game where our daughters were playing he said that sports are suppposed to be fun and relaxing for the family, and that they'll get enough of that in high school. I already felt that way, but when he talked to my husband about it that day, you would have thought GOD spoke. Now my DH is totally behind me on withdrawing from the travel league.

NFL does not equal soccer. Soccer starts early and without travel it is unlikely a serious player will ever reach their potential. The difference is there is no potential in US soccer...while there is plenty in the NFL!

And please--professional soccer players make nil.

let me qualify "professional US soccer players make nil".