Anonymous
02/19/2026 14:55
Subject: Re:Competitive teams and still no show?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:don't join 'competitive' mid-level teams. Play rec. It is dramatically cheaper, and doesn't have all the downsides. Whenever someone encourages your child to play a sport, think about what (if any) their profit motive is. Your neighbor who coaches rec lacrosse and wants your DD on his team? no profit motive. The 'travel' coach who says your DD is good, and really she should 'level up' do more training, more intense team?? HUGE profit motive.
There are tons of studies that show that playing multiple sports is much better for kids. This doesn't mean playing multiple sports at the same time, it means switching and giving those muscle groups a break. Don't get sucked into the FOMO of travel. RESIST.
But u cant really even chance to play for your schools middle or high school team if you don’t play travel/club.
Really highly school dependent, even in this area.
I help run a local rec league. We have a few girls who are better than travel players - when playing against travel competition or for their high school team - but they are rare. They have a lot of internal drive, years of experience, a ton of natural talent. They don't do travel for good reasons - multisport athletes, family financial limitations, family bandwidth limitations, that sort of thing. And again - rare. And would they be even better if they did even mid level travel? Yes, though this is a sport where there aren't quite as many "levels" of teams as say soccer.
Anonymous
02/19/2026 13:57
Subject: Re:Competitive teams and still no show?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:don't join 'competitive' mid-level teams. Play rec. It is dramatically cheaper, and doesn't have all the downsides. Whenever someone encourages your child to play a sport, think about what (if any) their profit motive is. Your neighbor who coaches rec lacrosse and wants your DD on his team? no profit motive. The 'travel' coach who says your DD is good, and really she should 'level up' do more training, more intense team?? HUGE profit motive.
There are tons of studies that show that playing multiple sports is much better for kids. This doesn't mean playing multiple sports at the same time, it means switching and giving those muscle groups a break. Don't get sucked into the FOMO of travel. RESIST.
But u cant really even chance to play for your schools middle or high school team if you don’t play travel/club.
This is definitely not true at our public local high school. I have seen ‘travel’ kids get cut and rec kids make it. ‘Travel’ has become pay to play.
Anonymous
02/19/2026 11:15
Subject: Re:Competitive teams and still no show?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not sure what age group this is, but IME as they get older, lots of kids play on multiple teams. Either guest playing, playing up an age level, or are also on a higher tier team etc. They prioritize one team and only show up for the other team when they feel like it.
Other times it is just a disorganized parent or a kid who is overcommitted to activities/other sports too.
On our team, it's the multisport kids. On one hand, there is a huge push from most governing bodies to avoid early specialization and play as much sport as you can while you are young, athlete first; on the other hand, playing multiple sports involves conflicts, and the kid and their family feel like they are always letting someone down.
Playing different sports in different seasons, not multiple sports at the same time.
I don’t think they feel like they are letting people down. They got theirs and the heck with the other kids.
The seasons all overlap.
This. We prioritize the sport that “should” be in season when there is a conflict.
We do this as well. Annoys me to no end that all sports are year-round now. i.e. futsal will be skipped if at all possible!
Absolutely need to skip futsal! This will be looked back upon as one of the big reasons why kids will burn out of soccer. Travel soccer has them playing August to November and February to May. Now, futsal comes along and says you need to play soccer on a hard court Dec-Feb and June to August. Really this is a the 1st year of truly 12 months per year soccer with futsal added in. Overuse injuries will really pile up now.
Anonymous
02/19/2026 07:20
Subject: Re:Competitive teams and still no show?
Anonymous wrote:don't join 'competitive' mid-level teams. Play rec. It is dramatically cheaper, and doesn't have all the downsides. Whenever someone encourages your child to play a sport, think about what (if any) their profit motive is. Your neighbor who coaches rec lacrosse and wants your DD on his team? no profit motive. The 'travel' coach who says your DD is good, and really she should 'level up' do more training, more intense team?? HUGE profit motive.
There are tons of studies that show that playing multiple sports is much better for kids. This doesn't mean playing multiple sports at the same time, it means switching and giving those muscle groups a break. Don't get sucked into the FOMO of travel. RESIST.
But u cant really even chance to play for your schools middle or high school team if you don’t play travel/club.