Anonymous wrote:No, the goal is to be around other kids who also want to play and aren't just there for the snacks.

There are kids in club sports who were signed up for it by their parents even though they aren’t all that interested. And parents have been conned into believing it’s a necessity in order to play varsity. It’s not. The naturally athletic kids will be playing varsity sports not the ones who isn’t talented but started at three years old.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm someone who would never do club/travel with my kids so I can't say for sure. But, I think it's for a status symbol or college resume building. Maybe parents are trying to live through their kids.

Lol, I would love to hear more of your “never” and “always” parenting wisdom. I bet there’s a lengthy list!

Sure, things could change, but my kid would have to make a pretty big case for me to allow club/travel sports. But, we're not big on sports or extracurriculars anyway.

[quote=Anonymous]We do it for coaches and players that are a bit more invested - even in 2nd grade. We also did it because the other option - rec- had very minimal time commitment .. [b]we wanted our child out exercising more often then just one hour one night a week.[/b] There is no in between around here unfortunately , but you can find some clubs that are more intense than others etc. [/quote]

One of my teens plays club, and hopes to play in college. The other one doesn't play club but participates in a HS sport every season. He doesn't want to compete in college, but almost certainly could if he wanted to. My club player moved to club in 6th grade, and then switches sports in 8th.

I find the bolded interesting. My kids, and particularly my club player, moved constantly during unstructured time in 2nd grade. My more athletic kid didn't love sports practice because it involved too much standing still. He played a couple rec sports a season because we wanted him to learn the rules, and because he liked being with his friends, but he preferred going to the pool, or playing playground basketball with his older friends, or riding his bike for hours, or making up some elaborate game that involved nonstop movement with a group of peers.

So, while I don't have any problem with the idea of a 2nd grader in club, if that's what works, the idea that the choices are sitting on the couch or playing club doesn't resonate with me. You can put your kid in 2 sports, or use the money from club to join an indoor pool and go a few times a week, or take them to the playground, or go for a family hike or bike ride.

Where I live, a lot of rec opportunities for girls' ball sports taper off around 4th grade. They can get enough girls to sign up for 1-2 teams, but not enough to support a league.

Sometimes there is a good workaround. I played softball growing up, and we had a small house league of 4 teams that I was in for 4 years. It was the quality of travel play but without travel since all games were played in the same complex (I was in the midwest and this was an era when travel teams for softball were mostly a southern and CA thing).

I think that's the best possible option when the level of play is high and numbers are low but travel seems premature. I wish more travel teams would communicate and work to create mini-leagues amongst themselves like that rather than becoming tournament teams.

My 2nd grader does rec. I can't see us ever doing club. But that's because he's not athletic, he likes to play but he doesn't practice at home on his own. The drive isn't there. So I'm glad there's an outlet for kids like him.

[quote=Anonymous]We do it for coaches and players that are a bit more invested - even in 2nd grade. We also did it because the other option - rec- had very minimal time commitment .. we wanted our child out exercising more often then just one hour one night a week. There is no in between around here unfortunately , but you can find some clubs that are more intense than others etc. [/quote]

Why don’t you the parent take your kid to exercise

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For every kid at that young age who is genuinely intense and driven and passionate about the sport, there are a couple of kids in travel whose parents put them there. That is my observation at least.

Sorry but all these young soccer kids are not mini-Messis with some all consuming passion for the sport.

The best things for kids that age is to keep trying as many sports and activities as possible. It’s better for their bodies and brains. Don’t have them devote all their time to one thing until middle school earliest is the best advice.

FWIW, I have two kids who play travel soccer, though they did not start at the earliest possible ages. Between multiple players and clubs, there have typically been 1-2 players per team who seem to be there because of their parents, and those kids are done (or move back down to rec) by age 12. The rest are all in.

I have repeatedly over the years encouraged both of my kids to do other sports. Zero interest in anything else.

Sometimes it's really kid driven.

This post started by asking about second graders. Second graders you sign them up for different options (and not just sports) to see what they like.

I really just don’t buy there is this huge universe of 7 year olds insisting it’s soccer all the time or nothing and rejecting their rec team experience. At that age it’s parent driven most of the time. So OP asked why and people are answering for that age.

We do it for coaches and players that are a bit more invested - even in 2nd grade. We also did it because the other option - rec- had very minimal time commitment .. we wanted our child out exercising more often then just one hour one night a week. There is no in between around here unfortunately , but you can find some clubs that are more intense than others etc.

Some kids are very into their sport from an early age. Some parents are psycho. In a lot of areas if you aren’t playing club by 4th/5th you probably don’t have the chance to play high school.

We had a fantastic time for the most part with baseball. A great dynamic with the other families and many good memories. That son was so in love with baseball. Not everything was positive, but overall it was good. Softball was a toxic mess. So much vicious, ugly behavior.

So the answer is, lots of reasons, some good, some bad, some kind of out of your control. Yes there are many parents who are certain their kid will be recruited athlete or pro. Lots of parents doing it for themselves.

I contemplated moving to my cousin’s small town where this world does not exist- the sports revolve around school and that’s it. Overall I think the club system is not a good thing, but if it dominates where you live and your kid is very into a sport, it is almost impossible to avoid.

Anonymous wrote:For every kid at that young age who is genuinely intense and driven and passionate about the sport, there are a couple of kids in travel whose parents put them there. That is my observation at least.

Sorry but all these young soccer kids are not mini-Messis with some all consuming passion for the sport.

The best things for kids that age is to keep trying as many sports and activities as possible. It’s better for their bodies and brains. Don’t have them devote all their time to one thing until middle school earliest is the best advice.

FWIW, I have two kids who play travel soccer, though they did not start at the earliest possible ages. Between multiple players and clubs, there have typically been 1-2 players per team who seem to be there because of their parents, and those kids are done (or move back down to rec) by age 12. The rest are all in.

I have repeatedly over the years encouraged both of my kids to do other sports. Zero interest in anything else.

Sometimes it's really kid driven.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents are in dreamworld with their unathletic 7 year olds

Actually, parents should spend time in their dreamworld. Life will let you know your kid’s limitations soon enough. If you think you are driving a future Super Bowl MVP to practice enjoy it. It won’t last forever.

My kids are in high school now and they've done travel from 4th grade in multiple sports. The only parents that I've met who really think their kids will even play in college have been right. Most parents know their kids and what they are capable of and the vast majority realize sports will end in high school.

That is 98 percent of kids though

2nd grade seems young, but by 4th grade the level of play is noticeably different. Kids who have played rec for 4 years and love the sport need more of a challenge. Travel sports hire professional coaches. They practice 2 or 3 times weekly vs just once. The extra time on the fields lends to better skills. And higher levels of competition at games.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm someone who would never do club/travel with my kids so I can't say for sure. But, I think it's for a status symbol or college resume building. Maybe parents are trying to live through their kids.

Lol, I would love to hear more of your “never” and “always” parenting wisdom. I bet there’s a lengthy list!

+1. My sister is like this. Its been interesting watching her 180's and then trying to gaslight us about what she "never" said.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bragging rights primarily.
We do rec ( kid in MS) and 3 girls on our U14 team have come back from travel to rec because the pressure was too much and they couldn’t do other things.

All three of my kids did travel sports and I found it to be the most fun part of parenting. My favorite parts include:

1. One -on -one trips with your kid. If you have multiple kids, you don’t get a lot of individual time. Traveling to tournaments and sharing ahotel room is a great opportunity to build your relationship.

2. Greater insight into you kid’s world. Because tournaments require parents and kids to spend so much time together (Particularly so much downtime) You get to observe their world and a way that you never would ordinarily.

3. Joint project provides opportunities for complex lessons. Your kid’s travel sports career Is sort of a joint project. This provides lots of opportunities for more complex questions like how to be a team mate to someone you’re competing with.

4. Little moments. Over The course of your kids travel career they’ll be tons of moments. And those little moments will be a touchstone Between you and your child forever. Years after my kids stopped playing - We still have our inside jokes about their teams.

There’s lots of other reasons to do travel sports. But be aware that if the goal is athletic excellence travel sports is a very small part of that.

All but #3 amounts to spend time with your kid. Which is good advice. Everyone find ways to spend time with your kids.

For every kid at that young age who is genuinely intense and driven and passionate about the sport, there are a couple of kids in travel whose parents put them there. That is my observation at least.

Sorry but all these young soccer kids are not mini-Messis with some all consuming passion for the sport.

The best things for kids that age is to keep trying as many sports and activities as possible. It’s better for their bodies and brains. Don’t have them devote all their time to one thing until middle school earliest is the best advice.