I asked my sixth grader (who plays baseball) how many boys in his grade play soccer. He said three. There are about 100 kids in his grade so 50-ish boys.

I asked why more kids don't play and he said that most of the jock kids want to do contact sports like lacrosse or football instead of soccer because those are tougher where soccer is for little kids.

I asked him why there are so many more kids playing baseball compared to soccer and he said that it is because in baseball you get an off season between spring ball and fall ball, even if you are good or playing travel. He said in soccer if you want to be on a good team you have to play all the time with no break and every single weekend for almost the entire year. He said if baseball was like that he wouldn't want to play anymore because even though he loves baseball he likes having an off season to just relax.

He said more girls play soccer because it is less for little kids for them, but more of them like lacrosse, softball and gymnastics than soccer.

He said everyone loves playing soccer at recess though, just not on teams anymore.

Anonymous wrote:Lots of them are playing lacrosse, instead. Sadly, soccer is passe.

"Passe?" Tell that to the entire world! Meanwhile mom or dad, good luck finding a pickup lacrosse game this weekend. Personally, I'll be playing pickup soccer with one of the two groups I play with every weekend I'm in town, all year long. Teaching your kid to enjoy soccer is every bit as important as giving them access to good training. Soccer, when enjoyed, is a lifelong gift.

This is all really upsetting. My kid was a lot better than his rec teammates mainly because we played as a family. Fortunately, my son being the best player I've seen in a rec game meant he could support his school friends on his rec team. His friends love the rec team because they are very successful. My son loves it because he's got the pride creating, confidence building and sense of responsibility nurturing task of making sure his rec team does well. Now, after years with the same kids on the same team, there are a bunch of kids who've dedicated more time, energy and effort to getting better at soccer and what was just a couple kids driving kids has turned into a whole team who are proud and try hard (for the most part- there are still kids who just aren't at all athletic and a couple slackers, but that's rec). I do wish there was a separation in rec- maybe rec a rec b so that everybody got to play, but there was at least some level of division. But regardless, my son who's plays travel very well, still loves to play rec with his buddies.

Oh, and don't forget that if you want your kid to be good at something and enjoy it, especially if they're younger, one of the key things a parent can do is participate. As I said in the beginning, soccer was a family sport before DS started playing on teams. And he still loves it and can't get enough probably in part because we still play as a family and with friends.

Soccer beats lacrosse, baseball and football because you can play it for years and years. Drive around your city on a Sunday morning and check out open fields. Count how many people you see playing pickup anything other than soccer. That's the beauty of the sport and that's why it's worth teaching your kids. And yes, rec has been robbed of too many good players, and yes too many travel teams ar a mess of overly demanding travel coaches coaching kids who shouldn't be there. But the game is beautiful and can be a lot to fun for your kids for a long time anywhere in the world. So, play with your kids if you can, even if you aren't any good, and give them opportunities to just mess around and enjoy the game outside of formal practices and they'll love the game and prosper more in it.

Lots of them are playing lacrosse, instead. Sadly, soccer is passe.

kids aren't getting any touches while in the car for 3 hours....

= no fun and no skills.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^or it could be the particular Club. The pp sounds like they were at our big club. They went nuts if a kid missed for anything starting at 7 years old and kids were treated poorly if they did. They also play in a TON of tournaments even at the earliest ages. Burn out factor very high. There was no feeling of “were in this together”, but more of “how do I step on or put down another kid to improve the chances of my kid moving up.”

Please post the club, people not taking their kids there might eventually force the club to change their ways, or they will have less registrations.

Arlington Soccer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fun is gone too young. Too many parents ruining it for the kids and over-training them younger and younger. Clubs out to make $ and requiring too much structure and too much $$ at an age-inappropriate time.

The organized 90-minute travel practices 3+ times a week almost year round for SECOND graders is ridiculous...add in multiple tournaments each season and long drives and a culture that gives up on 90% of kids in an age group.

This is the issue.

They are burned out before third grad.

+1 million

The Clubs all compete and try to push it down earlier and earlier with “more, more, MORE”. Now there is no true off season and these crazy fuckers are having 3 practices a week all winter long and summers.

That’s wrong. Gives kids no time for pick-up or backyard practice, private training or another Sport.

Can you say: overuse injuries?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fun is gone too young. Too many parents ruining it for the kids and over-training them younger and younger. Clubs out to make $ and requiring too much structure and too much $$ at an age-inappropriate time.

The organized 90-minute travel practices 3+ times a week almost year round for SECOND graders is ridiculous...add in multiple tournaments each season and long drives and a culture that gives up on 90% of kids in an age group.

This is the issue.

They are burned out before third grad.

+1 million

The Clubs all compete and try to push it down earlier and earlier with “more, more, MORE”. Now there is no true off season and these crazy fuckers are having 3 practices a week all winter long and summers.

That’s wrong. Gives kids no time for pick-up or backyard practice, private training or another Sport.

Soccer seems really saturated and overdone. I’m not steering my kids into it at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son (9 yo/3rd grade) decided to quit soccer after this fall. He didn't want the competitive pressure of a travel program (which I agree on, I think these programs are incredibly developmentally inappropriate at this age), but since the program has pulled off so much of the talent on his rec team, he's not having fun being the only kid out there working. I'm sad that he's giving up something he used to love, but I really can't blame him given what I've seen out on the field.

I tend to agree that lack of skilled coaching may be a part of it as well. My son's team has had a series of parent coaches who never coach more than a single season and who don't have much (if any) of a soccer background, so they basically just herd cats rather than actually teaching soccer skills (that's not a knock on them, I appreciate them stepping up so we could have a team at all). For those kids on the team who got outside coaching (either from a private coach or from a parent who knows the game), they were able to play at a higher level despite the lack of coach instruction at their practices, but for kids more in the middle who have potential but need to be taught the skills, they just haven't progressed much since the beginning.

There are plenty of teams where you can get a professional coach at the rec level. The kids in these leagues tend to do multiple sports and take soccer seriously enough but aren't crazy like the travel kids. You just have a pay more.

Why is playing travel “crazy”? Raise and support your kids and let others do the same and keep your judgment to yourself.

Anonymous wrote:My son (9 yo/3rd grade) decided to quit soccer after this fall. He didn't want the competitive pressure of a travel program (which I agree on, I think these programs are incredibly developmentally inappropriate at this age), but since the program has pulled off so much of the talent on his rec team, he's not having fun being the only kid out there working. I'm sad that he's giving up something he used to love, but I really can't blame him given what I've seen out on the field.

I tend to agree that lack of skilled coaching may be a part of it as well. My son's team has had a series of parent coaches who never coach more than a single season and who don't have much (if any) of a soccer background, so they basically just herd cats rather than actually teaching soccer skills (that's not a knock on them, I appreciate them stepping up so we could have a team at all). For those kids on the team who got outside coaching (either from a private coach or from a parent who knows the game), they were able to play at a higher level despite the lack of coach instruction at their practices, but for kids more in the middle who have potential but need to be taught the skills, they just haven't progressed much since the beginning.

There are plenty of teams where you can get a professional coach at the rec level. The kids in these leagues tend to do multiple sports and take soccer seriously enough but aren't crazy like the travel kids. You just have a pay more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel and rec soccer are not the same thing. They are not even the same game. Rec soccer makes it’s money with the younger kids- no refs, no paid coaches, etc. Little supervision of the coaching and no fundamentals. By 2nd to 3rd grade most kids leave rec.

I don’t blame them either. I have seen many kids who showed some promise and interest in the game get stuck at fullback/defense because the coach’s kid play forward or practices where the one kid who has some dribbling skills is tackled and thrown to the ground repeatedly(at 7 years old) because that’s good defense. Till the kid gets hurts and never goes back out.

The rec system is just as big a problem as the pay for play system.

At U4 to U11 there is no "rec system" -- there are individual clubs with largely volunteer rec soccer programs of varying quality.

At U11 and above in NoVA/DC -- there is the Suburban Friendship League. Website is http://www.sflsoccer.org SFL does a great job coordinating inter-club games for 20-plus area club rec programs. About 700 local rec teams participate in SFL for spring and fall soccer in ages U11-U19. So there actually are lots of local kids still playing rec soccer beyond U9 or U10 in this area. All SFL games have paid referees, and there are some high quality players, coaches and teams throughout the league.

Most of those high quality players are travel players or kids who dropped out of travel. I have seen the numbers and there is a huge drop in the number of kids playing rec at around 3rd grade. In most case that is before the kids have had a really coach and a ref on the field.

I don't dispute that there are large number of kids leave rec soccer at 3rd grade. Some go to travel soccer, some go to other sports, some never had any interest in soccer but their parents made them do it for the exercise.
As for SFL soccer, most of the high quality players I see (and coach) in SFL never played travel soccer because (1) they are multi-sport athletes unable to commit the required amount of time to travel soccer, or (2) are lower income kids who cannot afford $2500 a year in travel fees.

Anonymous wrote:The fun is gone too young. Too many parents ruining it for the kids and over-training them younger and younger. Clubs out to make $ and requiring too much structure and too much $$ at an age-inappropriate time.

The organized 90-minute travel practices 3+ times a week almost year round for SECOND graders is ridiculous...add in multiple tournaments each season and long drives and a culture that gives up on 90% of kids in an age group.

This is the issue.

They are burned out before third grad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel and rec soccer are not the same thing. They are not even the same game. Rec soccer makes it’s money with the younger kids- no refs, no paid coaches, etc. Little supervision of the coaching and no fundamentals. By 2nd to 3rd grade most kids leave rec.

I don’t blame them either. I have seen many kids who showed some promise and interest in the game get stuck at fullback/defense because the coach’s kid play forward or practices where the one kid who has some dribbling skills is tackled and thrown to the ground repeatedly(at 7 years old) because that’s good defense. Till the kid gets hurts and never goes back out.

The rec system is just as big a problem as the pay for play system.

At U4 to U11 there is no "rec system" -- there are individual clubs with largely volunteer rec soccer programs of varying quality.

At U11 and above in NoVA/DC -- there is the Suburban Friendship League. Website is http://www.sflsoccer.org SFL does a great job coordinating inter-club games for 20-plus area club rec programs. About 700 local rec teams participate in SFL for spring and fall soccer in ages U11-U19. So there actually are lots of local kids still playing rec soccer beyond U9 or U10 in this area. All SFL games have paid referees, and there are some high quality players, coaches and teams throughout the league.

Most of those high quality players are travel players or kids who dropped out of travel. I have seen the numbers and there is a huge drop in the number of kids playing rec at around 3rd grade. In most case that is before the kids have had a really coach and a ref on the field.

Good. No one wants a concussion.