No no, rec/select/classic is way better than travel and I know because my daughter's classmate's friend's second cousin knew a girl who almost made a c travel team when she turned 13, but could't play for the team because the speed was too fast.

It depends. My son and daughter both play for Alexandria. My son is a better player than my daughter, but my daughter is on a higher level team because there just aren't as many girls that are interested/try out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i cant wait to see the u16 or u15 tryout of a female rec player at an ECNL/DA club.

Even on a u13/u14 ECNL/DA team, a weaker “travel” player is easily exposed.

As far as OP, what age is your DD. go to some trainings or tryouts.. see what it is like firsthand. $2.5k a year is not that pricey for 4 days a week of playing. That’s way cheaper than a private 1 on 1 trainer. and probably a lot more fun for your kid.

It depends on the player. I saw a U15 rec player make an ECNL team. She was a natural athlete who had played other sports competitively. Is it typical? Nope. But is it possible? Yeah, especially a lower level DA or ECNL.

you are a great conversationalist, one exception every time.. BUT ackchually

no school after 6th grade certainly leaves more time for training

if your dad and your uncle are former professional players, then I'd say that is not typical of most kids.

Andy Najar’s childhood home was just over the fence from a shaggy soccer pitch. From its sideline, you could smell the coals burning on the family’s mud-brick stove. Each afternoon, once the men finished their shifts and the boys completed their classwork, the villagers gathered on the field. The thwup of the soccer ball didn’t end until dark. “Where I lived, there was only soccer,” Najar says. He was three years old when his father first plopped him on the grass.

In the early 1990s, Andy Najar’s father was living in a small town near Santa Cruz. After a short professional-soccer career, he’d become a well-known player on the amateur circuit.

Andy spent much of his childhood on the soccer field studying his father’s dribbling techniques, practicing shooting with his brothers, and playing pickup games with friends. When the rainy season flooded the field, he took the ball to the dry patches. Even back then, some villagers saw a spark. “You are going to feed your family with your feet,” Ismael Reyes, a family friend, told Andy.

As Andy grew older, his uncle, a former professional soccer player, noticed that the boy could run at blinding speed while maintaining control of the ball. “He was like a bullet,” his uncle says.

After sixth grade—the final year of compulsory education in Honduras—Andy took a job at a drinking-water company near his house. He went to church on Sundays and played soccer whenever he could. At 13, he joined a Santa Cruz team that competed against clubs from nearby villages; some of his opponents were in their twenties. His elusiveness enraged the older players, and the men went after him with elbows. “It didn’t matter how hard they hit him,” says Andy’s former coach. “He never got scared.”

Despite Andy’s ability, a professional career seemed unlikely. Honduran national-team officials were focused on finding bigger players to match up with teams in the United States and Canada. Andy tried out for Honduras’s best-known professional team but was turned away.

Andy Najar's uncle was a professional soccer player and he used to train with him for hours every day before he moved to the US.

Either you folks arguing against classic/select are clueless or are trying to convince yourselves that your are getting a bargain. If your kid is playing travel on the C or D team you are not. That is the point. A team = Elite team = Elite coach = Elite competition. B team is questionable. C and D teams are a joke and are barely travel. Anyone who has coached a good travel team will tell you that his classic team can beat most C and D team.

One last time, the point is that you don't have to do tracel at U9, U10, or U11. You can join travel at u12-u14 and if you have been with a strong classic/select team, it will take a season to get use to the speed of play. You might not make the A team but you will make the B team and can move up in a year to the elite team.

Again, this is my experience but if you have $3,000 to waste on a D team please feel free to do so.

Anonymous wrote:i cant wait to see the u16 or u15 tryout of a female rec player at an ECNL/DA club.

Even on a u13/u14 ECNL/DA team, a weaker “travel” player is easily exposed.

As far as OP, what age is your DD. go to some trainings or tryouts.. see what it is like firsthand. $2.5k a year is not that pricey for 4 days a week of playing. That’s way cheaper than a private 1 on 1 trainer. and probably a lot more fun for your kid.

It depends on the player. I saw a U15 rec player make an ECNL team. She was a natural athlete who had played other sports competitively. Is it typical? Nope. But is it possible? Yeah, especially a lower level DA or ECNL.

i cant wait to see the u16 or u15 tryout of a female rec player at an ECNL/DA club.

Even on a u13/u14 ECNL/DA team, a weaker “travel” player is easily exposed.

As far as OP, what age is your DD. go to some trainings or tryouts.. see what it is like firsthand. $2.5k a year is not that pricey for 4 days a week of playing. That’s way cheaper than a private 1 on 1 trainer. and probably a lot more fun for your kid.

No they won’t have. They probably won’t even have reached puberty yet by U13. A kid that plays rec, plays pickup every day and trains on their own time will be better than a “travel player” who only goes to their organized team practices twice a week. It’s all relative. There’s nothing wrong with saving money and having peace of mind in the early years. If you weren’t so elitist, you’d realize that too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess we can disagree, but from what I have seen if you have a kid that has A team potential, you are hurting them by not having them in travel early. If they are good enough, they can overcome, but they would be farther along in their development if they had done travel.

What team charges $3,000 for travel for C and D teams? Our club charges between $1,500 and $1,800 depending on age. That includes tournament fees, winter training, etc.

Oh stop it. You’re not hurting anyone if you don’t stick your kid on a travel team at U9. Maybe start thinking about it at U12-13, when they move to 11v11

Ok, keep telling yourself that. Tryout at U9 for a travel team, but keep your kid in rec. Try back at U13 and you will see all the other kids have progressed way more than your kid.

Anonymous wrote:Andy Najar got an offer to play for DCU academy even though he did not play travel soccer at all. He only played high school soccer and pick up games with his friends.

We were talking about U12 and younger. He was in Honduras then. He really has nothing to do with what we are talking about.

Anonymous wrote:I guess we can disagree, but from what I have seen if you have a kid that has A team potential, you are hurting them by not having them in travel early. If they are good enough, they can overcome, but they would be farther along in their development if they had done travel.

What team charges $3,000 for travel for C and D teams? Our club charges between $1,500 and $1,800 depending on age. That includes tournament fees, winter training, etc.

Oh stop it. You’re not hurting anyone if you don’t stick your kid on a travel team at U9. Maybe start thinking about it at U12-13, when they move to 11v11

Honestly, don’t believe that you have to play DA or ECNL, period