If you kid is under 7, then you are talking about a 1 hour committment on Saturdays, 15 minutes of warming up and 40 minutes, roughly, of a 4 v 4 soccer "game."

Either your kid likes it or they don't. If they do, great, if not, move on to something else. Or don't do it at all. Really, no one cares about your kid.

I really we could just go back to local town sports. I too am in Montgomery County and what used to be everyone joining Rockville, Gaithersburg, Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring or even MC rec sports. Now it is MSI, KOA, etc... They all compete against each other and to survive they need teams year round. So then kids are playing the same boring sport all year round, driving all over the county and sometimes further, starting in kindergarten. Sorry but that is insane.

I miss true local rec sports that only run one season.

Anonymous wrote:1:21 - it's the same in most leagues, I think. A team needs to be able to fill its roster, so if you don't sign up for spring soccer, you won't be able to do fall soccer the next year with the same team. It's a shame, because initially I had hoped to have my daughter do fall soccer and spring softball and get a feel for more than one sport. Luckily, she doesn't care about softball. We will probably do winter basketball.

Did she play softball and then not like it or were you coerced into rejoining Spring soccer and she doesn't care because she never had the chance? This is the problem I see with all kids.

Obviously so many opinions. Families differ. Do what works for you, Op.

Obviously so many opinions. Families differ. Do what works for you, Op.

OP you sound like me regarding swim team this year. I didn't want to give up every morning and every Saturday, but my kid turned out to LOVE swimming and I made a ton of new neighborhood friends. I am so glad we gave it a try.

- a mom who has done soccer for 6 years

1:21 - it's the same in most leagues, I think. A team needs to be able to fill its roster, so if you don't sign up for spring soccer, you won't be able to do fall soccer the next year with the same team. It's a shame, because initially I had hoped to have my daughter do fall soccer and spring softball and get a feel for more than one sport. Luckily, she doesn't care about softball. We will probably do winter basketball.

OP, the world of DCUM is the pushy start your kids at competitive sports, tutors, and highest classes to fulfill them and make them happy. But that isn't what makes kids happy. It has to come within the child. Let them lead the way. If your child is happy in PJ's on Saturday morning and so are you, there is ZERO reason to start them yet. And honestly, soccer leagues are so lame. There are other things to look into and many that don't include eating up weekend time.

Soccer leagues are "lame?" Seriously, how old are you? Other people can like things that aren't for you. We are not a soccer family, as my son's primary athletic interest is martial arts. But if some other family enjoys soccer, that's just fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have to be soccer and it doesn't have to be Saturday. But I feel like OP is weirdly obsessed with keeping Saturday free. Why is it better to overload Sunday or a weeknight so you can have unscheduled Saturdays? Soccer season is only 7-8 weeks. There are 52 weeks in a year.

Haha! No one does one sport for 7 weeks. Everyone does sports year round. "If you only do one season, your child will fall behind!" Indoor soccer in winter, Spring soccer, summer soccer camps etc...

MSI soccer in Montgomery County forces you year round. If you only do Fall you lose your spot on the team in the winter/spring. If they add more kids in Spring and they all re-register, you get bumped to a different team in the Fall. MSI doesn't give a shit about all the studies that say committing to one sport year round early is bad for your muscles, brain, and health. They just want your $$$$. So they coerce kids to commit year round with scare tactics of moving teams. My daughter went to softball for Spring at age 6 and was told by MSI she would lose her team for the Fall. Ridiculous.

Well I'm not sure that's any different than SAM soccer, which has the added aggression of both players and parents. But your point still stands.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have to be soccer and it doesn't have to be Saturday. But I feel like OP is weirdly obsessed with keeping Saturday free. Why is it better to overload Sunday or a weeknight so you can have unscheduled Saturdays? Soccer season is only 7-8 weeks. There are 52 weeks in a year.

Haha! No one does one sport for 7 weeks. Everyone does sports year round. "If you only do one season, your child will fall behind!" Indoor soccer in winter, Spring soccer, summer soccer camps etc...

MSI soccer in Montgomery County forces you year round. If you only do Fall you lose your spot on the team in the winter/spring. If they add more kids in Spring and they all re-register, you get bumped to a different team in the Fall. MSI doesn't give a shit about all the studies that say committing to one sport year round early is bad for your muscles, brain, and health. They just want your $$$$. So they coerce kids to commit year round with scare tactics of moving teams. My daughter went to softball for Spring at age 6 and was told by MSI she would lose her team for the Fall. Ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids love sports and being active. Not that complicated.

But why, oh why, do people "love sports"? What exactly do you mean with that? Why not "being active" playing online games? Can someone explain sports to me? TIA

One ds loved soccer for quite a while. The game itself, the competition, challenging himself at each game. The other one loves football. He runs through plays in his head before he goes to sleep.

If you don't understand it then you just... don't. Nobody will be able to explain it to you.

I'm not sure how you get "being active" from online games. You sit there with a controller.

OP if early morning Saturday soccer is something that is going to cause you grief, then don't sign him up.

I haven't read all the answers. But I have no interest in Sat. morning sports. I signed my kid up though because everyone else was doing and his teachers said it was good social interaction. My son hated it After three sessions he wouldn't even get onto the field so we quit.

If he had liked it I would have kept him in, but I was not looking forward to it at all.

It doesn't have to be soccer and it doesn't have to be Saturday. But I feel like OP is weirdly obsessed with keeping Saturday free. Why is it better to overload Sunday or a weeknight so you can have unscheduled Saturdays? Soccer season is only 7-8 weeks. There are 52 weeks in a year.

Soccer is about the only sport you can start super early which is why it is so popular for the crazy tiger moms of the DC Metro. But who really plays or watches soccer in college? Um, nobody. I have never even seen a college soccer game on tv.

Let your child pick the sports. There are so many. Soccer is a huge money making monopoly around here. Many kids burn out by high school because it is demanding and kinda boring.

My kids both play club soccer, which requires a lot of time from everyone in the family because the practices are long (1.5-2 hours 2-3x a week) and there are 1-2 games a week within 50 miles of home. My kids are also older than yours--middle school aged-- but played recreational soccer when they were younger. I don't think they will be professional athletes, but I would like them to be able to play in high school if they choose to. Anyway, I asked an acquaintance who is the men's varsity soccer coach at a large public high school nearby and he said all of his players came from club/travel leagues. For his freshman team, something like 90 kids tryout and 15 get selected (those numbers might be off a little). He said he felt it was the same level of competition at other area high schools. He also said that probably only 2 or 3 players on his varsity team would go on to play in college and maybe only one at a D1 school, so it's not like his team is a bunch of mega superstars.

What's soccer like? It's a great sport! I have fun watching and my kids love everything about it--the camaraderie, the exercise, the competition, the teamwork. Standing outside in all weather watching can be a bummer sometimes. The long drives to games and the money spent for the league/travel is no fun. Soccer can be dangerous. My kid got a broken bone during a game and concussions are common, but the youth leagues seem to be taking that risk seriously. I have a boy and a girl and see more physical contact in the boys' games, but that could be because he's older.

At your kids' ages, any activity they participate in will require transportation and, in most cases, parental supervision (you'll be there for practices too), so I would just try some things out and see what they/you like. You can sign them up for a sports camp or clinic, which are short, to see if there's a sport they like.