Youth/Travel Sports - Problem or Solution?

[Ryan]

When my kids were younger, I thought forcing them into Travel sports was silly.  If they were happy with rec league, then they'd continue to do that until they asked for more.  Now that my kids are tweens or teens, I'm beginning to see how that approach has it's own set of challenges.

For my younger son (5th grade), he still plays rec league soccer but I've been noticing that the program really thins out a lot once you get to this age.  New team every year, coaching is so/so (parent led), and there really aren't that many games.  It's to the point for him that he probably would need to move to a travel program just to reinvigorate his interest.

For my older son, he was a decent all around athlete, but never felt the desire to play travel.  He was running cross country, playing rec league basketball, and bouncing a little between volleyball/soccer.  He didn't make the middle school basketball team and played rec again, but it was pretty much borderline depressing because there were almost no kids playing.  He is now trying out for volleyball and probably has a decent shot at making the team, but if he doesn't, he'll be out in no mans land.  Even if he does make the team, there will be 10 kids cut who will be in the same boat.

On the flip side, my daughter does team gymnastics and it's been great.  It's expensive, but there is a place for all girls at all skill levels.  If you want more practice, you do Junior Olympics, if you want less than you can do a less intensive program.  For the most part, there is always a place for someone in the program.

It's kind of unfortanate because I've seen this track with a lot of kids.  They do rec league, they want to continue playing but not at a high level.  They try out for middle school sports, they get cut, and the rec leagues are totally dried up.  Kinda sad.

[Lizard Queen]

My boys are both falling behind their peers in soccer skills because the do rec league between other sports while the travel league gets twice as much practice and game time. My older son isn't very athletic (although a decent distance runner), in U13 soccer, and it is sad in that "left behind" rec league level. My older son is still having a decent experience in U11, but is also more athletic, and I might encourage him to do the travel team tryouts this summer.

IDK, they say it's not good to focus only on one sport, but it's hard for them to continue as they get older due to skill level unless they sort of do specialize. My DH is starting to take them to the park to practice with them outside of team practice. They should have been doing that all along, but video games are more fun.

[giramomma]

I think it's location dependent. And size of school dependent.

My son is a senior in HS. He and his friends just finished their rec basketball league season 2.5 weeks ago. Between two of the high schools, there were 9 rec league teams. We have four regular high schools and two for at risk kids. So, I'm imagining more teams.  I just don't have the paperwork handy.

At least one of the teams were made from kids who left school sports because they didn't make varsity and couldn't stand another year of JV.

My son is also excited about being able to play rec basketball when he goes off to tech school. He's going to school in Laramie, not exactly a bustling metropolis.

Our high school also has club sports. My son is one of the captains for ultimate frisbee.  He loves his ultimate. And, since it's a club sport, there's no gpa requirements to stay on the team. A double bonus for us.

I had an old client that didn't make it to varsity baseball. JV for Freshman, sophmore and junior year. He quit baseball his last year of school and joined the rowing team. Absolutely loved it.

It looked up all the sports our HS offers. Now, it's been a while. But there are  few sports that don't have travel team programs generally, that I hear of: golf, wrestling, tennis..

I was able to find club sports for high school kids. They include: soccer, rec basketball (mentioned above), nordic skiing, lacrosse, power walking, ski and snowboard, volleyball, wrestling, ultimate frisbee (again, mentioned above) and table tennis.  There's also a weight lifting club as well. Probably one or two I've missed.

ETA: A perk of sending the kids to parochial 4k-8 school is that sports start in 5th grade...and the teams are no cut. The league does have requirements for playing time. Kids in 5th and 6th grade have to play at least 50% of the time. In 8th grade it's 25%. And the coaches do abide by those rules. Both my son and my oldest girl have been on basketball teams where overscheduled kids show up for half of the practices and maybe 1/3 of the games. The coaches still play those kids as they are supposed to in games.

[geenamercile]

We switched to travel this year for soccer instead of rec.  She has been doing rec since she was 5, she is now in U11 travel.  First year she could do travel.  I am glad we did.  The Travel was 1015 plus about 300 for uniform (we did get extra and some expensive shoes because she wanted the ones without laces) and she can use the uniform next year as well as long as it still fit. 

That covered Summer camp (3 weeks every day for an hour), fall season (two 1.5 hour practices a week, and a 1 hour goalie practice a week), fall games( Last week of August to first week of Nov- 1 or 2 a weekend, plus 3 weekends where they had tournaments.  We did have 1 off weekend) Winter camp (Jan-Feb two 1 hour practices a week) and now we just started spring season which runs to the end of May, and the same format as Fall season.  Now while we were suppose to have Dec/Nov off, her coach and the U12 coach both set up pick up practices almost every week, and pick up games in Feb on Sundays    We had fun traveling over the fall with getting hotel rooms and exploring the areas around the game.

Rec on the other hand would have been- 100 each for fall and spring season (1 hour practice a week, 1 game on the weekends same time frames)  They do offer academy classes in the summer and winter each 100 and normally 4 weeks, 2 times for an hour) Shirts are $20. 

I tried to work it out mathematical to decide if the extra cost was worth it too, I figured once you added in the extra practice times and games it pretty much came even it was just how much she wanted to play/do.  I will say I can't see her doing another sport while doing the travel program, but she hasn't shown any interest in another sport either.  That may change next year when she does middle school, but middle school sports are limited and our high schools do have soccer.   

Her current head coach for travel is one she played with one year during her rec time, she also has two assistant coaches.  All three took a national coaching course, (which the travel players got invited to be the lab rats for it for free, which was 2 weekends of 2 hours on both Sat/Sun) and her head and one of the assistant coaches played soccer through college.  So over all I would say the caliber of coaching is higher on the travel side.  When in rec her team honestly pretty much dominated, expect when they played the team her current coach was coaching.  The main coach she played with is our neighbor and she joined at 5 because his daughter, and the daughter of another neighbor was playing.  She played with the one year with her current coach because she is a year older than the neighbor kids and was aged up the year before last.  I will say even then I noticed a difference in the practices and skill building between neighbor coach and current coach.  That also weighed into our choice to do travel this year.    

Another thought is that I think it would be harder to get on a team at the higher levels if someone tries out as they won't be as many spots.  The girls on the team will get priority to play as U12 next year.  Keeping the team together is important in our travel program, so spots become open if they decide to not do it the following year, or if they moved ect...  I suppose if they got enough people trying out they may make another team at that level, I don't know, but I am glad that she has a spot for next year, as we will highly likely will do it again.        

[Ryan]

Mar 23, 2022 13:00:21 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

My boys are both falling behind their peers in soccer skills because the do rec league between other sports while the travel league gets twice as much practice and game time. My older son isn't very athletic (although a decent distance runner), in U13 soccer, and it is sad in that "left behind" rec league level. My older son is still having a decent experience in U11, but is also more athletic, and I might encourage him to do the travel team tryouts this summer.

IDK, they say it's not good to focus only on one sport, but it's hard for them to continue as they get older due to skill level unless they sort of do specialize. My DH is starting to take them to the park to practice with them outside of team practice. They should have been doing that all along, but video games are more fun.

We had a huge youth soccer program, and still do at the younger levels, with probably 250 boys alone in the kindergarten division.  As you get older, the number of kids gets less and less, which is understandable.  I think what people need to realize if they are in an area similar to mine though is that the drain in rec leagues happens pretty fast once they hit a certain age.  I'd say by 4th grade you're seeing kids playing their last years in rec, either they quit afterwards or they are focusing entirely on travel.  Then your kid might be stuck in a very, very sparse league. They might be happy doing it in 4th grade, but by 6th grade the league is no longer the same.  

However if you put them into a travel team, they have the ability to move up/down within the team and continue play at a semi competitive level.  My kids are all so close together that this is not something I even realized when they were young, but probably would've taken a different path if I had known.  


 

[Artemis Windsong]

My GrD was recruited for a travel team. One of the best players. She was benched for less talented players when traveling so she quit. An expensive lesson not repeated.

[TheOtherMe]

giramomma   Laramie, as in Wyoming?  It is so cold and windy there.

[giramomma]

Mar 23, 2022 18:01:51 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

giramomma    Laramie, as in Wyoming?  It is so cold and windy there.

Yuppers. It is. It's only 9 months. He has a good winter coat

[TheOtherMe]

He better.  It gets really cold there and they get snowed in a lot.

I remember taking a bus for basketball games up there.  Weather would be fine.  No forecast of snow but when we left it would be a nightmare of a snowstorm.  Interstate would be closed and we'd have to take the mountain pass.  It took forever but he won't have to be doing that.

[Lizard Queen]

Mar 23, 2022 16:47:13 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Mar 23, 2022 13:00:21 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

My boys are both falling behind their peers in soccer skills because the do rec league between other sports while the travel league gets twice as much practice and game time. My older son isn't very athletic (although a decent distance runner), in U13 soccer, and it is sad in that "left behind" rec league level. My older son is still having a decent experience in U11, but is also more athletic, and I might encourage him to do the travel team tryouts this summer.

IDK, they say it's not good to focus only on one sport, but it's hard for them to continue as they get older due to skill level unless they sort of do specialize. My DH is starting to take them to the park to practice with them outside of team practice. They should have been doing that all along, but video games are more fun.

We had a huge youth soccer program, and still do at the younger levels, with probably 250 boys alone in the kindergarten division.  As you get older, the number of kids gets less and less, which is understandable.  I think what people need to realize if they are in an area similar to mine though is that the drain in rec leagues happens pretty fast once they hit a certain age.  I'd say by 4th grade you're seeing kids playing their last years in rec, either they quit afterwards or they are focusing entirely on travel.  Then your kid might be stuck in a very, very sparse league. They might be happy doing it in 4th grade, but by 6th grade the league is no longer the same.  

However if you put them into a travel team, they have the ability to move up/down within the team and continue play at a semi competitive level.  My kids are all so close together that this is not something I even realized when they were young, but probably would've taken a different path if I had known.  


 

Our soccer program is pretty big, too, heavily skewed to the younger ages. Our travel soccer is related the the club league, and I should have had the kids start there in kindergarten. The lowest level is only $300 or $450 for the entire year, so only slightly more expensive. It's just an entire year commitment, and my kids were playing little league in the spring. There are 2 higher levels that get into the $1000's.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Definitely tricky. 
There's the question of being a single sport athlete or a multiple sport athlete. 
There's the question of socio-economic status. 
There's the consideration of giving a kid an opportunity to see other parts of the region. 
There's the consideration of impact on the nuclear family. 

We let our kids be on travel teams, but I do understand why some families eschew that lifestyle. 

[Ryan]

Mar 24, 2022 9:40:47 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Definitely tricky. 
There's the question of being a single sport athlete or a multiple sport athlete. 
There's the question of socio-economic status. 
There's the consideration of giving a kid an opportunity to see other parts of the region. 
There's the consideration of impact on the nuclear family. 

We let our kids be on travel teams, but I do understand why some families eschew that lifestyle. 

I used to really think it was all about the parents pushing their kids and then clubs gleefully taking their money.  Now I think there are a few other factors:

-The kids want more than rec leagues are offering.  For AYSO, it's cheap but hodge podge.  New coach, new team, coaching not great.  If you want to play indoor, separate sign-up, new team, etc.  It's a bit easier to just go to a club and have them just lay it all out there.

-Coaching is better and focuses on progression, this is pretty obvious.  Also relieves the parents of the burden of having to volunteer coaching or ref.  I've done my fair share of coaching and after awhile you're just done with it.

-4th or 5th grade seems to be the years where rec leagues really dry up.  The energy that is there when they are young has really evaporated.  If you're moderately good at soccer, for example, you realize you're not left with very good competition.

[geenamercile]

Mar 25, 2022 23:15:21 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Mar 24, 2022 9:40:47 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Definitely tricky. 
There's the question of being a single sport athlete or a multiple sport athlete. 
There's the question of socio-economic status. 
There's the consideration of giving a kid an opportunity to see other parts of the region. 
There's the consideration of impact on the nuclear family. 

We let our kids be on travel teams, but I do understand why some families eschew that lifestyle. 

I used to really think it was all about the parents pushing their kids and then clubs gleefully taking their money.  Now I think there are a few other factors:

-The kids want more than rec leagues are offering.  For AYSO, it's cheap but hodge podge.  New coach, new team, coaching not great.  If you want to play indoor, separate sign-up, new team, etc.  It's a bit easier to just go to a club and have them just lay it all out there.

-Coaching is better and focuses on progression, this is pretty obvious.  Also relieves the parents of the burden of having to volunteer coaching or ref.  I've done my fair share of coaching and after awhile you're just done with it.

-4th or 5th grade seems to be the years where rec leagues really dry up.  The energy that is there when they are young has really evaporated.  If you're moderately good at soccer, for example, you realize you're not left with very good competition.

For me at least there was one more factor too, and that is how much my kid enjoyed it and was serious about it vs the money spent.  I think around that 4th and 5th grade and even the start of middle school kids really began to show if they are really interested in something or not.  My oldest would be a different example, she actually took horse back lessons from around the age of 4 to about 8.  She enjoyed, they were fun if she had wanted to do more and gone more serious I would have paid for the upper levels.  But really she just kind of petered out on them and moved on to other things.  I think some of the kids that stay in the rec club stay in it because that is their level of interest, and just what they enjoy.  The extra demands of the travel team would kill the fun of it, so rec is a good fit for them.  I would have kept paying for the lower level of horse back riding classes for the oldest if she wanted them, but she just got to the point of going nah I want to do this instead.  I seriously never expected to be a sports travel parent but here we are.  At school I see kids who are really gungho about a single sport, and then others who are not as serious, still want to play it some, but are far serious about other things.   

Over all I think both rec and travel have their places and are beneficial.  If the youngest wanted to stay in rec, or stop all together I would have supported her base on her wants and interest.  I will also add that our rec and travel programs are run by the same club.  The director, the people who over see coaches are the same, and our rec coaches do get some training as well.  I feel very fortunate for having this club in my town, and if it wasn't clear before, I do feel the rec side does a great job as well, it is just based more on the level and interest of the players.  I don't think the rec side is trying to short change or the club treats the rec side as a lower unwanted step child at all.  I think they just set both programs up for the interest levels of the players.  A lot of the travel coaches are the ones that teach the extra classes for the rec club that you can sign up for, and some of them do coach rec teams as well.       

[geenamercile]

Mar 26, 2022 7:48:43 GMT -5 geenamercile said:

Mar 25, 2022 23:15:21 GMT -5 Ryan said:

I used to really think it was all about the parents pushing their kids and then clubs gleefully taking their money.  Now I think there are a few other factors:

-The kids want more than rec leagues are offering.  For AYSO, it's cheap but hodge podge.  New coach, new team, coaching not great.  If you want to play indoor, separate sign-up, new team, etc.  It's a bit easier to just go to a club and have them just lay it all out there.

-Coaching is better and focuses on progression, this is pretty obvious.  Also relieves the parents of the burden of having to volunteer coaching or ref.  I've done my fair share of coaching and after awhile you're just done with it.

-4th or 5th grade seems to be the years where rec leagues really dry up.  The energy that is there when they are young has really evaporated.  If you're moderately good at soccer, for example, you realize you're not left with very good competition.

For me at least there was one more factor too, and that is how much my kid enjoyed it and was serious about it vs the money spent.  I think around that 4th and 5th grade and even the start of middle school kids really began to show if they are really interested in something or not.  My oldest would be a different example, she actually took horse back lessons from around the age of 4 to about 8.  She enjoyed, they were fun if she had wanted to do more and gone more serious I would have paid for the upper levels.  But really she just kind of petered out on them and moved on to other things.  I think some of the kids that stay in the rec club stay in it because that is their level of interest, and just what they enjoy.  The extra demands of the travel team would kill the fun of it, so rec is a good fit for them.  I would have kept paying for the lower level of horse back riding classes for the oldest if she wanted them, but she just got to the point of going nah I want to do this instead.  I seriously never expected to be a sports travel parent but here we are.  At school I see kids who are really gungho about a single sport, and then others who are not as serious, still want to play it some, but are far serious about other things.   

Over all I think both rec and travel have their places and are beneficial.  If the youngest wanted to stay in rec, or stop all together I would have supported her base on her wants and interest.  I will also add that our rec and travel programs are run by the same club.  The director, the people who over see coaches are the same, and our rec coaches do get some training as well. 

I feel very fortunate for having this club in my town, and if it wasn't clear before, I do feel the rec side does a great job as well, it is just based more on the level and interest of the players.  I don't think the rec side is trying to short change or the club treats the rec side as a lower unwanted step child at all.  I think they just set both programs up for the interest levels of the players.  A lot of the travel coaches are the ones that teach the extra classes for the rec club that you can sign up for, and some of them do coach rec teams as well.  The rec team always has have trained refs for the games.  Yes for the little ones, these were the U16/U17 players who went through a program to learn how to be a ref and do it as a part time job for the club.          

[geenamercile]

Mar 23, 2022 12:36:40 GMT -5 Ryan said:

When my kids were younger, I thought forcing them into Travel sports was silly.  If they were happy with rec league, then they'd continue to do that until they asked for more.  Now that my kids are tweens or teens, I'm beginning to see how that approach has it's own set of challenges.

For my younger son (5th grade), he still plays rec league soccer but I've been noticing that the program really thins out a lot once you get to this age.  New team every year, coaching is so/so (parent led), and there really aren't that many games.  It's to the point for him that he probably would need to move to a travel program just to reinvigorate his interest.

Just wanted to touch base on your first post again.   I think your first sentence is right on.  I feel bad for the kids who are forced into something that they don't want to do.  I also feel bad for kids that want to do more but can't.  Our travel team do have income based scholarships, and programs where both the older kids and parents can volunteer to cover the cost too.  I would just really look at why he is losing interest.  If it is because of the level of coaching, play, ect... then looking into the travel side may be a great option.  But if it is because he is hitting a point where he is losing interest in that sport just because of the sport, or other things are taking more interest then travel may back fire and just make him dislike it even more.     

[Lizard Queen]

My issue with the rec league at U13, is that so many of the best players moved onto the travel league that our rec team always gets crushed. So I guess we're the non-competitive team Ryan is talking about. It's no fun for the players to never have a chance of winning a game, so they quit. I'm not sure what we'll have our 12 year old do next year. I don't think he's good enough to make the travel team (he does not either), and he really doesn't have time for it between cross country and robotics in the fall. I guess we'll ask him what he thinks after this current season wraps up.

[geenamercile]

Mar 26, 2022 8:07:22 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

My issue with the rec league at U13, is that so many of the best players moved onto the travel league that our rec team always gets crushed. So I guess we're the non-competitive team Ryan is talking about. It's no fun for the players to never have a chance of winning a game, so they quit. I'm not sure what we'll have our 12 year old do next year. I don't think he's good enough to make the travel team (he does not either), and he really doesn't have time for it between cross country and robotics in the fall. I guess we'll ask him what he thinks after this current season wraps up.

See this confuses me, because our rec league is set up so the rec teams only play each other in the club.  The amount of teams decrease, at the lower levels you have like 10 teams at each age set, and the older levels have around 7, but the teams are pretty equal in skill, specially at the higher ages when the travel team starts.  I could see getting bored because you are playing a less variety of teams.  Rec teams do cover to age ranges, so U5/U6, U7/U8 ect.  The travel teams are a single age.        


Edit----  I am starting to think our club, while it seems to be normal for the area, is larger than I have thought.  

[Lizard Queen]

Mar 26, 2022 9:00:05 GMT -5 geenamercile said:

Mar 26, 2022 8:07:22 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

My issue with the rec league at U13, is that so many of the best players moved onto the travel league that our rec team always gets crushed. So I guess we're the non-competitive team Ryan is talking about. It's no fun for the players to never have a chance of winning a game, so they quit. I'm not sure what we'll have our 12 year old do next year. I don't think he's good enough to make the travel team (he does not either), and he really doesn't have time for it between cross country and robotics in the fall. I guess we'll ask him what he thinks after this current season wraps up.

See this confuses me, because our rec league is set up so the rec teams only play each other in the club.  The amount of teams decrease, at the lower levels you have like 10 teams at each age set, and the older levels have around 7, but the teams are pretty equal in skill, specially at the higher ages when the travel team starts.  I could see getting bored because you are playing a less variety of teams.  Rec teams do cover to age ranges, so U5/U6, U7/U8 ect.  The travel teams are a single age.        


Edit----  I am starting to think our club, while it seems to be normal for the area, is larger than I have thought.  

There are enough teams in the younger groups to play each other. They are also much smaller teams. In u13, we only have 2 boys teams. I think they start playing other clubs  in U8 or U9.

[geenamercile]

The rec teams here will set up a once a season rec tournament with other close clubs and different clubs will host a different age once they start around the U11 age.  But beside that event rec is all in house at our soccer complex.  Which I will most likely be missing getting ready tomorrow morning.    8:30 game an hour away, not far enough to justify a hotel room tonight.       

[Lizard Queen]

Speaking of. My 9 year old starts spring soccer practice tomorrow, while my 12 yo's team still doesn't even have a coach. I have no time with grad classes. My kids are also both doing little league at the same time, so my DH won't have time to either. It's going to be challenging enough just juggling their schedules. Not that we even know that much about soccer. I don't even know all the rules at that level. 18 kids on that team.

[thyme4change]

Having just finished up 14 straight years of soccer - and ending at a fairly accomplished level - I need to ask for some clarification. When someone says "travel" I think of out of town, road trip or plane ride, overnight, or minimum a very long day. It may be because I live in a well populated area, but we had club level play, with professional coaches, where we had to go to various suburbs, but overnight trips were limited to one or two per year - especially when they were younger / middle school. How far and how often do you have to travel to be considered a "travel league"?

As my son advanced, we did have a place on a team that was out of town more than once per month. Once my son decided he did not want to go D2 for college and would rather stop playing, he was pushed back to a team that did mostly in-town play. I think we went overnight 3 times this past school year.

[Lizard Queen]

I don't know myself. Regular club is mostly local. There is one other club they play that is a small town about an hour away, but 15-20 minutes travel is average. We're not a big city, though. I'm calling the next level up travel, but it is not overnight travel. Just a wider area of places they play/bigger commitment--more practices per week/need to try out. The next 2 levels up cost a lot more and travel farther. They go by "premier" and "elite".

ETA: I don't see the elite option any more. It may have gone away when we got a local semi-pro team.

[pulmonarymd]

I live in a small state, but this is the breakdown:

Club: sponsored by town, play mostly in town, at older levels may be combined with adjacent towns
Travel: sponsored by the town as well. Play other towns in the state as well as local tournaments. Since we are a small states, no overnight trips
Premier: sponsored by local soccer clubs, more professional coaching. More travel and overnight trips. Teams cross town boundaries.

[stillmovingforward]

My kids did club/school only sports. No travel, no premier. We just didn't have the money or the time for it. Even if we did have the money, I'm not sure I could have put up with the 'my kids are everything' attitude of some of the other parents. The kids all lived and are somewhat successful now. 

[geenamercile]

Mar 27, 2022 10:44:00 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Having just finished up 14 straight years of soccer - and ending at a fairly accomplished level - I need to ask for some clarification. When someone says "travel" I think of out of town, road trip or plane ride, overnight, or minimum a very long day. It may be because I live in a well populated area, but we had club level play, with professional coaches, where we had to go to various suburbs, but overnight trips were limited to one or two per year - especially when they were younger / middle school. How far and how often do you have to travel to be considered a "travel league"?

As my son advanced, we did have a place on a team that was out of town more than once per month. Once my son decided he did not want to go D2 for college and would rather stop playing, he was pushed back to a team that did mostly in-town play. I think we went overnight 3 times this past school year.

Yea I kind of think the same thing.  My daughters team the U11 has stayed in state this year, 4 hours is the longest we have to travel this year.  The one we did today was 1hr 15mins, most are between the 1 and 2 hour range for us.  However, the older teams do go out of state.  I think that starts at the U13 lvl  1/2 our games are at home, 1/2 we travel for.  But it isn't an every other weekend thing.  Next two games are home games, then a travel, home, travel, travel, home, travel.  We also have to make up the game we didn't play yesterday due to wet fields, that may be up to more which club has the opening on their fields.  I tend to get a hotel for anything that is 2hr or more away and YDD and I have fun exploring the area too.   

One of the teams we played today was from out of state, but where we played at was near the VA/WV line, they were from WV.  

We don't have any travel games that is less then an hour away.  We have kids from neighboring towns/counties that are in a club.  Being a resident of my home town is not a requirement.  

[ohmomto2boys]

Our DS plays "competitive" soccer.  He has been in a club since he was 8 and played 2 clubs when he was 12.  At 13 we switched him to the better club because the coaching was better and skill level of the other players were more in-line with his skill level.  We wish we would have switched him to this club several years ago.  There are a lot of soccer clubs out there.  The club he is in is the best for our area. If we would want to drive an hour for practices, there are better clubs out there.  

This club involves overnight trips (via car) as well as many day trips for games (2.5 hrs to the game).  Right now, the team is in position to make it to playoffs that is several states away and if they win there, the championship games are even further away - these will require a plane ride.   He plays soccer year round and will be entering high school in the fall.  We will always have the expense of club fees for winter indoor and spring outdoor.  Is he going to play in college?  Who knows.  If he wants to that is fine with us, but academics comes first.  

[formerroomate99]

I guess it really depends on what your objective is. If your objective is for your kid to get some exercise and meet some people outside of school, then even a poorly coached, sparsely populated rec league would do the job. So would heading off to the park with a bunch of neighborhood kids, assuming there are any.

[thyme4change]

Apr 5, 2022 18:07:21 GMT -5 formerroomate99 said:

I guess it really depends on what your objective is. If your objective is for your kid to get some exercise and meet some people outside of school, then even a poorly coached, sparsely populated rec league would do the job. So would heading off to the park with a bunch of neighborhood kids, assuming there are any.

This.

It just gets hard if your kid gets bored because they are more talented, more skilled, more athletic and/or more competitive than a rec league can offer.