Is soccer participation slowing down?

[timbuck]

Seems that when my 05 and 07 kids were in elementary and middle school that EVERYONE played soccer.
im a bit removed from what goes on in elementary school these days. My youngest is in 7th grede, but she’s a dancer and doesn’t play sports.
I asked her the other day “is there a group of girls at school that are “jocks” and play soccer, basketball or softball?” She said “nope. Not at all. A few girls at school play volleyball, but that’s it.”
I know a few boys in 7th grade that play. Seems most are baseball players.

Is this just our area? Or is the number of kids playing under the age of 14 dwindling?

 

[Grace T.]

Seems that when my 05 and 07 kids were in elementary and middle school that EVERYONE played soccer.
im a bit removed from what goes on in elementary school these days. My youngest is in 7th grede, but she’s a dancer and doesn’t play sports.
I asked her the other day “is there a group of girls at school that are “jocks” and play soccer, basketball or softball?” She said “nope. Not at all. A few girls at school play volleyball, but that’s it.”
I know a few boys in 7th grade that play. Seems most are baseball players.

Is this just our area? Or is the number of kids playing under the age of 14 dwindling?

You aren’t imagining it. Soccer America has an article in 22 showing about a 1/5 drop in soccer in SoCal, all sports down as well, team sports more than individual sports. Numbers were falling prepandemic but the pandemic gave it a big shove and it never quite recovered.

 

[Carlsbad7]

The birthrate in Socal has dropped yoy since 2010.

There may or may not be less kids playing.

However, it's a fact that theres less kids to play.

 

[lafalafa]

Yeah I'm going guess a mate about a 30% drop from peak levels.... 1k players in a program now closer to 700

Some club teams with larger affiliates were having six teams per age group, so around 6 boys 2009 groups and 3 girls but now you really don't see that

 

[timbuck]

Numbers are dropping- so what do clubs do?
Let’s form more leagues. Let’s raise prices. Let’s save money by having less coaches. Let’s travel more.

Covid. A shrinking economy. Lower birth rates. Are leagues and clubs paying attention? Or just trying to survive until the next round of tryouts?

 

[Carlsbad7]

Numbers are dropping- so what do clubs do?
Let’s form more leagues. Let’s raise prices. Let’s save money by having less coaches. Let’s travel more.

Covid. A shrinking economy. Lower birth rates. Are leagues and clubs paying attention? Or just trying to survive until the next round of tryouts?

Traveling is a way to…

- keep local clubs from poaching your players
- it’s a good way to filter out parents without $$$
- it’s easier to setup wins against far away clubs to keep parents happy

Super annoying but I understand why clubs do it.

 

[watfly]

My youngest is in 7th grede, but she’s a dancer and doesn’t play sports.

But I bet she trains way more than any club sports player.

Numbers are dropping- so what do clubs do?
Let’s form more leagues. Let’s raise prices. Let’s save money by having less coaches. Let’s travel more.

Covid. A shrinking economy. Lower birth rates. Are leagues and clubs paying attention? Or just trying to survive until the next round of tryouts?

Club soccer has become a convoluted mess with all the different leagues. It seems most clubs are just focusing on trying to get greater share of a shrinking market.

 

[VanMan]

Yeah I'm going guess a mate about a 30% drop from peak levels.... 1k players in a program now closer to 700

Some club teams with larger affiliates were having six teams per age group, so around 6 boys 2009 groups and 3 girls but now you really don't see that

Not sure if that's localized or broad. Numbers for the big clubs in Metro SD don't really seem to support a broad conclusion.... City SD carrying 6-8 boys teams in all age groups from 2010-2015 and 5-6 girls teams 2011-2015, Surf carrying 5-6 boys teams 2011-2015 and 4 girls teams 2012-2015. Albion, which is a slightly different animal since they include their local affiliates, are carrying as many as ten teams per age group on the boys' side.

I'm curious as to whether this is a result of consolidation of the market, growth of the market in SD despite broader demographic headwinds or if there are other elements at play.

 

[timbuck]

At least when we were all in just 1 or 2 leagues- you could justify the expense of “oh we are just flight 2” because it was still “club” soccer.
seems now they paying for anything less than a ecnl/mls next type of league feels like throwing money away.

 

[espola]

The birthrate in Socal has dropped yoy since 2010.

There may or may not be less kids playing.

However, it's a fact that theres less kids to play.

.../less/fewer/...

 

[VanMan]

At least when we were all in just 1 or 2 leagues- you could justify the expense of “oh we are just flight 2” because it was still “club” soccer.
seems now they paying for anything less than a ecnl/mls next type of league feels like throwing money away.

That's pretty much in line with what the letter leagues and their member clubs want you to feel.

Whether or not that's a valid feeling really depends on what your/your child's goals are.

 

[SoccerFan4Life]

Went to slammers 09 girls ECNL/ECRL tryouts recently and surprised to only see 15 players trying out. Many from other NL/RL teams.
The 09 group is dwindling fast.

 

[paytoplay]

Traveling is a way to…

- keep local clubs from poaching your players
- it’s a good way to filter out parents without $$$
- it’s easier to setup wins against far away clubs to keep parents happy

Super annoying but I understand why clubs do it.

I know California is inexplicably a punching bag these days to some segments, but it’s super annoying as a native Californian to have to travel to other states where the freedoms we take for granted just do not exist. Life—soccer league showcases in high-crime, high-murder, EXTREME weather regions in the s-hole South. Liberty—border patrol checkpoints in the SW, literally racial profiling us. Pursuit of Happiness—NO WEED states!! SoCal has more athletic talent and fields to play on than all the other regions combined. And don’t forget, it’s also got unlimited freedom. But all this money in the paytoplay club soccer system and we still don’t travel anywhere nice!

 

[tjinaz]

I know California is inexplicably a punching bag these days to some segments, but it’s super annoying as a native Californian to have to travel to other states where the freedoms we take for granted just do not exist. Life—soccer league showcases in high-crime, high-murder, EXTREME weather regions in the s-hole South. Liberty—border patrol checkpoints in the SW, literally racial profiling us. Pursuit of Happiness—NO WEED states!! SoCal has more athletic talent and fields to play on than all the other regions combined. And don’t forget, it’s also got unlimited freedom. But all this money in the paytoplay club soccer system and we still don’t travel anywhere nice!

You do realize that a good portion of your cities are considered high crime as far as the SW goes? That people are literally leaving California due to high crime. We have had cars broken into during league games in Socal. Unlimited Freedom? CA is one of the most taxed and regulated states in the country. Traveling to California we pass through no less than 3 California based border control checkpoints.. (Its you as well... Border patrol is federal) Not to mention crazy California gas prices, paying $12 to park for league games, Paying for plastic bags (wtf), the highway system in Orange county. Extreme weather? Have you been to Silverlakes in May or September? If you are from San Diego ill give you some of this but if you are from LA/Orange county.. you should check your privilege.

 

[paytoplay]

You do realize that a good portion of your cities are considered high crime as far as the SW goes? That people are literally leaving California due to high crime. We have had cars broken into during league games in Socal. Unlimited Freedom? CA is one of the most taxed and regulated states in the country. Traveling to California we pass through no less than 3 California based border control checkpoints.. (Its you as well... Border patrol is federal) Not to mention crazy California gas prices, paying $12 to park for league games, Paying for plastic bags (wtf), the highway system in Orange county. Extreme weather? Have you been to Silverlakes in May or September? If you are from San Diego ill give you some of this but if you are from LA/Orange county.. you should check your privilege.

Really?! LA/OC is as wealthy as it gets. I don’t know about possibly some SoCal rec leagues here or there, I’m more familiar with competitive pay to play club leagues, which are played mostly in well to do areas of privilege, not the ghetto. That is one big problem with pay to play and travel ball, which speaks to the original post and falling participation, which is that club soccer cuts out the poors. The poors largely don’t get to participate in wealthy letter league club. And finally, at least CA regulates stuff that needs regulating, and stays the hell out of our bedrooms and our bodies.

 

[rainbow_unicorn]

.../less/fewer/...

 

[espola]

Don Orsillo during the Padres broadcasts often presents a viewer participation game with words such as "If you think the two teams will hit 2 home runs or more combined, press "More", and if you think they will hit fewer than 2 home runs, press "Less".

Missed it by that much.

 

[Code]

The structure is in place via SOCAL League to stop the unnecessary travel associated with the letter leagues and the dispersion of local players through multiple leagues. I am tired of traveling to AZ and NV to play games that are not competitive 90% of the time. People have been on here for years talking about combining all the teams from the various leagues into one local super league. It would be the best thing for all the players in Southern California. The problem is, that the Older players are locked into the system in a way; they would only leave the letter leagues for SOCAL if they knew everyone else was going to join as well. So once U13 starts for a team, they are pulled into the letter leagues, which is the same time SOCAL is trying to create an NPL division for the age group; now the top SOCAL teams are no longer playing in the league, so it is difficult to start the NPL division. To break the cycle, SOCAL should start the NPL division at U11, so the highest performing teams experience first hand the pros and cons of one big local league vs. letter leagues (travel). I think you would see a trend of teams sticking together and playing in NPL instead of playing in ECRL/DPL/EA/GA/... I don't know that MLS and ECNL would go away, but it would certainly be challenged by a very strong and deep local NPL league. It also brings access to top level soccer into the poor areas, as the promotion/relegation structure of SOCAL NPL depends on performance and development of the team, and not the size of the club.

 

[crush]

The structure is in place via SOCAL League to stop the unnecessary travel associated with the letter leagues and the dispersion of local players through multiple leagues. I am tired of traveling to AZ and NV to play games that are not competitive 90% of the time. People have been on here for years talking about combining all the teams from the various leagues into one local super league. It would be the best thing for all the players in Southern California. The problem is, that the Older players are locked into the system in a way; they would only leave the letter leagues for SOCAL if they knew everyone else was going to join as well. So once U13 starts for a team, they are pulled into the letter leagues, which is the same time SOCAL is trying to create an NPL division for the age group; now the top SOCAL teams are no longer playing in the league, so it is difficult to start the NPL division. To break the cycle, SOCAL should start the NPL division at U11, so the highest performing teams experience first hand the pros and cons of one big local league vs. letter leagues (travel). I think you would see a trend of teams sticking together and playing in NPL instead of playing in ECRL/DPL/EA/GA/... I don't know that MLS and ECNL would go away, but it would certainly be challenged by a very strong and deep local NPL league. It also brings access to top level soccer into the poor areas, as the promotion/relegation structure of SOCAL NPL depends on performance and development of the team, and not the size of the club.

Excellent take. It used to be just HS age with the letter leagues that started at U15. Then it went to U14 and it's even younger now. Southern California is in a league of it's own. My recommendation is simple. Stay here and form the best soccer in the country. Have a top division of 10 teams. Have a second division of 10 teams and a third division of 10 teams and even a fourth Division. If you want to get in the local academy biz, you start at the bottom and earn way up. All Socal only. Each Division and club can even have a "B" team. Each club can have a Senior Team up U23 years old that competes. Then a U19, U17 and so on, all the way down to the youth. Promote top two teams in each division and regulate the two last place teams. Earn everything on the field, not in a back room with investors who are willing to pay for play. Win & promote is better. Have a pathway to be good people and great soccer players. Pro, college or just for fun and stay in shape and compete after High School. Go SOCAL!

 

[aong cangkol]

Seems that when my 05 and 07 kids were in elementary and middle school that EVERYONE played soccer.
im a bit removed from what goes on in elementary school these days. My youngest is in 7th grede, but she’s a dancer and doesn’t play sports.
I asked her the other day “is there a group of girls at school that are “jocks” and play soccer, basketball or softball?” She said “nope. Not at all. A few girls at school play volleyball, but that’s it.”
I know a few boys in 7th grade that play. Seems most are baseball players.

Is this just our area? Or is the number of kids playing under the age of 14 dwindling?

My kids are 2010 and 2012 in South OC public school. In 7th grade (~500 students public school, only 3 girls and 4 boys play club soccer (nobody play AYSO), Nobody play club basketball, 2 play football, about 30 play baseball, volleyball, unsure rec or club.
More than half do not have activities outside school and we are in south OC relatively better than average household income.
In 5th grade (~200 students elementary school), 2 play club soccer, 1 club basketball, about 20 play baseball, football - mostly rec.

I thought it was always like this before. are you saying almost 80% at least youth sports rec participation only 3 years ago?

At my kids soccer club team, 60% go to private schools.

maybe combination of cost and interests?
Also based on my discussion with other parents, most of them get smarter now, the ones with limited financials realize that sports is not the path to college/career, they spend more on math/english tutoring.
only the wealthy can still play sports as a hobby.