# 7 am game time?  WTF?



## timbuck (Sep 8, 2019)

I see a 7am start time for a 2007 F2 SCDSL game this weekend.  Is this the new normal??
12 year olds waking up at 5am to arrive by 6:15am for warm ups?

I know club soccer has grown a lot. And I know that field space isn’t easy to come by. 
 But come on!!!   Ain’t nobody want to get up that early on a Saturday to watch anyone play a sport.  And ain’t no kid gonna be ready for peak performance at that time of morning. 

http://scdslsoccer.com/_element_display/#/73496/teams/95377299/95963398-95377411/TEAM.html?dummy=1568005489569


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## Futbol30 (Sep 9, 2019)

WTF is absolutely right... I’m sorry that is no fun for anyone involved but especially the kids who have to play. It happens sometimes in tournaments when you have to travel etc., but I agree a 7am game sucks. Good luck to your daughter team that day! Hope the refs get a good nights sleep too the night before too lol


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## timbuck (Sep 9, 2019)

Not my team.  Daughter has friends on that team.  Thankfully neither of my kids have games that early.  (Each does have a 9am game in San Diego.  I think I’ll check out hotel options later today).


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## espola (Sep 9, 2019)

timbuck said:


> I see a 7am start time for a 2007 F2 SCDSL game this weekend.  Is this the new normal??
> 12 year olds waking up at 5am to arrive by 6:15am for warm ups?
> 
> I know club soccer has grown a lot. And I know that field space isn’t easy to come by.
> ...


Be thankful your kid is not in ice hockey.  In most of the youth ice hockey world, there is only one rink available, and so it is scheduled 24 hours a day.  Your kid's team may have a practice session at 3AM.


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## jpeter (Sep 9, 2019)

At least it's local and your not on a plane night before and have to get up crack of dawn to play a regular season game


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## Poconos (Sep 9, 2019)

good gawd, i love hockey and am glad my daughter didn't catch the bug.  good skater and can cross over but never took the bait i was casting.


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## multisportson (Sep 9, 2019)

Having recently left the world of travel ice hockey, I can confirm the 7:00am ice time for tournaments and practices.  I celebrated leaving those behind when my son took up soccer.  I am terrified that this is spreading into soccer!  Noooooooooo!!


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## oh canada (Sep 9, 2019)

have friends with kids back home who have played hockey w/6am starts.  awful.  Some SoCal soccer tournaments this past summer had 730am games too.  The creep into family life continues.


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## multisportson (Sep 9, 2019)

oh canada said:


> have friends with kids back home who have played hockey w/6am starts.  awful.  Some SoCal soccer tournaments this past summer had 730am games too.  The creep into family life continues.


I once had my kid get up and play a crack of dawn game, go back to the hotel and sleep for a few hours, then play ANOTHER game later in the morning.  It is absolutely ridiculous.  
Is this creep into soccer a question of not enough fields, or are venues increasing their prices beyond what clubs feel they can pay?  Because in hockey, it's DEFINITELY a question of not enough ice, but I wouldn't think that would be an issue for leagues.  But maybe I'm wrong?  I'm new to soccer.


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## MWN (Sep 9, 2019)

espola said:


> Be thankful your kid is not in ice hockey.  In most of the youth ice hockey world, there is only one rink available, and so it is scheduled 24 hours a day.  Your kid's team may have a practice session at 3AM.


But ... most Ice Hockey rinks have (1) the most awesome air-conditioning I ever experienced; (2) wine and beer; and (3) parents behind glass.  Its really a very pleasant experience compared to sitting for 2 hours in the hot sun at Silverlakes.


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## timbuck (Sep 9, 2019)

It seems to be a "One off" for this particular field.  Maybe it's to help with scheduling conflicts.  Or is there some sort of special event next weekend on some Great Park fields?


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## multisportson (Sep 9, 2019)

MWN said:


> But ... most Ice Hockey rinks have (1) the most awesome air-conditioning I ever experienced; (2) wine and beer; and (3) parents behind glass.  Its really a very pleasant experience compared to sitting for 2 hours in the hot sun at Silverlakes.


in hockey, my kid's bag took up my entire truck, but I could walk in just wearing my rink coat and a pair of uggs.  Now my kid walks in with his all his gear in his backpack, and I am lugging a chair, sunshade, wagon, cooler etc.
Dang it, now I'm missing hockey again.


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## Paul Spacey (Sep 9, 2019)

Remember that time when we put the interests and welfare of the KIDS at the heart of our adult decision making in youth soccer? 

No, me neither. 

Genuine question; are so many adults involved in decision making for this stuff truly that brainless...or do they just not give a f**k regardless?


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## timbuck (Sep 9, 2019)

Honestly not sure what I'd do if it was my kids game.
Show up because you've committed to the team and it's not cool.  Or don't show up as sort of a protest / advocate of youth safety and happiness.


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## multisportson (Sep 9, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Honestly not sure what I'd do if it was my kids game.
> Show up because you've committed to the team and it's not cool.  Or don't show up as sort of a protest / advocate of youth safety and happiness.


Is it somewhere in the rules of SCDSL that games CAN be scheduled as early as 7:00am?


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## dawson (Sep 9, 2019)

TYPO !  The next game is at 9:20 am for that field .


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## dawson (Sep 9, 2019)

another typo !  make that 9:35 am for the next game


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## watfly (Sep 9, 2019)

My son and I would be mildly tweaked if he had a 7am game, but c'mon its not putting the health and welfare of a child at risk.  God forbid anyone has to get up early on a rare occasion.  May I suggest going to bed earlier before those games.  Between this and the poster claiming that a 90 minute game is borderline child abuse and the horrors of 4 day a week practice, I'm less worried about kids burning out and more worried about the wimpification of our kids (see also the banning of dodgeball at schools).  I must be evil for getting my kid up to go fishing at 3 am throughout the year (yeah I get it, fishing is not soccer).

In going to insert this right here for one opinion on what it takes to achieve excellence. https://changingthegameproject.com/the-rocky-road-of-excellence/
*
“What am I willing to sacrifice for, to struggle for, and to experience pain and discomfort for? In other words, what dream or passion am I willing to suffer for?”*

This question is what leads to excellence in sport, in business, and in life.


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## ajaffe (Sep 9, 2019)

Now imagine flying to Kansas to play a 7am must win game against an east coast team.


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## gkrent (Sep 9, 2019)

timbuck said:


> I see a 7am start time for a 2007 F2 SCDSL game this weekend.  Is this the new normal??
> 12 year olds waking up at 5am to arrive by 6:15am for warm ups?
> 
> I know club soccer has grown a lot. And I know that field space isn’t easy to come by.
> ...


Hey at least its not at a tournament in North Carolina and its like 34 degrees out and drizzling.


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## Dirtnap (Sep 10, 2019)

timbuck said:


> I see a 7am start time for a 2007 F2 SCDSL game this weekend.  Is this the new normal??
> 12 year olds waking up at 5am to arrive by 6:15am for warm ups?
> 
> I know club soccer has grown a lot. And I know that field space isn’t easy to come by.
> ...


Last year we had numerous 7am games for my daughter's 06 team. driving from HB to Oceanside and Silverlakes required a 4:30 wake up call on numerous occasions. SMH


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## outside! (Sep 10, 2019)

gkrent said:


> Hey at least its not at a tournament in North Carolina and its like 34 degrees out and drizzling.


DD had one of those games against a team from New York. Our team was warming up when the NY team arrived. They were walking onto the field with their long sleeve jerseys and matching warm up pants. Our team was wearing the mish-mash of cold weather gear that SoCal teams scrape together. As the NY girls were walking by, our coach had our team lay down on the ground and roll around in the mud after which he said something like, "Now you're already dirty and wet, so don't worry about it". The NY team walked by with their mouths hanging open. I don't think they recovered from the shock.


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## jrcaesar (Sep 10, 2019)

outside! said:


> "Now you're already dirty and wet, so don't worry about it"


"Except my body isn't _warm_ from running yet, Coach!"


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## outside! (Sep 10, 2019)

jrcaesar said:


> "Except my body isn't _warm_ from running yet, Coach!"


I am fairly certain that no one was warm at that game. The inside of the rental vans were covered in grass clippings, including the ceiling liner after that game.


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## Justafan (Sep 10, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Honestly not sure what I'd do if it was my kids game.
> Show up because you've committed to the team and it's not cool.  Or don't show up as sort of a protest / advocate of youth safety and happiness.


OMG Tim, you’re becoming the “get off my lawn” guy!  Suck it up!  One game in a blue moon at 7:00 am really?  I’d take a 7:00 am game in the Fall on a Saturday any day over a 2-3 pm game.  You’re done early and have the rest of the day to watch college football or do whatever.  As for the kids, c’mon these are 8-12 year olds, they can play at any time.  Shoot, in my late teens, I’d get in at 5 am stone drunk, and get up for an 8am game and still get a triple double!


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## timbuck (Sep 10, 2019)

Justafan said:


> OMG Tim, you’re becoming the “get off my lawn” guy!  Suck it up!  One game in a blue moon at 7:00 am really?  I’d take a 7:00 am game in the Fall on a Saturday any day over a 2-3 pm game.  You’re done early and have the rest of the day to watch college football or do whatever.  As for the kids, c’mon these are 8-12 year olds, they can play at any time.  Shoot, in my late teens, I’d get in at 5 am stone drunk, and get up for an 8am game and still get a triple double!


Typed up this long response before I took at look at the schedule again.  Looks like it's been changed to 8:00 am.  Hope it was just an initial typo and that we won't see any league games before 8:00 am in the near future:

Here's what I had typed out:

Not my kids game.  Not really my problem.  But if this is going to be the new normal, it would be nice to know in advance what we are in for.
I've seen 7:45 am games in a rec league where the community based fields are extremely busy and this was the only way to get all games in for the day.  And for a summer tournament that had more teams than they expected.
But I haven't seen a giant complex like Great Park have games this early yet.  And if there is a good reason for a game this early - I'd like to hear what it is.  There doesn't appear to be a game booked on that field with SCDSL past an 11:10 am start time.

I just saw a recent Aspen Institute study that said soccer has lost 475,000 players in the US over the past 5 years.
https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2019/09/2019-National-State-of-Play-Report.pdf?_ga=2.100311005.2117620836.1568155801-1597910033.1568155801
"Soccer participation continues to decline. While the two most popular sports for kids ages 6 to 12 either grew participation in 2018 (baseball) or only slightly decreased (basketball), the number of kids in that age bracket that played soccer dropped by 3%. It’s even worse for soccer when taking the long view. The sport lost 474,000 kids ages 6 to 12 in five years. More kids have stopped playing soccer than the combined number of newcomers and returning players to the sport. In a change from a decade ago, soccer’s participation rate is now closer to that of tennis, the fourth-most-played team sport, than it is to baseball’s and basketball’s."

Kids quit sports for lots of reasons.  Getting up at 5:30 am to get to a field by 6:15 am might be a good reason to quit if a kid is already on the fence with her love for soccer.  Or if she loves the sport, but doesn't get to play much.  There's no guarantee that a 9:00 am game will make her stick around either.

I'm sure the referees are thrilled to be there that early too.  Actually, maybe they are.  Parents will be half asleep.  If a 2 parent family, it's likely that 1 parent stays home to sleep.  And it's unlikely that grandma and grandpa (usually the most unruly sideline dwellers) will be dragging themselves to Irvine that early.

Good news for the team manager, is that you can probably leave the EZ-Up at home. Won't be much sun to worry about.


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## Poconos (Sep 10, 2019)

E-Z parking


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## MicPaPa (Sep 10, 2019)

Only in SoCal...where the state is considering mandating all public K-12 schools not starting prior to 8:30 am.

Welcome to the world of kids wrestling. 6 am weight in to make weight, then immediate breakfast to be settled for 9 am first match. Then 2 more matches over the next 3-5 hours.

Not to mention all the farm / ranch kids across the country up everyday for a couple hours doing chores before most folks alarms go off.

It builds character... they'll be fine.


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## dawson (Sep 10, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Typed up this long response before I took at look at the schedule again. Looks like it's been changed to 8:00 am. Hope it was just an initial typo and that we won't see any league games before 8:00 am in the near future:


Posted yesterday at 3:47 pm

" TYPO ! The next game is at 9:20 am for that field . "


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## Eagle33 (Sep 12, 2019)

Love when people jumping the gun....One of our games is listed at 4 am. I'm sure it's a typo and will be changed soon


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