# 2018-2019 Club Fees



## SoccerFan4Life (Mar 15, 2018)

So it's that time of the year when clubs begin to rollout their new pricing for the upcoming 2018-2019 season.  I am hearing fees all over the place and trying to determine what's the going rate. For example, I've heard up to $3,000 for U-littles (could be a rumor), $1,700 for smaller clubs in Central OC, $1,000 for Legends Flight 3,  and $2,600 for older kids from one of the larger organizations in the region.

My question to you is how much is too much?   If my fees are about $2,600  should that Include uniforms and 2 tournaments (including state cup)?

It's a loaded question but prices are beginning to get out of control it appears.


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## Soccer Bum 06 (Mar 15, 2018)

SoccerFan4Life said:


> So it's that time of the year when clubs begin to rollout their new pricing for the upcoming 2018-2019 season.  I am hearing fees all over the place and trying to determine what's the going rate. For example, I've heard up to $3,000 for U-littles (could be a rumor), $1,700 for smaller clubs in Central OC, $1,000 for Legends Flight 3,  and $2,600 for older kids from one of the larger organizations in the region.
> 
> My question to you is how much is too much?   If my fees are about $2,600  should that Include uniforms and 2 tournaments (including state cup)?
> 
> It's a loaded question but prices are beginning to get out of control it appears.


My thought is that uniforms should be included in the registration for all clubs. It isn’t included in my players fees and only seems to add to the clubs revenue stream. I don’t like paying for registration and then being hit up for another $300+ price tag for marked up uniform kits.


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## carla hinkle (Mar 15, 2018)

I have 3 kids playing 3 different clubs/levels of seriousness; the least competitive/smallest club always includes the cost of uniforms in the fees, the biggest/most "serious" doesn't. I know to expect the extra cost now but it really does irritate me. Just include it in the fees!!


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## Deadpoolscores! (Mar 15, 2018)

SoccerFan4Life said:


> So it's that time of the year when clubs begin to rollout their new pricing for the upcoming 2018-2019 season.  I am hearing fees all over the place and trying to determine what's the going rate. For example, I've heard up to $3,000 for U-littles (could be a rumor), $1,700 for smaller clubs in Central OC, $1,000 for Legends Flight 3,  and $2,600 for older kids from one of the larger organizations in the region.
> 
> My question to you is how much is too much?   If my fees are about $2,600  should that Include uniforms and 2 tournaments (including state cup)?
> 
> It's a loaded question but prices are beginning to get out of control it appears.


Legends Flight 3 for U little's which Legends are you referring to? I know that the Legends FC West has Flight 3 for $700 which are consider a Development team and  the only reason why its cheap is due to the coaches volunteering.  Legends FC North for U-little's one of my clients that have a 06 was told it would be $2000 for a Flight 2 and 3 not sure about their Flight 1 teams.


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## Surf Zombie (Mar 15, 2018)

You guys are getting off cheap. My 2007 DD plays for a team in the Boston area. 

$3,000 tuition. $500 for kit (two year cycle, 20 pieces). 10 tournaments a year at $125 a piece. Add on $4,000 for travel up and down the east coast. Close to $9,000 when all is said and done.


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## 46n2 (Mar 15, 2018)

Surf Zombie said:


> You guys are getting off cheap. My 2007 DD plays for a team in the Boston area.
> 
> $3,000 tuition. $500 for kit (two year cycle, 20 pieces). 10 tournaments a year at $125 a piece. Add on $4,000 for travel up and down the east coast. Close to $9,000 when all is said and done.


yea what he said!
Im very close to this figure too.


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## ItsCalledSoccer (Mar 15, 2018)

We (U-Littles) are at $1,800 including the uniforms, which includes 2 tournaments and state cup. But yes, so many different pricing strategies and seems they all offer different things within them.


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## Round (Mar 16, 2018)

My oldest kid started with a mid level club, what they called at the time "premier" team 2007, 900.00.  Tournaments not included. That same club is now 1850.00 for a similar team.

Generally most clubs have had similar increases.  Main chage i see is the nuber of people making full time salaries and significant DOC pay increases.  The unifom charge is just a cute way to increase revenue, same with mandatory raffles and other events.


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## Dummy (Mar 16, 2018)

Great question.  Complicated answer.  There are many factors that contribute to the total costs of club soccer, which include

club administration
club fields (and lighting)
club registration for league
team coaching fees
team referee fees
team tournament registration fees
team travel costs
team administration

The club costs should be paid equally by every team in the club.  Every team is different, so these costs should vary appropriately between teams.

The largest cost should be team coaching fees.  This is why parent sign kids up to play competitive club soccer - quality professional coaching that will help you develop your kids into good players and good people.

All other costs may vary a bit between clubs and between regions.  The coaching cost is the one that makes the biggest difference always in amount that you pay and often in the experience your player has.

It is not to hard to figure out what the itemized costs for a team are.  Doing so allows you to figure out where your money is going even when the club doesn’t provide you with an explanation.

Obviously, for older teams that travel a lot, family travels costs begin to dwarf the club soccer costs.  To keep these costs down, it helps to pick a team with coaches and families that you trust to care for your player if you send your player  alone.


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## socalkdg (Mar 16, 2018)

Surf Zombie said:


> You guys are getting off cheap. My 2007 DD plays for a team in the Boston area.
> 
> $3,000 tuition. $500 for kit (two year cycle, 20 pieces). 10 tournaments a year at $125 a piece. Add on $4,000 for travel up and down the east coast. Close to $9,000 when all is said and done.


Now your up to the costs I pay for dance for my older daughter.  Both are way too much.


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## jrcaesar (Mar 16, 2018)

For those tracking these things, Pats are +$300 versus two seasons ago: Pats 2018-19 Agreement


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## El Clasico (Mar 16, 2018)

jrcaesar said:


> For those tracking these things, Pats are +$300 versus two seasons ago: Pats 2018-19 Agreement


Also, two years ago, it included 1.5 tournaments. Now that $1,000 would only cover one tournament. So when you add in friendlies, indoor, skills and tournaments, add another $500-$1,000.  $3,200 seems like a lot for a 2010 player. My last kid will be done in two years I don't think we paid that much for all 4 together when they were younger. This is for flight 2 and below, correct?  I don't pay that much now.  Then again, in my experience, flight 1 players never paid full retail.


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## Eagle33 (Mar 16, 2018)

jrcaesar said:


> For those tracking these things, Pats are +$300 versus two seasons ago: Pats 2018-19 Agreement


 Do you have any data on teams older than 2004?


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## jrcaesar (Mar 16, 2018)

Eagle33 said:


> Do you have any data on teams older than 2004?


I found Pats from this past season online:


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## Eagle33 (Mar 16, 2018)

jrcaesar said:


> I found Pats from this past season online:
> View attachment 2210


 From the previous post looks like it went up this year


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## 46n2 (Mar 16, 2018)

Flight 1 players never pay full retail?


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## SoccerFan4Life (Mar 16, 2018)

At $3k a year I am better off putting  2k away for college tuition and $1k for a new hobby.  Lol. 

  It will be interesting to see if the amount of club soccer players begins to decrease within the next 3 years if clubs continue to raise prices.


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## jose (Mar 16, 2018)

Surf Zombie said:


> You guys are getting off cheap. My 2007 DD plays for a team in the Boston area.
> 
> $3,000 tuition. $500 for kit (two year cycle, 20 pieces). 10 tournaments a year at $125 a piece. Add on $4,000 for travel up and down the east coast. Close to $9,000 when all is said and done.


we aren't getting off cheap. if we add all that stuff too. we are at the same number


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## Deadpoolscores! (Mar 17, 2018)

jrcaesar said:


> For those tracking these things, Pats are +$300 versus two seasons ago: Pats 2018-19 Agreement


Thanks Jr...this is the information that all parents should share with each other in order to have a better feeling what different clubs are charging.


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## Surfref (Mar 17, 2018)

socalkdg said:


> Now your up to the costs I pay for dance for my older daughter.  Both are way too much.


We have friends with kids that play high school age club volleyball and travel baseball.  They pay club/team fees of $3500-$4000 which includes uniforms, but they have some hefty travel costs.  The baseball players also have some expensive equipment costs (gloves, bats, cleats, helmet, etc).


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## Lambchop (Mar 17, 2018)

Round said:


> My oldest kid started with a mid level club, what they called at the time "premier" team 2007, 900.00.  Tournaments not included. That same club is now 1850.00 for a similar team.
> 
> Generally most clubs have had similar increases.  Main chage i see is the nuber of people making full time salaries and significant DOC pay increases.  The unifom charge is just a cute way to increase revenue, same with mandatory raffles and other events.


Well, are you making the same amount in salary as you did in 2007?  Are you paying the same for utilities, gas, clothes, medical care, food, etc. etc. etc. Why wouldn't club fees go up?


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## SoccerFan4Life (Mar 18, 2018)

Lambchop said:


> Well, are you making the same amount in salary as you did in 2007?  Are you paying the same for utilities, gas, clothes, medical care, food, etc. etc. etc. Why wouldn't club fees go up?


Lambchop, you are right everything should go up in price.  However we are beginning to see a lot of problems with club sports (not just soccer):

- *Wages & Salaries are not keeping up with inflation*: Low income/Middle Income are struggling to keep up with expenses, including youth sport fees.  Club fees go up 10% to 15% a year yet salaries are less than 3% a year.

- *Oversaturation*:  7 years ago, my kid couldn't break into club soccer because it was highly selective.  Today, you have a child with a ball and you will find a club willing to take your money.  Heck my daughter got asked to join a club from a coach that just saw her warming up before the game started. 

- *Everyone wants their child to be in club.?. right?!!.*   This is common in a highly competitive environment like the "OC".   Makes sense, supply and demand.  Lots of demand so more club soccer teams and higher fees.

*- Fall Sport became year round sport*: No more time for other hobbies for these kids.

-  *Paying for academies:* Kids that will never have a chance at making the academy are paying for academy programs. 

- $3,000 for U9 is too much:   Seriously, how does Beach FC, LA Galaxy, and others decide to charge so much on kids so young.


I personally believe that you are going to see a big drop in club soccer participation at the younger level.  My daughter attended several tryouts for U9 and you couldn't find too many club that have more than 6 girls trying out.

Basically if you have 2 kids in youth sports, this is almost the 2nd most expensive monthly bill next to your mortgage payment and car payment.   

I love soccer and I make good money but once I look at 2 kids at $6k a year ($500 a month) , I start wondering if I should bring them down to signature level or pick another hobby.


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## Chalklines (Mar 18, 2018)

This is California. A State thats pushing for an $18 hr min wage past 2020.Prices will never go down here. 

I was floored seeing some clubs in SoCal charging $3000 for younger teams but when you have 2200 sqft houses pushing a million plus in the suburbs of orange county is this really surprising?


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## Multi Sport (Mar 18, 2018)

SoccerFan4Life said:


> At $3k a year I am better off putting  2k away for college tuition and $1k for a new hobby.  Lol.
> 
> It will be interesting to see if the amount of club soccer players begins to decrease within the next 3 years if clubs continue to raise prices.


Try putting away 10k a year. Seriously, I have 4 kids. Two are done with College, one is in College and one in HS.  

College is expensive, it's more expensive without a scholarship. If your kid has great/good grades then the school can offer an academic scholarship while the coach can offer an athletic scholarship.  Between the two it's not uncommon for your kid to receive 100k over their four years.


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## seuss (Mar 18, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> Between the two it's not uncommon for your kid to receive 100k over their four years.


What percentage of people has this happened for? I’d say it’s way more than uncommon. Maybe I misunderstood you ????????


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## Multi Sport (Mar 18, 2018)

seuss said:


> What percentage of people has this happened for? I’d say it’s way more than uncommon. Maybe I misunderstood you ????????


If your kid has the grades and is a good player then it is not uncommon.

My DD had the grades, 4.0 with AP classes, and was a solid player. She was not an All League HS player but played on a solid Flight 1 team. 

She is in her Jr. year of college and when all is said and done will have received over $110k in scholarships between athletic and academic. 

The more they can give your kid academically the better it is for the coach. Keep up the grades, they open so many doors for the kids.


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## SoccerFan4Life (Mar 18, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> If your kid has the grades and is a good player then it is not uncommon.
> 
> My DD had the grades, 4.0 with AP classes, and was a solid player. She was not an All League HS player but played on a solid Flight 1 team.
> 
> ...


Congrats but you are describing a rare situation to have a star athlete and 4.0 student.  For the rest of us we have to save and hope to have enough for 2 years of college.


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## Multi Sport (Mar 19, 2018)

SoccerFan4Life said:


> Congrats but you are describing a rare situation to have a star athlete and 4.0 student.  For the rest of us we have to save and hope to have enough for 2 years of college.


I appreciate you saying my DD is a star athlete but the truth is she is not a star. She is very good, true, but she came off the bench on her club team for two years. It was during that time that she signed her letter. The team she played on during this time had an average GPA of 3.6 with one girl having a 4.4. Most of the girls were like my DD, taking AP classes. There was only one girl below 3.0.

As far as grades, she was a 4.0 with AP classes but the school she chose to go to did not look at weighted GPAs thus they viewed her GPA as 3.8. There is a lesson, know if the college your kid wants to go to looks at weighted or non-weighted GPAs. She took ACT probably three times to get her score high enough to receive the schools highest academic scholarship.

And again, it's not that rare. Tough, difficult to do? Sure. Rare? Not really.


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## seuss (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> I appreciate you saying my DD is a star athlete but the truth is she is not a star. She is very good, true, but she came off the bench on her club team for two years. It was during that time that she signed her letter. The team she played on during this time had an average GPA of 3.6 with one girl having a 4.4. Most of the girls were like my DD, taking AP classes. There was only one girl below 3.0.
> 
> As far as grades, she was a 4.0 with AP classes but the school she chose to go to did not look at weighted GPAs thus they viewed her GPA as 3.8. There is a lesson, know if the college your kid wants to go to looks at weighted or non-weighted GPAs. She took ACT probably three times to get her score high enough to receive the schools highest academic scholarship.
> 
> And again, it's not that rare. Tough, difficult to do? Sure. Rare? Not really.


Rare with boys then I guess.


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## Multi Sport (Mar 19, 2018)

seuss said:


> Rare with boys then I guess.


Now that might be true. I have a Nephew who played two years at a CC and then received a scholarship to a D1. I'll need to chat with him about this but I do have a feeling that it is much harder for the men to receive this type of money.


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## coachrefparent (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> If your kid has the grades and is a good player then it is not uncommon.
> 
> My DD had the grades, 4.0 with AP classes, and was a solid player. She was not an All League HS player but played on a solid Flight 1 team.
> 
> ...


If my kid has skills like Tom Brady, he'll get $20M a year. 
How much is she receiving for athletic and how much for non-athletic?


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## coachsamy (Mar 19, 2018)

One of the main reasons people pay these exorbitant club fees is to keep up with the Joneses! I have a few friends that I have told me that they rather pay more to get "better quality" that will allow their kid to be part of this "prestigious" club. After all these fancy tracksuits are not cheap at all! But is people's money and they can choose where to spend it, I know I'm happy that only paid less than 4k total in my DD 11 year career and she turned out to be a good enough player.


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## OCsoccerdad7777 (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> I appreciate you saying my DD is a star athlete but the truth is she is not a star. She is very good, true, but she came off the bench on her club team for two years. It was during that time that she signed her letter. The team she played on during this time had an average GPA of 3.6 with one girl having a 4.4. Most of the girls were like my DD, taking AP classes. There was only one girl below 3.0.
> 
> As far as grades, she was a 4.0 with AP classes but the school she chose to go to did not look at weighted GPAs thus they viewed her GPA as 3.8. There is a lesson, know if the college your kid wants to go to looks at weighted or non-weighted GPAs. She took ACT probably three times to get her score high enough to receive the schools highest academic scholarship.
> 
> And again, it's not that rare. Tough, difficult to do? Sure. Rare? Not really.


What is the standard to get some kind of scholarship in D1?
For boys and girls. Assuming both have 3.5 gpa and above (or do you need a 4.0 gpa).
Would a player that is top 5 on their F1 team be good enough? Or have to be at least middle academy level player?


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## Round (Mar 19, 2018)

Lambchop said:


> Well, are you making the same amount in salary as you did in 2007?  Are you paying the same for utilities, gas, clothes, medical care, food, etc. etc. etc. Why wouldn't club fees go up?


I think this has been responded to well.  Basically wages have grown at less than 2% per year over the period 2009 to 2018.  Inflation has been similar,  900.00 in 2009 is about 1050.00 now.  Fees going up have nothing to do with either.  Just everyone should be clear about where those fees are going.


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## Multi Sport (Mar 19, 2018)

OCsoccerdad7777 said:


> What is the standard to get some kind of scholarship in D1?
> For boys and girls. Assuming both have 3.5 gpa and above (or do you need a 4.0 gpa).
> Would a player that is top 5 on their F1 team be good enough? Or have to be at least middle academy level player?


There are so many things to consider. To my DD the first thing was do they have her major. She was fortunate because she knew what she wanted to major in and that in itself removed a lot of schools from her consideration.

She chose an NAIA school. It's a small, private Christian school that fits her perfectly.

As far as what is needed on the Mens side for a D1? I will say this. At my DDs school, the Mens team was nationally ranked. The team plays better then my Nephews D1 team did, but that's just my opinion. The teams Goalkeeper who just graduated,signed a  USL contract. On top of that they have a handful of D1 transfers. But just because a school is D1 doesn't mean that they will automatically get all the top recruits nor does it mean that all the top players want to go there. Some prefer smaller schools or like being the "BigFish" in a little pond.

But grades are so important.  Bad grades will prevent your kid from getting into a school while good grades will open doors. Im my opinion, and its only mine, 3.8 is what your kid should be shooting for. My current HS kid is at a 3.8 now but has a looooong way to go if he wants to get a scholarship. Too many injuries has limited his playing time so we might guide him to a JC first.


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## Multi Sport (Mar 19, 2018)

coachrefparent said:


> If my kid has skills like Tom Brady, he'll get $20M a year.
> How much is she receiving for athletic and how much for non-athletic?


She receives more academic then athletic.


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## Chalklines (Mar 19, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> One of the main reasons people pay these exorbitant club fees is to keep up with the Joneses! I have a few friends that I have told me that they rather pay more to get "better quality" that will allow their kid to be part of this "prestigious" club. After all these fancy tracksuits are not cheap at all! But is people's money and they can choose where to spend it, I know I'm happy that only paid less than 4k total in my DD 11 year career and she turned out to be a good enough player.


Now did your friends say they would pay more for a different level of play? GOLD vs Bronze etc?

That I can can buy into but no way they drank that much kool-aid to believe the more you pay the better quality club you get.


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## coachsamy (Mar 19, 2018)

Chalklines said:


> Now did your friends say they would pay more for a different level of play? GOLD vs Bronze etc?
> 
> That I can can buy into but no way they drank that much kool-aid to believe the more you pay the better quality club you get.


The team was a bronze team, but they got sold as they were going into a gold team. People are drinking the kool aid in a constant basis. How do you think big box clubs get away with 4-6 teams in each age group? How can anyone explain paying shit ton of money to be in a team that has their quality inferior to AYSO?


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## Surfref (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> ....But grades are so important.  Bad grades will prevent your kid from getting into a school while good grades will open doors. Im my opinion, and its only mine, 3.8 is what your kid should be shooting for. My current HS kid is at a 3.8 now but has a looooong way to go if he wants to get a scholarship. Too many injuries has limited his playing time so we might guide him to a JC first.


Nothing wrong with a JC.  My oldest went the JC route for four years until she figured out what she wanted to do with her life.  She ended up getting some good academic scholarships from UCSD and ultimately a BS and Masters.  She now makes around $150K working for a software company that primarily has military contracts.  My youngest got $14000 in scholarships($11k soccer and $3k academic) plus in-state tuition to a D1 college in the Southeast.  After the first year she came back home because she hated the racism of the Southeast, disliked the college and area, and the soccer program.  She came back to SoCal and has attended a JC and will transfer to a D1 next year.  She has chose not to play college soccer and focus on her major.  She is still involved in soccer as a club coach, referee and plays in a local adult league and indoor. 

My daughter knows several very good players that were mediocre academically and got accepted to colleges because of their soccer abilities.  All of them dropped out of college and are working waitressing or retail jobs because they could not keep up academically at the college level.  They would have probably done better if they started at a JC and started off with a lighter and easier class load.  All of them had parents that were constantly bragging about how great their daughters were on the soccer field and pushed them toward colleges that academically they were not prepared for.  Parents and kids need to have realistic expectations when it comes to college soccer and academics.


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## Gu8 Dad (Mar 19, 2018)

I noticed that some clubs are now selling advertising on their jersey's.
I can assume that the club is getting some revenue, but what I have not seen is a drop in our club fees.


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## OCsoccerdad7777 (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> There are so many things to consider. To my DD the first thing was do they have her major. She was fortunate because she knew what she wanted to major in and that in itself removed a lot of schools from her consideration.
> 
> She chose an NAIA school. It's a small, private Christian school that fits her perfectly.
> 
> ...


Great info thank you.
Just one final question. Does your kid have to be a top 3 player skill wise on a good Flight 1 or Gold level team to even be considered by the school for scholarship?Or do they have to be even better. Like top 2 or be Academy level?


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## Multi Sport (Mar 19, 2018)

OCsoccerdad7777 said:


> Great info thank you.
> Just one final question. Does your kid have to be a top 3 player skill wise on a good Flight 1 or Gold level team to even be considered by the school for scholarship?Or do they have to be even better. Like top 2 or be Academy level?


All I can speak of is my daughter and nephew. 

What they had in common: 

Good grades
Speed
Skill

How they were different:

My daughter is slight in build. When she arrived at her college I think she was about 116 lbs. At 5'-6" that is slight. But she was always like that and thats why she had to have better skills.

Nephew was not big when he left HS but because he was 21 when he started at his D1 school he had already filled out. Solid build.

He was a very aggressive player. My daughter, as you can imagine, prefers to go around a player so definitely not a very aggressive player.

My daughter is comfortable with the ball on either foot and can strike equally with either foot. That was a big plus for the coach.

My nephew was predominantly right footed but capable with his left.

Her slight build was a concern for her college coach but fortunately her club coach went to bat for her. So keeping your club coach in the loop is a good idea. 

Best advice I can give you is be realistic.  @Surfref made a great post about pushing kids into a school that is over their heads academically.  The pace of classes in college on top of practice is too much for some kids. If your kid is already having a hard time in HS then maybe JC is the route for them. Of course there are exceptions, especially for those top ten nationally ranked players, but for the rest...

There are some good post on the College recruiting pages. 

Best of luck.


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## coachrefparent (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> She receives more academic then athletic.


I assume the ratio is something close to 90/10, no?


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## Multi Sport (Mar 19, 2018)

coachrefparent said:


> I assume the ratio is something close to 90/10, no?


Probably something closer to 80/20. Coaches love players with good grades. They don't have to worry if the kid will be able to get into the school and they don't have to eat up all their scholarship funds.

 I think the year my daughter entered the school the acceptance rate was around 40% so having strong grades along with good ACT scores makes the coaches life much easier.


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## OCsoccerdad7777 (Mar 19, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> All I can speak of is my daughter and nephew.
> 
> What they had in common:
> 
> ...


Thanks!! I will check those pages.
Good luck to your daughter.


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## coachsamy (Mar 20, 2018)

OCsoccerdad7777 said:


> Great info thank you.
> Just one final question. Does your kid have to be a top 3 player skill wise on a good Flight 1 or Gold level team to even be considered by the school for scholarship?Or do they have to be even better. Like top 2 or be Academy level?


What I have learn for recruiting purposes beyond the kids that are in the national team player pool, things that might help as well. Find a good coach that will recognize your child strengths and help improve the weaknesses. Take video, edit it and send the videos out to the college coaches in which your kid is interested in, and that might be a fit for the kid. ECNL and DA showcases have made it way too easy for player discovery for D1 coaches, but they know there are gems that for whatever reason (Money, They value life, Distance, Politics, etc.) can't play in top teams, and being able to see these kids and have some sort of exposure it makes it easier for them to look at it. 

Normally the self starter kids that have great amount of dedication to whatever they do, are the ones that succeed in the next level, while taking advantage of a good education.


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## Multi Sport (Mar 20, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> .. but they know there are gems that for whatever reason (Money, *They value life,* Distance, Politics, etc.) can't play


Too funny!


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## Eagle33 (Mar 20, 2018)

Surfref said:


> Nothing wrong with a JC.  My oldest went the JC route for four years until she figured out what she wanted to do with her life.  She ended up getting some good academic scholarships from UCSD and ultimately a BS and Masters.  She now makes around $150K working for a software company that primarily has military contracts.  My youngest got $14000 in scholarships($11k soccer and $3k academic) plus in-state tuition to a D1 college in the Southeast.  After the first year she came back home because she hated the racism of the Southeast, disliked the college and area, and the soccer program.  She came back to SoCal and has attended a JC and will transfer to a D1 next year.  She has chose not to play college soccer and focus on her major.  She is still involved in soccer as a club coach, referee and plays in a local adult league and indoor.
> 
> My daughter knows several very good players that were mediocre academically and got accepted to colleges because of their soccer abilities.  All of them dropped out of college and are working waitressing or retail jobs because they could not keep up academically at the college level.  They would have probably done better if they started at a JC and started off with a lighter and easier class load.  All of them had parents that were constantly bragging about how great their daughters were on the soccer field and pushed them toward colleges that academically they were not prepared for.  Parents and kids need to have realistic expectations when it comes to college soccer and academics.


I wish you would tell this to my kid, since he don't listen to me


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## Multi Sport (Mar 20, 2018)

Eagle33 said:


> I wish you would tell this to my kid, since he don't listen to me


My oldest, who graduated Cal Poly two years ago, was the same way. He was obsessed with going straight to a four year but my wife and I knew he was not ready. His grades were good, not great and even took AP classes but he lacked in maturity. During his two years in JC he really matured and when he transferred to Cal Poly Pomona he was ready. 

He was still bitter about it until the year he was set to graduate. That year, for Christmas, he wrote a letter to my wife and I explainng how he felt coming out of HS and how now he understood why we did what we did. He expressed how thankful he was that we did not give in to him, that we were indeed looking out for his best interest. That was one of the best Christmas gifts I received ever.


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## mirage (Mar 20, 2018)

Multi Sport said:


> My oldest.....His grades were good, not great and even took AP classes but he lacked in maturity. During his two years in JC he really matured and when he transferred to Cal Poly Pomona he was ready......


Not sure how this Club Fee thread became college recruiting and experience thread -  clearly hi-jacked somewhere along the way....

Some kids benefit from JC.  One of our friend's kid spent two years in JC and applied to several UCs' and got into all of them, except UCLA.  He is going to UCI now.  He's dad said that he'd have never been accepted into any UC because his grades were not great (low 3s).  So I see the benefit too.

Having said that, its worth noting the value of immature student growing up in an 4-year institution environment, rather than JC environment.  The exposure and diversity (I mean different instructors and students from all over the world) a student grows in the same two years is significantly different.  So the difficult thing is it depends on the kid.  And the criteria may have nothing to do with academics or maturity; rather, kid's comfort level to uncertainties and willingness/openness to change.

If a kid goes to JC, chances are that the kid is living at home or nearby, even if not at home.  If a kid goes away to school, he/she is living at a dorm (1st year anyway, if not all the years) and only sees the family at holidays and few other times a year.  It tends to grow the kid up rather quickly, and be exposed to new ideas and thoughts outside of the family thinking.

Back to soccer.  The structure of the team and team activities help form a framework and provides stability in the student athletes life, especially early on.  By being on a collegiate team, it also gives sense of deep pride and ownership of the university, which regular students don't get a chance to experience.  Since my kid reported early, prior to the college starting, by the time the first day of school came, he was completely comfortable and not at all overwhelmed with chaos of the starting his first year.

On the forum, we only talk about getting recruited, scholarships and liking or disliking the college coaches/team but the student athletes have so many more benefits beyond the obvious.  From the system perspective, its great to have registration priority as an athlete and get you classes when you need them and not have to deal with waitlisted or petition to add, as an example.  Socially, other students notice the players and easier to make friends and network in classrooms, especially when first starting at the university.

Obviously big school versus small school makes a big difference too, along with where the college is (metropolitan city vs rural country).  So looking at school without soccer is very important.  The hard part is matching up education quality + location+ soccer recruitment.  If you can get the Venn diagram to work for you, then you've got a winner.


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## Surfref (Mar 22, 2018)

mirage said:


> Not sure how this Club Fee thread became college recruiting and experience thread -  clearly hi-jacked somewhere along the way....
> 
> Some kids benefit from JC.  One of our friend's kid spent two years in JC and applied to several UCs' and got into all of them, except UCLA.  He is going to UCI now.  He's dad said that he'd have never been accepted into any UC because his grades were not great (low 3s).  So I see the benefit too.
> 
> ...


Good post and some good points.  My daughter has been attending a larger JC these past two years with a student population of 45,000.  She has teammates and friends that she met at college from all over the world, Sweden, Australia, Guam, Bonaire, Brazil, Canada just to name a few.  She also does not live at home since the drive to school is 30-60 minutes depending on traffic.  She is close enough that she can come over on the weekend or we can go over if she needs us.  Her problem with the D1 school is that the coach that recruited her left and the replacement coach was an a-hole and did not know how to work with 18-23 year old women.


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## Overlap (Mar 28, 2018)

carla hinkle said:


> I have 3 kids playing 3 different clubs/levels of seriousness; the least competitive/smallest club always includes the cost of uniforms in the fees, the biggest/most "serious" doesn't. I know to expect the extra cost now but it really does irritate me. Just include it in the fees!!


Can't, it makes it sound too expensive!


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