# Scholarship - club fees vs team fees



## futbolmom6 (May 8, 2017)

I've been around club soccer a long time and have 2 kids who play but don't know the answer to this - how do most clubs handle the team fees for scholarship players?

I know the club decides with the player and coach how much the player has to pay to the club, but what about team fees?  It's always been my understanding that a scholarship player pays full team fees, however one of my kids is on a team now where someone (the manager, coach, both?) decided 4 players wouldn't pay team fees and instead the rest of us would have to pick up the tab.   That seems really unfair to me.  In reality, if they asked me I'd likely be ok paying extra, however the fact that it was decided without any input by the parents who are now being required to pay extra just seems wrong.

How do most clubs handle this?


----------



## charlie murphy (May 8, 2017)

We had this situation on a club my kids participated in and it was horrible and will never do it again. We set up a payment plan for some of the kids (very modest and reduce amounts), but slowly most of the scholarship players could not pay the team fees , the team eventually did not have enough to pay for tournament entry   and the paying parents were ask to pay " just a little more.. for our kids sake",  and then the ref fees were an issue , so we stopped asking the scholarship families to help with those fees. Those kids were also the ones showing up in 120 to 200$ cleats. ( U10 B - U12 B), that is a different story.. See if the manager and coach will cover the costs for the plays out of the Coaches payment.  If the coach wants them bad enough there is a way without the other parents subsiding the team, the club has some kind of slush fund. This leads to a lot of team conflict, I am sure others on the team feel this is not fair as well.  Soccer is expensive enough , if money is not an issue for your team than pay for the other players.


----------



## outside! (May 8, 2017)

If a club wants to scholarship some players, then the club can pay the team fees as well. The parents should band together and refuse to pay any extra.


----------



## Striker17 (May 8, 2017)

futbolmom6 said:


> I've been around club soccer a long time and have 2 kids who play but don't know the answer to this - how do most clubs handle the team fees for scholarship players?
> 
> I know the club decides with the player and coach how much the player has to pay to the club, but what about team fees?  It's always been my understanding that a scholarship player pays full team fees, however one of my kids is on a team now where someone (the manager, coach, both?) decided 4 players wouldn't pay team fees and instead the rest of us would have to pick up the tab.   That seems really unfair to me.  In reality, if they asked me I'd likely be ok paying extra, however the fact that it was decided without any input by the parents who are now being required to pay extra just seems wrong.
> 
> How do most clubs handle this?


Large SD club that rhymes with Turf this sounds like.
Total nightmare scenario and absolutely inappropriate. If they want to play then the team fees need to be split up- Club needs to front their scholarshipped families fees. 
Raise hell.
As far as scholarshipped families again Ckubs have their reasons and that's none of my concern but when one shows up in an escalade and lives in a multimillion dollar house on the coast I will be damned if I am fronting another 50-100$ to have that child grace me with their presence on my team.


----------



## zebrafish (May 8, 2017)

I agree with people that this is kind of the line in the sand (pardon the pun referencing the club above) for me to become vocal. I've not seen this happen in my own child's situation, but if it does then I'm going to be speaking up about it. I imagine it is only a matter of time before it does happen. 

I guess this is the next wave in clubs competing for players-- having discounts on fees.


----------



## Buckyballer (May 8, 2017)

futbolmom6 said:


> I've been around club soccer a long time and have 2 kids who play but don't know the answer to this - how do most clubs handle the team fees for scholarship players?
> 
> I know the club decides with the player and coach how much the player has to pay to the club, but what about team fees?  It's always been my understanding that a scholarship player pays full team fees, however one of my kids is on a team now where someone (the manager, coach, both?) decided 4 players wouldn't pay team fees and instead the rest of us would have to pick up the tab.   That seems really unfair to me.  In reality, if they asked me I'd likely be ok paying extra, however the fact that it was decided without any input by the parents who are now being required to pay extra just seems wrong.
> 
> How do most clubs handle this?


 As a past manager, I can at least share what my past club did:
Coach, with input from the manager, decided which players needed scholarships and which players GOT scholarships.  The coach, with the help of the manager, tried to figure out how to pay for it.  AT NO TIME was the team fee divided between the other full paying parents!  I heard this complaint from parents all the time - it was a common assumption BUT TOTALLY WRONG.  At the old club, the coach and another parent on the club board waived their board stipends to cover the fee for the one 'scholarshipped' player on our team, but since nobody else knew they were doing that, everyone assumed the fees were spread out between them.  

At my current club, I am not the manager but the club has same policy - no parent pays for a scholarship of ANY player without fully knowing and approving of it.  Current, we have some half pay players at the club and a few parents got together to pay for the other half of their fees.  Nobody else helps and the fees are not split between the other paying parents.  Only parents that volunteered to help write the checks.

I know that parents assume that fees are split between the full paying parents but I'd be surprised if any club actually allowed this - we've been at two clubs now and neither allowed this to happen.  Parents that helped out a team member that needed help ALWAYS knew they were helping.


----------



## futbolmom6 (May 8, 2017)

Thanks for all of the input, you all have the same opinion of the issue that I do.  I managed my other kid's team for several years and this issue never came up, nor would I ever have covertly imposed it on those parents - as a manager it's not up to me to decide how the other parents' money should be spent.  But we've been on a few teams where the manager also acted as treasurer, collected funds in cash and never gave the team any accounting, so I have to imagine she decided who should and shouldn't pay.


----------



## socalkdg (May 8, 2017)

With the shortage of girl keepers I"m thinking all the clubs should start paying for them to play.  I'm just saying.


----------



## SBFDad (May 8, 2017)

I was a manager for several years. Best way we found to handle this was to fundraise, but not in the traditional way that many are used to where very few participate and the limited funds are applied to the entire team budget.

Every family had their own budget with quarterly payments. We split the tab evenly among EVERY family, no exceptions. Then we provided multiple fundraising opportunies throughout the season at critical times to meet the quarterly needs - World Cup pools, club driven raffles, and even a small golf tournament.

Whatever a specific family raised, they received 100% of those funds to offset their team fees. If you don't want to participate, write a bigger check. If you have a real need, pull weight and reap all of the benefit. 

Once we instituted this policy, never a complaint about fees and never a late or short payment. Everyone had ample opportunity to raise funds and most everyone did. Some families did so well that they didn't have to pay any team fees, which ran about $750/yr. It was a little more to manage, but well worth the extra effort.


----------



## BornToRun (May 8, 2017)

SBFDad said:


> I was a manager for several years. Best way we found to handle this was to fundraise, but not in the traditional way that many are used to where very few participate and the limited funds are applied to the entire team budget.
> 
> Every family had their own budget with quarterly payments. We split the tab evenly among EVERY family, no exceptions. Then we provided multiple fundraising opportunies throughout the season at critical times to meet the quarterly needs - World Cup pools, club driven raffles, and even a small golf tournament.
> 
> ...


This is such a great suggestion.  Thank you for posting!


----------



## Tomnchar (May 9, 2017)

We've had 2 situations. One year, our club gave us a credit on fees that was able to cover the scholarships we had. Another year, we were fortunate to have other parents on the team step up and pay the difference for the players who couldn't. Of course those families knew they were helping out players. Our club is also talking about creating volunteer opportunities for the players who can't pay their full fees and the teams would receive a credit for an amount based on the number if hours volunteered. That program hasn't been launched just yet, but we understand it is coming.


----------



## timbuck (May 9, 2017)

My understanding is that for most club, a 14 player roster covers all costs.  Any players you add after that are all "profit".  Some clubs give that back in the form of a discount for all player.  Some clubs use it to scholarship.  Some clubs may keep it as a coach bonus pool or other club costs.

How do you guys feel about twins or siblings getting a bit of a break?


----------



## MyDaughtersAKeeper (May 9, 2017)

timbuck said:


> How do you guys feel about twins or siblings getting a bit of a break?


My daughter is a keeper and as referenced above, there is a shortage of keepers; should we have to pay? (Sarcasm font).  
Sorry, no price breaks.  Every kid pays full cost.  The club should have a fund to help kids who need assistance.


----------



## Grace T. (May 9, 2017)

MyDaughtersAKeeper said:


> My daughter is a keeper and as referenced above, there is a shortage of keepers; should we have to pay? (Sarcasm font).
> Sorry, no price breaks.  Every kid pays full cost.  The club should have a fund to help kids who need assistance.


That's really the problem with this...it becomes a huge slippery slope:

-We need a keeper, and there's a shortage...he plays for a discount.
-We need full backs/sweeper...good ones are also in high demand...they play for a discount.
-The star strikers...well the team needs scorers and we're in a good position for the state cup...they play for a discount
-No 10 attacking mid....we have to him...he's the core of the team and now they are saying they'll walk if they have to pay when others are getting a break...discount
-Those players can't afford it but will be really great additions to the team...we have to do what's right.....discount
-Who does that leave?  You 4 that are so-so midfielders...don't want to be cut guess you'll have to make up the difference.   What's that you say....you are moving to a lower level bronze team because you are unhappy with your playing time and having to pay extra for no playing time?....discount
-The ideal solution would seem to be everyone plays for free except for one kid and his super rich parents and even though the kid is out of shape and otherwise would never make the team, the grand bargain is that he gets to be on our championship team in returning for paying for everyone else.  We'll even let him keep the team trophy.  Anyone know a kid?

A club scholarship fund is the way to go.  Ideally that club scholarship fund should be run by a committee to make sure the club director/coaches utilize it for need based uses, as opposed to recruitment, and it should be subject to some sort of confidentiality guidelines.


----------



## futbolmom6 (May 10, 2017)

SBFDad said:


> I was a manager for several years. Best way we found to handle this was to fundraise, but not in the traditional way that many are used to where very few participate and the limited funds are applied to the entire team budget.
> 
> Every family had their own budget with quarterly payments. We split the tab evenly among EVERY family, no exceptions. Then we provided multiple fundraising opportunies throughout the season at critical times to meet the quarterly needs - World Cup pools, club driven raffles, and even a small golf tournament.
> 
> ...


I really like this idea, sort of like the Habitat for Humanity model - we'll help build you a house but you have to put in the necessary hours.


----------



## Sheriff Joe (May 10, 2017)

MyDaughtersAKeeper said:


> My daughter is a keeper and as referenced above, there is a shortage of keepers; should we have to pay? (Sarcasm font).
> Sorry, no price breaks.  Every kid pays full cost.  The club should have a fund to help kids who need assistance.


Or play REC.


----------



## Sheriff Joe (May 10, 2017)

Striker17 said:


> Large SD club that rhymes with Turf this sounds like.
> Total nightmare scenario and absolutely inappropriate. If they want to play then the team fees need to be split up- Club needs to front their scholarshipped families fees.
> Raise hell.
> As far as scholarshipped families again Ckubs have their reasons and that's none of my concern but when one shows up in an escalade and lives in a multimillion dollar house on the coast I will be damned if I am fronting another 50-100$ to have that child grace me with their presence on my team.


Yes. $300.00 cleats and an Iphone 7, that ain't right.


----------

