I noticed not even a Pandemic could take down Pay to Play...

[youthsportsugghhh]

Seriously? Exactly why we will have a generation of weak entitled kids. So mommy and daddy thinks it’s a good idea to teach little Sally that she gets whatever she wants eh?

When my kid tells me what she wants I tell her that “people in hell want ice water” the world doesn’t care what she wants and life is not fair. What is the lesson learned by the girls by buying their way into university and pretending to be pro?

Where in my statement did it say the girls get exactly what they want when they want it? If you have an opportunity to set yourself up with choices do it! If you don't whose fault is it? When my kid tells me what she wants something I tell her to figure out a way to get it -- get that job, put in the effort, find a resource that can aid you to get what you want.
In my opinion my kids current job is to do her best in school, so when she finishes HS she has options either 4 year college, 2 year JUCO, employment. she does also have a part-time job to gain extra money for spending money for non-essentials like frozen yogurt and a new pair of vans. We do pay for Club soccer and that takes away from other things that we could do, but it is a decision we made as a family (other daughter plays competitive sports as well). They also can learn some many life lessons in Club soccer as well, again my opinion.

 

[youthsportsugghhh]

How many times have you been through the process and had this experience?

What process is that -- getting through HS and then choosing college, military or employment? I had worked during my HS years 20 hr/week, so I knew that sucked and didn't want that, so mark that one off the list. I thought about following the footsteps of my father and grandfather and a couple of uncles and go the military route even took the tests- physical and aptitude. Decided that wasn't going to be the best fit for me at the time, so checked that off the list. I had put in the work in HS classroom and had the options of a couple of places to continue my book learnin and chose that. I didn't think that I would have the skill to compete athletically in college, but was lucky enough a coach at the school had seen me compete in HS and asked me to join the intercollegiate team. 4. 5 years later (time off to earn money to continue to pay for school) I had a college degree and no plan. Still haven't used the degree, but have wandered my way around the country and into a nice little life.

 

[dad4]

You realize this is just the “ admissions preferences for my group versus admissions preferences for your group” discussion, right?

That is, someone who benefits from non-academic preferences of type A begins arguing against non-academic preferences of type B by accusing the recipients of being unqualified. And vice versa. Then each accuses the other of hypocrisy. (that would be you two)

Then someone who does best in a pure test environment argues for no preferences at all, and falsely thinks he’s above it all. (that would be me)

Hope your kids find schools they like, however they get there.

 

[watfly]

Sure, I expect they do, if they are playing in a tournament, but probably not for a scrimmage. My question was, do the letter leagues register their players with Cal South, if not, then I guess they wouldn't need them. Even if they dual register, they can enter tournaments under the US Club soccer cards (say), and get around it.

No you don't need to register with Cal South, at least if you're in the MLS league. Our club is not registered.

 

[Franco2020]

The financial aid process I’ve seen is that you need to sign the contract first. Then pay a full deposit. Then apply for financial aid and hope that they will help you out.
Maybe it’s different for a coveted player that clubs are fighting over.

Couldn't agree more with this statement. Everyone throws financial aid as if its a given, they only award financial aid if you are making less than $30K/year and are practically homeless, at least here in the Bay Area. If you are making $70-90K a year (poverty line in Northern California) you are rich and you should pay $3K a year. Ridiculous!.

 

[MacDre]

I want to send a special shot out to H.E.R. for supporting youth programs in Vallejo. I love how she reps the HOOD!

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Perfect example of the pandemic changing nothing in the mindset of clubs or coaches, or even reading post rules before doing so, can be found in a recent post in SoCal subforum by a Liverpool coach seeking “academy” kids. Amazing how you wouldn’t even read the room before doing so.

 

[notintheface]

Talked with a few acquaintances around parents, teams, kids, etc, this weekend. Initial thoughts are that the overall environment is going to lose 30% of teams YOY from parents bailing on paying club fees. There are a whole ton of B & C teams getting combined into one because of teams blowing up, coaches furloughed, you know the drill. The kids who are training have -- almost 100% -- regressed in almost all aspects. The families who are opting out of training right now aren't expected to come back at all. There was talk about a survey that was sent to a club's families which came back as more than half unwilling to play league games until a vaccine is proven out. At the higher level, the DA dying less than a month into quarantine caused such a massive amount of disappointment and confusion, and the parents who are chasing letter leagues now are more frenzied than ever plus dealing with the unknowns is making a whole ton of families reassess their priorities. (If the DA is so dependent on cashflow, wtf are we doing this for kinds of arguments)

You guys, this is not a "let's open everything back up" argument. We are effectively losing a generation of kids in real time. We're six months into something that's probably going to run at least another six months to a year, and it's very clear that clubs are going to be fighting for a shrinking pool of players. Going to guess that we have an absolute ton of club consolidation over the next year. At this point I'm not even sure how tryout season will work. Tryouts for what? What's being sold to the families? Overall team quality? Based on this last year? That's an unfunny joke. How do tryouts even get held? Okay great, your kid can do stepovers six feet away from someone, let's get them on the B team instead of the C team?

I hate to be so negative-- I have tried to keep an open mind about how we are all doing, but it's funny, the quarantine started at probably the most reasonable time for clubs. We're already seeing the slow motion unraveling, and once December rolls around with leagues postponing yet again, that's when the real problems are going to start surfacing.

 

[futboldad1]

Talked with a few acquaintances around parents, teams, kids, etc, this weekend. Initial thoughts are that the overall environment is going to lose 30% of teams YOY from parents bailing on paying club fees. There are a whole ton of B & C teams getting combined into one because of teams blowing up, coaches furloughed, you know the drill. The kids who are training have -- almost 100% -- regressed in almost all aspects. The families who are opting out of training right now aren't expected to come back at all. There was talk about a survey that was sent to a club's families which came back as more than half unwilling to play league games until a vaccine is proven out. At the higher level, the DA dying less than a month into quarantine caused such a massive amount of disappointment and confusion, and the parents who are chasing letter leagues now are more frenzied than ever plus dealing with the unknowns is making a whole ton of families reassess their priorities. (If the DA is so dependent on cashflow, wtf are we doing this for kinds of arguments)

You guys, this is not a "let's open everything back up" argument. We are effectively losing a generation of kids in real time. We're six months into something that's probably going to run at least another six months to a year, and it's very clear that clubs are going to be fighting for a shrinking pool of players. Going to guess that we have an absolute ton of club consolidation over the next year. At this point I'm not even sure how tryout season will work. Tryouts for what? What's being sold to the families? Overall team quality? Based on this last year? That's an unfunny joke. How do tryouts even get held? Okay great, your kid can do stepovers six feet away from someone, let's get them on the B team instead of the C team?

I hate to be so negative-- I have tried to keep an open mind about how we are all doing, but it's funny, the quarantine started at probably the most reasonable time for clubs. We're already seeing the slow motion unraveling, and once December rolls around with leagues postponing yet again, that's when the real problems are going to start surfacing.

I think this is accurate excluding the top level of club players..... I am not seeing or hearing roster issues across ECNL clubs but there is no doubt this situation sucks for youth soccer in general........

 

[Glitterhater]

I think this is accurate excluding the top level of club players..... I am not seeing or hearing roster issues across ECNL clubs but there is no doubt this situation sucks for youth soccer in general........

I agree with the ECNL aspect. Take it for what it's worth but my DD has friends in two different ECNL clubs. Both teams/clubs have maxed rosters, one with 19 and their general consensus is "this" is better than nothing. Of course, a few more months of this could change all that for sure.

 

[Grace T.]

I think this is accurate excluding the top level of club players..... I am not seeing or hearing roster issues across ECNL clubs but there is no doubt this situation sucks for youth soccer in general........

On the youngers end though it will be a problem for even players that would eventually play ECNL, except for maybe the most elite of early blooming GOATs that have already been ID'd. The entire development pathway has been disrupted. One generation of kids in AYSO for SoCal (say that are 7 years old right now) may not even get to touch a game before club recruitment begins. Don't know how it would have affected mine if he had missed his Extras year, for example.

 

[Paul Spacey]

I agree with the ECNL aspect. Take it for what it's worth but my DD has friends in two different ECNL clubs. Both teams/clubs have maxed rosters, one with 19 and their general consensus is "this" is better than nothing. Of course, a few more months of this could change all that for sure.

I think we all recognize that youth soccer will be negatively impacted in terms of player numbers but I agree that the numbers for higher level teams likely won’t be affected; those are the kids (and parents) who love the game the most and they are not going anywhere.

Let’s face it, it’s going to be the bronze/flight 3 and rec programs that are impacted the most. The kids who play for a bit of fun but are happy to take it or leave it.

My club isn’t being impacted because we have a small number of teams all playing at a strong level with kids who are very keen to keep playing but I’ve heard via parents and coaches that many clubs are combining some of their lower level teams and even stronger older teams who have lost players.

It’s a shit situation for youth soccer that is only going to get worse the longer we go without games or anything meaningful in SoCal.