So the great thing about college is learning how to make salad with words.
Didn't have to play soccer.
Didn't play soccer.
Which one did I say?
Is club soccer a waste of time/money for youngers (under 10 yo)?
- Thread starter Socal-Soccer-Dad
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Didn't have to play soccer.
Didn't play soccer.
Which one did I say?
LOL
You aren't calculating in sunk costs. By freshman year, how much has the family already spent on club soccer and where is the kid situated talent wise. Is the kid a scholarship player (some players I know that play at very high levels have scholarships, then there's also the MLS players on the boys side). Is the kid capable of raising the grade point average and what's kept it down so far. Do they love and want to keep playing soccer. All very situational.
So, say one of these kids on the team with college options I described. Kid has a 3.5 GPA. Kid's time is pushed to the max with soccer and school. Do you encourage him/her to pull back on soccer (not quit, just less time commitment) and put more time into study or keep at it because of sunk costs?
EvilGoalie 21
GOLD
Given how the conversation has unwound, for what its worth, I don't think you were trying to say enjoyment, all that, is not important. Having been through the full youth soccer ride, aphorisms and all, I follow what you are saying perfectly. Way I see it, if a kid is still in it by U19 its because they love the game. The thing you posted earlier about sometime kids having to choose-academics or sport-that a balance accommodating both can be difficult-rang true for me and is along the lines of what I was trying to say earlier. Not just difficult-painful. I see this with kids on my son's team. Choices in schools that should seem exciting, a fruit of labor, if soccer is not also a possibility are viewed almost with resignation. The one thing I was trying to say was that at the outset I never would have thought of that.
Don't know how often I can say it...it's situational. If they pull back from a higher level team, recruitment might be off the table (it's not happening say in an AYSO united silver team)? What's holding the kid back in grades (just because the kid puts in the time doesn't mean that they are going to be raised) and how locked in is the gpa at this point? How wedded are they to UC Riverside and what are the other public/private options? How are they interested in spending their time in both high school and college? What else they got going on? Are they a white, upper middle class girl from Los Angeles California who wants to go pre-med, or a Latino first gen. college guy from the barrio in Phoenix that wants to major in Arabic?
You seem to be saying it's never worth it, while I'm saying sometimes it is...the better argument is where in between that line is drawn for which there's substantial room for disagreement
Incredibly insightful and articulate. Thank you.
I'm not saying it's never worth it, but I would never presume to be able to identify the next Gyasi Zardes. I can't tell the college soccer aspirants that they will be better off taking any kind of a GPA hit over dialing soccer back by 5 hours a week and attending free after school tutoring in the problem class.
Maybe I'm old school, but I see applying pressure to do the not-fun thing for a better future as my job as an adult. Yes, there is some balance, but the balance has to skew academic. To the extent club soccer improves my kid in various ways, such as discipline, sacrifice, confidence, team-work, that all needs to come together to helping her in her number one job for the next 7-8 years. If soccer works against that, then it needs to take a back seat.
Ok but two sub points: interesting you assume there’s free tutoring in the problem class (for many students in California there isn’t and sometimes it’s subpar such as the honors kids trying to tutor the strugglers….doesn’t make them good teachers).
second, pre covid at least, grades test scores and school attended were the biggest drivers on the academic track for California public schools. That’s not true of private schools where most also evaluate you on your extracurricular and social skills (one of the biggest mistake some students face applying to elite private schools is they think they need to exclusively on grades and when it comes to the essay or interview question about the most interesting party you attended or what’s your ideal roommate they have nothing to say).
I think for the youngers, a good estimate is around $2000 for club fees and another $1000 or so for tournaments, ref fees, uniforms, etc.
$3000 per year seems to be a good total amount to estimate for <u10 and add a little more each year.
All that is before any food and lodging cost if going out of town for tournaments but that's variable per family...
Talking to some parents with older kids on the team, ECNL/ECRL seems to run roughly $5000 but maybe parents with ECNL kids here can chime in there.
I haven't heard what a DA for girls and MLS Next for boys cost.
Seems like $500 increase for most teams. I've heard around that for big clubs like Strikers, Legends, Pats, Blues. I guess exact increase depends on age group but yea across board increase for most clubs/teams.
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Is it worth in terms of a financial return (aka scholarship)? No, its a terrible investment. It's rare for the kids that play soccer for there to be any form of financial return. Whether you get services worth $3,000+ is in the eye of the beholder. If your only interested in a return on your money start a 529 when they are born and put all the money you would have put in to the club sport in the 529. You'll be able to afford an Ivy League when they're 18.
Of course, there are a million other reasons it may be worth it unrelated to a financial return.
In terms of soccer skills, like I said before, have them play futsal (or small sided games) until at least 10-12 years old.
Of course, there are a million other reasons it may be worth it unrelated to a financial return.
In terms of soccer skills, like I said before, have them play futsal (or small sided games) until at least 10-12 years old.
Thanks for the insight into the future. I look at my son and think he's a little kid but before I know it, he's gonna want to take my car out and hang out with girls...
Looking back, high school was so much fun. It really does take a different sort of kid who finds soccer more fun than staying out late on Friday night and not having to worry about waking at 7a to spend the Saturday in Norco.
Enjoy your soccer parent retirement sir.
I had two types of friends in the glory days of club soccer. Those with a lot of extra $$ and those who were struggling to pay the bills every month. It was like two classes of people. Put it on the Credit card is what one of pals had to do for his dd the last 5 years. She got all her college paid for with good grades and soccer skills this year, but pops sure had to pay a lot of money the last 5 years to get the deal. I'm trying to get him to come clean with how much the last five years cost him. The other friend spent about $17K+ a year no problem. I got in trouble a few years ago because I refused to stay at expensive hotel on the road that was mandated by the club for me to pay so my dd could play and be seen. I told them no and my kid was on the bench for the weekend. Doc stayed in a presidential suite and my wife and I stayed at air b & b and got ripped for it by the ruling class. Insane TMs snitching on me for not paying my fair share and not eating expensive dinners with the other soccer families.
The bigger and faster kids who depended on that at the younger ages also tend to focus less on developing necessary technical skills because they could simply run by kids. The smaller kids got nothing else to lean on so they had to be good with the ball. And if they grow later, they've got superior ball skills and now also able to keep up physically.
Guess there is always the super athletic kid who is also good with the ball. Can't beat DNA + work ethic.
How does this work bro? I don't have to go out of state yet cause my kids are in the youngers. But eventually there will be tournaments/games in Vegas or AZ or TX...
Say I have family, properties, or timeshare in these out of state locations that I can stay in for free... I still have to pay for the team hotel?
That could easily add up to $1000+ trip. That would piss me off a little... (or a lot)
Pay and stay or no play bro. If you have a hard core team manager that knows all the gossip and has spies, you will get in trouble for not obeying the rules. They force you to pay so you stay at $179+ hotel a night or no play for your kid. It's not about winning anymore after 7th grade, it's about paying more and kissing the Docs ass so he can give your child a good recommendation to the coaches on your Childs behalf.
Haha this is so true. I was trying to get my kid to play golf for this reason. No teammate drama. No drama of a coach favoring one kid over another. Low score wins. No confusion on "who is best" in a tournament because it's so objective in golf.
Sadly, he'd rather play soccer than golf.
Not sadly, competitive golf is VERY expensive (way more so than club soccer) so I guess I'm glad??
So true, sadly a bad team manager can hold back a team as much or even worse than a bad coach.
The worst is when the team managers kid isn't performing + they're playing to social game to compensate + trying to bring other players down to their kids level.