Is Club soccer the biggest SCAM in youth sports?

LA lady fingers doesn't get it , probably wont. Can you explain your feelings more , I'd love this post to get to ten pages by Saturday night.....
Personally my wife and I seriously cant wait to watch my BB play this weekend with our over priced factory star pro atheltic making club :cool: ( Im joking by the way).

To quote a wise man "Club soccer is what your player and you make of it." and we're enjoying every minute. Its playing with the same lads for 4-6 years in a row, growing as a team and bbq on the weekends , sleep overs with your boys and ultimately crushing your enemies on the field !
 
SuperNatural said:
There's a sucker born every minute.
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Even my poor friend first time experience into club with Chelsea SC was extremely bad, coach left only 5 players signed the contract but 4 of them want to leave. Chelsea won't even refund them the money but rather replace the coach and string them along with false hopes. Non of the parents want to come back, they came on board because their kids like their coach. It's sad that the Fall season is nowhere in site and they are already ripping off the parents. Looks like the new org is even worse than the old one from what it seems or better yet they are SCAMMERS. At least they are moving on and joining my DD's team.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Club soccer is what your player and you make of it.
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This is everything.

Like everything thing else in life.

Take the $ out of equation and its the same.

Even when your player(s) are on full funded or sponsored team things can happen, coaches get promoted, players come/go, injuries, club merges, taken over by some other org, join another league, players not getting along, parents bickering over playing time, etc.

One things that's for sure in youth soccer is change, constant change, its how your players and you adapt to the changes that's important.

Everybody want's to keep teams together with the same coach for as long as possible but normally change can be a growth opportunity or a missed opportunity and timing can be everything.
 
I don't think it is a scam, but i do think that the salesmanship that is utilized by clubs/coaches has a lot of ethical problems and it is more of a business than a youth development program. Two of my DDs played since they were 8 years old and the problem was there was nothing in between the city recreation program and the club program. Both played for a larger more prestigious club and for a smaller local club over the years. My younger daughter played for five years and now has transitioned to another sport which she likes better and is thankfully a lot cheaper and more player/parent friendly (JMHO) .
My older daughter falls into the category that isn't serviced well within the community. She is good enough to play on the top level tier one team and does, but has no real desire to play college soccer. So I am forced to deal with the crazy, "we need to play only showcase tournaments" and travel to nor cal, Phoenix, Vegas, etc where the teams gets ranking points and seen by college coaches crowd. Not only do those tournaments cost more, they always tack on that "stay to play" crap at a 200 dollar a night hotel (kickback) and try to sell the video to show college coaches, charge 20+ dollars for a cheap tshirt etc. Of course you can't go there without three $80+ kits from a required vendor (kickback) and matching backpacks, hoodies, warmup jackets etc.....not to mention per diam for the coach. Of course then the club has 2 raffles a year where the girls are required to sell 10 tickets each at 10 bucks a ticket, Where does that money end up? The golf outing which the team is required to provide a gift basket for and supply a fousome to play....where does that money end up? All on top of the two grand basic fee and what tournament fees i got to come up with....All this because some knuckle head parents think little Sally is the next Mia Hamm. What i think is funny is how few parents who have these dreams of their kid playing college soccer have actually gone to a college soccer game and watched it. Yeah it is a scam.
 
wildcat66 said:
I don't think it is a scam, but i do think that the salesmanship that is utilized by clubs/coaches has a lot of ethical problems and it is more of a business than a youth development program. Two of my DDs played since they were 8 years old and the problem was there was nothing in between the city recreation program and the club program. Both played for a larger more prestigious club and for a smaller local club over the years. My younger daughter played for five years and now has transitioned to another sport which she likes better and is thankfully a lot cheaper and more player/parent friendly (JMHO) .
My older daughter falls into the category that isn't serviced well within the community. She is good enough to play on the top level tier one team and does, but has no real desire to play college soccer. So I am forced to deal with the crazy, "we need to play only showcase tournaments" and travel to nor cal, Phoenix, Vegas, etc where the teams gets ranking points and seen by college coaches crowd. Not only do those tournaments cost more, they always tack on that "stay to play" crap at a 200 dollar a night hotel (kickback) and try to sell the video to show college coaches, charge 20+ dollars for a cheap tshirt etc. Of course you can't go there without three $80+ kits from a required vendor (kickback) and matching backpacks, hoodies, warmup jackets etc.....not to mention per diam for the coach. Of course then the club has 2 raffles a year where the girls are required to sell 10 tickets each at 10 bucks a ticket, Where does that money end up? The golf outing which the team is required to provide a gift basket for and supply a fousome to play....where does that money end up? All on top of the two grand basic fee and what tournament fees i got to come up with....All this because some knuckle head parents think little Sally is the next Mia Hamm. What i think is funny is how few parents who have these dreams of their kid playing college soccer have actually gone to a college soccer game and watched it. Yeah it is a scam.
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Cheap tshirt that sucks, at least ECNL and Surf Cup sold Nike tshirts, hoodies and shorts.
 
Club soccer has been good to our family.
Is it a scam?, depends on what you get out of it, and what you expect.
Its not all dollars and cents in the end, but for us, it paid off in that regard as well.
Be realistic, and enjoy every moment you have through all of it.
 
I don't know what a scam is. This isn't much different than anything else, I'm wondering if that is all there is, this is one of many of those.

What I do know is that overr the last ten years most of us are getting less for more and there are some more people making more off of us aND many people making nothing off of this and they are the ones that have made it worth it to me.

I'm pretty sure that mr. CEO track suit and the others have gone too far, this will be okay in another 10 years. In time for me to drag my grandaugter out, my daughter will let me.
 
wildcat66 said:
I don't think it is a scam, but i do think that the salesmanship that is utilized by clubs/coaches has a lot of ethical problems and it is more of a business than a youth development program. Two of my DDs played since they were 8 years old and the problem was there was nothing in between the city recreation program and the club program. Both played for a larger more prestigious club and for a smaller local club over the years. My younger daughter played for five years and now has transitioned to another sport which she likes better and is thankfully a lot cheaper and more player/parent friendly (JMHO) .
My older daughter falls into the category that isn't serviced well within the community. She is good enough to play on the top level tier one team and does, but has no real desire to play college soccer. So I am forced to deal with the crazy, "we need to play only showcase tournaments" and travel to nor cal, Phoenix, Vegas, etc where the teams gets ranking points and seen by college coaches crowd. Not only do those tournaments cost more, they always tack on that "stay to play" crap at a 200 dollar a night hotel (kickback) and try to sell the video to show college coaches, charge 20+ dollars for a cheap tshirt etc. Of course you can't go there without three $80+ kits from a required vendor (kickback) and matching backpacks, hoodies, warmup jackets etc.....not to mention per diam for the coach. Of course then the club has 2 raffles a year where the girls are required to sell 10 tickets each at 10 bucks a ticket, Where does that money end up? The golf outing which the team is required to provide a gift basket for and supply a fousome to play....where does that money end up? All on top of the two grand basic fee and what tournament fees i got to come up with....All this because some knuckle head parents think little Sally is the next Mia Hamm. What i think is funny is how few parents who have these dreams of their kid playing college soccer have actually gone to a college soccer game and watched it. Yeah it is a scam.
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So your post essentially says, you hate all the things you describe, your kid doesn't want any of it because they don't want to play in college, but you keep them on this team/ club? I'm lost.

Why not move her down a step or two where she wouldn't suffer all these evils, would still have good (if not the highest) competition, and she could be a leader and help other players get better?
 
Round said:
I'm pretty sure that mr. CEO track suit and the others have gone too far, this will be okay in another 10 years. In time for me to drag my grandaugter out, my daughter will let me.
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Let's see what happens. USA soccer is still early into the MLB Jackie Robinson days.
 
For those that think Club Soccer is such a scam, then build a rec team with others to see if you can make it work for a full year. Coach for free and make it happen. I will have my kids tryout if you can make it happen.

For those that think it's such a Scam, why even waste your time posting about it on this type of site? If you are posting then say something like It's a SCAM and here's a team that you can join that can promise what other club teams cannot promise.

Dont continue to inflict so much pain by viewing these post where the majority of people posting are in favor of club soccer.
 
Taken+meme
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
For those that think Club Soccer is such a scam, then build a rec team with others to see if you can make it work for a full year. Coach for free and make it happen. I will have my kids tryout if you can make it happen.

For those that think it's such a Scam, why even waste your time posting about it on this type of site? If you are posting then say something like It's a SCAM and here's a team that you can join that can promise what other club teams cannot promise.

Dont continue to inflict so much pain by viewing these post where the majority of people posting are in favor of club soccer.
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I'm still waiting to hear what the anti club people replace it with. Rec/AYSO? Well we've been through that regime. Folks really want to go back to 80s/90s? Arguing that's better? An academy system like in Europe? Well then time to eliminate college soccer, forget the girls teams, forget rural regions or even cities without an MLS team and forget the late bloomers. And in cities the size of la, well if you want to play soccer you are moving your kid to Carson and better hope they are top 50 in the city at age 8. A scholarship system like Africa and South America? Well guess 7 year olds are off to boarding schools to learn soccer and you better have your connections.

The anti-club people keep pointing at the clubs but they aren't your culprit. They are only a symptom of the fact the US has a collegiate oriented soccer system. It has produced enormous success on the women's side but not on the men's side professionally. But then Europe also treats its education system differently-- it is highly tracked, very bearbones by way of amenities and unlike here there is not the emphasis on everyone getting an education.
 
Grace T. said:
I'm still waiting to hear what the anti club people replace it with. Rec/AYSO? Well we've been through that regime. Folks really want to go back to 80s/90s? Arguing that's better? An academy system like in Europe? Well then time to eliminate college soccer, forget the girls teams, forget rural regions or even cities without an MLS team and forget the late bloomers. And in cities the size of la, well if you want to play soccer you are moving your kid to Carson and better hope they are top 50 in the city at age 8. A scholarship system like Africa and South America? Well guess 7 year olds are off to boarding schools to learn soccer and you better have your connections.

The anti-club people keep pointing at the clubs but they aren't your culprit. They are only a symptom of the fact the US has a collegiate oriented soccer system. It has produced enormous success on the women's side but not on the men's side professionally. But then Europe also treats its education system differently-- it is highly tracked, very bearbones by way of amenities and unlike here there is not the emphasis on everyone getting an education.
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What makes you think club is not recreational/ayso now?

You can smear lipstick all over that pig it's still a pig. That you choose to make the best of it is on you.
 
SuperNatural said:
What makes you think club is not recreational/ayso now?

You can smear lipstick all over that pig it's still a pig. That you choose to make the best of it is on you.
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You are so out of touch. First I don't have any problem with Rec, AYSO, or C/D teams. Demand shows there are a lot of kids that want to play soccer, but all play for different reasons.

My kids have done Rec and at the time it worked for our family. They then started out on C teams which are way more competive than Rec teams. Even on their C teams the coaching was better, than parent coaching on Rec, thus they developed better on a C team then they ever could have on Rec.

Not every family is looking to have their kid play college, but it doesn't mean we don't want competition for our kids to learn. The vast majority of parents on C teams are not under illusions of grandeur and being scammed by Club Soccer. They just want something better than Rec and are willing to pay for coaching and the environment to get it.
 
SuperNatural said:
What makes you think club is not recreational/ayso now?

You can smear lipstick all over that pig it's still a pig. That you choose to make the best of it is on you..
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Well the basic problem with ayso is that it is volunteer based. And while I'm sure there are ayso coaches that are better than some club coaches the fact is they are volunteers, more dont know what they are doing, the license requirements are much less vigorous and if they have the qualifications and skills they could be doing club for the money. For example there was a recent article in parents where the dad basically admitted knowing nothing about soccer yet coaching his daughters u7. Or there was my ds first coach where his first coach taught him to line up in the football 3 point stance. We've also been really lucky and has great ayso coaches but none on par with our club coach and I saw many poor ones as an ayso ref. There are few of quality that would do something for free out of the goodness of their heart-- not saying there wouldn't be anyone but most people need to eat. Not saying club is perfect. Lots of problems, but what do you replace it with?
 
SoccerQ120 said:
You are so out of touch. First I don't have any problem with Rec, AYSO, or C/D teams. Demand shows there are a lot of kids that want to play soccer, but all play for different reasons.

My kids have done Rec and at the time it worked for our family. They then started out on C teams which are way more competive than Rec teams. Even on their C teams the coaching was better, than parent coaching on Rec, thus they developed better on a C team then they ever could have on Rec.

Not every family is looking to have their kid play college, but it doesn't mean we don't want competition for our kids to learn. The vast majority of parents on C teams are not under illusions of grandeur and being scammed by Club Soccer. They just want something better than Rec and are willing to pay for coaching and the environment to get it.
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Well this didn't make much sense other than paying more money to have someone show your kids how to play the game.


We have local hispanic leagues here that are more competitive than Silver Elite/Flight1 teams. ALL RECREATIONAL.
 
coachrefparent said:
So your post essentially says, you hate all the things you describe, your kid doesn't want any of it because they don't want to play in college, but you keep them on this team/ club? I'm lost.

Why not move her down a step or two where she wouldn't suffer all these evils, would still have good (if not the highest) competition, and she could be a leader and help other players get better?
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I never said that my daughter hates playing on her team or that she doesn't want any of it. I just see a huge contingent of crazy soccer parents who seem to love shelling out money for crazy stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with getting their kid a college scholarship or even a college look but because some dude who didn't even play college soccer wearing an adidas running suit tells them its in their kids best interest. So if you are good enough to play with the "premier, elite, gold, etc etc team members, but don't want to play college soccer just go down and play rec or something? Baloney. I loved the look she got a couple of times from the coach and the manager who asked how many girls had emailed college coaches before the tnmt....Coach-Why didn't you send out the letters? My DD-Cause the colleges on the list were all a bunch of liberal arts ones that I don't want to go to? Manager-Why not? DD-I want to get a degree in Marine Biology or Oceanography and none of them offered that. Coach (sarcastically)- what is your fallback plan? DD-I will probably look at going in the Navy or Air Force then go to school. Do we have to send letters to college coaches at schools that dont offer what we want to do as a major?
 
SuperNatural said:
Well this didn't make much sense other than paying more money to have someone show your kids how to play the game.


We have local hispanic leagues here that are more competitive than Silver Elite/Flight1 teams. ALL RECREATIONAL.
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My OS used to play for a hispanic league. My father grew up in a rec latino league in the old country. The initial idea when the kids got into soccer was my father promised to coach them (and their rec teams)...that quickly ended year 1....he didn't know what he was doing and of what he did know, it's was basically the same as AYSO kickball (he still yells "clear that ball" at my DYS's club matches). I reffed for a stint in the Latino league...it was a bit more aggressive than the suburban AYSO leagues we've been through and lots more fouling but other than that, the level of coaching was on par with AYSO. True, the kids are generally better (the best and the strongest tend to go more into futbal than football or baseball) and therefore they play faster running games. They also watch more on TV and their fathers may know a move or two they can show their kids. So yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if a U12 hispanic league team tore apart a suburban U12 club bronze team. They could probably tear apart my YS bronze club team (and in fact, some of us hispanics on the team have joked about it). That doesn't mean they are learning soccer, though, which leaves what do you replace it with? In the old country, the few and the best go on scholarship and get a chance to make pro (and those that enter the scholarship system but don't make it basically wash out and are out of luck because now they are off university track...why so many pros come from the barrios)...everyone else plays rec and may have a great experience and come to love the game, but again, they don't play it in college.
 
Grace T. said:
My OS used to play for a hispanic league. My father grew up in a rec latino league in the old country. The initial idea when the kids got into soccer was my father promised to coach them (and their rec teams)...that quickly ended year 1....he didn't know what he was doing and of what he did know, it's was basically the same as AYSO kickball (he still yells "clear that ball" at my DYS's club matches). I reffed for a stint in the Latino league...it was a bit more aggressive than the suburban AYSO leagues we've been through and lots more fouling but other than that, the level of coaching was on par with AYSO. True, the kids are generally better (the best and the strongest tend to go more into futbal than football or baseball) and therefore they play faster running games. They also watch more on TV and their fathers may know a move or two they can show their kids. So yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if a U12 hispanic league team tore apart a suburban U12 club bronze team. They could probably tear apart my YS bronze club team (and in fact, some of us hispanics on the team have joked about it). That doesn't mean they are learning soccer, though, which leaves what do you replace it with? In the old country, the few and the best go on scholarship and get a chance to make pro (and those that enter the scholarship system but don't make it basically wash out and are out of luck because now they are off university track...why so many pros come from the barrios)...everyone else plays rec and may have a great experience and come to love the game, but again, they don't play it in college.
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Laughable that you don't call college soccer, kickball.
 
Grace T. said:
My OS used to play for a hispanic league. My father grew up in a rec latino league in the old country. The initial idea when the kids got into soccer was my father promised to coach them (and their rec teams)...that quickly ended year 1....he didn't know what he was doing and of what he did know, it's was basically the same as AYSO kickball (he still yells "clear that ball" at my DYS's club matches). I reffed for a stint in the Latino league...it was a bit more aggressive than the suburban AYSO leagues we've been through and lots more fouling but other than that, the level of coaching was on par with AYSO. True, the kids are generally better (the best and the strongest tend to go more into futbal than football or baseball) and therefore they play faster running games. They also watch more on TV and their fathers may know a move or two they can show their kids. So yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if a U12 hispanic league team tore apart a suburban U12 club bronze team. They could probably tear apart my YS bronze club team (and in fact, some of us hispanics on the team have joked about it). That doesn't mean they are learning soccer, though, which leaves what do you replace it with? In the old country, the few and the best go on scholarship and get a chance to make pro (and those that enter the scholarship system but don't make it basically wash out and are out of luck because now they are off university track...why so many pros come from the barrios)...everyone else plays rec and may have a great experience and come to love the game, but again, they don't play it in college.
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