In what other sports is winning not important?

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U13 and below, everyone should get 50% of the minutes minimum. But, the minutes should not be equal.

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and what if your kid just wants to play the game for fun and isn't super invested in being developed?? What then oh sage one?

Definitely pay $3,000 for an experience you could obtain for a fraction of the price, time and effort...you know, just to play and have fun. Smart.

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and what if your kid just wants to play the game for fun and isn't super invested in being developed?? What then oh sage one?

This is why pay to play is completely ****ed up.

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This is why pay to play is completely ****ed up.

not necessarily....if the system is such that if you kid isn't very good then they go on the B team.

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Definitely pay $3,000 for an experience you could obtain for a fraction of the price, time and effort...you know, just to play and have fun. Smart.

Your statement is accurate and not accurate.
If the goal is only to play high school soccer then why pay 3,000 per year?
If your goal is to play college soccer AND your child can get on a strong NPL team, the DA team, or ?? an ECNL team then it might be worth it.

As for the 'experience' that can be obtained, while I won't say that all the coaches at a club are better than those at the town level, I will say that your child is more likely to have a better coach in a club system than at the town level.....the latter of which still relies on Dads and Moms with a huge range of knowledge and ability. Towns have certainly improved their coaching with paying clubs to 'rent' coaches and offer coaching training to their parents.....but....it is still not the same as on the club level.

One way to improve both is to increase the number of training sessions. Now that the clubs have gone to three per week (if they haven't they they are behind the times), while the towns are still at two per week, there is an even greater difference and 'experience'. The DA is at 4-5 per week which is an even better 'experience'.

All said, if your child can get out there on the off days and 'fool around' with the ball in a very creative and constructive way, with or without friends, then that might provide an great addition to whatever his/her team provides. Better yet.....maybe the parent can get out there an have some fun too....

Finally......just to add one reality.....it is my money and I can choose to be stingy, wise, or foolish with it. If I choose to risk wasting it on club soccer or any other youth sport then that is my choice. While you might criticize it, it has no meaning to me. I suspect that those who come on TS to criticize how much money other parents spend are somewhat insecure, jealous, and/or wish that they have given their kid the opportunity.....whether the kid makes the most of it or not has little bearing.....

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...one more point

With regard to the college soccer, that is a whole other level of anxiety....the pyramid get narrower at the top and even if your kid makes the college team, there certainly is no guarantee of play time.........or that he/she will continue to play for four years.

Therefore, all the money in the world won't buy his/her happiness.....sorry....got sappy there.

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Your statement is accurate and not accurate.
If the goal is only to play high school soccer then why pay 3,000 per year?
If your goal is to play college soccer AND your child can get on a strong NPL team, the DA team, or ?? an ECNL team then it might be worth it.

As for the 'experience' that can be obtained, while I won't say that all the coaches at a club are better than those at the town level, I will say that your child is more likely to have a better coach in a club system than at the town level.....the latter of which still relies on Dads and Moms with a huge range of knowledge and ability. Towns have certainly improved their coaching with paying clubs to 'rent' coaches and offer coaching training to their parents.....but....it is still not the same as on the club level.

One way to improve both is to increase the number of training sessions. Now that the clubs have gone to three per week (if they haven't they they are behind the times), while the towns are still at two per week, there is an even greater difference and 'experience'. The DA is at 4-5 per week which is an even better 'experience'.

All said, if your child can get out there on the off days and 'fool around' with the ball in a very creative and constructive way, with or without friends, then that might provide an great addition to whatever his/her team provides. Better yet.....maybe the parent can get out there an have some fun too....

Finally......just to add one reality.....it is my money and I can choose to be stingy, wise, or foolish with it. If I choose to risk wasting it on club soccer or any other youth sport then that is my choice. While you might criticize it, it has no meaning to me. I suspect that those who come on TS to criticize how much money other parents spend are somewhat insecure, jealous, and/or wish that they have given their kid the opportunity.....whether the kid makes the most of it or not has little bearing.....

All those paragraphs and everything your response addresses is about players who need or want to develop...which is NOT what the OP was talking about.

But thanks for changing the subject and trotting out all the tedious and trite talking points like "it is my money and I can..." because you know what? I. Had. No. Idea. So enlightening.

So as I was saying to the OP, not the parent of a player with an interest and commitment to develop, by all means, spend $3,000 for what's worth $100, it's your money and you're SO SO SO smart.

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not necessarily....if the system is such that if you kid isn't very good then they go on the B team.

More like the D, E or F regional team. That's when the fun starts. You think those rosters are loaded with level-headed "Little Landon just plays for the fun of it" parents who don't care about winning? LOL

Parents of average to below average players are on balance the most insane, much more so than the most talented, and as I was saying is the reason why pay to play is so ****ed up.

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A classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETP14z515Q

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With regard to the college soccer, that is a whole other level of anxiety....the pyramid get narrower at the top and even if your kid makes the college team, there certainly is no guarantee of play time.........or that he/she will continue to play for four years.

Therefore, all the money in the world won't buy his/her happiness.....sorry....got sappy there.

Everyone should have their kids read the College Commitment threads someone does each year on how much each class is playing - or not. It's a great face slap of reality. Some never see the field, many hardly play, few play all four years. You want to be optimistic but I think it's good to show your kids the realities as well. It made my player more carefully assess the school fit than she had been before reading them.

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Good advice. Kids know many of the other top local players, and the dose of reality learning how little most play, would be enlightening.

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Everyone should have their kids read the College Commitment threads someone does each year on how much each class is playing - or not. It's a great face slap of reality. Some never see the field, many hardly play, few play all four years. You want to be optimistic but I think it's good to show your kids the realities as well. It made my player more carefully assess the school fit than she had been before reading them.

Going further off topic here, if you really want a dose of "US soccer development reality" take a look at some college rosters and see how many players list foreign "hometowns". I've been to three different college games this fall involving 6 different teams (an admittedly small sample) and 1/3 to 2/5 of the rosters were foreign. (This does not count the kids that a less culturally sensitive me would assume are foreign because I can't pronounce either their first or last names.). Furthermore, watching these games I noticed that the most effective and influential players on the field were foreign. I won't say these kids were the best athletes or the most physically impressive, but clearly they played the game on a different level.
So, when you think about college soccer, realize it's not just "town or club" but really everything the US can develop in our systems against foreign kids who were trained to be professionals until they "washed out" and opted to play some soccer and get a college degree.

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Take note in 5 years when your kid is just one of the bottom half of the team. Fact is 9-13% of kids go on to play college (any division). If (and I really mean IF) that is a goal, then the training and attitude starts very early......and, although against what many want to hear, the ball hog and the one who wants to win it all alone will be the one who develops most. By the way, the value of multiple small sided games is to allow that attitude to be shared by more than just one or two in a 11 v 11 game.

Clearly, your kid doesn't have the attitude or you are not interested in your kid being selfish enough to develop beyond his/her piers. Which is OK....I am sure that there is some place for you kid, perhaps on defense of a weaker team.

There has been a rather large up tick in participation at the club level which really came at the expense of the traditionally "rec" focused town programs. Besides turning club soccer into a sort of rite of passage, now we have parents paying $2,000-3,000 a year to learn what they used to learn for $200-300. With that escalation in price came a reasonable escalation in expectations. The problem though is the kids don't necessarily meet those expectations as cleanly as say a more expensive car will.

[Unregistered]

Everyone should have their kids read the College Commitment threads someone does each year on how much each class is playing - or not. It's a great face slap of reality. Some never see the field, many hardly play, few play all four years. You want to be optimistic but I think it's good to show your kids the realities as well. It made my player more carefully assess the school fit than she had been before reading them.

Well said!

[Unregistered]

Going further off topic here, if you really want a dose of "US soccer development reality" take a look at some college rosters and see how many players list foreign "hometowns". I've been to three different college games this fall involving 6 different teams (an admittedly small sample) and 1/3 to 2/5 of the rosters were foreign. (This does not count the kids that a less culturally sensitive me would assume are foreign because I can't pronounce either their first or last names.). Furthermore, watching these games I noticed that the most effective and influential players on the field were foreign. I won't say these kids were the best athletes or the most physically impressive, but clearly they played the game on a different level.
So, when you think about college soccer, realize it's not just "town or club" but really everything the US can develop in our systems against foreign kids who were trained to be professionals until they "washed out" and opted to play some soccer and get a college degree.

That is not a universal truth. I think you will find that generally in the very top level programs you still have more US born players on the roster than international ones. What you are seeing is once you get by the very top level US players, there is a huge drop off in the quality of what we are producing relative to what the international players are bringing to the table so there seems to be a run on recruiting internationally. This is where the ECNL actually failed. So much for the one stop shopping for college coaches.