All of it cost....way much!

[Unregistered]

At what point do we say to ourselves ***? How many thousands does it take to realize these pyramids, we call club soccer, have no return on investment. A pathway to D1,and beyond!.....get real. People do your research. O know it's hard expect...when someone cuts you down two very personal ways......don't tell me how to spend MY money on MY kid! Maybe that freshman "red shirt' year or Sophmore he/she blows ACL within that 32min played the whole season.... whatever! We all learn at different times. All the one drinking the cool aid can cut me down..... I get it...but I learned to leave it.

So, your kid plays the sport initially probably because you and your missus sat around the breakfast table and said, "let's get Ginny darling into a sport."

It's not likely that you're plotting D1 at this point unless you and your missus are pro athletes.

And you say, "soccer seems fun. And cheap. A ball is $10 and shin guards $15." And, so it begins.

By U10 your kid is playing well and loving it. You have a coach who takes your team to three tournaments a year and you play indoors. Good stuff.

And, by U12, you know it all. You know hte sum total of soccer wisdom in this and every other universe, and you leave your team for a "big 3" club. Now you have aspirations.

By U14, your kid is top 3 on the team. You're going into ECNL/DA/NPL and are beginning to think "D1 bayyyybeeeeee."

And you take it from there.

But, the money is not wasted. You get all those years of soccer, teamwork, camaraderie. Even, if, at the end, you don't get a college offer or don't want one, the skills and years of tournament, tee shirts, and travel were a good time.

Enjoy what you have and what you did. It's all good.

[Unregistered]

Keep telling yourself that. Strong players are not seen by coaches playing on low level teams, it just does not happen. ID clinics are a complete crapshoot, also playing on a crap team in a crap league does not prepare a player whatsoever to play with and against top prospects. Your last sentence is true, it’s not impossible (but very, very unlikely).

I agree if you are referring to top d1 schools (and even top d3's) but the truth is only a very few players in ct are going to get to those no matter where they play. And if a player that isn't one of the best does, chances are they aren't going to see much playing time. There are many many college teams out there and a strong player will certainly find their way onto one if they put the effort in. But you keep on believing what those ECNL coaches are selling you.

[Unregistered]

At what point do we say to ourselves ***? How many thousands does it take to realize these pyramids, we call club soccer, have no return on investment. A pathway to D1,and beyond!.....get real. People do your research. O know it's hard expect...when someone cuts you down two very personal ways......don't tell me how to spend MY money on MY kid! Maybe that freshman "red shirt' year or Sophmore he/she blows ACL within that 32min played the whole season.... whatever! We all learn at different times. All the one drinking the cool aid can cut me down..... I get it...but I learned to leave it.

You obviously have come to this conclusion way too late.. It sounds like you too drank the "cool aid" and organically arrived at this point, which also means you are a hypocrite for suggesting to all of us how to <not?> spend "our" money on "our" families.

[Unregistered]

At what point do we say to ourselves ***? How many thousands does it take to realize these pyramids, we call club soccer..yadda yadda yadda.

Please do tell how many thousands it took you.. Club soccer from U12 and up costs anywhere from $6K-10K/year depending on how fancy you travel. Not sure what you thought you were buying..

[Unregistered]

The youth soccer journey should not be measured by whether one gets a scholarship. That's idiotic.

[Unregistered]

The youth soccer journey should not be measured by whether one gets a scholarship. That's idiotic.

It is in here, but not out there, not by everyone anyway.

[Unregistered]

The youth soccer journey should not be measured by whether one gets a scholarship. That's idiotic.

This. Most people (in CT anyway) who are playing club soccer can afford to pay for it and afford to send their kid to college. Most of us think our kids are great players - that's comes with the whole "parent" thing - but are also pretty realistic that our kid isn't the next Mia Hamm. Are there crazies out there? Sure. Are there more crazies the higher up you go the food chain? Sure. But most of us can do the math on cost vs. possible scholarship x probability of success.

Sorry if the OP is just now figuring it out. But for me, I'm just loving watching my kid play soccer and have a good time. So far, that's been worth the investment. When that changes, then time to reassess.

[Unregistered]

Please do tell how many thousands it took you.. Club soccer from U12 and up costs anywhere from $6K-10K/year depending on how fancy you travel. Not sure what you thought you were buying..

And no one should be doing this with an expectation of any kind of "payout " , financial or otherwise. Do it because your kid loves it, enjoys it and is thriving. If that stops then question why your kid is doing it and if they should continue at all, or if they just need to change clubs or teams. Do not expect anything. Not only may your player not have what it takes to play in college but in the end they may not want to - and that is ok. If you were in it for the right reasons it shouldn't sting if they choose not to play. Again, if you expected something it probably will sting.

Ps. Don't start with the "you could save all that money and do town soccer bullshi*." Players need to figure this out on their own

[Unregistered]

This. Most people (in CT anyway) who are playing club soccer can afford to pay for it and afford to send their kid to college. Most of us think our kids are great players - that's comes with the whole "parent" thing - but are also pretty realistic that our kid isn't the next Mia Hamm. Are there crazies out there? Sure. Are there more crazies the higher up you go the food chain? Sure. But most of us can do the math on cost vs. possible scholarship x probability of success.

Sorry if the OP is just now figuring it out. But for me, I'm just loving watching my kid play soccer and have a good time. So far, that's been worth the investment. When that changes, then time to reassess.

Well said my friend. I’m loving the time and memories with my kid. I know full well that the time is fleeting...enjoying every moment along the way watching him play the game that we both love. If he plays at the next level, wonderful...if not, we both enjoyed the ride.

[Unregistered]

Enjoy the ride

Well said my friend. I’m loving the time and memories with my kid. I know full well that the time is fleeting...enjoying every moment along the way watching him play the game that we both love. If he plays at the next level, wonderful...if not, we both enjoyed the ride.

AMEN, the ride has lots of lessons.

[Unregistered]

Ok, you lost your way along your journey with your kid. That happens and it sucks.

I really don't quite understand the "return on investment" concept you are all flustered about. Were you really, honestly, looking at the time and money spent on your child as some sort of investment or retirement vehicle. That's how its coming across and you are ridiculous.

If you didn't realize your kid wasn't going to be a baller by 12 you are the problem in this situation. If your kid was the s**t you would have known it then and the pathway would have been basically apparent. If you aren't invited to the "party" shortly after 12 you are just helping support the ballers. That's ok too. Does your kid really enjoy playing and a high level of competition? That's what matters.

All this nonsense about you could have saved your cash and played in cheaper or lower leagues is just a perspective, you are entitle to that. Just so you know, nobody cares about the other leagues (except the kids playing in them, sad fact) To put it in perspective, you ever take your kid to a real tryout somewhere? Well they mass the kids up, then they begin breaking them out, into maybe three groups via some activities (its interesting to watch the shuffling). The kids we know we will take, the kids we might take, and the kids that we aren't taking. So by 75% of the way through the practice/tryout, they have the kids they're taking, and they're being watched, the rest are there on the field, but are not being looked at any more. That's the other leagues. So keep driving on with the though you will get noticed in these other leagues, sorry for the reality check.

Yeah, you can play with a bunch of empty shirts and you will not develop, you rise to your competition. Maybe your kid would have fun at rec ball, or maybe your kid would rather scratch their eyes out than play with a bunch of untalented kids who cannot read the game, who knows, maybe they'd have fun and have done other activities, what happened already happened. It wasn't a financial investment. An investment of time having fun with your kid, yes, those are priceless.

The other nonsense about coaches "seeing a kid" is coming from people who really are out of touch with reality. If your kid is not in DA (for a boy, or ECNL for a girl) or in Prep, then their chance of getting seen by real colleges is basically nil. Get over it. Stop talking about that one unicorn that made it playing town rec. Those stories don't show all the networking and placement of that kid by their parents. They weren't playing in some sandlot in Granby and got discovered, that's being naïve and lazy, to be truthful.

For those who maybe are on the beginning of this journey with their kid and think D1 and a scholarship is there ("investment" people - its not), just do some simple research. Take a school you think your kid will play at (where you want them play) and take a look at their incoming freshman recruits. If your kid is not in that weight class, move on down the line. Take Wake Forest for example. Think your kid is going there? well, better be on the national team as a Uxx, or have a resume of DA or Prep. It is what it is. It is almost like people think its like winning the lottery, its not random - you don't get a chance because you bought a ticket (or played ball in high school), its calculated. If you know what the schools want, then you better be what they want. Wrap your head around that for a few minutes. Its just the truth.

What this means is at 12, 13, 14, 15 they need to be at the front and in the "pool". They need to be getting the call ups to camps or training, they need to be in front of decision makers and coaches now, at those ages, to even be on the radar. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Of course someone will bring out so-and-so who just appeared at 16. Maybe, but the other 1000 kids followed the path. Take your chance, be a unicorn, tell me how that works out for you.....

So, delusional person speaking of return on investment, how can you possibly correlate youth sports and an investment, they are mutually exclusive. That's like saying I bought a Prius and the climate didn't change. They have nothing to do with each other - you bought a car - there is global warming, one doesn't affect the other. (the batteries for the Prius's destroy the environment as much as the emissions, whatever we can split hairs about that).

[Unregistered]

You could save all that money and do town soccer.

[Unregistered]

Disagree. Strong players stand out regardless. And they can go to the id clinics on campus to show how strong they can be in a different environment. It's a harder path for the player, but certainly not impossible.

Agree and often the harder path is actually of longer term benefit. the training with the best thing is a myth. i believe the key is training with kids with a great attitude, wanting to improve and work hard . thats more important than the starting level

[Unregistered]

Ok, you lost your way along your journey with your kid. That happens and it sucks.

I really don't quite understand the "return on investment" concept you are all flustered about. Were you really, honestly, looking at the time and money spent on your child as some sort of investment or retirement vehicle. That's how its coming across and you are ridiculous.

If you didn't realize your kid wasn't going to be a baller by 12 you are the problem in this situation. If your kid was the s**t you would have known it then and the pathway would have been basically apparent. If you aren't invited to the "party" shortly after 12 you are just helping support the ballers. That's ok too. Does your kid really enjoy playing and a high level of competition? That's what matters.

All this nonsense about you could have saved your cash and played in cheaper or lower leagues is just a perspective, you are entitle to that. Just so you know, nobody cares about the other leagues (except the kids playing in them, sad fact) To put it in perspective, you ever take your kid to a real tryout somewhere? Well they mass the kids up, then they begin breaking them out, into maybe three groups via some activities (its interesting to watch the shuffling). The kids we know we will take, the kids we might take, and the kids that we aren't taking. So by 75% of the way through the practice/tryout, they have the kids they're taking, and they're being watched, the rest are there on the field, but are not being looked at any more. That's the other leagues. So keep driving on with the though you will get noticed in these other leagues, sorry for the reality check.

Yeah, you can play with a bunch of empty shirts and you will not develop, you rise to your competition. Maybe your kid would have fun at rec ball, or maybe your kid would rather scratch their eyes out than play with a bunch of untalented kids who cannot read the game, who knows, maybe they'd have fun and have done other activities, what happened already happened. It wasn't a financial investment. An investment of time having fun with your kid, yes, those are priceless.

The other nonsense about coaches "seeing a kid" is coming from people who really are out of touch with reality. If your kid is not in DA (for a boy, or ECNL for a girl) or in Prep, then their chance of getting seen by real colleges is basically nil. Get over it. Stop talking about that one unicorn that made it playing town rec. Those stories don't show all the networking and placement of that kid by their parents. They weren't playing in some sandlot in Granby and got discovered, that's being naïve and lazy, to be truthful.

For those who maybe are on the beginning of this journey with their kid and think D1 and a scholarship is there ("investment" people - its not), just do some simple research. Take a school you think your kid will play at (where you want them play) and take a look at their incoming freshman recruits. If your kid is not in that weight class, move on down the line. Take Wake Forest for example. Think your kid is going there? well, better be on the national team as a Uxx, or have a resume of DA or Prep. It is what it is. It is almost like people think its like winning the lottery, its not random - you don't get a chance because you bought a ticket (or played ball in high school), its calculated. If you know what the schools want, then you better be what they want. Wrap your head around that for a few minutes. Its just the truth.

What this means is at 12, 13, 14, 15 they need to be at the front and in the "pool". They need to be getting the call ups to camps or training, they need to be in front of decision makers and coaches now, at those ages, to even be on the radar. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Of course someone will bring out so-and-so who just appeared at 16. Maybe, but the other 1000 kids followed the path. Take your chance, be a unicorn, tell me how that works out for you.....

So, delusional person speaking of return on investment, how can you possibly correlate youth sports and an investment, they are mutually exclusive. That's like saying I bought a Prius and the climate didn't change. They have nothing to do with each other - you bought a car - there is global warming, one doesn't affect the other. (the batteries for the Prius's destroy the environment as much as the emissions, whatever we can split hairs about that).

The above only applies to the top D1 athletes and NT athletes. We only have a few of those in the state. For the rest, there are thousands of rosters spots out there that need filling. It won't be top 20 D1, probably not even top 50, but there are options out there. Don't buy into poster's claim above that you have to be in DA because you definitely do not need to be. Yes it does need to be competitive club soccer. CJSA isn't going to cut it for almost all situations save the rare unicorn. Lowest level is NPL, EDP. It's all about targeting the right academic and soccer level for your interests and abilities. Sure everyone would love to play at Stanford. Isn't going to happen. Be realistic and you won't be disappointed later on.

[Unregistered]

Agree and often the harder path is actually of longer term benefit. the training with the best thing is a myth. i believe the key is training with kids with a great attitude, wanting to improve and work hard . thats more important than the starting level

You are clueless. Sorry, what you say makes sense in paper but has no basis in reality whatsoever.