Sound familiar?

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Absolutely it is what the market craves. But understand that is a status symbol buy like so many other luxury products. These items often say a lot more about a persons bank account then anything else.

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In developed countries like the US and Canada, people associate money spent with quality. Sadly, they also are not good at understanding future benefits vs. current costs. So they spend ridiculous amounts on youth sports with the idea that there is a golden scholarship or pro contract at the end of the rainbow. Just think about the infrastructure spending on soccer and hockey. Building and maintains indoor facilities, turf fields, etc. It must run into the billions. But in the case of soccer, we don’t understand the game here in the US enough to beat teams coming from much poorer countries playing on dirt and grass fields.

[Unregistered]

In developed countries like the US and Canada, people associate money spent with quality. Sadly, they also are not good at understanding future benefits vs. current costs. So they spend ridiculous amounts on youth sports with the idea that there is a golden scholarship or pro contract at the end of the rainbow. Just think about the infrastructure spending on soccer and hockey. Building and maintains indoor facilities, turf fields, etc. It must run into the billions. But in the case of soccer, we don’t understand the game here in the US enough to beat teams coming from much poorer countries playing on dirt and grass fields.

A fancy field is nice and so is a fancy car. But they do not mean that the user has a special talent for playing soccer or for driving.

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Absolutely it is what the market craves. But understand that is a status symbol buy like so many other luxury products. These items often say a lot more about a persons bank account then anything else.

This is where we agree strongly. Elite youth sports is a Luxury item.
Once you look at through that lens, instead of the equity lens, it makes more sense.

[Unregistered]

This is where we agree strongly. Elite youth sports is a Luxury item.
Once you look at through that lens, instead of the equity lens, it makes more sense.

No equity about it and for luxury products - so what? - they are luxury items. Just make sure you look through the BS marketing lens to dismiss much of the nonsense about the "best" this and the "best " that.

[Unregistered]

In developed countries like the US and Canada, people associate money spent with quality. Sadly, they also are not good at understanding future benefits vs. current costs. So they spend ridiculous amounts on youth sports with the idea that there is a golden scholarship or pro contract at the end of the rainbow. Just think about the infrastructure spending on soccer and hockey. Building and maintains indoor facilities, turf fields, etc. It must run into the billions. But in the case of soccer, we don’t understand the game here in the US enough to beat teams coming from much poorer countries playing on dirt and grass fields.

In Canada college is affordable. I think a big part of what drives the insanity of the US youth sports market is the hope that it eventually pays in scholarships. Families can afford these activities but cannot necessarily afford college, let alone for multiple kids. Most will be disappointed, but there's enough stories out there (perpetuated by clubs) to keep the dream alive

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Yes unfortunately now there's too many people making a lot of money and they're not about to give up the money or control. I work with multiple volunteer organizations and it's getting harder to find people willing to help these days. More are self involved or would rather watch Netflix at night then attend a few meetings.

Let’s rewind that statement: I was a volunteer coach for years, first in rec, then travel leagues. I gave hours every week running practices and coaching games, attending meetings, being on the BoD of the local youth soccer association. It was literally a thankless job where parents constantly complained or didn’t take it seriously enough to have their kids show up to practices and games, the BoD was more concerned with power and politics then soccer. Oh, and my fellow coaches were terrible, either had no idea how to coach, never played the game, or worse, both.

My kids left for club because they outgrew the town level offered. I started coaching club because I value my time and refuse to give it to people or organizations who don’t value it or put soccer first. The pay also helped offset the cost of club for my kids. I treat it like a 2nd job, prepare my practice plans ahead of time, spend time and my own money for licensing and development, equipment, etc.

Volunteers are fine for very young kids first learning to kick a ball around, but our model sucks for any real development because many here didn’t play the game and don’t know it well enough. As others have said, it also seems in our society unless you are spending serious money, parents and coaches don’t take it seriously.

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In Canada college is affordable. I think a big part of what drives the insanity of the US youth sports market is the hope that it eventually pays in scholarships. Families can afford these activities but cannot necessarily afford college, let alone for multiple kids. Most will be disappointed, but there's enough stories out there (perpetuated by clubs) to keep the dream alive

But they WAY overestimate how many scholarships are available and how easy they are to obtain. Everybody knows somebody who’s gotten one (not really) and forums like TS spread that lie further. In D1 and D2 women’s soccer, there are about 2,000 total scholarships available for an incoming year and even less for the men. And you have probably have 30x that number trying to get those scholarships. Your chances aren’t that good unless you are a top .5% player, but most have no idea what that means.

[Unregistered]

Let’s rewind that statement: I was a volunteer coach for years, first in rec, then travel leagues. I gave hours every week running practices and coaching games, attending meetings, being on the BoD of the local youth soccer association. It was literally a thankless job where parents constantly complained or didn’t take it seriously enough to have their kids show up to practices and games, the BoD was more concerned with power and politics then soccer. Oh, and my fellow coaches were terrible, either had no idea how to coach, never played the game, or worse, both.

My kids left for club because they outgrew the town level offered. I started coaching club because I value my time and refuse to give it to people or organizations who don’t value it or put soccer first. The pay also helped offset the cost of club for my kids. I treat it like a 2nd job, prepare my practice plans ahead of time, spend time and my own money for licensing and development, equipment, etc.

Volunteers are fine for very young kids first learning to kick a ball around, but our model sucks for any real development because many here didn’t play the game and don’t know it well enough. As others have said, it also seems in our society unless you are spending serious money, parents and coaches don’t take it seriously.

Absolutely true - the big US sports have loads of parents who played themselves, often times at very high levels. There's just not enough of those ex soccer player parents around who can also find the time to coach or are good at it.

Local boards can make or break a volunteer or low cost operation. Get in just a few wrong people and it will turn into a sh** show 9 times out of 10

[Unregistered]

But they WAY overestimate how many scholarships are available and how easy they are to obtain. Everybody knows somebody who’s gotten one (not really) and forums like TS spread that lie further. In D1 and D2 women’s soccer, there are about 2,000 total scholarships available for an incoming year and even less for the men. And you have probably have 30x that number trying to get those scholarships. Your chances aren’t that good unless you are a top .5% player, but most have no idea what that means.

That's why I said many will be disappointed. Someone said on here once a very true statement - if parents knew the realities of athletic scholarships in middle school, probably half the high cost HS sports teams would disappear. Or something like that :). I agree. Plenty of kids would be happy just playing locally, inexpensively, and having more time for other things instead of spending weekends in the car.

[Unregistered]

This is where we agree strongly. Elite youth sports is a Luxury item.
Once you look at through that lens, instead of the equity lens, it makes more sense.

While I won't argue against the idea that some parents put their kids in club sports for status reasons, it is incredibly naive to think that there aren't lots of other reasons why families pay for club sports:

1) the kid is an athlete, and real athletes seek challenge and competition - even at young ages. Some kids that are dominating rec leagues or travel leagues are happy to be the best player and don't really want to challenge themselves, BUT others do. One of my kids would go crazy if she knew that there were good players in some league that she couldn't take on.

2) the parents are ex-athletes who have been around organized sports and know how to manage their kids' development. They know that developing a soccer player means pushing the kid outside his/her comfort zone, playing against better athletes in higher-paced games.

3) some kids grow up playing with a group of friends in little kids soccer and travel teams. When those kids start looking at moving to clubs, they often do it in groups.

4) recruiting - our oldest kid was recruited by several club coaches at a U-little tournament one Memorial Day weekend. She was big and fast, and comparatively skilled vs. the other kids in her games. At the time, we figured she'd have to move to a club in 3-4 years, but the interest made us start investigating much sooner. BTW - she didn't join any of the clubs that recruited her.

5) the "pathway" - our kids had a couple of older kids in the neighborhood that were the stars of the HS program in their respective sports. Our kids would hang around with them and learn to play from them. We asked them and their parents how they learned their sports, and figured it might work for our kids as well.

The OP needs to acknowledge that there are families in our culture that LOVE sports, and their kids often love sports too. When kids are in the backyard kicking a soccer ball around for hours, or playing hoop in the driveway all afternoon, etc., it is NOT about status...

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Let’s rewind that statement: I was a volunteer coach for years, first in rec, then travel leagues. I gave hours every week running practices and coaching games, attending meetings, being on the BoD of the local youth soccer association. It was literally a thankless job where parents constantly complained or didn’t take it seriously enough to have their kids show up to practices and games, the BoD was more concerned with power and politics then soccer. Oh, and my fellow coaches were terrible, either had no idea how to coach, never played the game, or worse, both.

My kids left for club because they outgrew the town level offered. I started coaching club because I value my time and refuse to give it to people or organizations who don’t value it or put soccer first. The pay also helped offset the cost of club for my kids. I treat it like a 2nd job, prepare my practice plans ahead of time, spend time and my own money for licensing and development, equipment, etc.

Volunteers are fine for very young kids first learning to kick a ball around, but our model sucks for any real development because many here didn’t play the game and don’t know it well enough. As others have said, it also seems in our society unless you are spending serious money, parents and coaches don’t take it seriously.

Well said. Thanks for coaching.

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The entire business model is about status. Absolutely no different form a luxury car or joining a country club. Only this product lets parents pay a fortune to compete fro status through the sports exploits their children.

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The entire business model is about status. Absolutely no different form a luxury car or joining a country club. Only this product lets parents pay a fortune to compete fro status through the sports exploits their children.

Stop your bloviating for a minute. If my kid is very athletic and loves soccer and wants to play all the time, I'm going to find the best place for her to pursue that - that works for my family (cost, convenience, etc.). The club we chose won our business because it was relatively nearby, it trained lots of older players that we knew of from our town (if all the older kids were training at a club much further away, that would have told us something), the coach seemed very serious and dedicated to soccer (we were newbies), and we would have a good, functioning carpool.

That process is nothing like joining a country club or buying a BMW or Mercedes. Sure, the top clubs might like to position themselves as elite (luxury) destinations, but that doesn't mean that every customer is shopping the same way.

[Unregistered]

Stop your bloviating for a minute. If my kid is very athletic and loves soccer and wants to play all the time, I'm going to find the best place for her to pursue that - that works for my family (cost, convenience, etc.). The club we chose won our business because it was relatively nearby, it trained lots of older players that we knew of from our town (if all the older kids were training at a club much further away, that would have told us something), the coach seemed very serious and dedicated to soccer (we were newbies), and we would have a good, functioning carpool.

That process is nothing like joining a country club or buying a BMW or Mercedes. Sure, the top clubs might like to position themselves as elite (luxury) destinations, but that doesn't mean that every customer is shopping the same way.

It's no different than any other endeavor/activity that people do. If you want to become a great skier, you take lessons and upgrade your gear and learn on harder trails, and you keep raising the bar to continue to test yourself. Same with piano, math, etc.

Club soccer is just an avenue for kids/families who like the game (I hope), love to test themselves against others, and want to compete.