When will ECNL take over GA?

[Guest]

I had a pony, my sister had a pony…

Who leaves a country packed with ponies to come to a non-pony country?

I phone interviewed a great coaching candidate one time for a GA position. Started in the SEC, great references, great interview. Finally, I had to say, "just to be clear, so what is your exact overall GPA", she replied, "2.92". I had to say I'm really sorry to hear that because without a 3.0, you can't gain admission to our graduate school and can't get the GA funding. Her immediate response, "but I went to Vanderbilt".

Lesson - don't be fooled for an instant into thinking the 'brand name' on your (kids) degree is going to get you/her places without proof you were a good student (gpa), and did more than just play sports (sga, honor societies, internship, etc.)

If you're kid doesn't have a 'snowballs chance in hell' of getting into a school without soccer, then goes to a program that will not let her do anything but play soccer, you better have realistic expectations on graduation day. This very nice young person from Vanderbilt was selling phones for Verizon and could not get into any graduate schools but hey, she saved her parents a few bucks as an undergrad and played lots of soccer.

This advice and anecdote = Totally Free of Charge....

[Guest]

Who leaves a country packed with ponies to come to a non-pony country?

I phone interviewed a great coaching candidate one time for a GA position. Started in the SEC, great references, great interview. Finally, I had to say, "just to be clear, so what is your exact overall GPA", she replied, "2.92". I had to say I'm really sorry to hear that because without a 3.0, you can't gain admission to our graduate school and can't get the GA funding. Her immediate response, "but I went to Vanderbilt".

Lesson - don't be fooled for an instant into thinking the 'brand name' on your (kids) degree is going to get you/her places without proof you were a good student (gpa), and did more than just play sports (sga, honor societies, internship, etc.)

If you're kid doesn't have a 'snowballs chance in hell' of getting into a school without soccer, then goes to a program that will not let her do anything but play soccer, you better have realistic expectations on graduation day. This very nice young person from Vanderbilt was selling phones for Verizon and could not get into any graduate schools but hey, she saved her parents a few bucks as an undergrad and played lots of soccer.

This advice and anecdote = Totally Free of Charge....

Wild stuff. Not exactly pertinent or replicant, but very exciting for a second rate message board. Next time, focus on the thread topic.

[Guest]

Stadiums and entertainment venues are trending away from GA in favor of Elite Club and luxury box seating.

[Guest]

Stadiums and entertainment venues are trending away from GA in favor of Elite Club and luxury box seating.

Season ticket prices are skyrocketing for elites.

[Guest]

Season ticket prices are skyrocketing for elites.

I blame Sequin Barkley.

[Guest]

I blame Sequin Barkley.

Welcome to youth travel sports. Such a scam for the most part, but my kids had fun and made friends. Just wish we didn’t have to practically refinance in order to afford it. Fuquit: in comparison, my son played American football on a really nice field in a high school stadium with at least $1000 worth of equipment per player, and seven or eight dedicated and experienced position coaches, and it cost only $250 per player per season…compared to thousands of dollars and one coach for my daughters travel soccer not to mention the at least $500 yearly for their”uniforms” which should have been just two shirts and a pair of shorts for less than a hundred. Club soccer is a scam in suburban America for the most part and so is travel baseball.

[Guest]

Welcome to youth travel sports. Such a scam for the most part, but my kids had fun and made friends. Just wish we didn’t have to practically refinance in order to afford it. Fuquit: in comparison, my son played American football on a really nice field in a high school stadium with at least $1000 worth of equipment per player, and seven or eight dedicated and experienced position coaches, and it cost only $250 per player per season…compared to thousands of dollars and one coach for my daughters travel soccer not to mention the at least $500 yearly for their”uniforms” which should have been just two shirts and a pair of shorts for less than a hundred. Club soccer is a scam in suburban America for the most part and so is travel baseball.

I have a love/hate with travel sports. Destroys Little League and AYSO. Cost $1250+hotels+tournament fees is ridiculous. On the positive side, you get what you pay for. My daughter plays for a travel soccer team. We had all of my kids in AYSO for a few years. Travel is night and day differences in coaching. Obviously, AYSO is usually a volunteer parent coaching who has no incentive to go above and beyond a basic practice/game schedule. My daughter is wrapping up her first year of travel. Her skill level has skyrocketed because of the coaching and constant practice. The biggest positive is her self confidence. Huge self confidence boost in everything she does now. Went from totally quiet at school to very social. Had teachers ask what we did....that was the only change. Anyway that is my 2 cents. I still wish it wasn't a thing but, if you can afford it, your kids can benefit from travel.

[Guest]

I have a love/hate with travel sports. Destroys Little League and AYSO. Cost $1250+hotels+tournament fees is ridiculous. On the positive side, you get what you pay for. My daughter plays for a travel soccer team. We had all of my kids in AYSO for a few years. Travel is night and day differences in coaching. Obviously, AYSO is usually a volunteer parent coaching who has no incentive to go above and beyond a basic practice/game schedule. My daughter is wrapping up her first year of travel. Her skill level has skyrocketed because of the coaching and constant practice. The biggest positive is her self confidence. Huge self confidence boost in everything she does now. Went from totally quiet at school to very social. Had teachers ask what we did....that was the only change. Anyway that is my 2 cents. I still wish it wasn't a thing but, if you can afford it, your kids can benefit from travel.

If as coaches we know the vast majority of players are going to be playing at the recreational level, why are we over-organizing practices for them as they develop so they get bored or even frustrated? All they want to do is play and have fun, that environment should be simple to provide. There is very little ROI in youth travel sports if you are looking at the end game. As a parent, it feels like it’s required to make a high school team. My kids have played in rec leagues and they’ve played in travel leagues. They developed more in travel under paid non parent coaches, but at the end of the day, all roads lead to beer league. My brother played travel soccer in the early 2000s. He did get a partial scholarship to a D3 college and now he has 5 kids and probably hasn’t touched a ball in 20 years.

[Guest]

In fact, we have failed to learn from the glaring anecdotal and scientific evidence right in front of us, and instead of finding a different and better way to develop players, we continue down the same tried and not-working paths, even paving the same paths again.

I'll bite on this, as a club soccer parent who held out and now is incredibly glad we made the investment:

• the level of competition is better. My kid goes to Grandville, which is very much not a soccer high school. That's not a knock on them, the band/robotics/academics are top notch. You can't be good at everything. My kid wanted a greater soccer education than what he got for 2 months playing for his school. His club coach is someone who makes a living from coaching soccer full-time.
• there is greater diversity. Again, we live in Grandville. It's better than it used to be when I was a teenager here, but our school team is mostly made up of suburban white kids. On my son's club team, over half the players are non-white. Some travel from Muskegon, some live in the middle of Grand Rapids, and a few live in a town like his. It's important for me for my kids to have friends that don't all look like them, and those that grew up with different family backgrounds.
• As he looks towards college, he is getting to see different parts of the state, and we've combined college visits with his game schedule. He isn't sure whether he'll be continuing soccer at the college level yet, but he's considering it.
• Every club team we've played on has a scholarship program, and as a single parent, I've utilized it.
• I love being around other kids and families who are passionate about soccer.

It's not for everyone - my daughter is still at the Little League age and I am adamant that she is not doing a club version yet. For her, sports are a place to just have fun. But for my son, soccer is "his thing" and I'm happy to pay to do something he's truly passionate about.

[Guest]

It might be a drive for some of you but I'm on the board of a "travel" soccer club called the Bolts. We are a nonprofit and we also don't travel like some of these other clubs so the cost is pretty low. The nasty mom is right tons of these clubs and AAU teams are super sketchy and to be frank half of kids still suck at the end of the day. Most people are not athletically gifted so they will never amount to much no matter how hard they train. Instead of acknowledging this and building a grass roots developmental model around it, we have taken our best players and decided the best thing to do is to completely control their development – every moment of it from the age of 11 or 12 – by putting them into competitive soccer situations where they feel they are constantly being evaluated. Then we wonder why these developing players are not taking more chances and being creative and thoughtful?