Winter Tournament Fees

[Guest]

Just wanted to know if any other clubs are charging high prices to play in tournaments over the winter. Everyone can go online and see the fee of these events and I understand the coaches want to get paid for their time but we just had to pay $60 for a 5v5 event and had 9 players so paid for 25-30 minutes of play when they’re 18 minute games.

Was wondering if this is the normal fee? I want my kid to play as much as possible and they want to do it with their team and their coach but it would be $37 to do it just on our own

[Guest]

Tournament fees are just one variable of the total. Coaches will charge for travel time and costs, game coaching, meals, hotel etc….

[Guest]

Just wanted to know if any other clubs are charging high prices to play in tournaments over the winter. Everyone can go online and see the fee of these events and I understand the coaches want to get paid for their time but we just had to pay $60 for a 5v5 event and had 9 players so paid for 25-30 minutes of play when they’re 18 minute games.

Was wondering if this is the normal fee? I want my kid to play as much as possible and they want to do it with their team and their coach but it would be $37 to do it just on our own

Lol welcome to youth soccer the older they get the more expensive it gets if your chasing the big tournament and other things

[Guest]

Yes, that’s pretty standard. We’ve paid similar for different teams. These tournaments take up a lot of time for the coaches - travel, games and the down time in between.

[Guest]

Our coach varies the payment. Some tournaments they charge a lot, some they do the fee so I honestly don’t know why, so far we’ve paid $35-60 for events. I think our coach has the dilemma of wanting the kids to play (so charges little for certain events) but also wanting to have a life so wants to make some money for the 6+ hours out the house. I would say for 5v5 $50-55 is understandable. Anything more than that I wouldn’t attend. We have also had to pay $20 for a future scrimmage. That again is reasonable - pick up if I wanted to attend as an adult for an hour is the same cost so I’m happy to pay that for my kid to get coached and hopefully get better.

Its the subs thing that kills me. 5v5 with 4 subs and 3x18 minute games usually. That means your kid is probably playing (if you have a GK) 27 minutes if the coach is on top and giving equal playing time. I just wish it could be 1-2 subs (maybe 3 if its a 7v7 event) so that players can play. If that's what the coach really wants, squad numbers should be lower but its obvious its just money making season for some coaches.

[Guest]

Lol - must be coaches saying the above comments about time and costs lol.
Anyone going to name and shame people that ask for silly money - and I mean for winter events, not in season events.

[Guest]

My kids team doesn't even do any winter tournaments, coach takes the time off so we make our own team for events. Don't know if the kids get better but they have fun with their friends and its usually around like 30-40 depending on players. We try to take max 2 subs for 5v5, often just go with 1. We take a rotation of parents that stand on the sideline to "coach" but in all honesty none of us know what we're doing, we just sub the kids and are there if they get hurt.

[Guest]

Your contract should lay out how many events are included. Anything above that requires additional payments. Some clubs purposely keep fees lower to attract customers then start nickel and diming once you're in. Avoid clubs like that, but if you're at one feel free to push back. Adding maybe one unexpected event is ok, but not more.

[Guest]

Your contract should lay out how many events are included. Anything above that requires additional payments. Some clubs purposely keep fees lower to attract customers then start nickel and diming once you're in. Avoid clubs like that, but if you're at one feel free to push back. Adding maybe one unexpected event is ok, but not more.

None of this is mandatory. So if you don’t want to spend the extra money, don’t do the tournament or volunteer as a parent coach and create your own teams for indoor leagues and tournaments.

[Guest]

That does seem like an excessive overcharge.
However were the games back to back or was it over 3-4 hours?

I would say add $100 to the fee for every hour and then split it amongst the 9 - that should be the reasonable fee.

I’ve spoke to our coach a lot about this as our team always want to do extra and just about logistics and setting it up. We understand the coach doesn’t have to, we would just prefer him to as we feel our kids get better with them so we are ok paying the additional fee. It’s the same with tournaments in season. We get a number of tournaments for our club fee but if there’s free weekends with no league games, we would want to go to a tournament and happy to pay.

Most coaches will want to get paid for any additional time over any season; it’s effectively over time. Their club is paying them to coach the team for the year in their set practices, tournaments and leagues. They don’t have to do anything extra. If you have a coach that does all this extra stuff, appreciate them as some coaches will take the time off that they probably deserve.

If you just want your kid playing with friends, enter a tournament, split the fee and it will definitely be cheaper.

[Guest]

Lol - must be coaches saying the above comments about time and costs lol.
Anyone going to name and shame people that ask for silly money - and I mean for winter events, not in season events.

It's the biggest hustle, and parents will keep paying. All these "winter select" programs just end up being glorified pickup events.

[Guest]

I think the main issue is the fees the tournaments are selling.

I looked EDP futsal next weekend because my kid is in it. It’s $350 plus $20 gotsport fee. For a 5v5 event you gave to take extra kids to just not be charged so much.

We’ve been charged $60 and at first they thought that was expensive but on our roster I think there’s only 6 so not even covering the fee. I’m assuming they might get a discount for entering multiple teams but I think it’s the tournament directors we need to be frustrated at

[Guest]

I think the main issue is the fees the tournaments are selling.

I looked EDP futsal next weekend because my kid is in it. It’s $350 plus $20 gotsport fee. For a 5v5 event you gave to take extra kids to just not be charged so much.

We’ve been charged $60 and at first they thought that was expensive but on our roster I think there’s only 6 so not even covering the fee. I’m assuming they might get a discount for entering multiple teams but I think it’s the tournament directors we need to be frustrated at

Some of these indoor tournaments are priced too high for 30 min games plus ref fees. Even the 7v7 games. Not worth it. You are better off playing in a weekly league. It’s prob cheaper and you get more games in.