Thinking about getting my kid into club soccer

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Does anyone know what the big clubs charge.?

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Does anyone know what the big clubs charge.?

while they vary in price from 2500-4500...every single one will take your soul

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while they vary in price from 2500-4500...every single one will take your soul

This one wins the day.

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Does anyone know what the big clubs charge.?

What's the age of your child and what are you looking for?

I'll be happy to give you advice. Don't listen to the sharks in here. Most of them are the ones that live through their child, complain but still pay over $4k to tell their buddies at the water color that their kid plays at an academy but doesn't mention 10 minutes per game.

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troll alert. must be a slow day

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Posted most of this in another thread others found helpful:

All club teams cost 2-3k (bigger clubs seem to be close to 3k for 2020-2021 season, ours was $2,975 when we got his offer in March) out of the gate per player for practices Fall-Spring, regular season games Fall and Spring and 3-5 Fall and Spring Tournaments. Practice is 3x weekly for Fall and Spring and 2x weekly for winter. Then they all tend to differ on uniforms, ref fees and winter weekend tournaments. Some variation of those will run you another $300-$600. You can also add on as much as you want for extra team sponsored gear for the player and/or the family.

The biggest add on expense is definately the travel expenses, but that can vary greatly depending on the Club’s regional/national ambitions, which team your child plays for and their age. Bigger Club’s “A” Teams can travel all over the country. Smaller clubs will usually stay instate or boardering states. So yes, this can be hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars additionally.

Other expenses can include additional summer programs or tournaments. Things like Super Y League, “Summer Select”, camps, etc. These can be a few hundred to several thousand.

Right, wrong or otherwise, Club Soccer is expensive. That is the system. You can control certain aspects, first and foremost with your personal expectations. If you can afford it and your child is a top tier player, a large Club like STA, MF, CS, PDA, etc can be rewarding. However, if your child is not a top tier player, they can still play for these clubs on their “B” or “C” teams and it will most likely be a very frustrating and expensive experience. They are happy to take your money and some kids will move up, but most won’t.

Its a business. In these situations be smart. Play for a smaller Club or even a good Town Travel team. Let your child develop and gain confidence for much less. Then if you want, spend extra money and find a good trainer to add to their development. Evaluate their play each year and their well being and maybe make the jump to a bigger program after a couple years.

Personally, my son is a 2010. Plays for one of the large Clubs. We travelled to a few other states for Tournaments that required hotels, etc. He only plays soccer (his choice). I also pay for additional one-on-one training as my son is good, but this was his first year at this level and he wants to get better. The kids that are better generally have 1-2 years additional experience at this level and the extra work is his way of catching up. I would guess the 2019-2020 year ran us 5k. We are very lucky that we can afford it and very careful not to force anything on him. Hope this helps and good luck.

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Posted most of this in another thread others found helpful:

All club teams cost 2-3k (bigger clubs seem to be close to 3k for 2020-2021 season, ours was $2,975 when we got his offer in March) out of the gate per player for practices Fall-Spring, regular season games Fall and Spring and 3-5 Fall and Spring Tournaments. Practice is 3x weekly for Fall and Spring and 2x weekly for winter. Then they all tend to differ on uniforms, ref fees and winter weekend tournaments. Some variation of those will run you another $300-$600. You can also add on as much as you want for extra team sponsored gear for the player and/or the family.

The biggest add on expense is definately the travel expenses, but that can vary greatly depending on the Club’s regional/national ambitions, which team your child plays for and their age. Bigger Club’s “A” Teams can travel all over the country. Smaller clubs will usually stay instate or boardering states. So yes, this can be hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars additionally.

Other expenses can include additional summer programs or tournaments. Things like Super Y League, “Summer Select”, camps, etc. These can be a few hundred to several thousand.

Right, wrong or otherwise, Club Soccer is expensive. That is the system. You can control certain aspects, first and foremost with your personal expectations. If you can afford it and your child is a top tier player, a large Club like STA, MF, CS, PDA, etc can be rewarding. However, if your child is not a top tier player, they can still play for these clubs on their “B” or “C” teams and it will most likely be a very frustrating and expensive experience. They are happy to take your money and some kids will move up, but most won’t.

Its a business. In these situations be smart. Play for a smaller Club or even a good Town Travel team. Let your child develop and gain confidence for much less. Then if you want, spend extra money and find a good trainer to add to their development. Evaluate their play each year and their well being and maybe make the jump to a bigger program after a couple years.

Personally, my son is a 2010. Plays for one of the large Clubs. We travelled to a few other states for Tournaments that required hotels, etc. He only plays soccer (his choice). I also pay for additional one-on-one training as my son is good, but this was his first year at this level and he wants to get better. The kids that are better generally have 1-2 years additional experience at this level and the extra work is his way of catching up. I would guess the 2019-2020 year ran us 5k. We are very lucky that we can afford it and very careful not to force anything on him. Hope this helps and good luck.

That is a very good summary!
Just to emphasize that there are many good town teams playing in EDP or the top bracket of regional leagues for a fraction of the cost. These teams often compete successfully against the B and C teams of the big clubs on EDP leagues and tournaments.

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Agreed. My son played town travel prior to Club. Flight 1 or 2 in northern/central Jersey. It was a lot of fun and was rewarding, but by Spring of 2019 was scoring 3 goals a game and wasn’t challenging. They won a couple EDP tournaments, but in the mid-level Tiers. His skill level translated to top level EDP/NPL team offers and borderline pre-ECNL which is where he ended up...but at the pre-ECNL level he plays defense and attacks from the back.

Cost was about $500 each for Fall and Spring. Practiced 2x per week. 1-2 tournaments. 8-10 games per season. They also played an indoor league of about 8 games for another $200, but no formal practice. Everything was within an hour drive. Another $200 for the uniforms. Another $500 on some camps in the summer. So $1900 total. We have no regrets, it was fun to watch him score a lot and it was a lot more affordable, but still not cheap.

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That is a very good summary!
Just to emphasize that there are many good town teams playing in EDP or the top bracket of regional leagues for a fraction of the cost. These teams often compete successfully against the B and C teams of the big clubs on EDP leagues and tournaments.

Lets be honest - some town travel teams can beat some club A teams.

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Lets be honest - some town travel teams can beat some club A teams.

Yes at the younger ages bad soccer from players that are a little bigger and stronger always wins at the younger ages. No matter town or club soccer.

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Yes at the younger ages bad soccer from players that are a little bigger and stronger always wins at the younger ages. No matter town or club soccer.

It isn't just at the younger levels, only reason ECNL and DA/GA don't have as many losses is because they avoid outside league competition like the plague.

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It isn't just at the younger levels, only reason ECNL and DA/GA don't have as many losses is because they avoid outside league competition like the plague.

Whats crazy is that a few months before the DAs got whacked, they had announced they were going to reduce restrictions on playing in tournaments against non-DA teams. Thought that was a step in the right direction but then they just killed it anyway.