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Post by spectator on Mar 20, 2015 13:41:21 GMT -5
Interesting article pretty dead on about lots of sports not just soccer. At the end of the day, it's just a game - especially for the younger ones. I remember back at Academy our coach use to try to schedule as many games as possible each weekend - once we played 6 games - not a tournament - 6 games! The statement that no professional or national team does this so why would we think it's good for kids really hit home when I remembered that. Back then, we were nutso parents wanting to get the biggest bang for our buck. I'm not a believer that youth sports is a consumer product - it's something for the kids to do but too many times, the parents get in the way. Anyway - good read! changingthegameproject.com/the-adultification-of-youth-sports/ |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Mar 20, 2015 13:58:04 GMT -5
This is a good piece fore sure. Soccer is no different than the other sports. football might be the only one where kids are not getting extra training outside of practice. I've known some parents who have private hitting coaches for their u8 baseball player. spectator - 6 games in weekend, hope yall went 6-0, just kidding! For some reason this article made me thing of something that recently happened, and i'm surprised it wasn't mentioned here on the forum. UFAs 14 and Ambush's 14 boys both went to vegas for the national league, they spent _____$s(you fill in the blank) to go to Vegas. UFA played Ambush Ambush played UFA then they both played a team from Mount Pleasant South Carolina..... Did I miss something here? they could have just met in augusta and saved a ton of money....... yes they played a 3rd game against another team, but really! |
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Post by paterfamilias on Mar 20, 2015 14:23:11 GMT -5
Great article that focuses on the parents and our responsibilities. The other thing the article barely touches on is that youth sports has become a jobs program for so many people. The coaches I worry about the most are the full-time directors and DOCs whose livelihood depends on making teams. They prey on the fears of parents. Fear of missing out (FOMO!). I have heard "this is a great opportunity" "with the right training, your child could be..." "We have a superior program here because..." Once I start talking with the full-time staff, I tune out because their motivations are suspect in my opinion.
So if my son or daughter wants to sit out a season to try swimming, baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, chess club, math team, reading competition; its not a big deal. It is part of building well-rounded kids.
I love watching my kids play. But in the end its their lives and they have to live it. That is a tough transition for the parents to make, especially with all the fear mongering out there by those coaches whose paychecks depend on sign ups. In the end, I will appreciate my well rounded children.
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Post by spectator on Mar 20, 2015 15:42:28 GMT -5
spectator - 6 games in weekend, hope yall went 6-0, just kidding! For some reason this article made me thing of something that recently happened, and i'm surprised it wasn't mentioned here on the forum. UFAs 14 and Ambush's 14 boys both went to vegas for the national league, they spent _____$s(you fill in the blank) to go to Vegas. UFA played Ambush Ambush played UFA then they both played a team from Mount Pleasant South Carolina..... Did I miss something here? they could have just met in augusta and saved a ton of money....... yes they played a 3rd game against another team, but really! They were U9 - I can't remember if they won or not. That UFA- Ambush story is hilarious. Our Vulcan Cup was almost like that a few years ago - four GA teams in one bracket = thankfully the tournament caught that and mixed it up better so that we only had to play one GA team and one from AL and one from MS. |
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Post by sidelinemama on Mar 20, 2015 19:37:13 GMT -5
All in all, I find youth sports in this country a little depressing. We have friends in Europe who laugh and say their kids would never play "futball" if it cost that much:) Our (because we are participants/victims too), money would truly probably be better spent at Kumon, lol!,
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Post by rifle on Mar 21, 2015 15:17:54 GMT -5
that's a really good wake up call.
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Post by soccerteamdad on Mar 22, 2015 19:14:35 GMT -5
After the game today, my son asked, "Why does ______'s dad yell at him during and after the soccer games? It's supposed to be fun. It's not like any of us are going to be professionals."
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Post by oldboy on Mar 22, 2015 19:57:42 GMT -5
All in all, I find youth sports in this country a little depressing. We have friends in Europe who laugh and say their kids would never play "futball" if it cost that much:) Our (because we are participants/victims too), money would truly probably be better spent at Kumon, lol!, It's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. A couple reasons soccer is so affordable in other countries is because the national federations subsidize grassroots heavily and, more significantly, the clubs have a financial incentive to create professional players they can sell on for a profit. Germany's highly touted recent investment in grassroots is driven by the national federation. I've worked with soccer at lots of levels in the United States and I've yet to find a level, outside the national team program, where US Soccer puts serious money into the game. As a result, you have local clubs being told how they should be operating, without any financial incentive or financial assistance to make such operation feasible. Need proof? Ask GA United and Concorde how much money they lose on the DA program. That doesn't stop US Soccer from telling them they need to play single game weekends. No mention of the fact that would double their travel budgets. Any monetary assistance from USSF? Nope. Play futsal in the winter? Any subsidies to rent facilities? Not a dime. Make it free? Any suggestion who should cover the tab? USSF goes silent. Financially, the clubs would be better off dropping out of DA and focusing on their RPL and NL teams. That's why the two Atlanta DAs got together this year and agreed to charge a flat fee. They lost too much money trying to be fully funded last year. Then at the other end, there is no payoff for the club's that develop professionals. Most of the large clubs in Atlanta, and some of the small ones, have players they developed playing professional soccer. And unlike Europe and most of the soccer playing world, they didn't see an extra dime as a result of their good work bringing that player through to the professional ranks. So our pay-to-play model is not perfect. It's not even good from a strictly soccer perspective. But without the financial support and financial incentives that most of the soccer world operates with, you can't expect American clubs to operate using their models. Most European academy programs can pay for their entire operations by producing one first team player every two or three years. Players being sold for millions at the top end of the development pipeline go a long way toward keeping the game free for the youngest kids. Our local clubs aren't as far behind that level of production as we like to think. And they manage it knowing that even if they produce the next Messi or Ronaldo, they don't make a dime. |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Mar 22, 2015 20:20:14 GMT -5
I guess Thats a good question - does US soccer have money to even help?
Would they only help non mls clubs?
U figure a small sided youth team would probably cost 15,000 grand for 8 months of training and 5 tourneys - with little travel.
A full 11v11 team is probably what 4 to 5 times that number for 10 months a year? Or is even closer to $100,000??
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Post by stevieg on Mar 23, 2015 7:07:39 GMT -5
This is something we have dealt with recently. Our daughter was on a reasonably competitive U12 team (top 10, but not one of the "elite" teams). At U13 we moved to one of those "elite" teams because she wanted to push herself and compete at a higher level. Last fall, we went to two out of state tournaments (one via air) and two other tournaments plus a very competitive Athena schedule. Total: 27 matches in a fall season. By the end, she was ready to quit soccer altogether due to the absolutely ridiculous pressure from her coach, teammates and other parents on the team. She's not interested in college soccer anyway so why stay if she's miserable?
We transferred to a less competitive team for Spring and so far so good. She loves her teammates and is enjoying the game again. We probably pushed her to make that move in the first place because we enjoyed seeing her compete at the higher level. We have to remember that it's not about whether we enjoy watching the games, just that she is enjoying it.
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Post by paterfamilias on Mar 23, 2015 8:22:27 GMT -5
Concorde disclosed in their most recent 990 filing that they spent $51,092 on their national academy program. I think we can make a reasonable assumption that is DA. It does not appear this figure includes any coaching costs
The most profitable teams for clubs are U15 through U19 coached by part time staff. Training fees are in excess of academy fees and they do not pay the coach as much for spring activities.
Academy teams are probably the least profitable for clubs as they use a lot of resources (read coach time and energy) and require year round attention.
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Post by touchlinedad on Mar 23, 2015 8:46:26 GMT -5
Great article and good thoughts in these posts. I think it is ridiculous that SoccerInCollege offers rankings for U9-U12 teams. Even more ridiculous are the people who take them seriously. Heck, kids at that age are still growing and today's phenoms are tomorrow's average players.
And soccerteamdad, you have a son who has his head on straight, that's for sure.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Mar 23, 2015 8:56:07 GMT -5
was chatting with a parent yesterday about their "world" class athlete of a child. plays football, basketball, and baseball. the kid is < 10.
the father was talking to me about scholarships etc....... I honestly bit my lip and chose to keep my mouth shut.
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Post by spectator on Mar 23, 2015 13:11:14 GMT -5
was chatting with a parent yesterday about their "world" class athlete of a child. plays football, basketball, and baseball. the kid is < 10. the father was talking to me about scholarships etc....... I honestly bit my lip and chose to keep my mouth shut. Oh wow. Honestly three sports is much for that age. The worst thing I ever witnessed was last year. We were playing a game on a Sunday and overheard a father just berating his daughter as they walked from the field where their game ended. Saying things like "If you're not going to take this seriously, I won't come to your games anymore." and "Don't you want be the best?" The daughter was about four steps behind him and crying as her father lit into her. One of our dads stepped in and told the guy to lighten up. The other father glared at us and kept on walking. Never once turned around to see his daughter's face. By the way - this was after a Mighty Mites game - three and four year olds. I will bet you anything that little girl isn't playing soccer this year. Dad just sucked any fun right out of it. |
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