I’ve been managing a (now gold level) club soccer team in ultra-competitive Southern California for 5 years now. I just wrote a book about my adventures and misadventures for everyone involved in soccer (and other youth sports) in the U.S. Gary Smith: Club Soccer: Insider’s Guide to Winning the Game http://www.amazon.com/Club-Soccer-Insiders-Guide-Winning/dp/1482346885 My book covers a lot of issues you all have been wrestling with. Here is a blurb from a rival manager: “A gritty and honest look at the realities of club soccer. Dispels many of the myths of club soccer, and in so doing, does a favor to those who read this book and are seriously contemplating club soccer for their children. Gary's insight and experience are on full display in its depth and breadth. Club Soccer: Insider's Guide to Winning the Game should be a must-have companion for every parent, manager, and coach who wants to navigate the rough waters of club soccer to success for themselves, their teams, and especially their children.”
You beat me to it! The book that is...but I still have one to write and its not about the ultra-competitive, its about the median, which is to say the less than uber competitive. Sure, there are elements to both that apply equally to the experience of "club" soccer in the USA. As a former college coach (Metro NYC and New England regions, NCAA D3), I used to receive the annual glossy publication from the Southern California club system with team and player profiles. I was never going to recruit successfully from your base, as I had (a) no athletic scholarships to offer (b) was, in my last position, at a public university with only 15 merit scholarships [in a less than tier 4 school] and very little to 'sell' as far as the actual strengths of the university were concerned....which included the reality that the school was a suitcase place for commuters and in-staters, with little to no weekend activities...I couldn't in all fairness attempt to bring a kid from California all the way to this place without letting them know this. (c) had a recruiting budget of $1000 annually, so to actually get to see those SoCal players play in person was never going to happen. I wonder how much it cost your organization to produce those "tomes?" They were easily the most polished magazine issues I ever received, with a broad spine like Vogue and heavyweight glossy paper. Was there a parent connected to the publishing industry who gave the league a break? Or did the league subtract from club fees in order to promote its players and itself? Who was responsible for determining the mailing list? Why would they be sent to a public New England D3 program? Seemed like a waste of money.
Yup. My youngest is just 6 - and she's in it to build confidence. She was towards to bottom range of kids that were older but this winter we've added 6 new u7 girls. These new girls being less skilled combined with practices and 3v3 for my daughter has given her the confidence she needs in life at this point. She scored 3 goals in a small sided game and after one of them she jumped up and pounded both fists saying "YEAH!" I really enjoy see that - and all her mates develop but especially the ones who are more challenged. When they get it, it's really neat. I think that makes me appreciate youth sports for more then college or the pros.
Sport for youngsters is great for all sorts of things like learning about teamwork, appreciating individuals for who they are and what they bring to the game, learning how to win and lose properly and to keep these ends in perspective, developing and experiencing moments such as you have described for your daughter... the ratio of players moving from one level to the next are like a sieve, and a fine needled one at that when it comes to the upper tiers. There was awhile ago, this percentage: 1 in 100 high school athletes go on to play in college; 1 in 1000 college players go on to play professionally (that was for all sports). However, in the US, club soccer begins this sifting down process a lot sooner in life. There are very few recreational club teams for 14-17 year olds. By this age, teams have become travel, premier, academy and almost all have tryouts to make the roster. As soccer is not embedded into the fabric of American society, opportunities for teenagers who are not making the competitive leap, to play the game for fun, are between few and none. Take basketball as an antithesis of this. Many, many teenagers play pick-up basketball even though they are not playing on AAU travel or varsity teams. They like to emulate LeBron, Kobe, Durant et al. Even American football, played as two-hand touch, remains a recreational sporting option for teens looking to play something. Until soccer is played simply for the sheer fun of it, by kids with no intention of moving up the organized competitive ladder, it will remain a lesser tier sport in this country.
Indeed... I will share this. The first practice my daughter had with the u7-u10 group she was 6 and came out of rec scoring all the goals but at the club - it was an entirely different world. The second practice one player (u8) gave her a bag of candy and a u9 player gave her a a bracelet she made. That made my daughter feel really good. Fast forward 6 months and I hear about a boy in my daughters class who is getting picked on a lot. Turned out this kid had horrible leukemia and missed kindergarten - thereby missing some of the basics of social behavior - he was simpky cutting in line and so on. I talked with my daughter and reminded her of what her two mates did for her at soccer and that perhaps it was time for her to do the same for this boy. She went ahead and created an assortment of crafts for him - put together some stickers and a card. Fast forward 3 months and I am picking her up at a birthday party - I lost track of whose it was but as it turns out it was the boy with leukemia. Long story - I know. But her experience in soccer gave her what she needed to do the right thing. And whether she plays in college or whatever, it's money and time well spent as far as I am concerned - just for life lessons such as this.
Than you'd really think I'm nuts ... middle daughter plays travel soccer (including out-of-state travel), travel volleyball (including out-of-state travel), travel basketball (farthest travel is a couple towns away), and orchestra. Oh, and I think Theatre week is coming up soon ... And she's also on Student Council - that's another once-a-week before school activity.
I agree with you! My book is about the good, bad, and ugly in youth soccer (and other sports) in this country.
It would take a while, but you can browse the 2011-12 year-end evaluations here: https://ussoccer.box.com/s/qpo8ib5pwnft6bnb7ye9 McLean provided no cost reduction -- maybe a factor in losing their spot for next year?
my instinct suggested to me that it is above all a question of ego, and what i've read does more to reinforce than dispel that suspicion, but instead of answers, i have a question: is the level of these "premier leagues" really better than others less well marketed? my uninformed opinion... in fact so completely uninformed that it is not even an opinion, let's call it a hypothesis, would be: that fees of $2000 plus the costs and ordeal of extensive travelling are going to keep more kids out than it brings in.... and that many of those drawn to this (both the kids and the families) will be so for the wrong reason. that the "pyramid" functioning on natural selection is more effective than a pay-to-play fast lane. just how selective are the tryouts for these teams? what percentage gets turned away? that good scouts and coaches might smell a rat here too; if you are really good enough to end up pro you don't need to pay for this kind of showcase. it would be wrong for me to compare the american model with the olympique lyonnais youth system, which has resources for finding talent no MLS or NCAA program can match. there are probably more parallels with youth basketball here in france. one of the things that makes me dubitative of the real value of these USCS regional leagues is that the regional leagues here (not the same as USCS: they are part of the pyramid) are generally no better, in fact are usually inferior to, the district league (lower on the pyramid) of the biggest city of the region. within that big city there are clubs who take pride in travelling to play at the "higher" level but most (among them, the best) know the game is already in town. so the way to head if you're in suburban carolina is raleigh, and if you're in wheresville, montgomery! the rest is all vanity.
Good stuff. I guess the point that I was trying to make was "do you need to pay a club $2k a year when a rec league can give some of the same experiences for 1/10th of the price?
this. building confidence, cameraderie and all those things is important. and sport is an excellent vector for it. but the money is irrelevant. even counterproductive.
When I first started to coach travel youth club soccer it started at 6 yrs old. It was also played 11 on a side on an adult field. I believe at that time Gjoa charged 60 dollars a season. Season was fall/spring. But if the parents could not pay no one asked for the money twice. So if you had no money you played for free.
they grade costs w/ a number of stars but no figures. "some" reduction for "some" players doesn't help much either. anyone know how much a season at say, a rush club costs? an organization called edusport is starting up a camp here in france. it has received the backing of INSEP (national institute for sport, which provides for other sports the kind of training done for soccer at clairefontaine) and is getting a lot of attention from the specialized media but it seems like a classic come-on to me. the site looks like a megaversion of the enticing pop-ups we see for the green card lottery. whichever section you click on the bar you're told how great it is to have a full-ride scholarship in the US... but impossible to find one word about how much it costs. but edusport's camp in scotland costs $20K a year! this sounds good (well, the money part; obviously not the 6 yrs. old, the 11v11 or the adult field). but might it be a that was then this is now situation?
Well the 6 yr old part was good because they got pretty good coaching from a current or ex player who knew more about teaching the game then most non playing born here parents who only coached because their kid was on the team. Plus the coaches did it for free. On the 11 on a side on an adult field. That was because most clubs at that time had only one field which the adult team played on. Every club had an adult team unlike today. Most of the training was small sided in a small space. Smaller a lot smaller then the fields used today for actual games.
off-topic, but hey, i'm an off-topic kind of guy... it's true the 6-year old part is important in the states where kids aren't going to be spending every spare minute kicking around a soccer ball on their own. and in france they used to have the small-fry (they start around 8 here) play 11v11 about 20 years ago, but on half-pitches, because there are twice as many of those... meaning there are no small pitches, just halves of normal ones played crosswise. there's an advantage to what i saw in america where a municipal complex will have fields of 3 or 4 sizes (here it's either full or half): 7v7 on 1/2 pitch is great for 8-9 year olds, but the next step up is 9v9 and you need a shoehorn to get 18 11-year-olds on a half-pitch.
$2,000 is a bit much, but how many hours? of play does this include? 50 30-minute percussion lessons will cost $1,250 for my son. Break it into an hourly rate and compare it to other youth activities, going to the movies etc. Its not as cheap as being a "free-range child" but put it in perspective.
When my son was 6, we paid $180 per season for an academy style program run by a PDL/USL and ex-college coach with paid coaches. He was able to practice three times a week for one hour (kids parents could choose how many days practice they wished to attend) and games on Saturday.
What is a season? How many 'hours' would that constitute? I know how the numbers work. I was the treasurer of a club with a rec, academy travel, and intensive team travel (premier) program. There are lots of variables. Was it indoor or outdoor? Rent or own fields? How many players? Coach to player ratio? Coach's salary.
I am not privy to all the info you are asking for, ie coaches salaries. But the program is run by the owner of a couple of local indoor facilities. All I can do is give you a link to the program and you can deduce what you can from that. My son is now a U13 and was lucky enough to participate as a five year on the first season of the program, until he skilled out as a seven, turning eight, year old. The program has certainly grown and might well have changed a bit since my son was part of it.
Rec - as far as I can tell it's missing the crucial components that USClub and USY should be enforcing through training. At the 5-7 ages coaches should be focusing on personality and confidence building. When that comes then the soccer skill sets can be driven in far more effectively. Obviously for some players who are just born athletic and/or with no fear, that's may differ. Rec programs and volunteer parents are not doing this. In addition there is an underlying desire to win which sends the entire experience in the wrong direction from the get go. Until the leagues work to help fix this problem - which is cultural at it's heart, Rec will not provide the sort of balance that a club - or the right club can. Now is that worth $2000.00??? I would say no. At this age - at the most, I would say $1000.00 But unless you are willing to start something on your own that can provide the right environment, what do you do? It's not as though I am going to start picketing practices I know that a handful of smaller (advanced rec/intermediate travel) clubs have popped up but they have no where near the resources or coaching staff that the larger ones do... And at the end of the day the kids in these smaller clubs will no progress the same way they will in the $2000.00 pool. It stinks but it is what it is. I frankly do not believe costs will come down at the club level but the leagues could have a resounding impact at the Rec level as far as getting kids in this country to love the game and stick with it by way of good coaching. Just a side note, the rec club by me asked if I could help coach one of the u8 teams where they were short an assistant. They offered to let my 7 year old play and she wanted to so I said sure. I spoke with the coach last night who said he had 3 players that were very much challenged. I asked about game time and he responded by stating they are not getting equal play. One of the kids was his own. That is the problem! I had to explain that they should all play equally - win or lose. That he was cheating his own kid out of the opportunity to develop and indirectly keeping them from getting any better.