Next Level

[RegionIIFutbolr]

Who out there follows Womens College Soccer. How many of you with your daughter has attended a D1 or any college match this fall for that matter?? I know that most Matches are held on HS Football Friday Nites, and that right there is tough and understandable to not attend a college game. But if your not watching the College game, how can your daughter sit there in the stands and think, I can play at this level, I can see myself on this team etc..
And what about those that are thinking of playing in the W-League in a few yrs?? More and more Club players are starting to play prior to going to College. Toxo and others in another thread have stated that they are to busy with club training sessions, family supper time (Understandable), multi sport family, siblings, travel time etc...All valid points. But if your thinking of playing at the next level, dont you think you should support the next level??
Not trying to say you have to go to every college game, just trying to get input is all?? Open up for discussion.
For those that will be heading down to Raleigh for the CASL tournament and the Womens Final Four, dont you want to know who will be there and follow your team??

[Strikerdad10]

My kid just aint that interested in watching games. She'll watch the US women ocaisionally on TV (she saw them live once) and we went to a game earlier this year and of course she watched a couple on her official visit to her committed school. But I've noticed that the passion isn't there to watch games. And when she does watch she just watches not disects and analyzes and learns.

But I've been to 4 or 5 this year and my wife has made a couple so we're supporting the next level a little bit.:D

[RegionIIFutbolr]

StrikerDad, I think we have spoken before. Your from the Left Coast area arent your?? You say your daughter is off playing College ball now or will be next yr?? Where did she end up at??

[loghyr]

But if your thinking of playing at the next level, dont you think you should support the next level??

Don't you always ask yourself that question? I love watching up a few age levels and thinking how wonderful those kids must be. Then when my monster gets up there, I think how normal everything is. Then a couple of years later, I think about how substandard the play is back at that level. Sometimes he matched the level of play, sometimes he didn't, and sometimes he exceeded it. But he still played.

Or in other words, go to the games if you want to spend some family time. Let your daughter watch or let her pig out on junk food. But by the time she gets to gearing up for college, she'll be ready. It will have been her time on the field which will give her the confidence she needs to succeed at that level.

We've gone to games, he has brought his gameboy, and if I get 60s of him watching the action, I'm happy. I'm also happy if he looks up and tells me what the teams are doing wrong. But in general, he is there for the food.

[RegionIIFutbolr]

Yeah, that is what my daughter use to do when she was younger, we would go to the PDL matches and she would eat, she would run around and play with her soccer friends, play in all the blow up slides, but she would spend about 5-10 mins with us watching. At the local D1 school here in town, she would find friends and sit with them (if she wasnt assigned to be the ball girl). However, she now watches the complete game with us. She even studies the warmups of both teams, she watches the coach during the match...So what your saying then is your son is all ready to attend UCLA because he has played Club soccer??
I guess what Im trying to get to is, the passion for the sport, supporting your local D1, MLS, PDL, W-League. Enjoying the sport.
One of the most enjoyable matches I have ever seen was at the National Championships this past summer. The Eclipse U17 v the Texans U17s. It was a night game under the lites, weather was perfect. Both clubs showed up with all there attending teams, the stands were full. The kids in the stands treated it like a american football game. They were all cheerleaders. Oh and by the way, it was a hell of a match. And I didnt even have a kid playing that night. It was electric

[Bird1812]

I have 2 daughters, one who just graduated from college (played 2 years of college at a D3 school and was a starter for a team that made it to the NCAA tournament). Because she was a grade ahead of most of her soccer teammates, many of those girls are now college seniors. We watch some of the college games on TV and have gotten to see several of the kids she played with and against over the years.

We've been able to only make one D1 college game live this fall. Youngest daughter's soccer schedule is pretty full and oldest daughter is now coaching high school, so we often go watch her team play when we can. High school soccer may not be up to par with club, but there are some teams that play some very attractive soccer. The biggest issue is the speed of play is a lot slower than club. Unless you are talking about the top college teams, you will find that college soccer isn't a whole lot different than high school.

[loghyr]

So what your saying then is your son is all ready to attend UCLA because he has played Club soccer??

:p Nope, I'm saying he is ready for his next level - in his case it is moving out of rec. He didn't get there by watching U11 competitive games, he got there by wanting to improve his current play.

At some point, he'll decide to either start watching games more intently or not. If he does, it will be an indication to me that he is starting to get serious about his soccer playing.

I don't think you need to watch/support the next level up.

But, if your family does enjoy going to these games, then keep on doing it. If she is having a good time, then it is a family outing, time together.

By the way, UCLA? Please. He has his Stanford soccer shirt on right now. I get him soccer shirts from colleges I want him to attend. By the time he is older, I want him to be thinking of where he is going academically. If he happens to pan out with soccer, then I'll let him follow his heart with it and then go to a good grad program.

[NatsDad]

I don't think you need to watch/support the next level up.

But, if your family does enjoy going to these games, then keep on doing it. If she is having a good time, then it is a family outing, time together.
I agree 100%. Now my kid is probably a lot younger than all of yours, but she absolutely loves to watch, and I mean really watch, the game. We are fortunate in that we can be at RFK in 15 minutes, so we have DC United season tickets, we manage to catch a couple Maryland games a year, i.e., whenever UNC or UVA come to town + the occasional game that her whole team attends together. We catch a Freedom game or two as well, and we will be going to our fourth College Cup this year. At the CC, she even drags me out to watch the club teams from our area at the showcase on the off day!

Does this help her game? Absolutely. But the main thing is, this is what we, as a whole family do. RegionII's point about being able to see oneself playing at the next level is well taken though - I think that watching the older players play given my kid something to shoot for, helped her ambition. At 11, she's announced that she has narrowed her college choices down to UNC or UCLA!:D ;)

[Strikerdad10]

At 11, she's announced that she has narrowed her college choices down to UNC or UCLA!

Don't laugh about dream schools, Dad ;)

I did, but was happily proven wrong :)

[RegionIIFutbolr]

Great for you NatsDad!! Im jealous already. That is some great socr that you guys as a family get to watch. Since you watch the Freedom, does this mean this is the club she plays for?? I know that there U16 team is very good. was surprised they didnt win Region I last summer.

[NatsDad]

Great for you NatsDad!! Im jealous already. That is some great socr that you guys as a family get to watch. Since you watch the Freedom, does this mean this is the club she plays for?? I know that there U16 team is very good. was surprised they didnt win Region I last summer.

We enjoy it! :) I'm just glad I have a wife who will tolerate us watching a webcast of a Carolina game during dinner on a friday night!:D

Nah, she doesn't play for the Freedom (which operates through Bethesda Soccer Club) - they have a lot to offer, but that would be quite a haul for us, and at age 11, none of us think it is worth it. She plays for a much smaller club, but has a great coach, and they do well against the alleged "top" teams in the region. I put "top" in quotes because the teams are in such flux at this age that I think it is impossible to rank them reliably. Suffice it to say that her team does pretty well against the big powerhouse clubs in the around here. It'll be interesting to see if the core of this group can hold together when the real player-hawking starts. The U17G team in her club has managed to hold on to talent (and add it) and has done quite well . . . I think they have 4 Nat'l pool players!

Almost time to load the car for our Sunday WAGS junket, and then down to see DC United advance to the conference final!:D

[NatsDad]

Don't laugh about dream schools, Dad ;)

I did, but was happily proven wrong :)

If she's still playing and enjoying it in college, anywhere, I'll be thrilled!

But I'll probably be a little more thrilled if I have to regularly schedule trips down to Chapel Hill or out to LA!!:D

[the Next Level]

Yes?

Did someone call my name?

[RegionIIFutbolr]

No Pun intended Mr. Level. So, let us all in on your fine screen name.

[JustSomeDude]

Who out there follows Womens College Soccer. How many of you with your daughter has attended a D1 or any college match this fall for that matter??
I took my 6-year-old daughter to a few NAIA games near our house this year, and she was totally into it. The best part is that she befriended a couple of the players (they were coaches at the camp she went to last summer), and now she has a couple of good female role models. They come over and talk to her after the game and watch part of the men's game (which is after their game) with her. Great ladies.

Not that I expect my daughter to be some sort of superstar in the future (athleticism does *not* run in the family:)), but she sure does have a lot of fun with it now.

[loghyr]

The best part is that she befriended a couple of the players (they were coaches at the camp she went to last summer), and now she has a couple of good female role models. They come over and talk to her after the game and watch part of the men's game (which is after their game) with her. Great ladies.

I really like seeing that from the older players. We have a PDL team trying to form out here and whenever we go to the games, the players normally are friendly with the kids. The kids are normally 2 feet off of the pitch on blankets.

My U10 son is my assistant coach for my U6 team and they like having him out there.

Besides all of the work adults do to promote the growth of the game in America, I think this type of grass-roots friendship will go a long way to spreading the love for soccer.

[soccermum]

:

I don't think you need to watch/support the next level up.



At least on the women's side of things, if we want the next level to be available to our daughters, it behooves us all to support it.

[loghyr]

At least on the women's side of things, if we want the next level to be available to our daughters, it behooves us all to support it.

I wasn't saying do not support women's soccer. I was saying that you don't have to watch the next level in order to get there.

Just as I take my son to PDL games to help get a higher level of men's soccer in Tulsa, I'd take him to events that would support the women's side. It wouldn't be about gender, it would be about raising the level of awareness of soccer in this region.

[thesoccerphantom]

Out in the NE its the revs and BC for D1. With adolescent girls its about bribeary. I'll take her and her friends to the BC games, pay for the junk food, let them yak on about whatever, as long as they stay seated in the stands. Between all the gossip, you'll hear a "did you see that step over", "did you see that no look pass"..... trust me, plenty of time for girly girly stuff that HS girls do, but 2 hours in the stands in front of the game they love they are taking in plenty. Looking at some of the responses to RII string kills me. Please tell me you don't sit in the stands with your kids and do a play by play diagnostic of the entire game. I wouldn't go with you either. Remember, when they stop having fun.......they stop playing sports.
cheers

[loghyr]

With adolescent girls its about bribeary.

Oh, same way with my monster. I have to promise him food or take along the GameBoy. My goal is for him to watch for 60 seconds. Hopefully in a row.

I liked watching the PDL-bound Oklahoma Falcons - the seats are almost on the field and you need to pay attention or you can get a face of ball.

If I'm mean, I will refuse to leave a game until he watches for a bit and tells me what someone is doing either correctly or wrong. He has to get it right.