I agree completely. Unfortunately as you said clubs sell parents on the club. Last year some of my best friends in the world took their daughter to the bigger club. In their words there is "status" playing for that club. Its the world we live in. Sometimes it bothers me, most of the time I let it roll off my back.
Those are great questions. They are the things we are working through at a board member level within the club. Because this is not unique to my team in the club. We are working to improve how we sell the club and to make our vision more known. As for my coaching credentials, the parents who have asked know. I would rather people judge by the product on the field than certifications, licenses, or coaching "offers"
I now check in with my parents throughout the year and about 1-2 months from the end of season, and I may ask them what their plans are for next year. If they're thinking of leaving, It gives me a chance to present my case. But overall, in the climate "Mich" describes (which is everywhere)—you gotta give them a reason to stay. Pitch them on your vision, values, and culture—of what you are trying to build. People want to be part of something positive, that "family" concept.
This is the root problem with pay to play: the club's conflicting interests in selling the club to parents. I don't have any solution. I will note that pay to play exists in other countries too. There is a market for players who don't get picked up by pro club academies and want professional training so that they will make a team in the future. These clubs use individual success stories and the coach's resume to promote the club.
I think you have to do it whatever level you coach at; rec, travel, college etc. Even if you have a "captive" audience you need buy-in from your players.
My spring ended today. As always, I had a blast with my 3 teams. Among the highlights were my daughter/co-coach discovering that one of the 7th graders was a natural D-Mid, a kid that missed 3 seasons for medical issues making her return to the field, and beating a team whose coach I consider to be unethical (at best). Also, my HS girls ending their season with 2 wins was really nice My 7th graders are likely to drop down to the 2nd division for the fall, my 8th graders will move on to our HS program and my HS girls will continue to play.
I love it. I had a similar policy this past season, though mine allowed for pre-arranged things like Confirmation classes (the parents didn't get to pick which days we practiced-I did-, so that seemed fair). I also knew some parents were coming from across town to get their kids to the field. Can't control rush hour traffic, so that was okay too (not consistently, of course). What I really wanted to get away from was kids either blowing off practice, showing up late, or being 34th on a long list of over-scheduled activities.
we had a team cookout with our 18Us on saturday. two of their high schools had preseason tournaments so i had less than half the team. it was a fun time even with the missing players and even though the weather didn't cooperate. i'm looking forward to doing some "scouting" of their HS teams this fall. hopefully we get more kids out for our team in the spring, but i'm hesitant to cut any of my current players. i had a great time working with them this season, and they're all pretty good kids.
I'm watching a documentary on Amazon about the rugby and the New Zealand All Blacks. Pretty good watch. They play an away game in Buenos Aires and a player visits a rugby club in the slum and they play an informal game. The All Blacks player talks about growing up in New Zealand and doing the same and learning some of the skills that way. I just did a summer camp last night (soccer), one hour—and apart from the last ten minutes, we didn't play any games. It was all skill training. All I'm doing this summer is skill training with my own kids (mainly because there isn't other kids to play with). Skills are vital, but these kids I'm coaching are greatly missing that play component.
@elessar78 How about for a change of pace run a SSG tournament. Side as appropriate for your players. One way would be a round robin. Total results like in a league competition. Single elimination is the least desirable competition model. Double elimination allows at least 2 games. Add some kind of "prize" for motivation. Wearing special color pinnies at the next practice is simple and can work as a reward.
We’ve had good success with 3v3 in-club tournaments with teams either chosen by card draws (I.e. 3 Jacks are a team, ) or randomized rosters on a whiteboard. Players report their team score after each 8-10 minute game and get however many points their team scored. Team rosters are then drawn again after each game if using cards or players see their new roster on the whiteboard. Top 3 point totals ( or top 3 boys and top 3 girls if we’re mixing groups) at the end of 6-8 games win prizes.
Open soccer night, was a success. We played 5v5. More people were interested but out of town for vacations etc. Parents pulled out the goals and the kids just played ten minute intervals followed by a break. No instruction. Asked if they were done after an hour and they wanted to keep playing. Closed out with two spirited rounds of World Cup.
I tend not to echo Hope Solo, but she’s not completely wrong about the cost of soccer. As a coach of a club composed of rich white kids, I feel near the epicenter of her comment. $75-100K of club funds go to pay 3 directors. Staff coaches like myself get paid but trust me, I’m not getting rich from it. I’m also on the board of a volunteer club. Dues are $300 per year for travel/volunteer vs $3000/year for club. My kid plays in the pay to play club. Im not impacted by cost since i coach for P2P club. She would go to the better learning environment given that cost is not an issue. All my players are also travel players for the various clubs around. We become a meeting point for the area talent. Question becomes why can’t the volunteer club take on that role, instead of having to go through P2P? One big driver of cost are tournaments (4 per year) and regional leagues. Why is this necessary? Another is uniforms. We have to buy a new set every 2 years. If you come in in the “between” years you have to buy a new one after a year. The big one is probably coaching. It’s self serving but I spend a lot of time to give players a great learning environment which I don’t see extensively in the volunteer ranks here. It exists but rare. Facilities are expensive too and we do have nice ones for year round play. If you took all of this under the volunteer umbrella-still not free. By my estimate 1/3 to 1/2 of cost the P2P.
Actually the greatest avoidable development cost in almost every situation is travel, although that is not a cost paid to the clubs. Travel carries an extremely high price tag in terms of both money and time. It also provides no benefit at all to development.
Pay for play becomes laughable once you look at the clubs results vs its value. The biggest club in my state has exported one kid to the MLS ever. Keep in mind just to register is 1.2k.. Unis.. 250.. Ref fee is 450.. Tourney fee is 750.. None of this involves the extensive traveling and lodging on top of food. For all that I could realistically send my child to Europe.
That’s a tough metric, because of how many players turn pro anyway. There are roughly 370 American players in MLS.
exactly.. so why are these clubs charging so much if your chance of making it as a professional are slim to none? I think they have ONE players in USL.. their best prospect is playing Sunday league now. Remember this is the state's top premier club. With an MLS "Affiliation"(more laughter ensues) I don't need to pay thousands of dollars to get my player noticed by some Junior College or Low D1-D2-D3 program. What you're spending for private lessons with some C or B Licensed coach and for ID camps and other big regional and national showcases, you could instead be spending on him to go abroad and train at a proper facility under the proper environment.
From another forum: Pay to play will probably always be around. But why does it have to be so expensive? $250 nike/adidas uniforms? $650 EZ Ups $100 benches $750+ tournament fees $14,000 for a coach to run a team? Plus "administrative" costs for DOC and other club members Private training at $50+ an hour? $112 for a referee team to run a 70 minute game? "Big" tournaments in Las Vegas, Dallas and Del Mar (with $200+ hotel fees) FWR playoffs in Honolulu? Showcase events that cater to college scouts with free food, cigar bars and golf cart transportation $400 to get a “D” license to coach. Aside from the coach and the referee - NONE of this stuff really helps to make a world class player. And there are some great coaches out there who will do it for a lot less