Audiobooks are a good idea. My son just took an AP exam and we got a study guide he put on his iPod, and we often listened to that. We have driven as little as 10 minutes to a local team, and now are looking at a team that is an hour away. It is a USSF academy team though. I have heard *many* stories about people in Texas or other states who will drive 4 hours or more each way to practices. When it comes down to it, we are lucky to have several USSF academies about an hour away. PDA for example (as mentioned above) has several BNT players who drives from the Allentown PA area to Zarephath. No direct route and traffic can be insane. For a local team, I would say it shouldn't be more than 15 minutes. But many towns have traffic near NYC, so it depends where you live whether or not you can get to your own town's fields in that time. I don't see anyone driving over a half hour each way unless there is a huge reason like a very highly ranked team with excellent training or being on a team with many schoolmates. Car pools are almost a requirement if you have to drive more than an hour, because it is difficult to find a neighbor or non-soccer friend to just "drop off" your kid an hour away.
It takes us anywhere between 50 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes to get to PDA during the week, depending on traffic. Saturdays about 45-50 minutes and Sunday mornings about 35 -45 minutes, depending on how awake I am and how fast I drive. Been doing it for 3 years now. Well worth the drive. We did language tapes (Japanese and Italian). Those were fun. I have news radio on in the car and its generated some interesting conversations. My advice would be to invest in the car charger converter that allows you to plug in a standard plug so you can charge laptops, cells, etc at the same time. Also invest in book lights so the kid can do homework in the car without the dome light on. I carry an extra pair of everything in a separate bag in case something is inadvertently left behind. Once I go over the Outerbridge Crossing there is no turning around. If we need something, we'll buy it in Jersey.
Once I took my son some where to a game forget where it was over two hours away. He was getting car sick so next time we had to go there I gave him some stuff for car sickness. When we finally got there he was very drowsy and could not get him to snap out of it. So he missed the game he was alright when we finally got home. Never gave him that again I think it was Dramamine.
Soccer America just posted this article: http://www.socceramerica.com/article/51994/clint-dempseys-diverse-childhood-soccer-experienc.html 3 hours each way to practice, among other things.
I read somewhere either FIFA or British rules about Academy students needing to live within an hour commute. We have parents driving an hour and a half each way 3 and up to 5 times a week. We drive a full five minutes for most of the year's indoor work Games however are all between three and seven hours depending on what time you hit the city. Reading this thread one has to consider for a moment what our nations soccer training has on our carbon footprint, compared to countries where football is everywhere.
If a player can't play up a year or two, then driving two hours is the absolute Max, and it would have to be with a coach, club, and team that were of unbelievably remarkable character. Going to extraordinary lengths for a player you believe in is commendable. Full and utter belief might require sacrifices or changes like relocation. Asking coaches of teams your player goes up against for their opinion on his prospect might help you gauge merit. Some in, halfway in, mostly in, or all in.
We don't live in a metropolitan area, it is fairly rural. The club we are with now is the only real club in the area. It is at least a two hour drive in any direction for another big club. Playing up is not option.
When I was 10 years old, I played in a community league. My friends from school were all older (I was moved ahead a grade) and when my Mom and I went to sign up for Fall soccer, the registrar recognized me and wouldn't let me sign up at the older age group (we didn't have to have birth certificates back then). I was angry, and refused to play with the younger kids, and felt it would be a wasted year for me. I told the registar I wasn't going to play at all, and I didn't sign up. My Mom did the research and found another community league 1 hour away, and she would drive me there several times a week to play so I didn't have to sit out all Fall season. Even though I was being a bit hard-headed, she made the effort to keep me playing in the sport I loved. I went back to the local league the next year and played up from then on. So, long story just to say -- I will never forget that my Mom did that for me, and I would do the same for my kid, if they really didn't want to play in the local league, and I felt it was ruining their love of the sport. If you think your current club is that bad, and it is that important to them (and important to you), then I would consider the drive. But don't burn any bridges -- maybe things (coaches) at the local club will change and you will want to come back someday.
Maybe there's the opposite issue for many of us. My parents were totally not into sports (yet my dad is of the background of one of the top amateur soccer teams in the US, that had won world championships back in his day). Anything that was more than five minutes away was out, period. If you showed talent, who cares? Only one of my kids shows a lot of talent in anything other than schoolwork, and that's soccer for my oldest. I feel I owe it not only to him, but to the others to show them that if they want to pursue something, we'll do what we can to help out. My parents would rather play golf or tennis (not sports the way they played LOL) to develop their work relationships than do anything for us kids. And people act like latchkey children were a new thing in the 1990s?
In Colorado, we see our participants drive up to 45 minutes for their soccer practices/games. However, in the east we see our participants only drive about 15 miles for their soccer practices/games.
We live in a small town and the nearest club is about 30 minutes away. But even the town that the club is in is about an hour away from most of the teams we play against. So we drive 30 minutes for training and home games and 1 to 2 hours for away games. Some of my son's teammates live even farther away though.
Related question: If your kid is of driving age, do you let them drive themselves to practice? How long/far would you let THEM drive?
Son - just turned 17- drives self to most practices now. Locations vary, and there is one location where he has to drive through a major city which he doesn't drive to yet. Average drive is 30-45 minutes on highway. Main concern is that practices start late (7:30 or8:30) so he is starting to wind down by the time he leaves for practice. Occasionally is too tired and asks us to drive, which we are happy to do.
4 nights a week he drives . Practice starts at 8 and goes to 10 . All highway driving and takes him between 45 minutes to one hour. Long day for an 18 year old college should be easy .lol