What would you pay?

I'm not sure what the consensus is but if my kid really loved her teammates and was totally into soccer even if she didn't play I will likely still pony up the money (We are fortunate that we are able to say that). However, if she was frustrated I would absolutely move her to a different lower team.. whether within club or a different club. It's all still pay to play and honestly, if you are on a higher team and your child isn't getting a lot of playing time.. I don't see the purpose of continuing. Being on the field and contributing is always more fun than driving and sitting on the bench.

 

I don't have to think about it yet but it would probably depend on what my kid's top out potential is. If he is going for a college scholar ship I might be willing to spend more (a couple grand more per year perhaps). And it depends on if you enjoy the lifestyle (watching games, etc).
For me personally if my kid were really into it and had talent then I would spend say 3-5k / yr. And find a club within a 30 min drive.
I wouldn't spend that much though if my kid isn't getting good training and high minutes of game time. I would go to a lower club where he can play more. And then tell him to play lots of pickup games and I'd help him train or come up with a good training plan that he can do on his own (or with my nudging).

 

I am not sure what "low level" really is but I guess my kid fits this bill. He is 07 that played 06 for MLS Boys academy team and he was the worst performer on the pitch.
In practice and games.
Somehow did not do well with 06 kids. On the other side, he loves playing for 07.
Thankfully he is back with them since March.
Money wise I can't complain since is almost free. Driving is a different story, I work 12 hours rotating shifts so a lot of planning is involved to get him to practice. Car pooling with other 06 parent, sometimes they have same time practices and we have to have a new plan every week. One hour drive during the rush hour used to be terrible for me but I got used to it. I did not think much about where would I take him if he gets cut at the end of the year

 

In that scenario, I would pay $$ but we would not spend our lives in the car. And it would be predicated upon my kid developing and enjoying it in a big picture sense.

At the end of the day, being rostered on one of these top teams does two things for you that are hard to replicate. Puts you in a training environment consistently full of top players and exposes you to high(er) level competition. Of course it’s possible to find pockets of this elsewhere. But your best bet is these teams/leagues, so this is why you drive and pay the money.

Breaking point for me would be anything more than 45 min to practice. But we have the luxury of living in a huge metro area so plenty of options in that radius.

 

Great question. The quick answer is too much, a line we crossed a long time ago.

I used to good-naturedly grumble about driving across town to practice. Now we do a 3-hour round trip two to three times a week (carpools made this possible initially, but since the pandemic started, we've been out of the carpool). The club is sort of ala carte, so you pay for each thing your player is part of -- which can be a good deal, but can also add up.

His team is good, but it's not academy level, so there is zero chance of any scholarship. And as of this season my son's a bench player (half hour or so a game). Reality may be trying to tell him and us that his ceiling is in sight -- maybe we find out in the next round of tryouts this summer.

The how-much line was probably around $1,200 a year, all in, at U10-U13 or so. But it's continued to push higher as opportunities presented themselves and his interest level grew or at least maintained.

 

Are we just talking registration fees, or registration + uniform + assessments + travel?

As far as time, 90 minutes would be about the extreme and it would have to be an AWESOME experience. My wife and I work 40 hours a week, we don't really have time to drive for three hours (RT) and sit through a 90 minute practice on a regular basis.

One year I tried to track everything spent on soccer. This included camps, hotels, assessments, etc. For my daughter, the total was <$1500. For my son, it was over $9k, but that also included his ODP trip to Germany.

 

My $1,200 all in above at U10 and those ages, with travel, was probably more like $1,500-$1,600. We're way beyond that now, though I intentionally haven't done the math lately.

I'd prefer to not do 90 minutes to get to practice, then the wait while they practice, but we don't live in a major metro and the nearby clubs don't draw the same caliber of player (the club is regional). I work in my car while I wait a lot of nights or, over the winter, watched a little basketball on the phone. But it's far from ideal.

One of my son's past coaches grew up in a pretty remote spot in the Southwest and played with a friend on a club that was five or so hours away. Carpooling, sleeping in the car while a parent drove, I assume some overnights and missed school days for practices, ... What we do is nuts and past several lines we used to swear we'd never cross, but I still like to think that's waaaay beyond what I'd do.

 

Seems it would be a personal decision based on what you can afford.
The kid could also try to play at a community college to start. The tuition is usually very affordable.

 

Never, ever, ever count on a college scholarship or let that factor into your judgement. I don't care if you child appears to be the next Messi or Morgan, there are WAY too many things that will change over time.

MANY clubs will claim "this is the path to college". IGNORE that. Join a club because you like the coaching, you like the location, you like the competition, you like the cost, child likes the teammates, just about anything else. Do NOT look at the cost as an "investment in college". If that's what you think it is, you're going to be better off putting the money in a 529 plan and paying for college that way.

I strongly believe most athletes will be able to play their sport SOMEWHERE. It may not be at the top schools, but they'll be playing.

 

100 percent this. There just aren't that many available -- 9.9 max per DI men's team, 14 on the women's side, if the school fully funds the sport. Many don't, and I'd suspect in the current climate the number of those that do will drop.

I went to a seminar last year with my son put on by two area coaches, including a DI women's coach who said, while his team is fully funded, a lot of coaches he knows have more like four or five scholarships to offer. Most players pay for the privilege (or get academic scholarships that help).

 

Thanks Cornfield for the info. I didn't realize scholarships were that limited. I suspect for men's soccer it is even worse. I have heard a few guys that played college soccer say that you should first choose a college where you would want to attend regardless of soccer. Consider the atmosphere and major first.

That said we are willing this year to pay whatever the fees are plus driving and hour and 40 minutes to practice each way. Its awful. He is doing well and improving every day.

It is really cool to get to play against actual MLS academy teams and actually be seen by people. But he is still a year away from scouts really looking.

That said also keep in mind. U16 isn't considered second teams for most of the MLS Next league. U15, U17 are the main ages. Even by U18 and U19 if you aren't ready for Pro most MLS academies don't even carry U18 and U19 players

So by 16 years old if your kid hasn't made it to an MLS club (and also really standing out there) than by 17 years old you will be knocked back down to whatever club is available to you and you will be college bound.

College coaching and college soccer even in Division One isn't super great. And only a handful of players will graduate from college and get a shot at making an MLS team. Very few make it to pro through college.

So for me don't do the driving unless your kids goal is pro. College soccer is for fun (even a D1). The college season is short and if you want any shot at pro they will have to play semi-pro in the off season anyways.

Even USL pro players are a loooong shot. So by 15 - 16 years old the best bet is to be playing for an actual MLS team. And then hope by 17 they are ready to play for the MLS teams U23 team.... It is that or bust.

College is way cheaper than the fees you will pay for club soccer over the years. Paying and traveling like crazy to get a scholarship doesn't make any sense at all. Dream big and practice hard and enjoy it.

The sad state of affairs in the US is that unless you are close to a metropolitan area the odds of developing and getting the necessary training are almost impossible.

Right now the best odds are moving to Europe and going up through their systems cause the boys get way way better coaching and training. And they have pathways, and leagues they can climb the ranks in. The US system has no such pathway. Its soccer prodigy or bust. And most of the kids have to learn the game on their own. There won't be much help.

Sorry to be a downer. But this is the reality of US soccer. Even our very best for the most part aren't going to get the tools they need to succeed. Way too much traveling, too much coaching to win, and lack of technical and tactical development.

And High School soccer is garbage except for maybe a few select high schools in the country.

 

@johngonole, most of what you say I agree with, but there is a couple things I want to point out...

If your child wants to play soccer in college, the first consideration should be whether that college HAS a soccer team. Why would you go through all of the effort to find out you'd want to go there before finding out if they HAVE a soccer team? IMO, that should be the first elimination step. As you're eliminating schools, one of the most important factors is whether you would still like/love the school, even if you weren't playing. Would you pick a school that didn't have your major/area of study just because you liked everything else?

So your child is going pro? I'll disagree with this also. Circumstances may necessitate driving longer distances to get what you want. More playing time, better coaching, better competition, etc.

College is only way cheaper if you go to an in state public university. Heck, our in state public universities still charge $15-20k/year. Over four years you're looking at $60-80k. We MAY match that if you add up every year our children have been playing (call it 14 all in, 10-11 in select). I do agree you should not be in ANY sport just with the goal of getting a scholarship.

 

I concur with all of these observations. From what I've seen, if you have a talented, hard-working U.S. player who doesn't live near a major metropolitan area, it's going to be very difficult to find what your kid will truly need in order to climb into the professional ranks (MLS, USL, NWSL...) or high-level D1 (e.g., ACC) consideration.

Imo, for driven players, 7th and 8th grade is a good time to start educating them about the game(s) around the game. Why? Immense desire/obsession is the only way that said players are going to beat the system, and the only way that you're going to know if your kid has the right stuff (and least mentally) is to provide him/her with a solid understanding what's arrayed against their march to the top. Observe his/her reaction to that information. The mental/emotional fortitude to prove everyone wrong, and to tell the world where it can get off, should be---again, imo---an obvious component of the player's personality.

 

Am in a similar situation, for similar reasons. For next season (U15), our two options are, respectively, 2 to 2.25 hours away and 1.25-1.5 hours away. Currently, my daughter is playing at the ECNL/ECRL club that's a mere (lol) 1.25-1.5 hours away, but if she wants to play a more cerebral/possession style of ball (and she does), the 2-2.25-hours-away club is likely on the plate for this fall. Luckily, this farther-flung club is willing to be flexible with us where training options are concerned. There are several reasons why I own a Volt, and soccer's one. If I didn't have a flexible schedule, though, ECNL/ECRL would be untenable.