Our son's first travel coach gave similar advice to my wife--he said don't skimp on the cleats even though you know they'll outgrow them quickly, but don't get suckered into paying a lot for the ball.
Agreed re the cleats, at least once they hit maybe 11 or 12. Better-quality soccer balls made more sense for us as as our son hit teen years -- they've made good gifts a couple of times (and dad even got one in return for Father's Day one year -- thumbs up on that). My advice would be to skip the tent -- more trouble than they're worth. I almost never sit at games so a chair for my wife was all we've needed. I have a decent rain jacket and, living in the Midwest, always have good cold-weather stuff. The expense and time demands definitely weigh on single parents or families where parents work more than one job each to make their finances work -- same can be true for music or whatever other activity kids are part of. My son's club teams and his HS team always included at least a couple of kids and often more who needed transportation help (and as they aged, the ability to share rooms for travel), but other families were always willing to pitch in and make things work.
All good points--and I should mention our son was around 7 or maybe 8 years old when we had that conversation. When he was a little older, spending money on a good ball was worth it.
Funny... my son ended up with a collection of balls from various teams (mostly HS). I think it was a case of he stayed after practice a couple times to work on various things and the coach left balls out for him. Then they ended up in DS' car, and somehow never got back to the team. lol
My son ended up coming home empty-handed from practice more than once...another reason not to spend big when they're young!
I don't know if they do it anymore, but Soccer.com used to offer a 'grab bag' of soccer balls. You choose the size, but the balls in the grab bag were random brands / colors / etc. We used to get 4 balls for like $30 (or somewhere around there). Worked great for practice balls, which tended to get left behind a lot.
My youngest has single-handedly kept the water bottle makers of America in the black for years. The local indoor place use to fill up its conference room a couple of times a year with stray stuff that people lost. I was always stunned by the shoes left behind -- outdoor and indoor, often single shoes, quite often not cheap and in sizes that ruled out the owner being a young kid.
This season I have seen a lot of "joystick coaches". And coaches who scream angrily at their kids. It's kinda sad to see. I thought it was commonly known that these are not good ways to coach kids. But apparently it's not commonly known. I thought the US Soccer classes teach about proper ways to communicate to kids. Did these coaches not take the courses or did it just go in one ear and out the other? I wonder. Fortunately we have not experienced this yet at our club, and for that I'm thankful. If I had to estimate, maybe 60-70% of the teams we played against have joystick coaches. I think that may be not the worst thing if the coach is giving actually good information. But half the time it's not good information (ie not good tactics, not good instructions). And some are downright mean, which is not appropriate for kids under say 10 or 12. I feel bad for the kids as it causes them to not enjoy the game as much and also impedes their IQ development.
Zero governance - it's why we have bad coaches, bad clubs, high costs and refs who do not want to be part of the program(s) anylonger. Horrible leagues that are only interested in $$$
One thing I didn't realize until my son was in HS--youth soccer in this country is still geared towards preparing players for college soccer. And college soccer operates under different rules (more subs=more opportunities for the coach to influence what's happening on the field) and a different approach to the game (less tactical sophistication, more physicality and LOTS more running) than the professional game.
Not where we are. A handful of seniors skipped out on high school soccer because there is no development at all. It's long ball all day long. In fact we have a center def who only understands kick-ball and has not dribbled the ball once in 6 games. Just a bunch of one-touch smashes that end up 50-50 balls or worse. We get stuffed by any team that plays even a bit of possession play. 3-5 players are not coming back next year because they see this now as well. If this is how college ball is played - then I'm wrong. But my kid came home sick today (game day) and I am thrilled that I don't have to watch that garbage.
I'm not saying college soccer completely lacks tactics. I've seen some very good college games. My son's NJCAA team played well at times.
I guess the advantage to the unlimited subs in HS is more chances for more kids to be involved. Not saying I agree with it, but I can see the benefit. And lets remember, an extremely small percentage of HS players will go on to play college/professional. And is it a benefit to limit subs (or re-entry)? I guess it doesn't kill time as much. Sorry, just rambling.
I was actually talking about club soccer, not HS. It's just that my son was HS aged before I figured this out. I loved watching him play HS.
College soccer is absolutely boom ball with no tactics, even at very large D1 schools. If your child is a midfielder, prepare for a long 4 years. On the plus side, their fitness will be great, as they spend all day running.
Every club my kids have been a part of take us to a local big D1 game. I have never seen a good game there. Hack city, physical like a wrestling match and direct uninspired play. Pretty Boring. I thought there would be a lot more skill.
I'm not sure this is as true as it has been in the past. I've watched a decent amount over the past few years as my son headed in that direction and I don't see that many teams launching endless long balls (some, but hardly all). It's not the best of the beautiful game, but I do feel like the old-school long-ball college coaches are aging out of the game (and the players at this point almost have to be either club players who've grown up playing better soccer or international kids). That said, the overly physical stuff is still alive and well, from what I can tell.
I just had another thought... wouldn't the reason clubs/HS prepare kids for college is more kids PLAY college ball than go to the pros? I mean let's say you had a much better than average 17yo. Are you going to tell him/her "don't worry, skip college"? I'm not talking someone outstanding that can sign a pro contract immediately, but how many would NOT play in college b/c they're going pro? That might make sense.
Time to brag a little - in his first two years of competitive soccer, my kid is the top scorer on the team. Last year they had 2 teams and this year 3 teams (A/B/C) and he was on A team both years. Many of his teammates have sprouted into good scorers. My kid was not the top scorer in the Spring alone, but over the entire year (2022-23 season). My kid also has a good number of assists and is quite a good passer. I could see him being an attacking mid or 9 or winger. I don't think he's ready to play up a year. But he fits in well with his age group.
The secret "Stage 7"... our child isn't the best one out there, maybe the top 1/3. He's not getting a scholarship, so let's just watch him enjoy himself. What stage are you in?
I got an early start and have completed all the stages But in all honesty, it was a funny skit, but doesn't exactly apply to me as I am trying to create a soccer culture environment, something like how it would be if we were living in Europe. But I admit I spend way too much time on it. But you only get one shot. It's like, sure, there is a tiny % chance of "going pro", BUT at the same time, if you don't put your all into it then you have a 0% chance. That goes for any sport. Odds of high school athlete playing in college (any): baseball 12% football 9% basketball 6% soccer 8% % of college player getting drafted to pros: baseball 8.6% football 1.6% basketball 1.2% soccer 1.4% Hmm... baseball gives the most chances... But my kid likes soccer the most... for now.. Watching my kid play is enjoyable. So I don't view it as "giving up my weekends" as they do in the video. It is what I want to do on the weekends more than anything. It is my weekend.