How did you travel?

Most tournaments we went to were within 4-6 hours drive, so we drove and stayed at hotels. When my younger son got older, certain showcases were too far to drive (Arizona and Florida), we flew.

 

If traveling for sports, you generally drive. If it is just you and your son, flying becomes more of an option as flights can cost what the drive could and it CAN be more convenient.

For me a 10 hour drive is the cutoff of when I will consider a flight. But I will drive anywhere up to 20 hours if it is with the whole family. Over 10 hours it is a cost benefit analysis. In the 6 hours or less range everything included in the flight can end up a wash time wise. You've got to get to the airport, park or Uber, rent a car, get to the rental car, etc. All those little micro transactions add up in time.

 

Only ever driven so far (up to 7 hours). Prefer Airbnb's to hotels when we can get away with it as there's more space for roughly the same price or cheaper, but there's a trade off in missing some of the team bonding time at the pool or breakfast or whatever. I think the 10 hour cutoff is probably about right for when I'd start looking at flights, but a lot of times we would have to make a connection which may impact the calculation.

 

It really varies and there's been no set answer.

We've done trips as much as 2 1/2 hours away with no hotel room and commuting from home each day (schedule has to allow this, generally no games before about 11a). However, we've been in that same town and done hotel stays when the games were at 8a.

We've driven 13 hours, but that was with the whole family, when flying is generally cost prohibitive.

We've flown in January/February what would normally be about 10-11 hours because I didn't want to chance ice/snow covered roads. That was just DS and I.

We've stayed at VRBOs, but mainly hotels.

I'd say 8-10 hours (or more) would be worth looking at flights, but it's not a "must fly".

While an RV sounds good, driving one is a "different" experience. AND, unless you're going to tow a vehicle, hitch rides, or use the RV, how are you going to get to dinner and other team activities?

 

This is pretty much my experience as well outside of VRBO's

I've known a couple of families who had RVs. One was a smaller one and the other was a full size.

The smaller, more Sprinter like, was used regularly. It was much easier to park. Parking at large events can be very troublesome. With older age groups where team busses are common it is a little easier but the bus driver just goes somewhere to idle.

 

Best of the Midwest was a large Chicago/Indiana Magic tourney that always had a lot of RVs - I always thought that was cool.

8 or less hours - I would rent something fun - best car was a BMW 330i fully loaded. I remember my kid looking over and saying "Dad you're doing 110 mph." It seriously felt like 60 mph compared to my Expedition. Anything longer than 8 hours we would fly.

At hotels we'd always make close friends and play poker in the lobby until we were kicked out or it just got to quiet. At CSA we had a family who had their own distillery - so that provided for great fun and many interesting stories

And I know I've said this more than once, but my daughter and I would hit up museums, new ethnic food and car shows where-ever we could. I knew soccer would not last forever so I wanted to add to the memories with other "stuff".

 

The other factor that comes in play is if the tournament is a ‘stay to play’ tourney. In those cases, a certain percentage of the team has to book in the hotel assigned to you by the tournament (or, the travel company that’s making the hotel blocks - and taking their cut as well)

 

The hanging out at the hotels was a blast when they kids were younger -- maybe 13 and under -- and some of those parents are still our friends, even w/no kids now playing youth soccer. But I wish we'd done more getting out on our own to whatever sights and attractions were available when we traveled (particularly the outdoors stuff). We did some of that -- renting kayaks, heading out on trail runs with other parents, ... -- but could definitely have done more. One mom who had a son on my son's teams for a few years was really good at finding restaurants that weren't the usual suspects, an underrated skill I really appreciated.

We never used Air BnBs for soccer, but use them now for a lot of other travel. Having that extra space to kick back in, the kitchen, ... is really nice and could have been a plus with kids in tow.

With only a handful of exceptions, we drove to everything.

 

I'm sure it happens, but probably not to a large effect. It has nothing to do with where one stays when at the event, but everything to do with the coach. Even if the player did something to get on the coach's bad side, the coach should let the player know ahead of time that their playing time will be affected because of "x".

 

The friend of a friend had a son on a team that played at a pretty high level maybe a decade ago where this was the norm. His son was a starter but he said there were kids on the end of the bench who regularly flew to tournaments to play 10 or 15 minutes over a weekend.

The kicker was the guy's son, who played plenty, decided right about the time college offers would be rolling in (I don't think he was quite good enough to be a pro) that he was done with it all. Kids will surprise you.

 

We drove to almost all the tournaments our kids played. The first tournament that flying was a necessity was during the spring club season of my oldest sons junior year in high school, USYSA Regional Championships in OK, we live in NC ( at the time these were still pretty prestigious tournaments, not so sure of today). My wife and I decided not to go at all, we had a big family vacation planned just after the tournament, and we honestly thought it would be a 3 game and out tournament for the team. The rest of this story is second hand knowledge, from players and parents.

At the time my son was a rotation player, getting a start every third game and playing an average of 60 minutes per game. First game of the tournament, the 90 minute defensive mid pulls up with a groin injury. While the def mid is being attended to on field, the coach looks down the bench and wonders out loud, what am I going to do now. One of my sons high school teammates, tells the coach that my son plays defensive mid for his high school team. So, over the next six games my son plays def mid for every minute, plays the best six games of his club career and they win the tournament with the team giving up a total of 3 goals. From the coach to multiple parents, my sons play was a big reason for them making the run. Those six games are what earned him a D1 scholarship, every offer he got came in the next six weeks. And I stopped worrying about going to every game, it made life much simpler.

Youth soccer can be a great journey. Just enjoy.

 

My son had a couple friends that played for an "Academy" team who did fly to some event or tournament only to play a handful of minutes over the course of an entire weekend. I'm pretty sure they quit not long after that and joined a regular club team.

 

One time DS' team was in the NL (based on the previous year's results and we had lost 6 players, 5 of which were starters). The first weekend of games was an 11 hour drive (we flew).

We had 19 on the roster. Unfortunately, NL only allowed(allows?) 18 to dress for a game. So the coach had to bench one player for each game.

Another time, we went to a showcase that was 7-8 hours away. DS was coming off an ankle injury, was cleared by doctors to play if he felt up to it. So we made the trip. We'd go to the fields early and get his ankle taped. He'd try to warmup and couldn't. Never played that weekend. We actually had more injured players than we did subs that weekend.

 

Awesome story. There's a short story in there somewhere. ;-)

 

Thanks, but considering my writing skills, you just got it. I have dozens of great stories involving my boys and teammates. Our youth soccer journey was great, the travel was fun and the family time in the car was used wisely. All of it combined, the highs and the lows, are why I still enjoy the game today and participating in this forum.

 

I've seen exceptions given to clubs taking a lot of teams... the organizer didn't force the stay to play... which is nice.

Also, you can pay and opt out of stay and play as a team... pay $75-100 or whatever it is to opt out of their list of hotels and book wherever (either airbnb with family or teammates or RV or if Vegas, comped stay, etc).

 

Haha I absolutely love this story!

Btw, what position was your son playing normally prior to slotting in as a defensive mid?

 

Oh there's a Hallmark Network movie in there somewhere

 

He was the utility defender, preferred CB, but at the time was rotating with the right back and right side CB. The left back and left side CB were 90 minutes player, both went on to D1 schools to play. My son moved into those spots when they were injured or needed a blow. Senior year club he played left side CB (90 minutes) after the left side CB moved on to college.

 

Man, does that sound familiar. Mine moved to LB at a smaller club at age 11 or so where he was a nailed-on starter, then moved to a higher-level club where the competition was much tougher for playing time and players were cut ever year (they didn't do B teams most years). To get on the field he shuttled between LB, the two CB spots and even some RB and holding mid over the next four years (CB on his HS team). Now he's a college sophomore and has just been moved to holding mid (though I suspect he'll keep being a utility player -- good way to describe it -- and play some left mid/wing, wherever he can get on the field).

Versatility pays off, I guess.

 

I started to mention an ABC After School Special, but I'm not sure anyone else is old enough to know what that was. ;-)

 

Plenty old enough, unfortunately