I agree w/ mwolf. "Burnout" is a catchall term for someone who has decided to stop playing after many years. Someone who plays a year or two and then quits isn't "burned out". Someone who has put 7-10 years in, then decides "it's not for me" IS probably "burned out". They don't find the work they need to put in as "worth it".
Just poking around on here and it seems this thread evolved quickly from "Identifying Talent - How and When?" to "how to make highlight reels" lol
I've seen a lot of talk about the work of filming games. If anyone is interested, we have a service that will do this for you: - film your child in HD with a telescoping lens - edit the highlights down to the moments that matter http://replay-19575772.hs-sites.com/replay-book-your-game-footage-date Happy to answer any questions
* How much? * Anywhere in the US? * Turn around time? * Do you focus on a specific player or follow the action? * How high is your camera? Don't get me wrong, I've thought this would be a good side gig when my kids are done playing, but don't know how financially stable it would be.
- $100/game, cheaper per player if multiple players are paying - Anywhere in the US - 48h - Follow the player - Stadium/arena-dependent, as high as the crowd goes. Would work on getting tripods for all cameramen for a better angle.
That's a hell of a price! I definitely suggest looking into the SVT Advantage systems. It was fun building my own, but I wish I had the extra $$ to get a professionally built one.
Don’t know what lead me back here after years, but it sure was a fun read. For my part, my oldest wound up receiving several D2 offers and a couple D1 offers. He is currently on a D1 roster, bouncing between the first team and the reserves. His enthusiasm for the game is finally beginning to wane, and I expect this will be his last year playing. He became a very good high school / club player, and achieved his dream of playing college soccer. The youngest, who was on a similar path, only plays high school soccer now. I introduced him to golf a few years ago and soccer was quickly demoted to sport #2 on his list. He’s a 3 handicap now though - I’ll never beat him again. Went through the recruiting process with soccer, now i’m about to go through it again with golf. I’m a very blessed dad. Would love updates about Brooklyn, Nicki, etc.
I'll give an update. My girl was a baller when she was young. Fast, strong and fairly technical My posts were in 2015 and I talked about getting extra skills training and I still believe that that was the best thing that we did and it helped her get to where she is today. She got injured her sophomore year so college scholarships weren't flowing in and she only got offered a few and ended up accepting a full scholarship at a cool top Div 2 school which she was excited about. But when Covid hit and there was the rioting in the US she changed her mind and signed a professional contract. We don't live in the US and I was having second thoughts anyway about her spending 4 years overseas and she was worried that the level of Div 2 would be bad and she didn't want to play with younger players. She's now 21 yo and on her 4th professional contract (has played in 2 very different countries) and is one third of the way through university. She is a bench player, but only because she is not absolutely obsessed with soccer. Just absolutely loves playing it. She's not a striker anymore either and has not been for a long time! haha My advice to talented girl parents is the same as in 2015: put them in skills training when they are young. Additional advice now that I'm older and wiser: never hang out with the other parents and never talk to the coaches. And if your player wants to play professionally - let go of the idea that the college path is the way to go and find a good agent that believes in your player. My advice to talented boy parents is that your player really, really need to f*$&ing good because it is so so so competitive.
What a great success story about your girl. Congratulations to both of you. I quoted what’s above bc it’s SO true. Let me expand a little, particularly for parents of high school boys who intend to play soccer in college. It’s critical that you look over the roster for the schools your son is targeting. Notice how many of the players are not from the United States, and notice their ages. Then, manage your expectations accordingly. If you expect him to get early playing time, the question to answer isn’t “can I beat out other kids who came from high schools in the United States?” the question is “can I beat out a 23 year old who has been playing in a European academy for six years?“ This is the sad reality of college soccer for boys right now, and it doesn’t look to be changing any time soon.
My son is at Oregon State and they fit that description, they definitely recruit a lot of international players, mixed with former top level academy players from the US. It doesn’t bother me, I think it’s cool that those players are taking the opportunity to get an education while they play since that’s not much of a thing overseas. My son pretty much ruled out trying to play for them once he looked at their roster, he played for an excellent club team that had been in the DA in earlier years but these guys are above his level. But he’s playing for OSU’s club team and really enjoying that, and it’s much less demanding on his time compared to being on the actual college team.
True all the way down to DIII (where my son has just started, though at a school that recruits almost entirely domestically) and even community colleges (some of which field teams that are much more international than domestic). I'd also recommend looking at roster size. I'm not sure if DIs do this, but below that level we found quite a few schools that go 45, 50 and, in one case, roughly 60 deep. Unless your player is happy getting a couple of minutes here and there and maybe some reserve-team minutes if the school fields a second team, you might think about how likely it is for them to break through that kind of log jam.
Let me first say that this doesn’t stem from sour grapes. This was never going to be any kind of a career for my son, and honestly, if he never played another minute of soccer, I wouldn’t be any less proud. I don’t believe that a 22 year old should start with four years of eligibility as a freshman. If you’re over 20, you should have two years of eligibility max. Çome over here, get a 60% discount on your education for two years, and have a blast playing soccer. Then, if you want to finish your education, that’s absolutely fine but it’s on your dime. I think that’s a pretty sweet deal, while also being fair to the 18-year-olds who are coming out of high school, with no prayer of beating out a 22 or 23 year old grown man.
I have to say, the urge to talk to the coach goes away when you find a good coach who is fair and does his job. I don't agree 100% with what he is doing but I 100% trust him with the team's development.
I have mixed feelings about it since it knocked schools off of my son's list of possibilities based on the likelihood that he'd be buried deep on various benches, but I have nothing against the international guys for taking advantage of the opportunity. I just wish it worked a bit differently (I wonder if the women's side evolves in this direction as their pro game continues to develop around the world and potentially churns out more good players who aren't quite good enough to be pros).
I think he meant not getting involved in the politics. Don't recruit for your team and don't convince others to leave when you are leaving. Why? Soccer is a small world especially in the top flight. You will see the same people over and over.
Parents stand on the side lines and create drama. It's often the parents that are upset about things and the child is not even bothered. It's their game, their fun - not yours. I'd politely chat with the other parents at the games, but I never hung out with them and I rarely stayed to watch practice. And if I did I made sure the coach didn't see me. It's easy to get caught up in drama. I saw players not make teams because their parents were overly involved and vocal and I never wanted to be the reason that my child didn't get selected.
Never talk to the coaches about your player from U11s at a minimum. You can of course say hi and make a casual joke. I don't think I ever initiated a conversation with one of my daughter's coaches about my daughter since she she started playing in U7s. I emailed medical clearances and also asked the physio to contact their coach directly outlining any restrictions, timeframe etc.
Few freshman are going to get scholarships. D1 is what, 9.9 scholarships? Out of a roster of at least 25 (playing on first team)? Get the word "scholarship" out of your head. If it happens, great! Don't go chasing it. I do fully believe there is a slot on a team for everyone who wants to play in college (boys and girls). It may not be D1, or in your state, or have the major they're interested in. Heck, it might not even be on the "official" college team. From what I understand, larger colleges have "club" teams they can play on.
Yep, my son plays for his college’s club team, they mostly compete against other colleges in the general area (plus in a local indoor league during winter). And it’s a big school so they’re pretty good, would likely beat the “real” teams from smaller schools. It’s great for people who just enjoy competing at a high level but either can’t or don’t want to commit to playing for a college’s official team.
I think you misinterpreted, or maybe didn’t go far enough back in the thread. I’m not focused on scholarships - my son plays at a D1 school and gets no scholarship money for soccer, and that’s fine. He has the opportunity to earn that, or not. Regardless, its not about that. It’s about the chance to play for an 18-19 year old kid that gets taken by a 23 year old man who couldn’t make the first squad at whatever European academy he was in. And that 23 year old has the same eligibility as the 18 year old - 4 years. There is a 26 year old with a wife and a child who literally just left my son’s school in May, when his eligibility expired. In all my years watching top flight club soccer, I never saw a kid who was capable of playing up 3-4 years, yet that’s the level most boys will have to reach to beat out the players D1 schools are bringing in from overseas.
This is unfair. In addition, Why would a 23 yo want to play with younger players. Must be an amazing Div 1 school and the international was only there for the education.