I noticed not even a Pandemic could take down Pay to Play...

[Woobie06]

I agree that applying to University should be about selling yourself and not buying your way in. Remember, women’s soccer doesn’t pay well and the ladies can make much more with a degree...right? Well damit focus on getting a degree or 2. Play rec ball and varsity sports.

Why is spending a substantial amount of time and money focusing on soccer for a kid that has no professional aspirations a good idea? Wouldn’t the time and money be better spent on where their talents lie?

I could not agree with you more about education being the top priority. Some kids like video games, some like sports, drama, music, whatever their passion is outside of school. To me it’s like saying if your not going to be in a famous rock band, don’t fool around with instruments and singing...should only football players with pro aspirations play HS Football...why waste the time??? Lot of lessons to be learned by sports.

Sure time and money could be spent elsewhere...kids still need to be kids, and they can participate at high levels at activities without it being their profession...I guess as a parent you need to determine where your limits are regarding time, money, and the activity...my brother in-law is a musician...55 and plays every weekend, not pro, spends a lot of time doing it, it’s his hobby. What else should he doing? Is a passion of his, for me if my kids have a passion for something we try to encourage it. Never know what will spawn from it.

 

[MacDre]

I could not agree with you more about education being the top priority. Some kids like video games, some like sports, drama, music, whatever their passion is outside of school. To me it’s like saying if your not going to be in a famous rock band, don’t fool around with instruments and singing...should only football players with pro aspirations play HS Football...why waste the time??? Lot of lessons to be learned by sports.

Sure time and money could be spent elsewhere...kids still need to be kids, and they can participate at high levels at activities without it being their profession...I guess as a parent you need to determine where your limits are regarding time, money, and the activity...my brother in-law is a musician...55 and plays every weekend, not pro, spends a lot of time doing it, it’s his hobby. What else should he doing? Is a passion of his, for me if my kids have a passion for something we try to encourage it. Never know what will spawn from it.

So if your kid is passionate about soccer but academics are a priority why not just play rec ball and varsity sports in college? I see 55 year old men in TJ playing rec league games at a high level every weekend.

Again, I respectfully submit that the athlete without professional aspirations should focus on rec ball and varsity sports in college. No pressure while developing skill in a hobby they can participate in for life.

 

[youthsportsugghhh]

So if your kid is passionate about soccer but academics are a priority why not just play rec ball and varsity sports in college? I see 55 year old men in TJ playing rec league games at a high level every weekend.

Again, I respectfully submit that the athlete without professional aspirations should focus on rec ball and varsity sports in college. No pressure while developing skill in a hobby they can participate in for life.

I would submit (at least in the case of some of the girls I know) competing in club offers an atmosphere of higher training with other like minded girls that rec doesn't always afford. They want to compete against other girls at a higher level while also envisioning becoming doctors or lawyers in a phase of life after college. Additionally the path to playing college "varsity" has more exposure to college coaches than rec level gives.

Old men playing soccer in a TJ park is a lot different than teenage girls rec in CA.

 

[Woobie06]

So if your kid is passionate about soccer but academics are a priority why not just play rec ball and varsity sports in college? I see 55 year old men in TJ playing rec league games at a high level every weekend.

Again, I respectfully submit that the athlete without professional aspirations should focus on rec ball and varsity sports in college. No pressure while developing skill in a hobby they can participate in for life.

Respect your opinion. Just don't agree with it. All good.

 

[MacDre]

I would submit (at least in the case of some of the girls I know) competing in club offers an atmosphere of higher training with other like minded girls that rec doesn't always afford. They want to compete against other girls at a higher level while also envisioning becoming doctors or lawyers in a phase of life after college. Additionally the path to playing college "varsity" has more exposure to college coaches than rec level gives.

Old men playing soccer in a TJ park is a lot different than teenage girls rec in CA.

Why not seek an atmosphere of higher training for academics so they will have the requisite skill set to gain admission to a selective med school or law school and graduate at the top of their class?

Who cares if a player with no professional aspirations gets a better training atmosphere beside the coach that uses the money to buy the latest track suit?

 

[youthsportsugghhh]

Why not seek an atmosphere of higher training for academics so they will have the requisite skill set to gain admission to a selective med school or law school and graduate at the top of their class?

Who cares if a player with no professional aspirations gets a better training atmosphere beside the coach that uses the money to buy the latest track suit?

I don't understand your first question -- Who says they aren't? Med school and law school and whatever postgraduate level of education comes after your initial choice of college. Go to the college you want and once you get there setup where your next phase of Med school and law school get you to. Or make another choice once you get to college.

The girls care! They don't just want to be nerds or jocks they want both! Club soccer gets them more exposure to more schools and the training with consistent higher caliber players improves there skills to open the options of schools that want them to come play. More options means more choices, means they get to hold some of the cards in there future plans.

 

[tjinaz]

I think that written between the lines is that Cal South's insurance won't apply out of "state" (which also includes northern California) unless you get travel papers.

It doesn't have to the tournaments insurance applies. Wasn't there a big thread on here about litigation against the tournament organizers that was abandoned as it was shown you could never prove in court that the person was indeed infected at the soccer tournament and it would be thrown out. None of the letter leagues in AZ have to comply with any of AYSA's rules (Az youth soccer association) as they are not the governing body of the league the player's team is registered with.

 

[timbuck]

One more thing, I hate it when I hear about the financial opportunities in the alphabet leagues.

My kid wasn’t offered anything by Surf or Lamorinda. I felt a lil’ love from Deza though. When I inquired about assistance, I felt most were evasive. I was offended by the process and my kid will never play club.

I also think the claims that if a kid is talented they wont have to pay is complete BS. The kids that need assistance should be evaluated when they are around 6 years old not at 14 when they have been excluded from the game...pure unadulterated BS!!!

The financial aid process I’ve seen is that you need to sign the contract first. Then pay a full deposit. Then apply for financial aid and hope that they will help you out.
Maybe it’s different for a coveted player that clubs are fighting over.

 

[MacDre]

I don't understand your first question -- Who says they aren't? Med school and law school and whatever postgraduate level of education comes after your initial choice of college. Go to the college you want and once you get there setup where your next phase of Med school and law school get you to. Or make another choice once you get to college.

The girls care! They don't just want to be nerds or jocks they want both! Club soccer gets them more exposure to more schools and the training with consistent higher caliber players improves there skills to open the options of schools that want them to come play. More options means more choices, means they get to hold some of the cards in there future plans.

Seriously? Exactly why we will have a generation of weak entitled kids. So mommy and daddy thinks it’s a good idea to teach little Sally that she gets whatever she wants eh?

When my kid tells me what she wants I tell her that “people in hell want ice water” the world doesn’t care what she wants and life is not fair. What is the lesson learned by the girls by buying their way into university and pretending to be pro?

 

[El Clasico]

I don't understand your first question -- Who says they aren't? Med school and law school and whatever postgraduate level of education comes after your initial choice of college. Go to the college you want and once you get there setup where your next phase of Med school and law school get you to. Or make another choice once you get to college.

The girls care! They don't just want to be nerds or jocks they want both! Club soccer gets them more exposure to more schools and the training with consistent higher caliber players improves there skills to open the options of schools that want them to come play. More options means more choices, means they get to hold some of the cards in there future plans.

How many times have you been through the process and had this experience?

 

[Kicker4Life]

Seriously? Exactly why we will have a generation of weak entitled kids. So mommy and daddy thinks it’s a good idea to teach little Sally that she gets whatever she wants eh?

When my kid tells me what she wants I tell her that “people in hell want ice water” the world doesn’t care what she wants and life is not fair. What is the lesson learned by the girls by buying their way into university and pretending to be pro?

I push my girls to want things, doesn’t mean they are entitled to have it. Desire breads work ethic. I’m also one of the “Street smart supersedes Book Smart” guys, so take it all in context. Maybe it’s just 2 different means to the same end.

 

[youthsportsugghhh]

Seriously? Exactly why we will have a generation of weak entitled kids. So mommy and daddy thinks it’s a good idea to teach little Sally that she gets whatever she wants eh?

When my kid tells me what she wants I tell her that “people in hell want ice water” the world doesn’t care what she wants and life is not fair. What is the lesson learned by the girls by buying their way into university and pretending to be pro?

Where in my statement did it say the girls get exactly what they want when they want it? If you have an opportunity to set yourself up with choices do it! If you don't whose fault is it? When my kid tells me what she wants something I tell her to figure out a way to get it -- get that job, put in the effort, find a resource that can aid you to get what you want.
In my opinion my kids current job is to do her best in school, so when she finishes HS she has options either 4 year college, 2 year JUCO, employment. she does also have a part-time job to gain extra money for spending money for non-essentials like frozen yogurt and a new pair of vans. We do pay for Club soccer and that takes away from other things that we could do, but it is a decision we made as a family (other daughter plays competitive sports as well). They also can learn some many life lessons in Club soccer as well, again my opinion.

 

[youthsportsugghhh]

How many times have you been through the process and had this experience?

What process is that -- getting through HS and then choosing college, military or employment? I had worked during my HS years 20 hr/week, so I knew that sucked and didn't want that, so mark that one off the list. I thought about following the footsteps of my father and grandfather and a couple of uncles and go the military route even took the tests- physical and aptitude. Decided that wasn't going to be the best fit for me at the time, so checked that off the list. I had put in the work in HS classroom and had the options of a couple of places to continue my book learnin and chose that. I didn't think that I would have the skill to compete athletically in college, but was lucky enough a coach at the school had seen me compete in HS and asked me to join the intercollegiate team. 4. 5 years later (time off to earn money to continue to pay for school) I had a college degree and no plan. Still haven't used the degree, but have wandered my way around the country and into a nice little life.

 

[dad4]

You realize this is just the “ admissions preferences for my group versus admissions preferences for your group” discussion, right?

That is, someone who benefits from non-academic preferences of type A begins arguing against non-academic preferences of type B by accusing the recipients of being unqualified. And vice versa. Then each accuses the other of hypocrisy. (that would be you two)

Then someone who does best in a pure test environment argues for no preferences at all, and falsely thinks he’s above it all. (that would be me)

Hope your kids find schools they like, however they get there.

 

[watfly]

Sure, I expect they do, if they are playing in a tournament, but probably not for a scrimmage. My question was, do the letter leagues register their players with Cal South, if not, then I guess they wouldn't need them. Even if they dual register, they can enter tournaments under the US Club soccer cards (say), and get around it.

No you don't need to register with Cal South, at least if you're in the MLS league. Our club is not registered.

 

[Franco2020]

The financial aid process I’ve seen is that you need to sign the contract first. Then pay a full deposit. Then apply for financial aid and hope that they will help you out.
Maybe it’s different for a coveted player that clubs are fighting over.

Couldn't agree more with this statement. Everyone throws financial aid as if its a given, they only award financial aid if you are making less than $30K/year and are practically homeless, at least here in the Bay Area. If you are making $70-90K a year (poverty line in Northern California) you are rich and you should pay $3K a year. Ridiculous!.

 

[MacDre]

I want to send a special shot out to H.E.R. for supporting youth programs in Vallejo. I love how she reps the HOOD!

 

[Not_that_Serious]

Perfect example of the pandemic changing nothing in the mindset of clubs or coaches, or even reading post rules before doing so, can be found in a recent post in SoCal subforum by a Liverpool coach seeking “academy” kids. Amazing how you wouldn’t even read the room before doing so.

 

[notintheface]

Talked with a few acquaintances around parents, teams, kids, etc, this weekend. Initial thoughts are that the overall environment is going to lose 30% of teams YOY from parents bailing on paying club fees. There are a whole ton of B & C teams getting combined into one because of teams blowing up, coaches furloughed, you know the drill. The kids who are training have -- almost 100% -- regressed in almost all aspects. The families who are opting out of training right now aren't expected to come back at all. There was talk about a survey that was sent to a club's families which came back as more than half unwilling to play league games until a vaccine is proven out. At the higher level, the DA dying less than a month into quarantine caused such a massive amount of disappointment and confusion, and the parents who are chasing letter leagues now are more frenzied than ever plus dealing with the unknowns is making a whole ton of families reassess their priorities. (If the DA is so dependent on cashflow, wtf are we doing this for kinds of arguments)

You guys, this is not a "let's open everything back up" argument. We are effectively losing a generation of kids in real time. We're six months into something that's probably going to run at least another six months to a year, and it's very clear that clubs are going to be fighting for a shrinking pool of players. Going to guess that we have an absolute ton of club consolidation over the next year. At this point I'm not even sure how tryout season will work. Tryouts for what? What's being sold to the families? Overall team quality? Based on this last year? That's an unfunny joke. How do tryouts even get held? Okay great, your kid can do stepovers six feet away from someone, let's get them on the B team instead of the C team?

I hate to be so negative-- I have tried to keep an open mind about how we are all doing, but it's funny, the quarantine started at probably the most reasonable time for clubs. We're already seeing the slow motion unraveling, and once December rolls around with leagues postponing yet again, that's when the real problems are going to start surfacing.

 

[futboldad1]

Talked with a few acquaintances around parents, teams, kids, etc, this weekend. Initial thoughts are that the overall environment is going to lose 30% of teams YOY from parents bailing on paying club fees. There are a whole ton of B & C teams getting combined into one because of teams blowing up, coaches furloughed, you know the drill. The kids who are training have -- almost 100% -- regressed in almost all aspects. The families who are opting out of training right now aren't expected to come back at all. There was talk about a survey that was sent to a club's families which came back as more than half unwilling to play league games until a vaccine is proven out. At the higher level, the DA dying less than a month into quarantine caused such a massive amount of disappointment and confusion, and the parents who are chasing letter leagues now are more frenzied than ever plus dealing with the unknowns is making a whole ton of families reassess their priorities. (If the DA is so dependent on cashflow, wtf are we doing this for kinds of arguments)

You guys, this is not a "let's open everything back up" argument. We are effectively losing a generation of kids in real time. We're six months into something that's probably going to run at least another six months to a year, and it's very clear that clubs are going to be fighting for a shrinking pool of players. Going to guess that we have an absolute ton of club consolidation over the next year. At this point I'm not even sure how tryout season will work. Tryouts for what? What's being sold to the families? Overall team quality? Based on this last year? That's an unfunny joke. How do tryouts even get held? Okay great, your kid can do stepovers six feet away from someone, let's get them on the B team instead of the C team?

I hate to be so negative-- I have tried to keep an open mind about how we are all doing, but it's funny, the quarantine started at probably the most reasonable time for clubs. We're already seeing the slow motion unraveling, and once December rolls around with leagues postponing yet again, that's when the real problems are going to start surfacing.

I think this is accurate excluding the top level of club players..... I am not seeing or hearing roster issues across ECNL clubs but there is no doubt this situation sucks for youth soccer in general........