Recommendation to CSL and SCDSL- 40 mile rule

As I am waiting for SCDSL to post the schedules, I realized that in our age bracket, we will need to drive more than 50 miles several times for my u-little player for weekend games.

One way to kill the joy of club soccer for new parents is to hold games that are 40 or 50 miles away from home.

My advice to CSL and SCDSL is make a rule a 40 or 30 mile rule for the younger age groups to avoid a 2 hour drive one way to a weekend game. Also maybe play at a neutral site in between both locations to avoid these long drives.

Maybe it's just me but I am wondering if others feel the pain of driving from San Diego to Orange county or LA to Temecula on a Saturday. Definitely not fun to drive up to 4 hours (2 each way) to watch your U9 play a game when there's about 10 other teams that belong to the other league around you.


Thoughts?!!?
 
We had 100 mile drives from LA to play single games in San Diego, Santa Barbara, CC aztecs in kern county, Temecula mutiple times same season so 40 sounds like a walk in the park but yeah can spend almost the whole day for single game.

Things have actually improved with more local league play but getting out to Norco, San Bernardino, Galloway downs from LA is a 1.5hr+ 40-100 miles from LA. The higher up in competition level you get the more the travel out of the area it seems but yeah for normal uliittles local play should be the normal but field space & costs play a big factor.
 
As I am waiting for SCDSL to post the schedules, I realized that in our age bracket, we will need to drive more than 50 miles several times for my u-little player for weekend games.

One way to kill the joy of club soccer for new parents is to hold games that are 40 or 50 miles away from home.

My advice to CSL and SCDSL is make a rule a 40 or 30 mile rule for the younger age groups to avoid a 2 hour drive one way to a weekend game. Also maybe play at a neutral site in between both locations to avoid these long drives.

Maybe it's just me but I am wondering if others feel the pain of driving from San Diego to Orange county or LA to Temecula on a Saturday. Definitely not fun to drive up to 4 hours (2 each way) to watch your U9 play a game when there's about 10 other teams that belong to the other league around you.


Thoughts?!!?
I get your frustration. Along with cost and practice commitment, this is one of the issues parents cite the most as to why they are not moving their kid to club (at least not yet). It's also an argument for why it might have been better when club didn't start before U10, which was the practice of most clubs around 10 years ago or so. One of the biggest advantages of rec soccer is it is community-based and travel typically isn't part of the program except at older ages when they form all star and spring tournament teams

If there are 10 teams in your area that belong to another league, then you might want to consider moving clubs so you can play in that other league. CSL and SCDSL have largely split on geographic grounds in recent years, but there are enough big club holdouts to make it more difficult. Of course, as your kid ages and moves up in quality, then travel is kind of the price you pay.
 
Lol. Everyone wants the prestige of club but the comforts of AYSO.

Consider the players in ECNL and DA that travel north, Vegas and Arizona for league games. Sometimes they travel away in a Sunday after playing a Saturday game.

Club soccer is a choice.
 
Lol. Everyone wants the prestige of club but the comforts of AYSO.

Consider the players in ECNL and DA that travel north, Vegas and Arizona for league games. Sometimes they travel away in a Sunday after playing a Saturday game.

Club soccer is a choice.

The elite teams will always travel. Bronze, Silver, flight 3, flight 2 shouldn't have to travel so far.

You are right about the parental choice but the stupid politics between csl and scdsl doesn't make sense.
Just make it one league and this issue will go away.
Politics, parent entitlement, and greed have diluted club soccer in the recent 5 years. Just saying.
 
Lol. Everyone wants the prestige of club but the comforts of AYSO.

Consider the players in ECNL and DA that travel north, Vegas and Arizona for league games. Sometimes they travel away in a Sunday after playing a Saturday game.

Club soccer is a choice.

That quote basically sums it up perfectly. Traveling is a pain but is a big part of life within the club world. Being from the San Gabriel Valley, traveling down South has become 2nd nature to us. And the "40 mile limit" really won't cut down travel time cause sometimes it's faster to drive to Norco or Temecula than to the San Fernando Valley or the Westside of L.A. which is 10-20 miles thanks to good ol' L.A. traffic (I know OC and SD traffic is bad too).
Also IMO, the better teams are probably 40+ miles from us so in order to get better friendly games, traveling those distances is a must.
 
Take clubs like Real SoCal and Eagles and then surf and Albion. They can’t play in the same league without travel - lots of travel.
 
It's an easy solution. Just move your family to the center of OC, Irvine is a great central city ( and has the Great Park), and you have generally a fairly close drive to games/tournaments in any direction. Club soccer is worth it. Your kid will likely get a soccer scholarship and as a parent you will have considerable bragging rights. Come on, just make the move.
 
We're calling it "CLUB" but remember to most it's called "TRAVEL BALL" which is just as accurate. Whatever you wanna call it, it's not an easy thing nor should it be. It's not for everyone nor should it be. It hasn't changed and if anything it's got better Over the years. When I was that age there was only one or two clubs within driving distance that I even had an option to play on and travel for games was not convenient then either. It's part of what you sign up for. Not sure about you guys but I can't wait till my kids next game wherever is at.
 
We're calling it "CLUB" but remember to most it's called "TRAVEL BALL" which is just as accurate. Whatever you wanna call it, it's not an easy thing nor should it be. It's not for everyone nor should it be. It hasn't changed and if anything it's got better Over the years. When I was that age there was only one or two clubs within driving distance that I even had an option to play on and travel for games was not convenient then either. It's part of what you sign up for. Not sure about you guys but I can't wait till my kids next game wherever is at.
Enjoy it while it lasts. I’m sure going to miss it when it all ends.
 
Yes, I guess everyone still prays for the day when the league structures combine. As I mentioned in another post, we are in South OC and unless you are a flight 1 team (which we are not), I see no reason to have to leave South OC to play games, there are enough here, when you include the CSL, SCDSL and AYSO Extra teams.

We have played roughly 30 games in spring and summer and the furthest we have gone for a scrimmage is Torrance, to play another AYSO United team. Apart from that, it's all been local to south or central OC and have found plenty of competitive games.
 
Combining leagues will not cut down on traffic.

And playing the same clubs over and over gets really old.
 
Combining leagues will not cut down on traffic.

And playing the same clubs over and over gets really old.

I would challenge this statement. If you look at the lower levels (exclude Premier/Gold/Flight1), you have enough team in both leagues to keep it close. You wouldn't play teams twice. Just look at north OC, you have CSL: La Mirada, Fullerton Rangers, Brea, Anaheim FC, Canyon. SDSL: Chelsea, Strikers, Slammers (4 cities) Pats, Anaheim Surf. I am sure I am missing more.

San Diego would benefit as well if they can combine with Presidio.
 
So flight 2 and 3 should be combined, but not the rest of them? I don’t know what age your child is, but if you are slightly older and playing flight 2/3, perhaps AYSO select would be something to consider.

The club structure isn’t perfect. But, In my opinion, if you are able to fill a schedule in a 20 miles radius, I’d say that club soccer is over saturated in that area. It already is over saturated.

And teams like Eagles and Real SoCal probably would struggle to find enough close games.

As things get more expansive, schedules get more competitive. CRL requires some spread of games I believe, there’s NPL, and that’s without factoring in ECNL and DA that to our of state to play games.

Club is supposed to be competitive, and unfortunately, just because there are a million club teams now, that doesn’t make it competitive in a hyper-localized area.

I hope you find what you are looking for.
 
The driving has never really bothered me EXCEPT when it was for an 8 am game. I wish the rule was if a game is more than 30 miles away it can’t start before 9 or 10. Too hard to get my kid up at 5:30, then do the hour drive and then play soccer.
 
The driving has never really bothered me EXCEPT when it was for an 8 am game. I wish the rule was if a game is more than 30 miles away it can’t start before 9 or 10. Too hard to get my kid up at 5:30, then do the hour drive and then play soccer.

THIS!!!
But I'd give them 45 miles.
 
The driving has never really bothered me EXCEPT when it was for an 8 am game. I wish the rule was if a game is more than 30 miles away it can’t start before 9 or 10. Too hard to get my kid up at 5:30, then do the hour drive and then play soccer.

For years Presidio has had what is known in club circles as the Fallbrook rule - any games between a team north of Fallbrook and a team south of Fallbrook cannot start at 8AM.
 
The driving has never really bothered me EXCEPT when it was for an 8 am game. I wish the rule was if a game is more than 30 miles away it can’t start before 9 or 10. Too hard to get my kid up at 5:30, then do the hour drive and then play soccer.

We have a winner !!!!!

Those 8am games are tough. This Sunday we ( from LA ) have an 8am CRL game in Norco, but at least it not in Temecula. And I really don’t know how those Discovery League teams are going to handle going to Norco every weekend, especially teams like Eagles and Real SoCal. That’s a tough drive every weekend, but those teams also have DA and ECNL so it comes with the territory I guess.
And then there’s beautiful Lancaster for you San Diego and OC teams if you play in the CSL League Cup ....
 
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