My kids ECNL club team has more than a handful of kids who drove 1.5 hours to over two hours one way to play on the team. That includes multiple training sessions a week and games. If you want to play club, you drive. Simple equation. I can’t imagine you have kids who play sports.
I do but I'm also smart enough to choose not live in Pennsyltucky and drive my kids 4 hours round trip for a practice. I know several who drive 1 hour each way for their kids who will eventually be OK WPIAL starters/D3 players. Its completely insane.
Google Maps says its 53 miles one way from GCC to Southpointe Fieldhouse. Your losing streak continues.
Where your daughter practiced however many years ago doesn't matter. The "real" Beadling practices at Southpointe. If these current GCC players play for the real Beadling and not some 2nd rate satellite team, they are driving 100 miles round trip if they live near GCC.
I don’t live in PA. Here in TN you either drive to Nashville, Knoxville, or Atlanta. Many cannot get the same quality of club where they live so they sacrifice time and make the drive. It’s the same thing all over the country with soccer. You drive to where the best opportunities are, better teams, better teammates, and most importantly exposure. The girl who drives 2 hours one way has a full ride D1. It was worth it to them as the soccer in her hometown is terrible.
If ever there was a real Beadling, it’s a few short years ago when Joe’s niece played. There were no B teams anywhere. There was no Beadling east or century west. And if you were one of the top 18 or so players in the area, you played at Beadling and made the drive. Joes niece was fortunate enough to do so and drove 78 miles round trip to Southpointe. Her team was a top 5 team in the country.
Driving 2 hours one way is borderline insane. She got a full ride for D1, great. Could she have walked-on to the same program had she driven 30 minutes to a worse team? Is the time and money spent traveling really worth the scholarship? I don't know, if you told me I had to drive 2 hours for a youth soccer team just so my kid can maybe earn a scholarship in a sport where American kids (even girls) make very little money compared to the other sports, I'd either move or just have them play locally. A lot of a soccer player's development is working on their own so I'd make sure they are using the 12 hour/week would be commute to work on their game on their own.
You are missing the point. Some kids love an activity and are super driven to find out how far they can go. Being around others that are also super-serious can be very beneficial to their development. My daughter danced at PBT through 8th grade. Every one of the kids loves the dedication and being part of professional performances - and dream of making it their jobs. The parents know few and almost all know they their kid won’t ‘make it’ as it isn’t hard to figure out which ones are good enough to have a chance.
I agree, my daughter never played on a team where the practice was more than 15-20 minutes away, of course she only played travel actually one year, because she hated it because the coach took it too seriously and wanted her to quit ballet. I think the ballet actually helped her in soccer, she did play locally, select-rec league, like a non-traveling travel, where they take it less seriously, she did end up as an all star in Class C high school, which is the lowest and played a season with a team that finished #5 in the country in NJCAA D3, but honestly, the teammates she had in high school and college who played in the big time travel clubs, almost none of them got scholarships, or maybe the best got a 10% scholarship or something? Even this girl, my co workers daughter, who is the all time leading scorer in a MD AAAA big high school league, her parents travelled all over the country with the biggest travel clubs, Maryland United, she went to U of Maryland, and she didn't even get a full ride, and she's even been to USAWNT U17 camp. So I wonder why people think it's worth it, driving 2 hours one way for practice to find a needle in a haystack?
I get what you are saying but there has to be some limit. Driving 2 hours round trip 3 times a week, ok, that's doable I guess but this person driving 4 hours round trip, I dont agree with. At what point is your kid's childhood more important than some elite club 2 hours away when you can play for a bad one maybe 30 minutes away and develop on your own with your own drills off an app. That's just too much time. I guess I'd make an exception for a generational type talent but for a kid to do that just to be your run of the mill D1 player, I'd say it was a waste of a childhood.
IT DEPENDS ON THE KID, and the reasons. If it is about the goal, I agree. if it is about the process, it isn’t wasted. The effort and learning experiences and seriousness are their own reward.
It sure does, my daughter never took it at all seriously, I suppose if she was obsessive about it it, she may have been better or got a scholarship, she really wanted to play on a travel team when she got to about 9th grade, then played a year and hated it big time, she mostly cared about having fun and the biggest factor was liking her teammates as friends, she couldn't stand the really driven types obsessed with the game, but she did end up a high school all star and played in college for a year. Her proudest moments where beating out someone who was talking up their big time club connections, which happened often. The biggest factor for quitting the college team, besides the pandemic was she couldn't stand the players being so competitive vs. each other instead of being friends. Her high school coach loved her, never had a player so selfless who didn't care about individual glory always a team player. Maybe if she was more selfish she could of been better, but she really just wanted to have fun and a good social experience.
She is setup financially to not have student loan debt. She probably could walk on anywhere, but her exposure and level of play was dramatically better and resulted in never paying a dime for college and potentially grad school. Basketball players do this, baseball players do this also. Hell volleyball does too. Football pretty much has one option and that is high school. College soccer coaches at the D1 level rarely step foot in a high school stadium except maybe a state final game. They travel the country going to club events. Perfect example, our team played in Nashville for a large ECNL college showcase. That was close for us. The girls played in front of more than 100 D1 coaches that weekend. That is exposure you don’t get playing for a shitty local club that plays essentially Rec soccer. The number of scholarships that go to kids that do this is huge. Removing financial burden on kids and families while giving the player and opportunity to compete at a high level in college. So yes, the few thousands in travel costs outweighs 100,000 plus in student loans as a walk-on.
@Sean Miller Fan
Its not just the $5000-$10,000 they paid in gas. Its the time. Its the lost childhood. I hope she is a potential USWNT team player because if not and she's just a regular D1 player, I would say the loss of a childhood wasn't worth the college savings. There's grants, academic scholarships, financial aid. And perhaps the parents could have helped pay. And lets be honest, if she was THAT good, its likely she still could have earned a D1 scholarship by playing for her local club team or traveling 30 minutes. She could have gone to college ID camps, sent tapes out, etc. If you're good, they'll find you. You mention basketball and I disagree 100% with players leaving home at 15 for a basketball boarding school. Play AAU locally and for your local HS. Friggin Zion Williamson played public school basketball. Look at Adou Thierou. Played public school ball in Allegheny County, didnt even play AAU or played a low AAU level and he's going to Kentucky. Cam Johnson was similar. They'll find you.
First off, are you saying Hotspurs is worse or similar than Arsenal? I thought Hotspurs was similar to Century/Beadling. That's what I see at the younger ages.
I don't think its your place to tell somewhat what constitutes a lost childhood.
You realize the NWSL salary is in general less than an average job? Unless you make the national team, are you making very much? I read the max salary for NWSL is like $40k.
The point is what's wrong with getting on with her life’s work outside of soccer after 2-4 years of play, it's not like football or men's basketball where the last man on the bench is a millionaire, Even WNBA, I make more than they do.
There’s nothing wrong with that. My kids sat in front of ACC, Big East, etc coaches and had opportunities to play major collegiate soccer, but ultimately chose mid majors because they knew that they weren’t good enough to play after the collegiate careers were over. There were no national team opportunities in their futures, so they made decisions to play their 4 years with the scholarship money they received, and then move on with their life’s work.
I don't even know what hot spurs is, other than the Tottenham team.
That's awesome, if she's into it. I know my daughter would of skipped a soccer tournament for the prom, she also missed games every year to perform in ballet recitals, because she wanted to dance and play soccer. That's main point, if the kid wants it, I just sometimes saw obsessive soccer parents pushing kids who didn't care as much as they did.
2 of my kids played at the highest level from young single digit ages. A 3rd did as well, but decided it wasn’t for them, which was fine. And my oldest played for a scrub club inspite of having talent and athleticism. But because of her club, she fell between the cracks. We weren’t going to let that happen with my other kids. So 2 embraced playing at the highest level while 1 did not, and 1 was never given the chance.I don't even know what hot spurs is, other than the Tottenham team.
So did your daughters play at the highest level clubs starting from what age? Who's idea was it? My daughter played nothing but rec until 8th grade and then decided she was trying out for travel and the high school. I never decided for her. She didn't even play until 3rd grade. for 4 years she played in a local rec league, walking distance from our house, just because her friends played there, When she said she was trying out for high school and travel, I told her don't get upset if you don't make it, but she did and did extremely well. And she tried out for a travel team very close by, didn't research it or still don't even know exactly what league they where in, but we did play tournaments in PA, NJ, MD, VA. She didn't really enjoy it a whole lot because the coach acted like it was really serious, but she had a great high school career and that year of college.
What made you put them at the highest level at a young age? It was your decision? My daughter chose what she would do, from age 4 to 8 she did gymnastics and dance, at a nearby rec center, we'd drive past the soccer league on the way there and I'd ask her if she wanted to try soccer, she said no, for 4 years, then she said yes and played the next 12, usually rec, 2-3 years on what might be considered lower level travel/select and high school and college. it wasn't premeditated or planned. at the young age, I sent her to the cheap, nearby local rec league, to see if she'd like it, I didn't want to join an expensive club until I was sure she wanted that, the first couple years it was $25 for the whole season
The one year she was at a high level, full blown travel league was the worst year, cost a few thousand and she hated it, just about quit soccer. After that she just played for her school and a spring high school rec league, that way she wasn't overwhelmed between dance and soccer, she never wanted to quit ballet, she did that for 13 years. .
Again. Because we wasted time and money with the first child at the wrong place, and decided with the next 3 to put them in the right place from the beginning, thus giving them the opportunity to succeed at the highest level if that’s what they chose. 2 of them did, a 3rd did not. We presented a path…and let them decide whether to continue down it or not.What made you put them at the highest level at a young age? It was your decision? My daughter chose what she would do, from age 4 to 8 she did gymnastics and dance, at a nearby rec center, we'd drive past the soccer league on the way there and I'd ask her if she wanted to try soccer, she said no, for 4 years, then she said yes and played the next 12, usually rec, 2-3 years on what might be considered lower level travel/select and high school and college. it wasn't premeditated or planned. at the young age, I sent her to the cheap, nearby local rec league, to see if she'd like it, I didn't want to join an expensive club until I was sure she wanted that, the first couple years it was $25 for the whole season
My kid drives 15 minutes to the best soccer in TN besides the Nashville team. The 11 hour bus ride with her teammates was the biggest thing she wanted to do when covid restrictions were lifted. Sharing a hotel with teammates and driving on a bus. You learn to build friendships differently when you do that. It’s like the old summer camps when kids were dropped off on the middle of nowhere for a week. They learned to build friendships while canoeing and shooting bow and arrows. My kid just happens to do it all over the country while kicking a ball. You know what else. I’m terrible at building friendships as an adult, and the soccer dads have become very close friends and guys I talk to every week. It’s a great environment when the club establishes the environment. I’m the end, one hell of a childhood so far. She’s seen almost every part of the country. Learned to talk to adults while being recruited, and learned to figure out her future on her own.
