My daughter is on an 8 year old traveling soccer team. It's not a 'true' traveling team as they are only playing other teams from within this county. Today was the first game. Here's how I felt after it:


The one that was cool: the kids. Everyone else: parents (not surprising), coaches (it's a game played by 8 year olds, it's not the champions league re-fucking-lax), etc. can fuck off.

With this league being city vs. city...oh I'm sorry I forgot where I live, borough vs. borough. I totally expect fist fights to break out because all these people and families have been playing/fighting against each other since 1750.

I'm glad my daughter loves playing but man does it remind me how much I hate people.

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Its nice that you chose a profession where you don't have to deal with them.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

What about the snacks? What did you have? Was it Gluten, peanut, GMO free...and organic?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Oh I don't deal with people too much, I teach my classes then go to my office close the door and do my research...

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Around here? Just be thankful they are given a snack and not a cigarette and a Yuengling (which more than one parent/grandparent were enjoying...)

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Sorry man. Welcome to 2015. I recommend finding another league. They are not all bad. My daughter got REALLY good at soccer last year. In the spring session, she took over a game in a rec league and scored 4 goals in the first 10 minutes. I was never more proud of her. She wanted to try out for the club team here, so we go to the second tryout. A parent asked why were not at the first tryout (family obligation) and the parent went off for the next 20 minutes scolding us about how we CANT miss a practice and can NEVER miss a game. I was like, screw you nut job.

These youth leagues are getting sold as "heres a way to get a scholarship to college! Our coaches are pros and will train your kid to be a pro! Just pay us $1500 a year!" And these parents eat up this shit. All it takes is one injury leading up to college and you are screwed out of the cost of one year of college. And you think your kid is going to be a pro? Good luck! Took a little time, but we found a really good coach for a traveling team that actually cares about the kids.

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I have two daughters, both of whom played soccer at age 8. I can't comprehend any situation where any 8yr old girls, or boys for that matter, need to travel to play soccer.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

If you drink the kool-aid from these travel leagues, then you would comprehend it. That said, I'm with you. Waiting until she is at least 12 before I consider this traveling bullshit.

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You also live in civilization. I live in a county that has the same number of people as Champaign/Urbana. So in order to get enough kids to play, we need to travel around the county.

Sadly, I think it's the people here and it will be hard to find another league that is better.

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That sucks. Also, if you think you want to teach her "a learning lesson"... don't. I thought that too, but then talked with a few friends. The life lesson is to tell your kids not to waste their money and time with the kids of asshole parents. If you do the life lesson thing, your kid will probably just get hurt by some other crazy little fucker whose parent told them to knock your kid out so that she won't interfere with her scholarship.

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I feel you PsyCory.
The obvious answer is: Yell louder. It's clear that the parents who care the most yell the loudest.

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The scholarship thing, we got that covered... I just want my kids to play something they like. She loves playing with her friends from school and they are good too and that in many ways brings out the worst in some of the parents.

And from what I understand, this is NOTHING compared to the football leagues. Pennsylvania is underratedly Texas like about high school football. and younger. People looked at me like I was nuts when I said that my son is not playing in the 5 & 6 year old football league. A. He would rather play soccer and B. I don't want to be around any football league that has this raffle:

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That's like a Michael Moore documentary

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The other thing that sucks is the parents that bitch about the other parents, coaches and so on.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

yeah my children don't have much care to play organized sports. and I played travel soccer and baseball as a kid so i've not been that ready to aggressively convince them to play knowing what I'll have to put up with. my wife was one of those kids from a small town who played other small towns so she was one of the "better" kids at most sports even though there wasn't much competition. so she knows as well.

We go to friends' games and its usually all it takes for me to even hope and pray my daughters don’t want to do any of this bullshit. We just got the girls a hunting bow cuz they want to learn and for one of their birthdays one is getting a jr set of golf clubs because they think its fun. maybe move them in that direction instead of the normal soccer/softball bs.

May have told this story before.

We joined up with a summer soccer rec league for the YMCA in Lake Zurich, which I ended up as a co-coach for. For whatever reason, they had decided to merge the age groups and gender, so it was boys and girls 7-12. Now, its the Y and its a rec league, so I figured there wouldn't be much issue. Boy was I wrong.

We have the first "practice" game and this kid who is probably 11 or 12 goes end to end and curves a shot into the upper corner of the goal. My reaction was, "Holy Fucking Shit!" So, I went over to the coach and have the following dialogue:

Me: That kid is pretty awesome.
Coach: Yeah, hes on a traveling team
Me: Ah. Okay. None of my kids have that skill. I have two seven year olds and my primary goal is for them to not get hurt and have fun.
Coach: Well, you need to understand, he and the other kid there are in a traveling league. I can't tell them not to play the way they play.
Me: Uh... okay?

Over the next five minutes or so, these two kids proceed to score 10 goals. There were a few physical plays, but nothing out of the ordinary. I spoke with the other coach from my team and said I'm curious to see how the first game goes.

So the first game comes. Its against the same team from the practice. Off the initial kickoff, my daughter starts to take up the ball and the one travel league kid steps right into her leg and steps on her foot. No foul is called and my daughter is out of the game crying and barely able to walk. For the remainder of the first half, this kid is pushing kids on my team around, including one of the seven year olds that he has about 10 inches on. I didn't mention anything to the coach yet, but I was fuming. Second half starts and one of my older kids is running up the sidelines. The traveling league kid slide tackles him, takes out his legs and has his cleats up so one gets lodged into the kids stomach. No foul. Kid on my team can't breathe and needs to be helped out. When I came back to the sideline, I told the coach for the other team in a relatively strong manner, "hey, I don't want to see that again. This is a rec league and per league rules slide tackling isn't allowed." The other coach takes this kid out and says no more slide tackling. This kid LOSES HIS FUCKING SHIT! He starts screaming and crying to his mom, "IM PLAYING THE RIGHT WAY! THATS HOW YOU PLAY SOCCER!" The coach doesn't say anything and this kid just continues to make a scene. The mom finally decides to take him to the car to calm him down. We quit the league the next day, but never got any apology or refund.

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I probably have coached about 14-16 seasons of soccer for both my son and daughter. I coached Rec and Green & White (Non-travelling). I was all gung-ho on winning (No dirty plays though) and we did win just about every season or so for a while there. I can't believe your YMCA would allow a league with 7-12 year olds. That's plain nuts right there.

EDIT: You have a lot of patience as a coach. My boiling point was instant if I ever saw anything dirty.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Yeah, I am patient to a fault. I let my shit go on the guy running the league. Later I found out that the Lake Zurich traveling teams are some of the best and craziest when it comes to this type of stuff, so I should have probably done my homework.

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7-12 is a ridiculous age discrepancy for any team sport. id have been out of that league too.

I believe that traveling sports for anyone before high school is pretty much useless and just an excuse for parents to live though their children. You'd be better served spending that money on training services and camps.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Why is a twelve year old boy, who is good enough to be on a travel team, playing against seven year old girls?

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

his folks are just giving back to the community by allowing their precious superstar fraternize with the "lesser ones" and show them how the game is supposed to be played.

soccer

girls sports

might as well just post in the hockey section

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Touche.

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i agree 100% with this.

I have been studying the whole travel team thing for a few years now and I have come to a few conclusions.

1. assuming your kids have access to a local league, there is no reason for kids under the age of 14 to play travel anything. puberty has a way of evening a lot of things out when it comes to sports. the 10 year old studs don't always turn into 16 year old studs.

2. many club teams exists solely for the purpose of lining the pockets of those who run the teams and the leagues/tournaments. it's a business, plain and simple. and there are thousands of suckers out there who will pay.

3. the fallacy among parents and kids is the belief that joining a club team makes you a better player. it should be the other way around. IF you are a good player, THEN you should test your abilities against other good players who play club/travel sports. BUT only at the high school level.

4. for many parents, having their kid on a club team is nothing more than a status symbol...or a perceived status symbol.

5. scholarship dollars are not as readily available as many people think. the next time your co-worker tells you that his kid or nephew or whatever has a "scholarship" to play football (or any sport) at some division 3 school, he's mistaken. and the "full ride" scholarship is a very rare thing at any school, no matter what division.

I really wish we had enough kids here to play, but my daughter's whole class has 80 kids, of which only 12 girls want to play soccer, hence why we have to go play other kids in other small towns in the county but it's not a real 'travel' team as it cost us $50 to join for the season (included full kit of shirt/shorts and socks!). My BIL and DIL have their 6 year old in a real traveling league in Michigan and it is purely a status symbol thing and costs them all told around $500, but they have REAL Europeans coaching so I"m sure it's better.

And the scholarship thing. I do NOT want my kids to get a sports scholarship. Nor should anyone - but you can read all about that pretty much anywhere. Yes, I know that I get a nice discount (hence my kids will be going to one of the 23 Penn State campuses)

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Most camps are a waste of money.



If you are not in club stuff up here the sport becomes a waste of time and money with little participation. It sucks.

Why?

That is where you get actual training and coaching without all the wasted time of traveling sports.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Where did the term "Learning lesson" come from?

Isnt a lesson a learning experience by nature? What other kind of lesson could there be?

They are expensive, typically disorganized and not well run, the range of talent is too big, they people running it don't know the kids, there is little communication, they are mostly drills and fundamentals, some are over crowded, they get little instruction, they people running it often think they are better than they are unless a "star" runs it in which case you attract on that name who shows up for an hour.

Cramming it into a week isn't the best. I have liked the ones that go 2 or 3 times a week or a couple weeks/month.