JAGs made me LOL. That can be a derogatory term . . . . .Saw up above that some of this could cost $8-10K /year. Yikes. I'm glad my sons are average at sports and outstanding students. My youngest was asked to play travel baseball years ago, and when he realized the games were on Sunday, he declined because that is our boat/beach day.
I don't know where they are getting that 8-10k number for girls soccer unless they are paying for a lot of private training. My girls play for both an academy team and an inter-academy team and it still less than half of that.
Are the academic requirements to gain admission waived or lowered for the top athletes?
Anybody who goes into youth sports with the goal of a college scholarship is an idiot. It should be about your kid exercising and having fun while being challenged. Not to mention learning to work with others and being a part of a team.
If I can go back in time 40 years ago I would have American children play FUTSAL. We've got development completely backwards in this country. Our youth shouldn't play soccer on grass until the age of 13-14. FUTSAL is how the Brazilians and Dutch develop talent. Indoor basket court, 5v5, mastering precision rhythmic passing and creative dribbling. It also helps promote small sided pick up games which is how we developed great basketball and baseball talent in our great nation. Travel soccer can continue to dominate the suburbs but we need travel FUTSAL leagues in our rural and urban sectors desperately.
My two girls are both pretty involved in soccer and I am learning the pecking order as we go along so I can tell what I believe to be the hierarchy.
problem is there are parents of small kids who think this way. I had a 2nd grade parent tell me I was hurting her sons chances of getting a scholarship because I wouldn't play him at RB. While totally ignoring her 2nd grade son was already above the weight limit to touch the ball for 3rd and 4th graders.
Bridgewater has an academy team? Do you mean BSA: Bridgewater Soccer Association, which is a club not an academy team?
It's similar here, many of the best girls are told not to play HS soccer. Most of the end up playing but HS is definitely secondary to their club games and tournaments. Not sure about Cali but I think NJ has some rules about HS coaches not coaching club girls beyond a certain age..... Might be 12
That's another thing that's sending soccer moms into a frenzy this year. The transition from Uwhatever to birth year. Kids that have played together for years are being separated and people are acting like its Armageddon. I just sit back and laugh at the insanity.
I will say this: soccer is different from most other sports like football, basketball, and baseball in that it's almost impossible to overcome an experience gap.
Some major opinions on this topic - some addt'l thoughts:
It's only a waste of time if you view that way. Do my girls practice a lot? yes but they never ask to stay home and school always comes first. Here's the thing, they are going to fill their time with something and if it isn't a sport its probably going to be TV or an IPad because all their friends are playing sports as well.
This is gonna sound sexist but I don't mind my girls concentrating on one sport. I wouldn't let my son do it but the girls have no interest in playing softball or lacrosse. We talked about them trying REC basketball but they prefer soccer.
Well another wise man (who is also a podiatrist) on the topic of specialization at such a young age said get their little piggies out the boot/cleats/spikes and into other types of athletic footwear as much as possible.
