SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Burnout from High School to College Soccer

Coach P, it's not through the REC, it's through a club, CESA, and they call it "recreational" because it's the rec level of CESA's club soccer. Offering rec soccer through a powerhouse club is a paradox, oxymoron, and slightly confusing enigma all in one.

I could have been hasty in saying there is NO rec option, but club sponsored rec isn't the same as city sponsored rec.

I may be wrong, but I believe the CESA rec league is operated as part of the county recreation department's sports offering and is played on county fields. The county recreation departments' soccer page links to the CESA web site. Rec teams from all around the area and from other clubs (Furman, SAFC, CFC,TCSC, MRCA, etc.) participate in the CESA league.

Also, I believe AYSO and the YMCA offer several rec leagues in the upstate.

So, Coach P, would you say that a CESA Premier/Challenge player would be able to play for CESA Rec. also, be rostered on dual teams, and participate in both leagues? Or would this be disallowed by CESA/SAFC/CFC/TCSC/MRCA/etc. If if would be disallowed, then it does not provide the same function as a true rec league.

Clubs offering rec. is a way to make sure they get their hands on every kid. Rec for the sake of rec, not club related, or semi-expensive where the coach is paid, or where the teams travel outside of their city, would be the only thing that would qualify.

I don't believe any rec league affiliated with SCYSA can have players who are also registered on SCYSA select teams for the current seasonal year. This would probably not be the case with AYSO or YMCA rec leagues.

My daughter played for a couple of years in a local county-related, non-SCYSA-affiliated rec soccer program which would not allow select (club, classic, etc) players to participate. They instituted that rule because the rec coaches of other teams got extremely agitated when select players played against them and accused the coach and league of "stacking" rec teams with select players.

there are indoor and adult leagues available year around that high school age players could play in. i'm not sure a premier/challenge level player would enjoy a rec league.

Coach P,

I think you have done your HW know what you are talking about. The fact that players can't co-register is what makes this sad.

When I played in Aiken County Rec. League, our U-18 team would have 15-16 players (male and female), with probably 8-9 high school players (5 or 6 of whom played club), 3-4 girls who usually played high school and club, and 5-6 non high school, non-club players. The mix of talent, and genders, made the matches and league exciting, because there were so many different factions involved.

Soccer has advanced in SC, and in the US, but I for one would say that it is not as fun as it once was. Pressure exists at every level, high school, club, and national, in a way that it did not before. I think the nation feels it collectively as some "grand desire" to catch up and surpass the rest of the "footballing" powers of the world.

Fifteen years ago I don't remember any of the kids I played with/against being "burnt out" at the high school/club level of soccer; today, there are a handful of kids on every high school team that quit between their 10th-12th grade years because they've played too much high pressure/high stress/high cost soccer.

US, and SC, soccer has made progress, but progress that has ultimately cost us the casual youth player.

In Charleston, if you're above the age of 16, you can technically play for one of the adult leagues at Charleston Recreation. I'm not sure if it's the same for MP Rec or 18. Either way, there's a ton of former college players/competitive youth players on the teams and you get some good, skilled competition without spending 3/4 of the time training for it.

As for whether or not club year-long causes burn-out...I think most kids would be perfectly happy with playing games most weekends and enjoying them because that's what we all love about soccer. We love to play the games, not necessarily the hours of individual ball work or conditioning. The problem you get into is when you're practicing four to five times a week plus running plus lifting and all of a sudden you're spending way more time on the not-so-fun stuff that wears you out and keeps you from hanging out with your friends and doing homework.

When I played youth ball, we practiced 2-3 times a week (we got up to 3s in premier league U16+) for a 1.5-2 hours and we'd have 2 games on the weekend. Any additional training you did on your own because you wanted to and enjoyed it. These days, I keep hearing about kids who have required practices 3-4 days a week, with "highly recommended but not required" fifth days and you're only playing maybe 1 game on a weekend. And it's not just the premier players that are being asked to spend 3/4 of their time in practice, but the developmental kids as well. I got into trouble as a U10G coach because we were told that a 3rd "skills practice" was voluntary (which apparently really meant mandatory) and I told my girls and their parents that it would be a valuable experience and they should go if they want to, but that I wasn't going to force them because they're 8/9/10 years old and should be playing because they love to play, not because they're being dragged there.

You've got to have a good ratio of the fun to the work...the second you lose the fun, you find the burnout.

we might have gotten off topic so this won't help, just a quick correction, lsysa now goes through u14 & in fact had 10 solid u14g teams last fall. as usual, lost alot of players to jv for spring, but still fielding a healthy 5 teams for both boys/girls u14.
this league addresses the family burnout directly by keeping it local, the kids don't spend all day/weekend in the car/hotels. Keeps the cost low while still providing good competition & allows the kids to have a life beyond soccer.
some families decide they want more & move on & others think it works well & is a good fit.
kittens post was very insightful from someone thats been there done that as player & coach.


cainhoy, just out of curiosity, how did you secure that old laing field?

Sorry sandman, certainly agree that LSYSA supports and has decent local competition at U14 (we have one boys team in there) and I got very close (within inches) of dropping in a girls squad this season. ( We'll probably be entering two girls U14 in the fall (and one in State league) if everything pans out.

As for the old Laing site, it was just sitting there. As you probably know a good portion of our membership are from MP (Hwy 41, 17N area) and a couple of parents suggest we look into it. We approached Charleston County School District, and here we are. It is in pretty good shape back there but we had a large crew out last weekend, delivering some extra fill dirt, and reseeding a couple of bald patches. We are opening this up (after daylight savings) and will use this mainly for our younger program (3-8) but also as a remote training site for our LSYSA teams/coaches based out of MP.