SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Football Saturdays

Colleges and their football teams and Club Soccer have one thing in commom-

Neither one gives a #@%& about you, except your checkbook.

At least in Club Soccer you are watching and spending time with your kid.

Interesting comment from sandman about rest of world. Can't speak for the entire world but when my nephew was younger, he played for Hangleton Rovers in England (a small club in Brighton, Sussex). FA Charter club that has been around for about 15 years. Similar setup to most small/mid sized clubs in South Carolina in sense of ages and teams supported (levels of competition) and a suitable yardstick for most of us.

Their fees (converted to dollars) include

$24 registration
$182 operating fees (includes league, training, refs, and matches)
This also includes uniform, christmas trip, and prizes
This is for a full soccer year (fall/winter/spring - 18 league matches or so plus tournaments)

Great article on their home page celebrating 2,000 quid (approx $3,200) as though that was a huge amount in youth soccer over there to support the club for 3 years. I feel that highlights one big difference in environments, a willingness and ability to find good volunteer or low cost coaches and admin and/or directed use of sponsorship funds to reduce participation costs (over increasing spend).

Sorry to get off topic, but interesting insight.

back to topic,
one of our parents called me last week and was pissed their coach had scheduled league games around big football games because it left big gaps this fall for them. Interesting conversation and I can understand both sides. Still you allow coaches to set team schedules (over the league scheduling) and you play soccer around coach's demands and preferences. In the lowcountry of days gone by, LSYSA used to set schedules and we had far fewer double headers and/or Sundays, but I'm sure a few irritated coaches. Pick your poison.

ya, this backs up my theory that soccer parents are very happy to pay high $ for a sport that excludes minorities for the most part thro high fees& profesional full time coaches unheard of in any other yth sport.
lets not forget the bs of the yth coaches alphabet soup of high dollar coaching classes. who are they fooling with that self important bs anymore?
my point is that if you deleted the current model of yth soccer, you would still have the same coaches volunteering with expenses paid...but american yth soccer recognized a void of white kids with money sport & adjusted accordingly.
its all about the kids tho...man are we off topic

from my point of view, I have yet to break even coaching club or High School. The stipend our coaches receive will just about cover our fuel costs, offset some of the equipment as it ages and it seems we always have at least 1 or 2 players that struggle with fees even with the scholarships that help offset their fees. So far this season, I have paid 4 players tournament fees, untold number of meals after games and been chauffer, laundry service and helped with homework to try to keep students engaged, invested and empowered.
I guess I missed the part of the licensing class about how to make money coaching, LOL. I do think it is a good thing that our sport has so many different options available to players so that everybody that wants to play can find what works best for them. To all of you involved with the sport, thank you for your time and dedication to our youth.

the bs of high cost coaching liceneces is another way of excluding otherwise qualified experienced volunteer coaches from participating & thus lowering the cost of club. its self inflation & job security. the bs of yth soccer licensing is just another hand in the till of raping soccer parents who ultimately pay for those inflated courses. it increases costs like no other sport in the country.

and hats off, kudos & attaboy to soccerforlife, your experience & dedication is not the norm in any sport.

My point had nothing to do with money spent for playing... I too wish we could go to a fully funded club system (some of the Developmental Academy teams up north have been able to do this). My point was that we continually look to support and back other sports rather than investing the time in soccer. If FSC was getting the same ratings for the EPL matches that ESPN gets for the college game day then it MIGHT help (continue) to grow the sport in our country. How rare is it for a kid to go out and have a kick about rather than shooting the basketball or getting a 2-hand touch football game (or just sitting inside on xbox). We have to be pushing for more exposure of our sport... that was my point.

Not quite sure how this thread devolved to its current point, but I'd like to weigh in on several elements of the discussion.
1) Adults should spend their weekends how they wish. I prefer to spend it with my kid. I have no problem with parents who prefer to watch FB. What those choices say about parents varies, case-by-case.
2) The idea of teaching, licensing and accrediting coaches is no different than doing the same thing for teachers. What are coaches, if not teachers? Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of "unlicensed" people out there who'd do just fine as teachers/coaches. But, in general, shouldn't we be trying to raise the bar?
3) While I agree that the cost of youth soccer in America can be high, I'd point out that music lessons, dance lessons, other youth sports, private school education, etc., are similarly expensive. As parents, we all do our best to support what we perceive as "good choices" by our kids.
4) The racial makeup of youth soccer players is much more complicated than a simple "cost" or "skill" issue. As a small child, mine was a way better "prospect" in swimming/baseball/basketball than in soccer. He CHOSE soccer. I supported the choice, because I understood that commitment and interest are far more relevant than a kid's skill as an 8-year-old.
Having seen youth soccer teams from dozens of states, I'd say that each club's demographic is far more reflective of the community and the parents' backgrounds, than the cost of the product. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me when a team from a certain part of Los Angeles is comprised largely of latino/hispanic kids.
There's a whole "world" of kids playing soccer in America. FAR FAR more so than in many sports.

The original topic was why couldn't coaches schedule around all the football games which implies that: 1- coaches know which teams their players families follow so that they can schedule games around them. 2- that opponents are willing to accomodate that initiative.
It was then suggested that the costs associated with youth soccer was due in part to the high salaries of soccer coaches instead of the fact that costs across the board have gone up for all youth activities.
While we all have our unique perspectives of how to approach the game, and are at odds at times about how to best go about the daily grind, it is encouraging that we all have one common goal- to get kids playing the game.

I am a bigger NFL fan that college fan so I scheduled all my games on Saturdays so I could sit in front of my tv for 7 hours on Sunday and watch NFL redzone.
Should I have taken a pole of my parents to see how many were clemson fans and how many were carolina fans?

It's about making sacrifices for your kids. I coach a kid last year (U-18) and his parents loved watching him play through the years but were excited to now get season tickets to Clemson..

One another topic mentioned, soccer will never get the financial backing like football by sponsors and TV because they don't have a commercial every 3 minutes after every punt or turnover.

My 2 cents.