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

some of you missed the point. the op was making a tongue in cheek commentary about the popularity of football, talk, scores & updates on the saturday yth soccer sidelines.
i also don't think our generation of misguided parents needs a lecture on sacrificing for our kids, give us an effin break, really?
its also funny that our nations favorite & most lucrative sport by far, still enjoys the expertise of volunteer yth coaches. soccer parents built a mon$ter in yth $occer

I enjoy watching my college play football, basketball, soccer, and baseball. I can juggle the matches with collegiate sports do to a wonderful thing called a DVR.

What I do not like are matches held on Sunday mornings. if at all possible, I do everything in my power to NOT schedule one until 3 PM on a Sunday

OK, first off, sorry 'dadthatcares' for once again hijacking this thread but I promise I will end with a point on topic. But before we get there, let me delve into at least two thoughts that I can't shake based on two comments


an earlier quote

"soccer will never get the financial backing like football by sponsors and TV because they don't have a commercial every 3 minutes"

I'm not so sure, soccer is certainly gaining traction in the US, does have sex appeal for younger demographics, and it didn't stop Chevy dropping 559 million (yes more than half billion) bucks on MUFC jerseys. Anyway this sponsorship point is one worth thinking about. Heavens knows anyone who has followed my pious, soapbox'd, rants on accessibility for soccer will know that I would do almost anything to reduce participation costs and sponsorship certainly seems the key. HOWEVER...

As a parent and consumer I think it is reasonable for clubs/teams to set fees that are reasonable, and budget scholarships for those that can't find the cash (as much as is needed). Consider I am fairly confident that with a mind, we could raise sponsorships close to, or even equal to our (lower than most) annual operating fees with a little work and suspect many others could as well. But should we ? I say no. We have a choice and a responsibility to both register our children for soccer AND accept that costs do exist and we have to pay our way when we can. I have no problem with that. I remind myself that every penny directed toward youth soccer from community minded organizations (whether it is for publicity, self serving interest, or a more noble, altruistic motive) is a penny not spent on other charitable missions. Or at least could limit the available funds in a negative fashion. So sponsorship is great and I'll be begging (scratching) again over the off season, but in my opinion should not be considered the Holy Grail. Fees should be set that reflect value and administrators should try and make decisions that do not alienate families (based on funds available) would be my plea to us all.

This gets to the second thought with the post before that

"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"

Interesting comment and I'd love to learn more on this one. I have administered youth soccer for at least 4 years and have not seen any significant increase in base costs beyond a reasonable increase from SCYS this last year on registration. With the economy the way it has been, our rents have remained largely flat and in our case I will say operating costs have actually scaled favorably as we have seen some economies of scale as we have grown our player base. Our league costs and ref fees are I believe very close to what they were 5 years ago and for a U9/10 team would equal about $22 a game (< $3 per player). Now coaching costs are certainly variable (and so they should be beyond volunteers) as you are dealing with peoples skills and abilities but I can't think of any other major ticket or budget item that has gone up significantly in our case. Our fees actually went down this year.

Now sorry for distraction, back to topic

For those of you, never having witnessed a coaches scheduling meeting in all its glory, the challenge with building ideal schedules (mainly Saturday mornings missing College and Pro ball) on the weeks available are primarily due to 2 reasons. And remember most parents would love one game Saturday morning, and done. Especially if like me, you have multiple kids in the game.

Anyway these 2 reasons are

Tournaments: Coaches/Clubs prioritizing these over league play (many reasons for this and I think you can guess the main ones)
League blocking prime weekends out in middle of season due to tournaments (primary reason offered lack of refs)

Coaches with multiple teams: 2 is bad but once you have someone trying to juggle 3 teams, watch out, pretty much guarantee Sundays or weekdays, and that has a trickle down effect on all the other teams/coaches in that division. Don't get me started on that.

Lets see. Season tickets to clemson or gamecock football which is pricey or miss a couple of the 60 games your child will play for club. Tough call.

I guess the point is this:
Parents who'd rather watch their kids, CAN.
Parents who'd just as soon watch other people's kids (play football), CAN.
Parents who'd like to juggle the two, CAN.
Parent who'd rather watch weekend reruns of Duck Dynasty, CAN.
None of these choices is inherently good or evil.
I'll let the Board's resident geniuses make THAT call.

@ Cainhoy Athletic- my comment was "youth activities" not referencing associated club costs. Gas, fuod, lodging, it all has risen and has an impact on any sport, not just soccer.
Most fees related to club have remained steady with possibly kits costs and a slight increase in registration fees so, yeah, right there with you on that one.

You guys do an excellent job, keep after it!

You are correct and I agree things do cost a lot these days, but even then we have to look a little closer. Haven't salaries and wealth risen as well to some degree? I'm sure there are bright economists on here who can look up any number of tables and indexes to either prove or debunk the assertion. Cost and impact to disposable income is a very complicated world of study, and I quote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, written just recently in 1776

"The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it...But though labour be the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities, it is not that by which their value is commonly estimated..."

Thank you for your recognition, it means a lot to us.

Now, for more rattling of cages

An alternative look at this (devil's advocate by disclaimer), assuming others can control decisions that affect the difficult choices for parents

Coaches who'd rather schedule their games Saturday morning, CAN.
Coaches who'd rather prioritize league games over tournaments, CAN.
Coaches/Clubs who'd rather limit the number of teams coached to facilitate Saturday morning games, CAN.
Clubs who'd rather allocate good team assistants to facilitate Saturday morning games, CAN.
Clubs who'd rather support league games over tournaments, CAN.
Refs & Assignors who'd rather prioritize league games over tournaments, CAN.
League commissioners who'd rather support their own league games over tournaments, CAN.
SCYS (and other governing bodies) who'd rather support (often their own) league games over tournaments, CAN.

These choices could be considered inherently good or evil
I'll let the Board's resident geniuses make THAT call.

Of course this is largely 'tongue in cheek', and there are other variables in play (like State league games often requiring double headers in central location) but I do think there is room in some cases/leagues to offer better support to our parents if we choose to do it (particularly at younger ages).