To clarify what I meant, by "full ride" I mean full when you add academic and athletic together. I think it's sort of rare for a female soccer player to get a 100% athletic full ride. The coach would prefer to get two players for the price of one. That's why academics are important even if you are a soccer star.blindey said:
Nice work on the full ride! Former colleague of mine has a daughter that got about half freight and cobbled together the rest in academic scholarships, but that world is apparently brutal. Just because you got one of the coveted spots on signing day doesn't mean you'll always have one. At least that is how it is explained to me. If you're a junior that contributes but some freshman superstar comes in out of the woodwork, that 75% ride can be cut to 50% to make room.
As for the men's game, it's becoming more apparent that the real route to becoming a pro is not through college but going directly to Europe at 16 if possible or 18 if not (or the MLS superdraft if you're a talent). I can't see the men's college game surviving all that much longer.
Since the money situation for women is different and (as I understand it) there are more scholarships to go around, parents with talented girls at least have a decent shot if the goal is cheap/free college for the kid.
My kids are too young for all of this so I've got a while to ponder how to approach it. But its going to happen at one point or another. This morning, my 15 month old woke up and started saying, "Ball? Ball? Ball? Ball?" to me and followed me around tapping my leg saying that until I found the size 1 ball I got him and gave it to him to chase around.
What's Killing Youth Soccer in America Is Also Hurting Most Every Other Sport
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Last: 5 yr ago by Ferg
Son played club soccer for several years and has given it up to stick with HS soccer and track only. He knew he was not college caliber but will have two full seasons on a good varsity team (multiple state titles) and he was a state finalist in LJ last spring. He loves HS a lot more than club. Several kids on the HS team quit Academy Soccer so they could play for the HS. The boys meet several times a week over the summer and have "captains practice" at the school to keep in shape for the fall season (seniors to incoming freshmen show up). So if your kid is talented there really is no reason to keep paying for soccer unless they are truly elite (and if they are they'll be on a true academy Team affiliated with an MLS team and as I understand, a lot of those costs are covered)
Also, can all of you parents paying for soccer please learn the rules, or even better, take the Referee class and work a few games each season.
Also, can all of you parents paying for soccer please learn the rules, or even better, take the Referee class and work a few games each season.
When I was coaching, I'd get a HS player or two back from the DA teams their junior/senior years once they made that realization.
A dad in my office just took the online and in-person referee training and will work a few games just so he could see for himself how some of these refs are trained and evaluated. I think it will give him some perspective too when stupid parents are inevitably yelling at him. Me- I don't want to pay for it, nor do i want to attend the four-hour in-person training, nor do i want to work some games, but I if the online portion of the training is available for free anywhere, I'd check it out.agracer said:
Also, can all of you parents paying for soccer please learn the rules, or even better, take the Referee class and work a few games each season.
If nothing else, a half hour session with salt and pepper shakers to explain the offside rule.agracer said:
Also, can all of you parents paying for soccer please learn the rules, or even better, take the Referee class and work a few games each season.
only if it includes an explanation of the "came from an offsides position" call.....fig96 said:If nothing else, a half hour session with salt and pepper shakers to explain the offside rule.agracer said:
Also, can all of you parents paying for soccer please learn the rules, or even better, take the Referee class and work a few games each season.
Got my ref license last summer but I haven't worked a game yet due to grad school. Any grief I get while reffing is fair turnabout for my coaching behavior.
I really enjoyed refereeing in my younger years. It's a completely different look at the game.
I plan to use it to stay in shape with the kiddos have left the nest.
I plan to use it to stay in shape with the kiddos have left the nest.
I saw a report on the news this morning that participation in Football is down 7% nationwide since 2010. They also said that participation in other sports is up 7% over the same period. They then highlighted a HS Freshman who switched to Lacrosse because of a concussion, and discussed the doctors visit and how the kid was having trouble repeating numbers that the doctor spoke to him.