Kids travel sports - unreasonable request? (2 Viewers)

[Max Power]

I'll start by saying that I've had multiple children participate in several different travel sport leagues. We've done Soccer, Baseball, Cheerleading and Gymnastics which all came with commitments and travel requirements that were difficult, but we did our best to make everything work. We've even had to book airBnBs for regional events several states away.

My youngest daughter started school volleyball this year for her first season and she did pretty well for a first-year player. She's naturally athletic and picks up things quickly. Her issue was confidence and not knowing all aspects of the game well enough. We signed up for a local 14U girls travel volleyball club to get more experience. She was 12 at the time of tryouts and made the team as a practice player. That means she can practice with the team and if she shows enough improvement will be moved up to the team for games. We sort of knew what we were signing up for at the time, but didn't ask all the questions because she was happy about it.

It's a month later now and the travel schedule is out. There will be weekend-long tournaments up to 4-5 hours away, starting in two weeks. Come to find out that practice players are required to travel with the team and there is zero chance of them getting into any game while on the practice team. The reality of the situation is setting in for our daughter and she's taken a more pessimistic view on the situation. The tournament in 2 weeks is about 2.5 hours from home and starts at 8am Saturday with the final match being roughly 4pm Sunday. This is a big time and financial commitment to an event where my daughter won't play, so I suggested skipping it.

My wife was talking to other parents about it and the vibe was that practice players who don't travel with the team have reduced chances of getting called up to the team. I got a little heated at that point because I found the situation to be pretty unreasonable. This is 14 year old girls volleyball. We paid the same fees as everyone else, but if our daughter isn't going to play, don't make the whole family give up their weekend. I don't know if I'm getting too worked up over it, but I'm not happy with the situation. Every sacrifice we've made before was to support the kids. I don't feel like this situation is in the same bubble.

Not sure what we are going to do yet. Wife and I thought it was best to sleep on it. I'm typing this out to try to figure out if I'm overreacting or justified to pull her from this. I also wanted to vent about kids travel sports... it's become a racket.

 

[dgreen]

My daughter played club volleyball. I found a lot of things unreasonable, but it all seemed pretty standard for that culture.

The one thing you mentioned that sounds different to me is that you are paying the same price to be a practice player. From what I remember, practice player fees were less.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

"The answer to all your questions is money"

- Don Ohlmeyer






Sorry man, travel leagues suck. It's a lifestyle.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

We've been done with travel sports (soccer) for about a decade now, and I'm still salty over it. I really don't like these programs.

 

[Jaysus]

oof, that is tough. I am not all that familiar with travel v-ball dynamics, but 2.5 hours of travel does not seem all that bad to me... if it is one of the farther events. If they are all that far away I may have a bigger issue. Given it's her first travel tourney, I think it is reasonable to attend for the experience alone even if she winds up not playing in a game.

 

[ChiefD]

I'd tell them to go screw themselves.

 

[ChiefD]

And where I'm coming from is we have a son in travel hockey. So we've paid our share.

What you are describing is extortion and manipulation for a poor kid who is doing her best. There is NO WAY I'm financing that kind of mindset. There are other volleyball programs around I am sure where the focus on players actually playing in games for fun and development.

I'd tell that coach or program director to go screw themselves if they tried to pull that crap on my family.

 

[dino259]

This is what is wrong with youth sports. It is unreasonable but that is what has become the norm.

This sucks. I agree with you fully. If there is little to no chance of your daughter actually playing, then it shouldn't be the same fee. There is a reason you see all these new baseball, basketball, and volleyball organizations popping up. People are make money.

Wishing the best for your daughter to find a good place to play.

 

[brun]

Even NFL practice squad players don't travel with the team unless they're going to be elevated to the active roster.
My 1st instinct would be to not participate in this but I'd probably leave it up to your daughter.

 

[Max Power]

oof, that is tough. I am not all that familiar with travel v-ball dynamics, but 2.5 hours of travel does not seem all that bad to me... if it is one of the farther events. If they are all that far away I may have a bigger issue. Given it's her first travel tourney, I think it is reasonable to attend for the experience alone even if she winds up not playing in a game.

Most seem in the 2 hour-ish range. Our furthest event will be Charlston SC, which is a bit over 4 hours driving time.

 

[gianmarco]

0% chance of going. That's nuts. And yes, very familiar with this and actively involved with our own travel stuff for kids.

And no, I wouldn't leave it up to your daughter. This is where you step up and make an executive decision. That is a time and money waste with little payoff.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Softball here. Not sure of your specific situation and I know a LOT promises can be made that aren't upheld by coaches and organizations, but we never put one of our kids on a team where they wouldn't play. Not for the cash these teams want. I would organize as many of the practice player parents and let the team know we aren't going to these if the kids aren't playing at all. If this situation is the normal situation, I would jump that team and go somewhere your kid can play ASAP.

 

[SWC]

max i have been around travel and very high level aau girls basketball for most of my life and it is worth thinking about finding another travel team even if it is a little less prestigous or whatever that she would actually play on yes practices are nice and you will learn a lot there but you learn the most on the court in my opinion now saying that i have seen some kids that sat on the bench in eybl who picked up a ton practicing against the other girls but that is an environment where just about every kid on the team is going to play d1 or has the game to whether they are getting on the court or not so that may be sort of an exception but in the end i would say that look realistically at the team she is on and whether sitting on the bench and traveling around to do so is better than being on another team where she would see playing time ive seen situations where getting playing time made a ton of difference in improving a girls game and they ended up back on the quote better endquote team anyhow after it was obvious they were a high level player also for bball i see girls make huge strides when they do private lessons with high level trainers might be worthwhile to look at something like that in lieu of traveling all over to sit take that to the bank bromigo

 

[dgreen]

Softball here. Not sure of your specific situation and I know a LOT promises can be made that aren't upheld by coaches and organizations, but we never put one of our kids on a team where they wouldn't play. Not for the cash these teams want. I would organize as many of the practice player parents and let the team know we aren't going to these if the kids aren't playing at all. If this situation is the normal situation, I would jump that team and go somewhere your kid can play ASAP.

I’m not sure what it’s like for other sports, but club volleyball doesn’t allow you to switch clubs mid-season and then play in tournaments. Maybe it would work for a practice player, though? Maybe you can find a club that doesn’t have this expectation of practice players?

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Softball here. Not sure of your specific situation and I know a LOT promises can be made that aren't upheld by coaches and organizations, but we never put one of our kids on a team where they wouldn't play. Not for the cash these teams want. I would organize as many of the practice player parents and let the team know we aren't going to these if the kids aren't playing at all. If this situation is the normal situation, I would jump that team and go somewhere your kid can play ASAP.

I’m not sure what it’s like for other sports, but club volleyball doesn’t allow you to switch clubs mid-season and then play in tournaments. Maybe it would work for a practice player, though? Maybe you can find a club that doesn’t have this expectation of practice players?

Where I am, softball at least, is the wild west. The more unscrupulous teams will try and poach players mid-season. The only tie that binds is often money. I understand sometimes you get yourself into these situations and you have to do the best you can do but, I would jump ship the first possible moment and find some where my kid could play and get better. Sitting the bench sucks.

 

[Max Power]

Softball here. Not sure of your specific situation and I know a LOT promises can be made that aren't upheld by coaches and organizations, but we never put one of our kids on a team where they wouldn't play. Not for the cash these teams want. I would organize as many of the practice player parents and let the team know we aren't going to these if the kids aren't playing at all. If this situation is the normal situation, I would jump that team and go somewhere your kid can play ASAP.

I’m not sure what it’s like for other sports, but club volleyball doesn’t allow you to switch clubs mid-season and then play in tournaments. Maybe it would work for a practice player, though? Maybe you can find a club that doesn’t have this expectation of practice players?

Where I am, softball at least, is the wild west. The more unscrupulous teams will try and poach players mid-season. The only tie that binds is often money. I understand sometimes you get yourself into these situations and you have to do the best you can do but, I would jump ship the first possible moment and find some where my kid could play and get better. Sitting the bench sucks.

Sounds like what got the Jackie Robinson team in trouble in the little league world series. Brining in other players from outside their district for the tournament run.

We're about NIL middle schoolers aren't we?

 

[CletiusMaximus]

We are also unfortunately very familiar with this bizarre phenomena. Our son went through soccer and VB and our daughter is now on a U14 volleyball travel team that will cost my wife many weekends away, flights, hotels, etc. I've found girls volleyball way more intense than boys in terms of the pressure and politics but my wife is very familiar with it having coached both kids teams for years. You're in a difficult position if your daughter wants to play for a club that only offered a practice player role with the promise of playing time down the road. We were able to convince our son to turn down a practice player offer in favor of taking an offer at a less prestigious club, and he still kind of resents it many years later. Not knowing anything about the club or your daughter, my expectation is the chances she develops into a playing role on the team this season is remote - likely only achievable through multiple injuries. Its one of those sports where you only really get better by playing in a ton of live competitive games. Of course I could be wrong and am just speculating. I would either arrange a Nancy Kerrigan incident on her main competition or cut your losses - refuse to travel to games where she won't play and accept the consequences. Its unlikely you can quit the team (they won't refund you) and catch on somewhere else but if that is an option you should consider it.

The one thing I'd add is that if this is like most volleyball clubs, they probably have arrangements with the hotels at all of these tournaments and you are purportedly required to stay at their designated hotel to play in the tournament. Most every club does this now. My cynical guess is they require practice players to travel to boost these numbers and meet guaranteed guest minimums as part of these agreements. I've not confirmed this, but I assume they do this to get kickbacks from the hotels, coaches stay for free, other comps and perks for the team managers and club officials.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

This makes me glad none of my kids play travel sports

I’d skip it just tell her to play for the school and have fun

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Softball here. Not sure of your specific situation and I know a LOT promises can be made that aren't upheld by coaches and organizations, but we never put one of our kids on a team where they wouldn't play. Not for the cash these teams want. I would organize as many of the practice player parents and let the team know we aren't going to these if the kids aren't playing at all. If this situation is the normal situation, I would jump that team and go somewhere your kid can play ASAP.

I’m not sure what it’s like for other sports, but club volleyball doesn’t allow you to switch clubs mid-season and then play in tournaments. Maybe it would work for a practice player, though? Maybe you can find a club that doesn’t have this expectation of practice players?

Where I am, softball at least, is the wild west. The more unscrupulous teams will try and poach players mid-season. The only tie that binds is often money. I understand sometimes you get yourself into these situations and you have to do the best you can do but, I would jump ship the first possible moment and find some where my kid could play and get better. Sitting the bench sucks.

Sounds like what got the Jackie Robinson team in trouble in the little league world series. Brining in other players from outside their district for the tournament run.

We're about NIL middle schoolers aren't we?

Yes, we are. It doesn't help that a LOT of parent's ego is wrapped up in their kid getting D1 scholarships. One of my daughters got invited to play for our organizations premier national team. One girl on the team had a personal trainer, a chiropractor, a maesusse, and a pitching coach ("Best one in Texas") all of which she went to weekly. The Dad was taking pilot lessons so he could buy a plane and go watch her play in college. The school she went to was a top 100 school but he easily paid ten times that scholarship in money for her to get it. And I am factoring out the price of the plane because you can use it for other things. She transferred to a smaller school after a year and quit a year after that. It was all chump change to him but still. And I am pretty sure he financed a lot of coach expenses on that national team. That coach stayed at the most expensive hotels in town every trip.
Point being do what is right for you and your kid, the chances anyone else will is very remote.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

We are also unfortunately very familiar with this bizarre phenomena. Our son went through soccer and VB and our daughter is now on a U14 volleyball travel team that will cost my wife many weekends away, flights, hotels, etc. I've found girls volleyball way more intense than boys in terms of the pressure and politics but my wife is very familiar with it having coached both kids teams for years. You're in a difficult position if your daughter wants to play for a club that only offered a practice player role with the promise of playing time down the road. We were able to convince our son to turn down a practice player offer in favor of taking an offer at a less prestigious club, and he still kind of resents it many years later. Not knowing anything about the club or your daughter, my expectation is the chances she develops into a playing role on the team this season is remote - likely only achievable through multiple injuries. Its one of those sports where you only really get better by playing in a ton of live competitive games. Of course I could be wrong and am just speculating. I would either arrange a Nancy Kerrigan incident on her main competition or cut your losses - refuse to travel to games where she won't play and accept the consequences. Its unlikely you can quit the team (they won't refund you) and catch on somewhere else but if that is an option you should consider it.

The one thing I'd add is that if this is like most volleyball clubs, they probably have arrangements with the hotels at all of these tournaments and you are purportedly required to stay at their designated hotel to play in the tournament. Most every club does this now. My cynical guess is they require practice players to travel to boost these numbers and meet guaranteed guest minimums as part of these agreements. I've not confirmed this, but I assume they do this to get kickbacks from the hotels, coaches stay for free, other comps and perks for the team managers and club officials.

One coach we played for based our travel schedule on his vacation preferences. We went to Huntington Beach, and he cancelled practices the week after because he stayed there an extra four days. Pretty sure he got 4 days free at the hotel because our organization had two teams totaling 36 girls which translated to 9 rooms for the girls, 3 for the coaches, and at least 36 more for the parents. 48 rooms at $200 a night times 2 or 3 nights equals a free room for four days during the slow part of the week for the coach.

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

There were a few years I had enough players to have a practice team (soccer) from about U10-u14.
1. We never traveled more than a couple of hours away - mostly 30min-1.5 hrs - except that last year we went 4 hours to one.
2. Practice players payed about 1/2.
3. Practice players didn't travel unless they wanted to.
4. We set up scrimmages specifically for that team and there was a "league" specifically setup for teams like that about 40 minutes away - no wins/losses and coaches were instructed to use it as a learning experience.
5. If I did call up a player or 2 they were responsible for their tournament fee - usually about $50 each.

 

[SWC]

parent ego is a huge deal in this whole thing basically the number one rule should be what will your kid be happy with and what do they want to do if your kid has d1 talent but doesnt want to live a d1 lifestyle then it doesnt matter because they wont last when you go to school as a d1 athlete no bones about it you are an athlete student and not a student athlete some programs tell you what classes you will take its all you do you are there in the summer you workout every day you watch film you are with the team just about 24 7 and it is what you do and why you are at school to get to d1 most kids need to be in a big program for girls bball the coaches all come to the eybl tournaments so you get scouted every time you play its not like it was years ago where the coaches came to you now you go to them and that is through the big name shoe leagues d2 and d3 are different depending on the school but normally you can get to a d2 or 3 in girls ball through non shoe leagues or high school performance and being proactive in marketing yourself as a recruit and of course if you are a d 6 plus foot girl who can shoot and handle the ball and defend maybe you dont need anything because unicorns are unicorns anyhow big name travel teams are recruiting tools and you need to know that going in so you can adjust expectations accordingly and if you are just looking to get better and have fun then you dont need the shoe leagues of the world you can get by just fine with a good respectable local club take that to the bank brochachos

 

[rockaction]

No wonder our children are turning out to be mercenaries. This is psycho.

I don’t have children so I don’t know what it’s like to have to tell them “no,” but in this instance I might. It sounds like a “no” might even be for the good of the child in a case like this. She’ll be surrounded by what sounds like unscrupulous adults in an unscrupulous system. Not good.

 

[Max Power]

We are also unfortunately very familiar with this bizarre phenomena. Our son went through soccer and VB and our daughter is now on a U14 volleyball travel team that will cost my wife many weekends away, flights, hotels, etc. I've found girls volleyball way more intense than boys in terms of the pressure and politics but my wife is very familiar with it having coached both kids teams for years. You're in a difficult position if your daughter wants to play for a club that only offered a practice player role with the promise of playing time down the road. We were able to convince our son to turn down a practice player offer in favor of taking an offer at a less prestigious club, and he still kind of resents it many years later. Not knowing anything about the club or your daughter, my expectation is the chances she develops into a playing role on the team this season is remote - likely only achievable through multiple injuries. Its one of those sports where you only really get better by playing in a ton of live competitive games. Of course I could be wrong and am just speculating. I would either arrange a Nancy Kerrigan incident on her main competition or cut your losses - refuse to travel to games where she won't play and accept the consequences. Its unlikely you can quit the team (they won't refund you) and catch on somewhere else but if that is an option you should consider it.

The one thing I'd add is that if this is like most volleyball clubs, they probably have arrangements with the hotels at all of these tournaments and you are purportedly required to stay at their designated hotel to play in the tournament. Most every club does this now. My cynical guess is they require practice players to travel to boost these numbers and meet guaranteed guest minimums as part of these agreements. I've not confirmed this, but I assume they do this to get kickbacks from the hotels, coaches stay for free, other comps and perks for the team managers and club officials.

Thanks for the info. It's sure sounding like Girls volleyball is more serious than we thought. My daughter wants to get better at volleyball, but its not something she's expressed interest in doing long term (college). She does Cheerleading and is captain of her team, so that is more her true calling if she ever goes down to one activity.

I had no idea how deep these logistics could go, but it makes sense. They did provide which hotel to book at if we plan to overnight during this first tournament weekend.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

No wonder our children are turning out to be mercenaries. This is psycho.

I don’t have children so I don’t know what it’s like to have to tell them “no,” but in this instance I might. It sounds like a “no” might even be for the good of the child in a case like this. She’ll be surrounded by what sounds like unscrupulous adults in an unscrupulous system. Not good.

This is the downside, there were very many good stories, and we made some real friends through the experience. Just go in with your eyes wide open. Few things match the feeling you get watching your kid be the star of the game, team, or tournament. It can be a ton of fun.

 

[El Floppo]

I'd tell them to go screw themselves.

This. Nfw I'm paying to not even have a chance to play. Practice players my ***.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

One other anecdote, I hear all kinds of stories where there’s an A Team and B Team and it seems like more often than not they travel to the next state only to play against each other

 

[Hoh]

I’ve been around volleyball a long time and this is one of the most infuriating things. They need to be upfront with their policies and stick to them rather than string your daughter along with “maybe you’ll get to play”. God, put a couple of beers in me and I could go on for hours about the way club volleyball needs to change.

 

[dino259]

Youth sports have gotten so far away from playing a game to have fun. Yes, compete hard and beat your buddy, but then head to the local pool. 99% of these kids would have just as much if not more fun going to the local court, gym, or diamond and just choose them up than to go 2+ hours away.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

I had two daughters play volleyball, travel was at most 2 hours, but wait until your daughter's team is eliminated from a tournament but you are forced to stay because she has to line judge for future games.

We usually had day long tournaments which entailed leaving the house at 5 am and not getting home until a 6 or 7.

 

[thecatch]

I'm pretty over the top about supporting my kids' sporting activities, but there's no chance I'd pay to have the family travel to an event my kid couldn't play at. If the team was going to penalize my kid for not attending and this wasn't disclosed in the application process, I'd probably seek at least a partial refund.

 

[nirad3]

I'll start by saying that I've had multiple children participate in several different travel sport leagues. We've done Soccer, Baseball, Cheerleading and Gymnastics which all came with commitments and travel requirements that were difficult, but we did our best to make everything work. We've even had to book airBnBs for regional events several states away.

My youngest daughter started school volleyball this year for her first season and she did pretty well for a first-year player. She's naturally athletic and picks up things quickly. Her issue was confidence and not knowing all aspects of the game well enough. We signed up for a local 14U girls travel volleyball club to get more experience. She was 12 at the time of tryouts and made the team as a practice player. That means she can practice with the team and if she shows enough improvement will be moved up to the team for games. We sort of knew what we were signing up for at the time, but didn't ask all the questions because she was happy about it.

It's a month later now and the travel schedule is out. There will be weekend-long tournaments up to 4-5 hours away, starting in two weeks. Come to find out that practice players are required to travel with the team and there is zero chance of them getting into any game while on the practice team. The reality of the situation is setting in for our daughter and she's taken a more pessimistic view on the situation. The tournament in 2 weeks is about 2.5 hours from home and starts at 8am Saturday with the final match being roughly 4pm Sunday. This is a big time and financial commitment to an event where my daughter won't play, so I suggested skipping it.

My wife was talking to other parents about it and the vibe was that practice players who don't travel with the team have reduced chances of getting called up to the team. I got a little heated at that point because I found the situation to be pretty unreasonable. This is 14 year old girls volleyball. We paid the same fees as everyone else, but if our daughter isn't going to play, don't make the whole family give up their weekend. I don't know if I'm getting too worked up over it, but I'm not happy with the situation. Every sacrifice we've made before was to support the kids. I don't feel like this situation is in the same bubble.

Not sure what we are going to do yet. Wife and I thought it was best to sleep on it. I'm typing this out to try to figure out if I'm overreacting or justified to pull her from this. I also wanted to vent about kids travel sports... it's become a racket.

Haven't read all the responses yet but my daughter is on a 15U club team. They have a "developmental" squad as well and our club does not require those girls/families to travel to tournaments. So yeah, seems like a pretty unreasonable request.

 

[Max Power]

I had two daughters play volleyball, travel was at most 2 hours, but wait until your daughter's team is eliminated from a tournament but you are forced to stay because she has to line judge for future games.

We usually had day long tournaments which entailed leaving the house at 5 am and not getting home until a 6 or 7.

They mentioned the practice team girls would do line judge and scorebook duties. Not exciting stuff.

 

[ChiefD]

I had two daughters play volleyball, travel was at most 2 hours, but wait until your daughter's team is eliminated from a tournament but you are forced to stay because she has to line judge for future games.

We usually had day long tournaments which entailed leaving the house at 5 am and not getting home until a 6 or 7.

They mentioned the practice team girls would do line judge and scorebook duties. Not exciting stuff.

So that's why they want them to go.

So the other parents and coaches don't have to do it and stay. That's BS.

 

[nirad3]

I had two daughters play volleyball, travel was at most 2 hours, but wait until your daughter's team is eliminated from a tournament but you are forced to stay because she has to line judge for future games.

We usually had day long tournaments which entailed leaving the house at 5 am and not getting home until a 6 or 7.

They mentioned the practice team girls would do line judge and scorebook duties. Not exciting stuff.

That's dumb. Girls on other teams in the tournament who are on break between games are supposed to line judge, and from what I understand, the fees the location is charging covers scorekeepers and the referee (or whatever they're called in volleyball).

 

[ChiefD]

Man, the more I think about this the more mad I get.

I swear @Max Power - if your next post talks about going to confront the coach and only his wife is home and to make it up to you and help calm you down she services you on a pile of volleyball nets I swear to all things holy I'm going to put you in the Thursday Thread Hall of Fame and send you $100 and a bottle of the finest whiskey $20 can buy.

 

[arrow1]

tell them to pound sand

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Youth sports have gotten so far away from playing a game to have fun. Yes, compete hard and beat your buddy, but then head to the local pool. 99% of these kids would have just as much if not more fun going to the local court, gym, or diamond and just choose them up than to go 2+ hours away.

This is my take exactly. It is infuriating that we are asked to drive two states away and blow an entire weekend when we could just have local leagues instead.

A grand total of one kid on our soccer club went on to play soccer in college (D3). That's it. What was the point of this?

 

[Max Power]

Man, the more I think about this the more mad I get.

I swear @Max Power - if your next post talks about going to confront the coach and only his wife is home and to make it up to you and help calm you down she services you on a pile of volleyball nets I swear to all things holy I'm going to put you in the Thursday Thread Hall of Fame and send you $100 and a bottle of the finest whiskey $20 can buy.

In this case the coach is a female.

But I appreciate the fury. Makes me feel like my first instinct was right.

 

[Cowboysfan8]

I'd tell them to go screw themselves.

Yes

My kid played travel softball. She played on a 14u team when she was 12. She didn’t play alot that first year but she did get to play on Saturdays some and if they were way ahead.
There’s no way we would travel to a tournament if she was told there’s no chance of her playing

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Youth sports have gotten so far away from playing a game to have fun. Yes, compete hard and beat your buddy, but then head to the local pool. 99% of these kids would have just as much if not more fun going to the local court, gym, or diamond and just choose them up than to go 2+ hours away.

This is my take exactly. It is infuriating that we are asked to drive two states away and blow an entire weekend when we could just have local leagues instead.

A grand total of one kid on our soccer club went on to play soccer in college (D3). That's it. What was the point of this?

I do think there is a great benefit to playing high level club sports that has nothing to do with college. We never thought once about playing in college and are happy if they play through high school. But being part of a high-level club team is a great experience. My son now plays soccer, volleyball and basketball on intramural clubs at a large university and that was always my goal. I think its even more important these days where these kids are so isolated and don't have as many opportunities to interact in real life. (I've strongly encouraged him specifically to play co-ed wherever possible.) He was never a great player in youth clubs, but just because he played all those years he can walk onto a mid-level intramural team at his school and hold his own and have fun.

I completely agree with the comments about travel though. We are in the upper Midwest and will make several trips this winter/spring and into summer to places like Orlando, Dallas, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and several more. I won't go on more than one or two of these trips but my wife will do all of them. The kicker as you note is that we have plenty of good competition right here in our city. I went to the big nationals tournament last year in Louisville and as far as I could tell none of the teams I saw were any better than the numerous local clubs we played against right here at home. It is maddening.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

If she were an end of bench player that never gets PT but is on the active roster and can be put in the game then I would say yea, you have to go to everything.

But practice squad and legally can't even enter the game but still has to go? That's dumb as hell imo.

 

[Nick Vermeil]

I don't think our situation is representative since our team kinda sucks, but my kid is on the practice soccer travel squad for free, doesn't travel. They can pull him to the active roster if there is a need and it we still wouldn't have to pay the fee. We do it for the practice experience and social aspect, and the team appreciates the numbers for scrimmages. But I don't anticipate he'll ever hit the game day roster.

 

[Rustoleum]

So, if I got this all straight, the expectations are:

-paying full boat
-whole family has to go
- no chance to play
-expected to work at event

Glad my kids were band geeks, not that that was probably much less expensive.

She is in no way “letting down the team” or failing to follow through on a commitment by bailing on that whole thing. I feel you are all being taken advantage of to benefit the inner circle of that club. How many practice players do they carry?

 

[Gr00vus]

Sounds like a scam to me. That's a lot of time an money to spend for no reps for your kid. My policy was, if my kid isn't getting regular reps, I'm not paying you and I'm not traveling for you.

Find another program where she gets regular reps, spend the money on a private coach, whatever, but for sure leave this program.

 

[Max Power]

So, if I got this all straight, the expectations are:

-paying full boat
-whole family has to go
- no chance to play
-expected to work at event

Glad my kids were band geeks, not that that was probably much less expensive.

She is in no way “letting down the team” or failing to follow through on a commitment by bailing on that whole thing. I feel you are all being taken advantage of to benefit the inner circle of that club. How many practice players do they carry?

I think 4, but I'm not sure.

The whole family doesn't have to go, but its more that we don't know any of the other parents well enough to let our daughter ride with them to the events. In theory only my wife or I really need to go.

 

[Sparky Polastri]

I would never sign up for a situation like that. Been part of many travel teams both as a coach and player and I've seen many bizarre requirements. Find one that doesn't require this nonsense.

 

[gianmarco]

For the record, I would park my kid in front of a TV all weekend and take the hundreds of dollars you would spend on this weekend travel and light it on fire before I actually brought her to this. Just out of principle.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

This is more of a general travel sports question, but is there any type of governing body? or just as along as you get enough rich parents and insurance and a place to practice, anyone can form a travel team?

 

[Todem]

Get her on a club where she will play……this is *********.

You are subsidizing other players expenses.

This is a perfect way to get her to quit in short order. She needs to play to not only get better….but more importantly have fun and bond with other girls.

Paying to sit???? On a travel squad?

Utter nonsense.

High school and college…..that’s a different story.

She is 12 man. She needs to be playing, practicing and having fun. Not working hard and knowing she will sit.

Again 12 years old. Practice player’s on travel teams….WTF.