Nart Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Maybe I am completely off base, but it seems to me that there are a lot of swim, dance, gymnastics, and martial art moms, but not so many competitive (club/travel) soccer moms on this board? I seem to read a lot of posts on the Chat Board about kids being on competitive swim teams, gymnastic teams, and dance? I also notice a lot of kids doing martial arts several days a week. During the World Cup there weren't that many posts about soccer. Am I right or perhaps the soccer moms don't post about soccer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Our family has done primarily individual sports (judo, swimming, gymnastics, rock climbing) and a few team sports (water polo, baseball, rugby). For us, it worked better for the kids and was very easy to do multiple individual sports with multiple kids. High level team sports, imo, are hard to blend with a larger family. Also, homeschooling tends to work well with individual sports. Our flexibility has truly helped my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 There really aren't competitive travel soccer teams where I live. The closest one is an hour away for practices - just too far on a daily basis - and my kids have other interests that they would have to drop if they wanted to pursue a travel team, but they don't love soccer enough to want to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loowit Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 All of my kids have played soccer, but none on a competitive team. My youngest loves soccer and I expect that he will want to try out for the select team when he is old enough next spring. I am not sure what we will do at that point. It is a lot of traveling and expense and I am not sure we have the time. My DD stopped playing soccer when it interfered with her dance schedule, and my older DS stopped because he really didn't like it much as they got older and it was becoming more competitive even at the rec level. He will never be a great soccer player, he just wanted to have fun. I do, however, consider my self a soccer and dance mom, but I just don't talk about it much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Hmm I'm a soccer mom, a gymmom-but not a CGM I promise ;), a swim mom, and a horse show/equestrian eventing mom. I guess one advantage of multiple children is diversity of interests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmtzc2009 Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I'm not sure what I would post re: travel soccer. We are newbies though ds8 just started this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Both my kids played soccer one time, my son for many years. He's just not competitive and prefers theater, music, and circus arts! I love soccer for kids though - great sport! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caclcoca Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I have two that play AYSO soccer. I am not sure that either of them will try to do travel/club soccer. I enjoy watching them play, but I also have competitive swimmers. I usually end up with the swimmers while my husband takes the soccer players. Because of this, I don't talk about the soccer as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My kids play competitive soccer. My U14 started team camp tonight. My U9 (who is really 7, but is in his second year at U9 because pre academy wasn't working for him) starts team camp in a week. My U14 just got back from Wolverhampton's national camp. We may be doing a playing tour in England this spring with his SuperY team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My kids are crazy for soccer. They play on teams, in the yard, in the park, in the house when I'm not looking, etc. DH plays on a team, too, as a matter of fact. The World Cup was THE event of the year in our house. However, DH handles 100% of all team-soccer-related matters, including coaching. I attended one set of games (one for each kid) at the end of last season, just to see them all do their thing, and I have no plans to do any more than that this season. So I'm pretty sure I don't qualify as a soccer mom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennynd Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 DS has been playing since he was kinder and this will be the 3rd year in travel team. Soccer is HUGE around here. (Ny). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I am a soccer mom. :) DS10 plays club soccer, we travel some for tournaments, and the whole family is soccer-mad! World cup was a BIG DEAL here too; there was a thread on it, but I was too busy watching and going to DS10's camps and practices to post much during that time. We watched most of the World Cup games, and are now watching the International Champions Cup. :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My oldest has played soccer since 2.5. He's currently on a competitive U6 juniors team, but tryouts don't start here for the travel team until U8, as I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Library Momma Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My DD12 is on a competitive soccer team too. I'm not sure what I'd post about though, there is nothing about it that I didn't expect going in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItoLina Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 We are a soccer family! Both of my kids have played club soccer for the past year, and ds played AYSO the year before that. This fall will be our first true taste of the competitive side of it. Ds just got put on the roster for the U8 team and his first practice with them is tomorrow. They will be picking A and B teams this week and I am trying hard not to be a total nut case and to just relax about it, lol. DS is definitely WAY into it. He plays in the yard everyday and gets upset on days he doesnt have official practice. We even had to get him a nerf ball to use in the house. I have this video I took of him a couple of months ago standing at the table "boxing" his nerf ball while eating his breakfast! Lol. He literally has a ball with him 24/7. Dh has been involved in coaching him from the start. Dd likes it ok, but I am not sure she shares ds's enthusiasm for it. I think it's a great sport. I am a little nervous about the competitive games...we went to watch one last season, both to support our friend on the team and to get a glimpse of what we are getting ourselves into and it was INTENSE. I am glad we got to see a game and prepare mentally before ds was out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I was a soccer mom for many years. My son went to PS and played on the high school team, but he has graduated and my littles do different activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My son plays soccer and has since he was in K. He is currently doing AYSO. Even that team gets pretty competitive for U14 and required us to travel to LA for a two day championship. Ds is interested in trying for club next year, but the better ones. would require driving far through heavy traffic every day. He has been invited to a couple of tryouts, but wasn't that keen on it until recently. He was even invited to Xolo school, but there is no way I am crossing a border every day for him to train. Soccer do inmates here, but I guess I don't talk about it on the boards because there are plenty of people talking about it within the extended family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I'm a soccer mom. I guess. My boys play city league soccer. I do drive a mini-van. But I don't identify with the "soccer mom" as a cultural subset. My daughter is in tumbling with the rec department. She used to play soccer, but did much better the one year they had single-gender teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Happy soccer mom here. Youngest is on a U12 club team. Dh and I have been know to fight over who GETS to take her to the out of town games. It's a lot of fun. We heard that the women's world cup is in Canada next summer and since we live within driving distance we're talking about maybe trying to go to a game. Would need to get the kids passports. But wouldn't it be fun to see a game in person? We wouldn't even care too much if it wasn't a US game (we would need to see whatever is in Vancouver between mid-June and early July, hopefully not missing dd's tournament for June). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My kids have just started to take an interest in the sport. I signed them up for their first rec team this fall. We'll see how it goes. :) I doubt we will be competitive, though, because it's too hard to make that work as a single working mom of two. As it is I am wondering what I was smoking when I put their names on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 Good to know there a few soccer families around. My son will be playing his first official year of club soccer (fall U8) but he played for a junior academy club team in a Hispanic league all last year, played indoor soccer, spring AYSO, and in a winter city rec league. I knew I couldn't be the only soccer mom around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My dd plays AYSO and just got to play in the National games this month. It was a ton of fun. She would love to play club but it's not in the budget. She is happy right now to play regular season and Spring Select. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 but not so many competitive (club/travel) soccer moms on this board? . . . Am I right or perhaps the soccer moms don't post about soccer? I've been a soccer mom for 12 years and my husband's coached for about 5 years, but it's been through our homeschool rec league. One of my kids is a nationally certified soccer ref, and one of my kids has also coached. There's enough drama in our soccer lives, wouldn't want to relive it here, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Because I burned out on soccer about five years ago, lol. We did competitive soccer for a few years. Our oldest played the most, the second wants back in, the 4th dreams about it. I'm not sure I have the ambition or energy to do it again. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6packofun Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Because being a traveling team family is not the kind of family life we want. I would imagine that's true for many others, too, who have different priorities and schedules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I guess I'm a soccer mom. My boys play in a very relaxed, friendly league and have for years. If they keep going eventually as teens they can train to be the refs for the little kid games, which I think is super cute (and a cool first job). Neither of them are driven enough or have enough natural talent to be serious players, but we love soccer here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 My kids play in three different local soccer leagues. It is " the " sport they have all played. I guess it's not an exciting topic? Low drama? Some of my kids have also moved on to swimming and basketball. I guess my kids are good but not prodigies so it takes up my time but doesn't really give me conversational fodder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mermo Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 We are a soccer fam! Club soccer for both boys and my DD may play on her twins team this year as well. We are missing the World Cup, the kids loved having so many wonderful matches to watch!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I suggested soccer for my boys to my DH, but he's really not a big fan of the idea because of the large amounts of travel, time, and money that he's seen friends and coworkers expending. Martial arts, however, meets during the day, which is a huge plus for us because we live at least half an hour from anything, which really makes evening activities difficult, and all three children who attend can go to the same class, because it's a mixed age class, and the instructor pairs them with students of similar size and skill. (My younger brothers are three years apart, and my parents did a lot of juggling and all to get them to their practices and games, because they were in different age brackets and therefore had different times and locations. They could do it because my dad worked two miles from our house and was a teacher; my DH works forty minutes from home and is gone 10-12 hours a day, and I have no family nearby to help out.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 My soccer kid says homeschool kids are not "sportsy" and by and large he is right. I had to chuckle at this. Ds obviously didn't get the memo. He even met another boy this past year, who was also homeschooled, and everyone goes out of their way to keep them on separate teams when they play soccer. This particular boy plays club soccer, and ds says he is a feniminal player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Dd1 will be doing AYSO soccer this year as her first extracurricular ever :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 This is my second year coaching soccer for a Boys and Girls Club team. Can you show me a good website with a list of drils for the season and any good team building tips? I got no training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 This is my second year coaching soccer for a Boys and Girls Club team. Can you show me a good website with a list of drils for the season and any good team building tips? I got no training. You can find quite a few videos on Youtube. One I know of is Coerver coaching. They have a lot of drills. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Both my girls have played soccer in a relaxed league since they were 3. They're not serious about it, though; nor are they very good. :p :D I don't consider myself a soccer mom -- we also play basketball and whatever else that pops up on our radar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splash Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I guess I'm a soccer mom. Ds 16 plays varsity for local high school soccer team and will be a junior this fall. He has been on club soccer travel team since he was 10 (started at the YMCA when he was 4 and at 5 decided he needed a more competitive team without girls or kids who want to pick flowers and sit on their mom's laps LOL). He hopes to go on to play division 2 college soccer in a couple of years. He just finished up two different soccer camps, one at Creighton University and one at Denver University. He loves soccer. Practices for fall season have already started. If you think club soccer is crazy busy, high school soccer is double. Practice 6 days a week for 2-3 hours. He loves it. He also trys to play indoor soccer in the winter with friends. 8 yr old ds plays rec soccer and will transition if he's interested when the time comes to club soccer. He's not as athletic or competitive as older brother but loves the team aspect of the sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 This is my second year coaching soccer for a Boys and Girls Club team. Can you show me a good website with a list of drils for the season and any good team building tips? I got no training. My kids have done Coerver camps for almost ten years now. I'll second that recommendation, it's given them solid basic skills. My son likes this guy on YouTube: onlinesocceracademy.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollie010 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 We are a soccer family. The three older kids play with differing levels if commitment . DS (10) is sold out to soccer and invests a lot of time and energy. He started the game late at 8 years old. Most people here start at 3 or 4. He hopes to be ready for the highly competitive clubs teams by the spring season, but I think more realistically it will be next Fall. He's got all the pieces, but needs to work on speed. He is like a boy between leagues, not challenged by rec league but not quite ready for club. For example, his rec league coach had three practices all season. DS scored over twenty goals for his team that ranked in the top of the league. His next highest scoring teammate had 4 goals for the season. But, he had an abysmal club tryout. :( Poor thing. If anybody has any ideas on how to help him let me know. DD 9 loves soccer as an activity secondary to dance. She enjoys the sport at the rec level and made it to Allstar tournament play last year. I don't see her commiting much beyond that level. DS 5 is kind of a natural at the sport but right now prefers baseball. I think he'll do both for a while before concentrating in either one. DD 18 months. Spends her days dribbling and passing. Her daddy sees potential. Lol. And she is good for entertainment on long tournament days. DH coaches various rec leagues and high school varsity or Jv depending on the season and our other time commitments. I just love watching my family play and have fun. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juniper Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 We bleed soccer here. Well, soccer and horses. Kids dabble successfully in other sports, but with their mom being a trainer and their dad being a coach and ref, they are kinda doomed. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 My son is the kid who dribbles up and down the stairs, who perfected his outside pass against my raised hearth, and who gets most of his toe touches in at the stovetop while waiting for his food to cook. He has a dedicated "inside only" ball for the house. Look into ODP for a higher level of practice and to network with area clubs. It would help a kid who struggled at try outs to gain experience at trying out while also getting a wide sample of feedback on which skills need more work. It cost us about the same as rec registration. Let coaches/clubs know that you want to guest play. My son did it with various select teams for two years before I let him sign with a single club. He got to play under a variety of coaches, which is always good IMO. Rec and select are two different beasts. The speed alone will challenge even the most fit, best rec player - there's a definite adjustment period. Have your son come up with a personal training program that includes running 1-2 miles/day a few days each week. My son would take the kids to the park and do sprints on the sand volleyball court while they played. Running on grass was NOTHING after that! Cross-train and strengthen his core - my son does pilates and boxing. Have your son set small goals to work on daily - x numbers of touches/day; x number foot juggles, etc. Do small goals it will take him a few weeks to master ... neither too easy, nor too difficult. Find a coach who does small group lessons and make that a weekly practice. It'll cost more, but he can use rec games to practice any skills the private coach is working on. It should make rec games more tolerable, too. Practice and games are different ... it really takes a game situation to hone soccer IQ and develop the confidence to take risks on the pitch. Look around for an off-season futsal league or buy your own futsal ball - it's a GREAT way to increase speed and control. Keep a hacky sack or shuttlecock in the car. We play in the few minutes it takes to fill the car with gas, e.g. At park day or other kids' practices we do soccer tennis or just juggle between us (regulation-size ball). That last one is always good to gather a crowd - the more that join, the bigger the circle, the more fun it is. And people always want to join. :) By the time I green-lighted select, he had trained seriously for two years and had sought opportunities to better himself through guest play and a variety of critiques. He was rewarded by offers of a contract from 4 of 4 coaches. 3 of those coaches offered a full scholarship if he'd sign on the spot. He chose the 4th coach and negotiated his own scholarship before bringing me the contract to sign. :lol: This summer he signed with an academy team. He hopes to work his way up to the national team. People were convinced I made a mistake by delaying his entry into select, but it felt right to spend those first years investing in him - not a club. I wanted the club to be a resource for us, not our master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollie010 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Ripley! Thank you so much for the information. I think this will help him so much. He has been talking about setting up a training routine for the mornings at home. I'll just print your post out for him and he can start there. He has been playing for two different developmental leagues because he wanted exposure to different coaches. But, it keeps him very busy, balancing game and practice schedules. I may talk with him about choosing one league so he can focus on a personal training routine. He won't get as much playtime, but he may see some improvement. He went to an amazing camp this summer (after tryouts) and got a chance to get to know the coaches more and I think they got a better picture of his skill set. They told him to start coming to the club team practice. So, I think with your info we can come up with a plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 My kids play soccer. Well my twins are just starting this fall. My DS isn't the greatest player, but he loves it. I don't find much to post about, it's just community soccer, not a travel league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisbeth Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 In my area soccer has started to be passe. Maybe because so many have done it in the past, it is not distingushing on a college application. Not sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Soccer really isn't an option here. There are no teams for kids over about 8 years old. I'm a rodeo mom. ;) As the joke goes-- It's like a soccer mom, but with horses, entry fees, diesel fuel, vet bills, trailers, tack to clean, broken bones, feed to haul, hay to stack, hospital bills, and hat hair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehon Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 My kids play competitive soccer. My U14 started team camp tonight. My U9 (who is really 7, but is in his second year at U9 because pre academy wasn't working for him) starts team camp in a week. My U14 just got back from Wolverhampton's national camp. We may be doing a playing tour in England this spring with his SuperY team. Wow! Even though I'm not exactly sure what you just said ;) , I did catch possible travel to England later this year. Neat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 My youngest still plays soccer. My oldest quit when he was 10. My husband played on an indoor league until last year. We are in a rec league-not competitive at all. Soccer is cut-throat here. The competitive, club teams are very, very competitive. The average player doesn't stand a chance. This rec league has been great for ds11. He has fun, enjoys the game and has good friends on his team. In my part of the country, we see a lot of burn out with soccer players. The average age they quit playing is 12. The pressure is fierce. My dh has been playing soccer almost constantly since he was 4. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Soccer mom here--the loud kind ;) My youngest plays on a competitive/traveling team. She's awesome (if I may say so, lol.) We don't watch it on TV, though. Weird. Anyhoo, between soccer and gym, we spend many a weekend on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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