The state of soccer in North Texas

I believe that soccer in North Texas is a giant money making scheme and is not promoting or benefiting of soccer in the USA. The average price for any competitive soccer team is $2500.00 and this is highway robbery  by wantabe coaches that want to make a big buck. The people at the top of the big clubs are laughing all the to the bank at the expense of soccer development in the USA. This is why soccer is so poor in the USA and a team like Belgium with a fraction of the population beat us easily in the WC. Soccer has become a sport for the rich like polo or golf and poor  kids cannot play the sport at a high level or get good coaching. In other countries the academies find the best athletes and train the kids  for free and develop their talents so they can sell them to other clubs or keep them for their professional team. Here if you got the money does not matter how bad your kid is they will find a spot for them even on the DA or PA teams. IT is all just a big sham. That is why my kids no longer play soccer because they could not go anywhere with the sport even if they were decent  the best that could be expected is that they  end up with a scholarship to some Podunk college in west texas that nobody want to attend anyhow. Then after their illustrious college career,  they might end up coaching some lame boys club team only to perpetuate the cycle again. I really don't think most coaches no what they are doing or they are foreigners with a heavy accent that could not coach in their home town but have to come to USA because they can easily get a job here just do to their accent but have no real credentials other then they probably played soccer as children in the streets of brazil or England or wherever. American's are just too foolish and will buy into any money making scheme to feed their own egos. Probably of all the kids that play competitive soccer in the USA. .001% will end up playing in any meaningful league around the world (premiere league, bundisliga erdvesie spelling?  etc. )  and of those only .01 % will even get any meaningful playing time. Who are the best players we have ever produced? Dempsey Bradley, Altidore etc. This is the best we can do until soccer changes because the coaches, the leagues (classic league ) and every other league are only after one thing and that is $$$$.
So just know that your BB may play for some college soccer team in a Podunk town in west texas maybe even on a scholarship and you will have the privilege of driving hundreds of miles to come see the little fella play, but isn't this the reason that you spent all that money? So you could watch your BB doing what he loves to do.

I hope he'll get a decent college education and degree along with the scholarship at Podunk University.   

What do you have against foreigners anyway?

I do not think he has anything against foreigners. What he is doing is giving an a very good approach about many foreigner coaches. Many of them are from Brasil or England with no credentials. American coaches have the same problem. They play some college soccer 20 years ago and for some people that is enough. But it is not.

Many academies around the world are well structured by people who are recognized as a futbol players. They have coaches that few years ago were playing in big clubs and some of them played World Cup, champions league, etc

Soccer academies charge for the training and facilities around the world and basically works as same as here. Soccer academies are not for free. Yes, if they find a good player maybe they offer free tuition. In this particularly case, I know that at least FCD offers scholarships and other incentives for the talented ones. And part of the business is to sell them or keep it as a shirts seller just like Messi with Barcelona.

But the US soccer is not that bad, being into the 16 best teams worldwide is not bad at all, if not, you can ask your British soccer coach at your club how does it feel being eliminated in the first round and have just one World Cup championship,.

Maybe could be a good idea to star looking for German, Argentinian, Colombian,, Netherlands, Mexico, and some other countries that are in constant movement creating new concepts and leaving behind the Rolls Royce, that in fact, nobody likes.

About the price, is ridiculous, $2,500 for two practices a week and one game, plus uniforms and tournaments. For those who not care about this, is just like paying $50 for a Big Mac and a coke.

"About the price, is ridiculous, $2,500 for two practices a week and one game, plus uniforms and tournaments. For those who not care about this, is just like paying $50 for a Big Mac and a coke."

far be it for me to defend big club prices but
100 practices a year (2x 1.5 hours) and 19 games works out to about
15 bucks per hour over the year. costly? probably but hardly a ridiculous number...I have never been in a sport w free uniforms, tournaments? well i think thats hard to quantify...now if you want to complain about the quality of coaching for that money thats a whole separate thread...

My coach is British?
WT*?   

Funny, i was just researching this because i'm tired of getting feed to death. Looked into clubs in other states including the same clubs we have here in North Texas and their fees around $1000. So, what gives in North Texas? We must be getting a tremendous better product!

By the way, if you are figuring what the coach is making per hour, don't forget to multiply by16 or what ever the roster size is. That would make it a built higher than $15 per hour.

huskies02 wrote:Funny, i was just researching this because i'm tired of getting feed to death.  Looked into clubs in other states including the same clubs we have here in North Texas and their fees around $1000.  So, what gives in North Texas?  We must be getting a tremendous better product!

By the way, if you are figuring what the coach is making per hour, don't forget to multiply by16 or what ever the roster size is.  That would make it a built higher than $15 per hour.

i know but i am not too worried about what others make only what i pay and the value of what i pay for...

Well if he is making 15 dollars per hour from 16 kids that means he making 240 per hour. Don't you think this is rediculous for a childrens soccer coach.

OB1 wrote:Well if he is making 15 dollars per hour from 16 kids that means he making 240 per hour. Don't you think this is rediculous for a childrens soccer coach.

i would answer that in a couple of parts and a couple of different ways...

1. if you look at it that way, yes.
2. how much would it cost you to hire someone to teach your kid soccer? then its cheap. any 15 dollar an hour for rent coaches?
3. the real answer...no one is forcing you or me to pay him. you can start your own team and charge whatever you want...

OB1 wrote:Well if he is making 15 dollars per hour from 16 kids that means he making 240 per hour. Don't you think this is rediculous for a childrens soccer coach.

The $15 figure is based on all the grand total. So subtract league fees, tournament fees, fields and then you have to subtract all the overhead for the team. That includes the owners, the club office and the scholarships.

I was once told that coaches get $1000 - $1200 a month for a team. Assuming 3 hours of practice and a 2 hour game slot each week, works out to about $50 per hour for direct interaction with the players. Brought down further if you count planning, travel, meetings, recruiting, extra sessions (open practices/tryouts).

Not a bad estimate for direct interaction. Travel time and gas needs to be added. Trying to find players must be added. Planning time must be added. Getting to the session for setup and takedown add time. Meetings. Discussion with parents. Extra sessions. Covering for other teams. Planning time. I think your time per team estimate changes significantly. I think the 15 dollars an hour is more realistic. Now if you could show me a club that pays coaches 250 an hour please let me know. In would also like to know the math that got to that number. That's like an hour a week even the most lazy coach works more then an hour per team. Unless you have 20 minute practices 1 day a week and no games. OB1 a little upset but let's think this through rationally. So much to comment on from your post but your numbers are way out of line.

Here is the math as I know it. $2500 fee per player, $1500 to the club and $1000 to the coach, roughly. Multiply by 15 to be average for team size. That's. $22,500 to club and $15000 to the coach. Lets say the total hours per team is 6 hours per week and they do that for 52 weeks for a total of 312 hours worked that would be $48 per hour. Even if you say they put in an hour or more per week its a pretty good pay rate. Compare it to our teachers pay rate of about $25 per hour not counting their prep time and grading time, based on a 40 week year.

The other chunk of change, $22500 to the club does what? I know about $1000 per team goes to pay league fees and ref fees. Yes, some of it goes to field fees but come on! Then they have a 501c status!

I guess we are all guilty of allowing this to be the case. Like someone said, no one is forcing us to participate.

Not Defending the big club fees....but lets be honest with the math. Agree on the 100 practices per year (2 per week at 52 weeks), don't agree with the19 games. Look through Got Soccer and you will find most teams with the big clubs are playing 40-50 games a year. My BB team played 46 games since August of last year. (doesn't include the Sunday scrimages)

huskies02 wrote:Here is the math as I know it.  $2500 fee per player, $1500 to the club and $1000 to the coach, roughly.  Multiply by 15 to be average for team size.  That's. $22,500 to club and $15000 to the coach.  Lets say the total hours per team is 6 hours per week and they do that for 52 weeks for a total of 312 hours worked that would be $48 per hour.  Even if you say they put in an hour or more per week its a pretty good pay rate.  Compare it to our teachers pay rate of about $25 per hour not counting their prep time and grading time, based on a 40 week year.

The other chunk of change, $22500 to the club does what?  I know about $1000 per team goes to pay league fees and ref fees.  Yes, some of it goes to field fees but come on!  Then they have a 501c status!

I guess we are all guilty of allowing this to be the case.  Like someone said, no one is forcing us to participate.

IMHO, They charge it because they can.  That's what the market will sustain here in NTX.  It's an unfortunate fact of our culture.  As a result, the clubs take advantage of a large number of parents that think their kid will get better only by paying $$$ when the root of why their kid isn't getting better is the Parents!  Partly genetics, yes unfortunate fact of nature, but mostly by not leading by example.  If you roll up late for practice with big-gulp in hand, and dump your kid out twice a week for practice and expect the coach to magically transform your kid, your fooling yourself.
       
I've witnessed parents, that rarely get their kids to practice on time ask why their kid isn't progressing. Then they mention they want to consider going to a big name club to get a better result.  So many parents are just willing to throw money at the problem, when in many cases it's just a matter of how dedicated and talented the kid is.  That's a direct reflection of the parents. You don't need money to kick a ball around in the back yard for 3-4 hours a day.  

Here's the irony - with so many parents willing to throw tonnes of cash at improving a kid that doesn't have the dedication to practice every day of the week in his back yard or local park, MANY of the kids that DO have the dedication to get hours of touches in daily are priced out of the market.  There aren't enough scholarships to account for how many kids I've seen in recreational soccer that could run circles around the most kids on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, teams at the big clubs.  There is an unserved market for those players.  

Another factor is that the clubs are compensating for little to no investment in soccer by local governments and school systems.  Most if not all travel programs in other states that offer much more reasonable fees are able to do so through a much stronger public/private partnership.  In my research in starting a club, I haven't seen any good examples of that in the Plano / Northern Subburbs (PSA doesn't count given their inability to run a decent club program). Allen, well, they wasted millions on a shrine to american football, etc....

I think a better metric might be, how many touches does the player get per practice. How many new moves/skills did the players learn in a six month period? Are the practices a set of advancing skills/drills and then scrimmage..I see way too many big clubs do a rec level drill if that, then and hour of scrimmage. Some just do scrimmage. Yes and I mean FCD, Liverpool etc.

tequilaz wrote:I think a better metric might be, how many touches does the player get per practice. How many new moves/skills did the players learn in a six month period? Are the practices a set of advancing skills/drills and then scrimmage..I see way too many big clubs do a rec level drill if that, then and hour of scrimmage. Some just do scrimmage. Yes and I mean FCD, Liverpool etc.

Amen, couldn't agree more. Very good point and certainly part of the equation.

North Texas soccer reminds me of hunting in Texas. When I was a teenager farmers and land owners would just about beg hunters to kill off the wild hogs that were tearing up their crops for free. NOW, those same land owners are charging hundreds of dollars if not thousands of dollars for the same help with NO GUARANTEE of a kill.
I agree that clubs and coaches are starting to charge ridiculous amounts of money starting at the academy level and all the way up to select. Parents have to stop buying into the BS that's sold to them when it comes to paying such high amounts. I just cant see it changing anytime soon. coaches are starting to pull down 1,500-2,000 a month coaching one team. The nasty side effect I see is coaches burning kids out to win at all cost just so they can justify the amount they charge. We as parents and coaches need to remember that this is a marathon not a sprint. again, I just don't see it changing.

Another major problem is the high cost of leagues and Tournaments. Some of the tournament coast are ridiculous. If you want to make some good money put on a tournament. There is big money being made there. Academy teams are paying 400-500, select is paying 500-700
North Texas Leagues have their grubby hands out as well.
Classic league is 870.00-1,250.00
Lake highlands is 900.00-1,000.00
most of the academy leagues are 600.00 and that doesn't count north Texas rec leagues charging UP to 80.00 JUST to register a child for to play academy. This is one area that North Texas needs to get fixed. North Texas rec leagues are charging way to much money for less than 5 minutes of work. I don't want to hear that rec leagues are just trying to recover money they are losing to academy leagues. who ever said they were owed it? Where I live the rec league charges the same amount if you play rec or if you just need them to register your child to play academy.

One of the host on 1310 the TIcket said youth soccer was a multi-Billion Dollar industry. No free/cheep hunting anymore....... Sorry I ranted so long. Off my soap box and back into the shadows.

Shameless plug.... our 04 boys team is coached by a veteran with a national C license. We pay him a competitive wage tied to the number of players. He has a day job to pay the bills which helps. Our annual dues of $1,200 include league play in Plano Premier, 5 tournaments, plus indoor/lit field rentals during the darker months. Our base uniform package is $125. That includes home/away jerseys, one pair of shorts, socks, and a bag. Everything else is available as an option to keep costs down. We also do payment plans for those that cannot afford $1,325 in one shot.

We practice three days a week for 2 hours each time. We augment with volunteer assistant coaches that played at the D1 level to keep the pace/tempo up during drills and show the kids what's possible. It improves the quality of our practices without adding to the costs. We make a real effort to avoid large numbers with kids standing around waiting for their turn in the drills.

A few of us came from other larger clubs and created this team for the all of the same reasons in this thread and others. We have an ambitious goal to grow our indy team into a proper club, but need your help. I'm new to the area and don't have a lot of recruiting connections. If you know anyone in that middle ground between D1 Classic and rec looking for a great place to continue to develop, please send them our way. We have a few spots left.

We tend to prefer very athletic kids that play multiple sports and/or strong players that shy away from select because of the cost and strict travel and absence rules. We are firm, but accommodate family travel and conflicts with other sports. We have multiple players that are with us because they go back to Mexico or Europe all summer and would have a hard time signing with other clubs.

Please PM me if you know of anyone and want to help our little club succeed.

Posts like this are getting old. Not that hard to do something constructive...and many teams charge less than $1k. You can opt out of the merry to round if you want.

Rightback wrote:Posts like this are getting old. Not that hard to do something constructive...and many teams charge less than $1k. You can opt out of the merry to round if you want.

That's so constructive. Thank you for your brilliant and insightful contribution to this discussion. If only knew what a "merry to round" was.

These threads get posted every year about this time when buyer's remorse sets in. No, mostly you don't get what you pay for.

The college scholarship card is played by a lot of coaches out there and it is used as bait to separate you from your hard earned cash. But, there are literally thousands of ego driven parents here in NTX that believe Little Johnny is the next big deal.

Truth is, if you pay/play club soccer on a top team from U11 to U18, your investment can easily top $40k. If your team travels and plays in multiple leagues beyond U14, that number can climb to well over $50k, per child.

Finish I believe you are right. Complaints about the costs of select sports is consistently out there. There are a host of volunteers out there that do it for the love but it takes time and a fair compensation for time is the question and what is fair. You can't list every club dollars and compare it side by side to get fair. Because value is what to parties are willing to pay for the service and what is deemed as received for the service. When last I checked this country is based on a free market system hence the independents stepped up and the quazi independents. In industry standards there are different markets Luxury cars and Economy cars. Should you hate BMW or Mercedes for creating that market while you can only afford an Accord. Just different markets need to choose the vehicle that works best for your needs and wants and those may change with time. Now at lets say $2,500 a year I am going to put it into a per day charge. 7 bucks a day. For memories, fights, good times bad times, exercise and to watch the joy on your child's face. I believe if your child wasn't playing soccer that money may have been spent elsewhere as that's generally how funds work in america Maybe on a deck or a bigger house or something. Your kids are only kids once and these days will be gone before you know it. Life is always about cost benefits. You have to judge what that is and if you feel your getting the benefit for the costs. Enjoy the season be happy and let the games begin.

I came from the UK last year and have qualifications to Level 3 UEFA for kids (up to age 12). I was always a volunteer coach as are most of the youth football teams in the UK (other than the professional clubs who run pro-youth setups from age 13).

The way it is run there is you get a few small sponsors together, you run a few fund-raisers per year and the parents contribute a small fee per week to cover the cost of training lets (we charged GBP 5.00 per week), had two teams sharing half a pitch each, so about 30 kids.

This more than covered the costs for training, refs and pitch fees. Then the sponsors take care of all the kit.

That being said, I still pay it as I want my son playing a good level of football (Select D1). Not complaining; I just think the entire setup it wrong and built to make money; not development based.

The title of post said 'State of NTX soccer', so I thought I was going to read about 5 teams (boys/girls) winning Region III and moving onto Nationals and the awesomeness of talent in the area!

Laughed at the tired, old threads on the cost and hourly rates of a coach and complaints that club focus is on profit and not development.

So, don't pay. Play rec. examples are - dont buy a BMW and complain that the car costs too much! Shut up and buy a Yaris! Don't send your kid to TCU or Baylor and complain the price is too high as Professors are making $10,000 per hour teaching. Comminity College might be a better option!

Get back to complaining about the Dark Lord's hostile takeover of Indy clubs and fat refs not moving more than 5 yards in a game!