New York City Fc Announce Ground-breaking Youth Development League

[Nicholas Constantino]

What's this pay to play stuff? Do kids teams require serious cash in the US? Junior teams in the UK require subs of about £50 a season to cover costs of refs insurance and the like so technically I guess it's pay to play but the cost isn't really beyond anyone. Seems like a pretty messed up system if you're having to shell out big money so your kid can play sport.

I'm not sure about teams affiliated with professional clubs as I was never good enough, but to play for most competive clubs, atleast in the Syracuse or Binghamton area it's pretty expensive. One team I tried out for cost $500 just to try out- if you made it you had to pay more money too, and if you didn't you were out $500 and had no team to play with.
I'm betting it's different with professionally affiliated clubs though, but I wouldn't know.

Edit- most of the local clubs don't have prices online, but I found one that did:

Academy U9(Training fee includes training 2 Days a week (75 minutes per session)

• Oct 1-30 - $105
• Nov 1 - Jan 31 - $315
• Feb 1 - Apr 30 - $315
• May 1 - July 31 - $315

 

[Sabo]

What's this pay to play stuff? Do kids teams require serious cash in the US? Junior teams in the UK require subs of about £50 a season to cover costs of refs insurance and the like so technically I guess it's pay to play but the cost isn't really beyond anyone. Seems like a pretty messed up system if you're having to shell out big money so your kid can play sport.

I run a typical youth club far outside of NYC and the costs we have to make back with player fees add up quickly. We have 200 kids playing competitively and it costs $34,000 just to make sure they have a place to train 90 minutes a week during the winter. No municipal parks or schools or fields we can use so we have our own facility with 4 fields that needs constant maintenance, improvement, etc. Our competitive program is about $1000/year and doesn't quite cover the Club's out of pocket expenses. We have a non-competitive program that is $100/season that we have another 500 kids enjoy, but we can't even guarantee the Coach knows anything about soccer at that level. Outside my club, the most competitive teams (and generally the best) teams in the area cost $3,000-$7,000 year (I am sure some are more). A lot of those additional costs are travel to games and overnight travel to tournaments. It is a pretty messed up system. The NYCFC initiative is a positive development and something I can point to as we try to teach the game to our kids the right way.

 

[Without a Dream]

Thanks guys.

That's pretty mindblowing. In the UK they're just run by volunteers, with parents and coaches taking care of the travel, they're local leagues though and I expect these cover much wider areas.

 

[Nicholas Constantino]

Thanks guys.

That's pretty mindblowing. In the UK they're just run by volunteers, with parents and coaches taking care of the travel, they're local leagues though and I expect these cover much wider areas.

I'm sure thats why. The problem with American youth leagues, atleast the ones I have experienced in NY state is that the good ones are few and far between, and there are usually not many good ones within a close proximity (I'm sure its different in NYC though), so in order to play competitive games teams have to travel very far, often to places like Buffalo, Rochester, and and Pennsylvania, which are all a good 3-4 hours from Syracuse. They have to travel that far for basically every single game. With that said though, I still think the amount to pay is crazy expensive, especially when you take into account that every club that I have seen parents still have to pay for travel (gas money, vehicles) and for food for the team and themselves, and for the hotel to stay wherever you travel to.

 

[Falastur]

I run a typical youth club far outside of NYC and the costs we have to make back with player fees add up quickly. We have 200 kids playing competitively and it costs $34,000 just to make sure they have a place to train 90 minutes a week during the winter. No municipal parks or schools or fields we can use so we have our own facility with 4 fields that needs constant maintenance, improvement, etc. Our competitive program is about $1000/year and doesn't quite cover the Club's out of pocket expenses. We have a non-competitive program that is $100/season that we have another 500 kids enjoy, but we can't even guarantee the Coach knows anything about soccer at that level. Outside my club, the most competitive teams (and generally the best) teams in the area cost $3,000-$7,000 year (I am sure some are more). A lot of those additional costs are travel to games and overnight travel to tournaments. It is a pretty messed up system. The NYCFC initiative is a positive development and something I can point to as we try to teach the game to our kids the right way.

Cripes. $34k just to rent somewhere for one season? That's insane. Most kids' clubs here just use public fields or rent a school field during hours when the school isn't using it - they only pay what I'd guess is a few thousand if not only a few hundred as I'd imagine the schools and so on will bite your hand off just to get any money at all for their facilities which will otherwise go completely unused outside of school hours. I can't even imagine what places here you'd have to rent for $34,000 a year. Maybe if you rented a 5-star spa hotel's sports facilities it might cost that much...

 

[Kjbert]

Even if you rent a public field here in the US, be it a school or park, you still have to pay to use the field. Nothing is free here.

 

[Sabo]

Cripes. $34k just to rent somewhere for one season? That's insane. Most kids' clubs here just use public fields or rent a school field during hours when the school isn't using it - they only pay what I'd guess is a few thousand if not only a few hundred as I'd imagine the schools and so on will bite your hand off just to get any money at all for their facilities which will otherwise go completely unused outside of school hours. I can't even imagine what places here you'd have to rent for $34,000 a year. Maybe if you rented a 5-star spa hotel's sports facilities it might cost that much...

Right now there is 2 feet of snow on our fields. I will be happy to get the kids on them in April. We get 3 hours a week of gym time from the school for $40/hour but we probably cant use it 1 week out of 3. Otherwise we are paying $190/hour for guaranteed time on indoor turf (1/2 field) to train. Its our only guaranteed option for November - March.

It is insane.

 

[Nicholas Constantino]

You even have to rent field time in Central NY where 90% of the land is just open fields. A guy I know is making a killing because he had a bunch of empty land sitting there that he turned into really really nice fields and rents them out to all sorts of teams and clubs to use.

 

[Kjbert]

You even have to rent field time in Central NY where 90% of the land is just open fields. A guy I know is making a killing because he had a bunch of empty land sitting there that he turned into really really nice fields and rents them out to all sorts of teams and clubs to use.

Yea, but in his defense, the liability to him is astronomical. To even let you walk on the field probably costs him 40% of whatever he takes in in insurance costs alone, before maintenance.

 

[Nicholas Constantino]

Yea, but in his defense, the liability to him is astronomical. To even let you walk on the field probably costs him 40% of whatever he takes in in insurance costs alone, before maintenance.

Yeah he pays a lot in insurance, but he still makes a lot of money.

 

[Kjbert]

Nothing wrong with making money.

 

[juventuz]

My son used to play for one of the local soccer clubs that was trying to be the premier club in the area. They used to practice at an indoor dome facility that was huge. You could fit 2 full size fields in it, with room for people to watch. The facility also has a couple outdoor fields, with one of them being used for the local NPSL team. The costs for using the dome were outrageous, but the place was always packed. Every night from 5-10pm it was packed, all weekend long too. You could easily have 6-8 practice sessions going on at once, with all different age groups. Each session was only an hour as well.

My son has since moved from soccer to lacrosse, which he prefers and there's a local facility that puts on an indoor winter session. 7 sessions that are an hour and a half and it only costs $75 per kid.

 

[Nicholas Constantino]

My son used to play for one of the local soccer clubs that was trying to be the premier club in the area. They used to practice at an indoor dome facility that was huge. You could fit 2 full size fields in it, with room for people to watch. The facility also has a couple outdoor fields, with one of them being used for the local NPSL team. The costs for using the dome were outrageous, but the place was always packed. Every night from 5-10pm it was packed, all weekend long too. You could easily have 6-8 practice sessions going on at once, with all different age groups. Each session was only an hour as well.

My son has since moved from soccer to lacrosse, which he prefers and there's a local facility that puts on an indoor winter session. 7 sessions that are an hour and a half and it only costs $75 per kid.

Prices at the dome are freaking crazy and yet it's always packed. Although the owner of it is a shady guy that owes ALOT of money.

 

[M Funk]

Youth soccer in the US is finally changing for the better. The book Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski points out that successful countries have relatively large populations, a healthy GDP, and soccer intelligence. The US has always had two out of three. Ajax and Barca, teams historically known for successfully developing talent via youth academies, see the US as a huge untapped market for talent and have opened academies here. The great part is that they are looking beyond the rich kids to unearth talent. It's encouraging to see NYC FC/Man City doing the same.

Another great read is Claudio Reyna's US Youth Soccer Curriculum which was developed during his time as head of youth dev for US Soccer. The result of his investigation into Europe's youth success is the blueprint I use as a coach at the grass roots level of my comminity team.

(http://resources.ussoccer.com/n7v8b...s of Play U.S. Soccer Coaching Curriculum.pdf)

Every parent of a soccer player should also read Coaching Outside The Box by Richard Shaw. Fantastic book that highlights the problems and solutions for US youth soccer - including how to fix one of the most important hurdles, the mindset of the US soccer parent.

Lastly, thank TV for making soccer cool to US kids. I watch the BPL and La Liga every Saturday and Sunday morning with my sons and I ask my players to watch pro games for homework. They see how the game is played at the highest level and they know all the stars and try to emulate them. When I was a kid you were lucky to catch a game on TV every couple of months.

 

[Kjbert]

Youth soccer in the US is finally changing for the better. The book Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski points out that successful countries have relatively large populations, a healthy GDP, and soccer intelligence. The US has always had two out of three. Ajax and Barca, teams historically known for successfully developing talent via youth academies, see the US as a huge untapped market for talent and have opened academies here. The great part is that they are looking beyond the rich kids to unearth talent. It's encouraging to see NYC FC/Man City doing the same.

Another great read is Claudio Reyna's US Youth Soccer Curriculum which was developed during his time as head of youth dev for US Soccer. The result of his investigation into Europe's youth success is the blueprint I use as a coach at the grass roots level of my comminity team.

(http://resources.ussoccer.com/n7v8b8j3/cds/downloads/Part 1 - Style and Principles of Play U.S. Soccer Coaching Curriculum.pdf)

Every parent of a soccer player should also read Coaching Outside The Box by Richard Shaw. Fantastic book that highlights the problems and solutions for US youth soccer - including how to fix one of the most important hurdles, the mindset of the US soccer parent.

Lastly, thank TV for making soccer cool to US kids. I watch the BPL and La Liga every Saturday and Sunday morning with my sons and I ask my players to watch pro games for homework. They see how the game is played at the highest level and they know all the stars and try to emulate them. When I was a kid you were lucky to catch a game on TV every couple of months.

Post of the year material

 

[northernburbs]

Thanks guys.

That's pretty mindblowing. In the UK they're just run by volunteers, with parents and coaches taking care of the travel, they're local leagues though and I expect these cover much wider areas.

Thats the way it was here 20 years ago but it has been turned into business. When my kid was in 1st grade(6 years old in the states) another parent asked if I was sending my kid to a clinic run by the High School coach. I told him no and his response was the the coach likes to see the kids when they are young. He was implying that the kids had a better chance of making the high school team if they went to the coach's camp. I told him the coach wants to win to keep his job and will start a walk-on in senior year if he can help him win. All about the money here now

 

[MagnusPax]

It seemed appropriate to post this graphic:

 

[Paul]

It seemed appropriate to post this graphic:

Anyone willing to take the time to make a large wallpaper size version of this graphic?

 

[Falastur]

Anyone willing to take the time to make a large wallpaper size version of this graphic?

If anyone is willing to, should they not also add the three new affiliates first?

 

[MagnusPax]

If anyone is willing to, should they not also add the three new affiliates first?

Here are the 3 additional ones: http://www.nycfc.com/post/2015/01/20/new-york-city-fc-announce-three-new-youth-affiliate-clubs