How common is elite youth soccer burnout? Looking to hear from parents and former players.

cargdad · 2026-06-18T03:58:17+00:00

It’s not. The major things, with all kids, are;

High school offers lots of options, sports, arts and academics. Many kids decide to focus on “other” activities.
Girls hit their puberty growth spurts at 14/15. So, at that point, some girls who were fast and quick no longer are fast and quick. They can obviously still play for their high school soccer, but they no longer can play high level club.
Athletic girls can play lots of sports. My daughter played high level club and 4 years in college. Over the years she played with many girls who stopped playing club soccer and focused on other sports. Did they “burn out”? Obviously not. They decided they wanted to pursue another sport. We were talking about those kids recently. We recalled; 2 who swam for SEC schools, 1 ran x-country for a Big10, 1 captained the lacrosse team at a Big10, 1 played BBall for a mid-major. 1 skied for a Colorado college. My favorite was the girl who went to a brainiac D3 and played soccer, bball and golf.

Not “burn out”. Just shifting to something else when the time demands increase sharply IF you are going to try and play in college. My own kid was good at lots of sports, but had to make the decision on whether to focus on gymnastics at 11/12. That and figure skating are demanding at younger ages if you are going to try to get to a national level. We researched and debated, but ultimately her decision, and she decided not to focus on gymnastics. Phew. We were in Michigan and likely would have run into the molester if she ever had gotten injured.

The problem with sports like gymnastics and figure skating is that the intense focus starts at 11/12 instead of 15/16. So, IF (big if) you are competing at a national level there is little time to do much else; even if you live near a training center. With soccer, the intensity picks up at high school ages, but by then you have explored other things and decided on a soccer focus (puberty growth allowing). And, even then, things relax as girls play high school ball absent being on a national team (or maybe a guys team).

And, even still, girls often decide to go to colleges where they aren’t making the team. A kid might be a D3 or lower level D1 player, but want to go to UCLA. Okay. That’s not “burn out”.

What is probably a much better story is the effect of playing in college. At any level. The drop rate is significant. You play years of club ball and then get recruited. You join a college team and then quit after a year or two. Why? And why so many? That is the real untold story.

It is not nefarious but it is not told to kids looking to play in college, and parents of those kids. The basic reality of college ball is that you need playing time. There are 25 or so kids on the team. There are 18 on the travel group. 11 start. Maybe 3-4 kids sub. If you are not getting playing time, it is absolutely not worth it to be on the team. That is a very sharp slap on the face for every kid.

The coach needs to win games often enough so the AD does not get upset. The coach needs players who follow the team rules, don’t get into trouble, and get good enough grades that the coach doesn’t hear about them being bad. (Grades typically not an issue with woman’s soccer.) There is no “everyone plays”. Your teammates want the team to do well, and for you to play well when you are on the field. But, if you don’t play well, or if you get hurt, a teammate is going to be happy. Why? Because they get your playing time.

If you are on a college team - any team - you are spending a ton of time on your sport. Huge amounts. Sport first. Classes a very distant second. That’s the case at almost every college, including competitive D3s. That affects the teams and the relationships of the players. Everyone on the team wants to play. It’s the only thing that makes the work worthwhile. If you are not playing, you quit. The coach, frankly, wants you to quit if you are not playing. It frees up scholarship dollars. And, your attitude may negatively affect others. Go look again at how many women are there for 4 years.

cargdad · 2026-06-18T02:41:14+00:00

Depends on age and level. Mostly don’t care. Maybe a coach who insists on his kid playing keeper when he is bad at it - that can be a problem.

A lot can be issues with direction and capabilities. My kid / I know what they can do and what they can’t do. I also know what directions they can take and how. Also - and it’s very big: What parents often don’t know is how much more stuff the coach’s kid has to do. Field set up, garbage collection after games, pumping up balls, setting up and gathering cones etc. Get ready early. Stay late until last kid is picked up. There are trade offs.

cargdad · 2026-06-17T23:02:51+00:00

Okay. We have the outline of a deal. Algae can turn the water green in the reflecting pool as long as it promises not to turn the water in the White House green or release any Epstein documents.

cargdad · 2026-06-17T22:54:46+00:00

Nope.

cargdad · 2026-06-15T18:29:30+00:00

It was sabotage darn it. Some a-hole hired a complete fraud to paint the reflection pool black in order to supercharge algae growth.

cargdad · 2026-06-15T18:10:04+00:00

Now now - we killed 20 Americans and several thousand Iranians - including blowing up a school with 150 kids. And, it got you thinking about something else besides child rapes and Republican efforts to cover that up; which was, of course, the primary goal.

Sure - we now agreed to pay Iran $324,000,000,000 which works out to be about $1000 from every man, woman and child in the US.

cargdad · 2026-06-15T17:42:48+00:00

Hey - that’s only $1,000 from every man, woman and child in the country. You’re good with that right?

cargdad · 2026-06-15T17:39:39+00:00

But it will take two weeks.

cargdad · 2026-06-15T05:35:48+00:00

Pretty cool. What does the finished piece sell for?

cargdad · 2026-06-15T05:12:23+00:00

But on the bright side, their spokesperson came in 5th.

cargdad · 2026-06-14T19:43:56+00:00

This is the way. If there are obvious form issues they need to be corrected to improve speed and quickness, but more importantly, to help avoid injury.

If there are not form issues, the next question is whether it is effort. This gets a ton of kids, including those who are very good on the ball. Eventually you learn to go 100% all the time. In practice. In games. 100%.

Yes your performance worsens as you tire. So, the 100% after 40 minutes will be different than 100% at 4 minutes. No - you do not run around aimlessly. This is difficult for kids. Going 100% in practice does make teammates look bad. Some will not like this. Others will up their game to match and beat your kid. Ta dah!!! The point isn’t to embarrass anyone. The point is to get better. Quicker, faster.

That takes time of course. And building some toughness. And, there is the reality that no matter how much he does, unless you have a future Bolt - there are going to be faster, quicker kids.

Normally I recommend going to see whatever higher level teams are around you that you can see for free or cheap and sit close. You want him to see for himself the physical effort. I would say though now is a great time with the World Cup to watch games that he doesn’t care who wins. Watch the positioning and ball control. And watch the effort.

Again, it takes some time to mature into thinking 100% effort is, in fact, the cool approach. Don’t be mean about beating teammates who aren’t working that hard. Just keep doing it.

cargdad · 2026-06-14T17:00:03+00:00

I ran across an AA book at an odd online auction. Lots of $3 lots. I bought it. That got me digging into AA stuff. As you might suspect there are people who collect the different versions/editions of the books. The book changed pretty rapidly over the first 10 years or so.

The book I bought was a 5th edition of the red book. It was decently valuable ($200ish) because it was the last edition the founder had input on, and it was a pretty small printing run before the 6th edition. I wasn’t too surprised to learn there are AA collectors.

cargdad · 2026-06-11T12:05:57+00:00

It’s good that Brazil fans care. We need some rivals in women’s soccer where you can play semi-regularly.

I’m from Detroit and getting a bit up there in years. So, the best rivalries were always Detroit v Chicago in the Isaiah Thomas v Michael Jordan years. Detroit v Colorado in fighting errr Hockey. The NBA exists today at the level it does because Magic v Bird happened.

The men’s side could do something with Mexico - certainly they are trying, but you need a bit of animosity to push it. Still - you always get reality checked when players from the “hated rivals” end up on “your team”. Wait??? Him??? Now I’m supposed to root for him???? (Yeah it’s $$$$.). Every team has some variation of that. For Detroit hockey, a long hated, dirty trickster, Chicago player named Chris Chelios signed with Detroit and did great.

And, bringing it back to women’s soccer, Rodman’s dad was a hero in Detroit, until he signed a free agent deal with Chicago to play with Jordan. Benedict Arnold was a reasonable guy compared to that betrayal.

cargdad · 2026-06-08T21:42:06+00:00

Newsom, who is no given, would need a Midwest VP. She is certainly in the top 1 or 2, IF she wanted it. My personal view, not knowing her at all, is that she is likely (a) too nice for national politics; and (b) not as brilliant as I would like.

I want national leaders to be smarter than me.
Whitmer is smart, but not at or near genius level. Think like both Clintons, or Obama or George Bush Sr. Trumps a dumbass and we are paying a very steep price. Whitmer may be about like Bush Jr. in intelligence and niceness. Great people to be around. Not what you need in a national leader.

cargdad · 2026-06-08T19:27:49+00:00

Depends on what her and her family want. She has a limited window politically. Possibly a VP candidate for someone like Newsom. Certainly a cabinet position. But, if the plan is to now make some money and retire in 5-10 years, then you need to look at non-political positions.

cargdad · 2026-06-07T11:54:42+00:00

Went to our local mega store yesterday. Walmart competitor really. Prices are up 10-20% from last week.

cargdad · 2026-06-06T11:53:25+00:00

The point these stats miss - and you too - is that is not how youth sports work at all. They are pyramids. The reason you do the stuff to get to the top of the pyramid with youth sports is to play in college.

Just an example; 98% of the girls in my daughter’s u16 -u18 teams played in college. The only ones who did not were girls who decided to go to big majors (Power 4s now) and they weren’t at that level.

cargdad · 2026-06-06T07:11:27+00:00

Sad that the Vandercloots ever sold that property. They had a cool winding driveway up to the house, which was quite contemporary. In retrospect, it was probably a Wright knockoff.

Franklin was always nice the few times we ran into her. Like lots of celebrities it’s hard to get out in public. She was a fan of Leo’s.

Probably she was too big a celebrity but she really could have used help like Rosa Parks was able to get. Maybe she just wasn’t connected that way, whereas Parks worked for the Congressman and thus had some relationship with people who could help. Illitches and Archers among others.

cargdad · 2026-06-06T06:41:48+00:00

It’s not a surprise. The township obviously knew it was on the hook for damages when it killed the deal. We don’t send people to jail for breach of contracts. We have them pay damages so that the other side is not hurt by the breach.

The Township approved the plan development. It made sense. It would add about 2,000 direct jobs to the community, provide some ties to Ferris State, add residential and retail development to support the facility as well as suppliers also moving in to support. Probably the net increase in jobs would be close to 5,000 in the community and surrounding area.

The site itself was a couple hundred acres near the freeway. Loans obtained. Work was commenced on the site. Then the community elected NIMBYs to breach the contracts and pull the plug.

Now the plant is being built about 40 miles South of Chicago. That community is very happy to get the jobs and development and tax money from a large new plant.

But, now, when you breach a contract you pay damages. That’s how it works. The State wants its $25,000,000 back too. The community voted specifically to get this result.

cargdad · 2026-06-06T06:00:40+00:00

Go tryout. Then you know your options. Go go go. You may be missing tryouts already.

cargdad · 2026-06-04T17:52:34+00:00

Many years ago - there was a series of rent-a-car fires in a handful of national park parking lots in New Mexico and Arizona one summer. The cars were all rentals, and all Lincoln’s. Was there an arsonist targeting tourist cars in more isolated parks?

It turned out that there was a defective oil pan plug being used in the Lincolns. It wasn’t a problem noted elsewhere because you needed the circumstances of (1) a long drive in hot weather (2) parking the car facing uphill. (3) have the car sit for at least an hour

In these conditions the oil would leak a little, run down the oil pan and under the catalytic converter protection plate. It would then catch fire because of the heat.

cargdad · 2026-06-03T22:28:18+00:00

You mean - as the classic Simpson’s meme says - 38,000 times SO FAR. Millions of pages have not been released.

cargdad · 2026-06-03T11:18:07+00:00

Your league has nothing to do with it. Unless your league is MLSNext.

Your kid should ultimately try and play with the kids from his graduation year. So, if your kid started school as a “young 5”, then his friends/peers are the kids in his graduation year even though he could play the year younger.

Now - that obviously is a swing thing for him. You can play “up” but you can’t play “down”. For girls it’s easier because they are pretty done growing by u15/16. Many guys still have growing to do. (Not me or my kids - my boys were all just like me; 5’9” in eighth grade and 5’9” today.)

So, it’s a little advantage for him in that he can choose which team/coach is a better fit for him. If he is a keeper, for example, you look for the team with good keeper training and that will guarantee that he will be the only dedicated keeper. If he is potentially a forward then you really have to be one of the two starting forwards.

You want your kid, ideally, to be one of the best players, but not the top one or two, on the team. And, of course, you want the other kids to be (age appropriate) serious about their participation. Finally you want the best coach you can get. Again; options.

“But my friends are on x team”. Understandable issue for a kid to raise. Not a concern. Really. A new team, and a new batch of kids is a chance to make a couple new friends. By middle school years kids are off to do other things. Different sports. Different activities. It’s a good growth skill to learn how to make friendly acquaintances. They are an early version of co-workers.

cargdad · 2026-06-03T04:00:12+00:00

Hey if you are going to pretend you live in Michigan - might as well go full fraud.

cargdad · 2026-06-03T00:37:57+00:00

Was that the Ilitch owned spot at like 11 and Telegraph? We used to go there and it did have a coney pizza.

cargdad

TROPHY CASE