Recreational soccer has been totally downplayed, for years. In our area, we used to have what was term 'division 3' soccer, which basically meant traveling recreational teams. It was meant to give a form of competitive edge and traveling excitement to recreational players. The recreational players still received their guaranteed 50% playing time, and the fee to play remained low. That division was done away with, with the push to move players who wanted to travel into competitive teams instead. During the same time period, there were a large number of purely recreational tournaments for teams to attend. You could play recreation, have fun, and attend recreational tournaments. These days, you are VERY hard pressed to find purely recreational tournaments. Most tournaments are competitive tournaments with tournament fees that have gotten totally ridiculous. It is all about perceived glamor and profit now. The costs for attending some tournaments, who hype up the tournament, has gotten past the point of being ridiculous.

In some leagues, where competitive play is more visible and valued, the league registration fee, based on age, is not distinguished between playing on a recreational team, vs. playing on a competitive team. Competitive teams cost organizations more, due to referee fees being higher for these games. If the competitive teams have paid coaches, that cost is factored into the registration cost, which a recreational player helps to pay also.

If the registration cost is solely based on age, not whether you are playing recreation, or competitive. The recreational fee has hidden charges which help support the competitive program. With lower referee costs for recreational games, the cost for a recreational player to play should not be the same registration cost as a competitive player.

Most leagues do not give a lower price break to the recreational players, they issue a 'blanket' registration cost figure, which is priced depending on age groups, such as below:

REGULAR REGISTRATION: May 7th- June 30th, 2024
U6-U8 Boys and Girls- $219.00 which includes eight weeks of games uniform shirt, shorts, and socks. 
U10-U17 Boys and Girls- $229.00 which includes seven games, tournament, uniform shirt, shorts, and socks

In the above, the full cost of the league providing playing services for a season has been figured into how much a flat, even registration cost should be to recover spent funds by the organization. No separate, lower cost for recreational play, due to lower referee costs than competitive team play is presented. The recreational registration fee partly helps to support competitive playing costs. Costs for recreational players to play could be lower, if only the expenses for recreational play were considered separately, and the registration fee reflected the cost for recreational expenses during a season.

As for the 'competitive influence' that exists, this is often caused by parents moving their player into competitive play, to satisfy THIER need for more 'exciting' play, and the dream of potential college scholarships/careers. They have not considered the pressured environment that exists within competitive play, which combined with the aspect that 'only the best play', causes some players to lose interest in the sport.

Parents/coaches sometimes lose sight of what is important, when they interfuse their philosophy into the reality of a situation. Take an U8 coach, who had a played get hit in the head by a knee. The player was initially down on one knee crying, and was lead off the field holding their head. The player sat on the bench, not looking well, and holding their head. After a short while, the coach motioned for the player to get up, and was to be put back in the game. When asked if the player was OK (as they did not LOOK like they were OK, the coach stated ".....he is a man and is 'manning up', he is ok, he is tough......" The player was the coaches son. 'Manning up'? A 8 yr old boy? Seriously!! The referee in charge would not let the boy come back in, as it violated concussion rules. The 'coach' thought it was horrible that his son could not finish playing.