[PedOncoDoc]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Travel teams can be awesome. Make sure you are ready for the $ and time commitment. Can you say "Mouse Races"? Here., we call it "select" and it can be tough on parents.
Another thing to think about is what is the desired final outcome. What sold me on our team was the involvement of the High School coaching staff. They see this as their farm system. I like that they are looking for 8 YOs to help take State 10 years from now. They are committed to a long term relationship with the kids. the tryouts wore me out, but Little Dude took it all in stride.

I hope your little dude has fun. (oh yeah, burn out is a real risk, Mom and Dad are the first line iof defense, there.)

Thanks all for the thumbs up everyone. When we were offered a chance for the tryout we sat with our son and talked about the commitment and sacrifices (sometimes a boy just wants to play with his friends on the street), as well as the size and age differences he will have with his teammates. He took a day to process everything, asked a few good questions and told us he wanted to give it a shot.

They have a whole development program for kids who show promise in our district including professional coaches. The coach for my son's team (he made the team!) told me the focus for this age group was fundamentals and basic strategy - not game outcomes. I was sold. We elected not to send him to the British or Brazilian day camps in our area over the summer - he has plenty of other activities he'd like to do before starting the season to include learning to use his new fishing pole, going for a few primitive camping trips with his old man and his uncle, and continuing to work on basic maksmanship with his bb gun in our backyard.

As far as the cost - we are aware and I am more than happy to go without a few nights out to blow off steam to support my son's interest in a sport that has brought me a lifetime of enjoyment and healthy behaviors.

He's still as excited about making the team as I am proud of him. He knows we are happy to let him explore other activities if he decides soccer is not for him after this season. He's been blessed with a lot of natural athletic talent and we want to help him find an activity that suits his strengths for which he develops passion.