70 to 75 % of players leave soccer by age 13 in the USA

[Unregistered]

Club soccer is way too expensive and not that popular for American boys yet - that's why 70% drop out by 13. I've spent over 10,000$ this year on my 12 year old's club soccer, tourneys, camps, elite teams, etc. She's a decent player but that is ridiculous at 12. I keep hoping she'll fall out of love with soccer...unfortunately, she's thinking of ECNL....

[Unregistered]

Club soccer is way too expensive and not that popular for American boys yet - that's why 70% drop out by 13. I've spent over 10,000$ this year on my 12 year old's club soccer, tourneys, camps, elite teams, etc. She's a decent player but that is ridiculous at 12. I keep hoping she'll fall out of love with soccer...unfortunately, she's thinking of ECNL....

Calling BS on this troll. Tell us what club she is with and then tell us why you have no control over how you spend your $$. BS.

[Unregistered]

The drop off rate has been concern for USSF for EVER based on the number of registered players. A study and survey was done to discover the root causes. I don't remember how they termed it but the top reasons were coaches, parents, and it wasn't fun anymore.
Basically the coaches were jerks and put too much pressure on the kids and yelled. The parents put too much pressure on the kids to win and excel and play at a higher level, so.... it wasn't fun anymore.

It is a game...after all. For some, it's life, but not for everyone

I don't get why this is such a big deal. This is common in all sports. A lot of parents put their kids into sports when they are younger for various reasons but as the child gets older they either stop wanting to play or they NEVER actually wanted to play but the parent stops forcing them to play. We are talking about the interests of kids when they reach High School age.

In the local sports club last year there were 14 teams in the 8U division in basseball. In the 14U there were 5. Flag Football loses about 30-40% in that time and softball loses 20% but those sports are also much smaller in terms of overall numbers (so going from 5 to 4 teams isn't a huge impact). Basketball (probably the most popular sport along with soccer) goes from 16 teams to 10 by the time kids hit High School (age 14).

Rec soccer goes from a high of around 12 teams at age U10 to about 4-5 teams in the last (HS) age group. And the oldest group is a 4 year span of ages while the younger teams are 2 year spans. And while the teams are bigger its from 156 to 64 kids (or 32 if you take the larger age criteria into account). These are numbers for boys.

For girls the dropoff is not as bad in soccer (they don't peak as high as the boys with 8-9 teams being the max in any division) but still around 50% loss into the high school years.

But then take into account that some kids stop playing community sports and instead can now play HS level sports and other kids simply are too lazy, busy with school, prefer to socialize, etc, to commit to playing a sport . . . and the statistics are probably accurate but somewhat misleading. Other countries probably have smaller overall youth programs (less numbers at early ages) but the kids that do play are more sports oriented so they remain longer.

[Unregistered]

I don't get why this is such a big deal. This is common in all sports. A lot of parents put their kids into sports when they are younger for various reasons but as the child gets older they either stop wanting to play or they NEVER actually wanted to play but the parent stops forcing them to play. We are talking about the interests of kids when they reach High School age.

In the local sports club last year there were 14 teams in the 8U division in basseball. In the 14U there were 5. Flag Football loses about 30-40% in that time and softball loses 20% but those sports are also much smaller in terms of overall numbers (so going from 5 to 4 teams isn't a huge impact). Basketball (probably the most popular sport along with soccer) goes from 16 teams to 10 by the time kids hit High School (age 14).

Rec soccer goes from a high of around 12 teams at age U10 to about 4-5 teams in the last (HS) age group. And the oldest group is a 4 year span of ages while the younger teams are 2 year spans. And while the teams are bigger its from 156 to 64 kids (or 32 if you take the larger age criteria into account). These are numbers for boys.

For girls the dropoff is not as bad in soccer (they don't peak as high as the boys with 8-9 teams being the max in any division) but still around 50% loss into the high school years.

But then take into account that some kids stop playing community sports and instead can now play HS level sports and other kids simply are too lazy, busy with school, prefer to socialize, etc, to commit to playing a sport . . . and the statistics are probably accurate but somewhat misleading. Other countries probably have smaller overall youth programs (less numbers at early ages) but the kids that do play are more sports oriented so they remain longer.

Someone posted a good link earlier on thread showing the statistics of drop off hold true across all the sports. When kids are young they are dabbling in many sports because of their interests or the parents. As they get older, they fine tune their interests and only so many are built for the competitive drive of year round soccer, swim team, travel baseball teams or.

[Unregistered]

Someone posted a good link earlier on thread showing the statistics of drop off hold true across all the sports. When kids are young they are dabbling in many sports because of their interests or the parents. As they get older, they fine tune their interests and only so many are built for the competitive drive of year round soccer, swim team, travel baseball teams or.

But it doesn't need to be that way.
If you look at this article and see the list. What kids want most on the left. And what I call..What clubs, coaches and parents want on the right.

http://youthreport.projectplay.us/th...hat-they-want/

If we give them what they want, it can be competitive and fun for life.
NO....we ruin it and kids leave.

[Unregistered]

As I was reading this I kept thinking about the speech Tom Cruise gives in the movie Jerry Maguire as he was quitting his sports agent firm... "Well, don't worry. Don't worry. I'm not gonna do what you all think I'm gonna do, which is just flip out! But let me just, let me just say, as I ease out of the office I helped build - I'm sorry, but it's a fact! - that there is such a thing as manners, a way of treating people. [pointing to an aquarium in the office] These fish have manners. These fish have manners. In fact, they're coming with me. I'm starting a new company, and the fish will come with me. You can call me sentimental. The fish - they're coming with me. [nets one of the gold fishes and places it inside a baggie] Okay. If anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the moment of something real and fun and inspiring in this God-forsaken business, and we will do it together. Who's comin' with me?"

It is time for soccer to be different. It is time for the community of soccer parents to come together and make changes first at their local club level. I'm in.

[Unregistered]

It is time for soccer to be different. It is time for the community of soccer parents to come together and make changes first at their local club level. I'm in.

Unless you can change the grass on the other side of the fence, it's near impossible.