Club Soccer verse high school soccer

soccerdad03

5-Year Member
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Club Soccer verse high school soccer
Top FC Dallas Soccer teams don’t let club players play high school soccer. It is killing my son. He really wants to support his school but the level of soccer is subpar to top club soccer teams. He wants to play for Air Force if he can get in. He is at soccer 4 days a week so there is not anytime for other sports being he is also in the orchestra. He is working to get into the top orchestra. He said if need be he will drop club soccer if it would make a difference in getting into the academy. Any suggestions?
 
Club Soccer verse high school soccer
Top FC Dallas Soccer teams don’t let club players play high school soccer. It is killing my son. He really wants to support his school but the level of soccer is subpar to top club soccer teams. He wants to play for Air Force if he can get in. He is at soccer 4 days a week so there is not anytime for other sports being he is also in the orchestra. He is working to get into the top orchestra. He said if need be he will drop club soccer if it would make a difference in getting into the academy. Any suggestions?

I know where you are coming from because I played club as well. Honestly, I played club all high school with no high school ball. In regards to admissions I have no clue what looks better, but I feel like he would have a way better chance of being recruited if he continued to play club because of all the showcase tournament opportunities. Is he in contact with the coach already?
 
No, he is only in the 6th grade. He started play soccer when he was 5 years old, and started club soccer when he was 6.
I was very surprised when he told me he wanted to go to the Air Force Academy. He has been telling me that for the last 2 years. His mom and I had other plans for him, but I told him if that is really what he wants then he will need a plan. His grandfather was in the Air Force in South Korea. His grandfather is now a US Citizen. His grandfather tells him how good the US has been to his family. I guess that is where he came up with the idea. He has been researching the idea on the internet. I will send him to the soccer camp next summer in Colorado so he can see the Academy. When he gets something in his head he normally does not change his mind.
It would be better if he played club soccer because he would be able to go into the IB program that starts in the 9th grade. His school has him in honors math now. He gets straight A’s.
2 hours soccer
2 to 3 hours homework
1 hour violin practice
He may be able to join CAP also being that they meet on Sundays after church.
It would be a tuff schedule but we have pushed him hard must of his life. I have always taught him to finish what he starts.
 
If playing club soccer means IB program and better recruiting opportunities, it sounds like a pretty easy choice...
 
The high school team allows another opportunity to show leadership. In my opinion, he would be fine staying with club soccer. My son swam for a club team for 8 years. He was able to swim in h.s. but his h.s. team did not require him to practice with them but one day a week in season. They realized he got a much better workout with his club team. Your son is on the right track. There will be plenty of leadership opportunities when he gets to high school. There are many clubs (not necessarily sports) that he can run for leadership positions. If he decides to pursue CAP, he can show leadership there. Pursue CAP only if he is truly interested. It sounds like he has a busy schedule already, don't overdue it just to add another item to his resume. USAFA will only look at things he does starting/continuing into his freshman and sophomore year of high school.
 
And I am sure that as time progresses he can be named captain of his club team and you can report that to USAFA.
 
Don't forget scouting if that is available. This is a very good opportunity for leadership and a way to show long term commitment. This is something that can be started now.
 
He is the captain of his club soccer team. If he wants to play HS soccer he will have to give up the IB program and take AP classes. Plano East HS in TX is very competitive. Graduating class of over 1300. To be in the top 10% he will need over 4.15 He does go to school 45 minutes early each morning to help students that are struggling.
 
No, he is only in the 6th grade. He started play soccer when he was 5 years old, and started club soccer when he was 6.
I was very surprised when he told me he wanted to go to the Air Force Academy. He has been telling me that for the last 2 years. His mom and I had other plans for him, but I told him if that is really what he wants then he will need a plan. His grandfather was in the Air Force in South Korea. His grandfather is now a US Citizen. His grandfather tells him how good the US has been to his family. I guess that is where he came up with the idea. He has been researching the idea on the internet. I will send him to the soccer camp next summer in Colorado so he can see the Academy. When he gets something in his head he normally does not change his mind.
It would be better if he played club soccer because he would be able to go into the IB program that starts in the 9th grade. His school has him in honors math now. He gets straight A’s.
2 hours soccer
2 to 3 hours homework
1 hour violin practice
He may be able to join CAP also being that they meet on Sundays after church.
It would be a tuff schedule but we have pushed him hard must of his life. I have always taught him to finish what he starts.

Whoa. Time out. In the 6th grade, I wanted to be an actress. As you can see... time has changed me.
Let me just start by saying that I am currently seeing a few of my classmates struggle because they do not want to be here. They are here because it is what their parents wanted for them. It makes me upset because these people would do SO WELL at a college of their choice, and yet they are struggling with a lifestyle that they didn't choose, and they are unhappy. It is incredibly sad.
Never at any point did my parents tell me "you need to do this or that to get into the academy" or "if you keep that up you won't get into the academy", nor did they set up any plans for me. When I told my parents I was thinking about USAFA, I was a sophomore in high school. They said something like "oh, that's nice" and continued about their business. I was left to make my own decisions about what clubs, sports, on and on that I wanted to do. Were my parents hard on me? Yes, they're still my parents and wanted me to succeed and made sure I was doing well in school, and they supported me- but that's all they did. And that was all that I needed, their support; not them asking questions for me, making decisions for me, or helping me with my application.
If your son has said he wants to go here, great. Support him all the way. But please remember he is only a kid... and has seven years left to be a kid. Right now is probably not the time to set up an action plan to get him in here.
I'm sorry if this is a little blunt, but it's a pretty sensitive topic for me right now. I don't like seeing my wingmen feeling like failures when USAFA just isn't the place for them, because there is NOTHING wrong with that. Everyone should have the chance to do what makes THEM happy, because after all, they are the ones who have to live with it.
 
I don’t force my son to play soccer, violin, or take honors classes. He ask me what he would need to do to get into the academy. I just know if he wants to go to one of the academies he had better be prepared, and have a plan. I want to make sure he understands how hard he will need to work. If he changes his mind he should be able to get into most collages with his resume. He will be in the IB program even if he changes his mind. He is not your average kid. All his teachers tell me he is a natural leader, and he loves it. I don’t ever remember him changing his mind when he sets his mind on something. He is a finisher. I have older kids also, and I have learned that if I push them when they are young they can handle pressure when they are older. He learned at an early age lazy would not cut it. As the leader of his soccer team he does not put up with lazy teammates.
 
If my son has a dream I feel it is up to me to help him achieve that dream. Just like most professional athletes. If it was not for dad they would not be where they are at today.
 
+1 Haleym

There's a big difference between 6th graders and 11th/12th graders. Kids should have many opportunities to try new things -- my DS thought he wanted to go to med school in 8th grade. By 9th grade he decided he wanted to attend a service academy. Luckily he was on the right path with classes and grades to do either. He had never swam competitively until freshman year, and then qualified for State as the only freshman on his team. A hidden talent emerged. So while I agree that many opportunities to try new activities can lead to new passions, a lot can happen between ages 12-17. You can steer him in the right direction, but overloading can also lead to burnout (3 swimmers on our HS team, that swam club since they were in elementary school, dropped out of the team as juniors in high school).
 
I defiantly don’t want him doing something his heart is not in. I don’t push him in soccer, he pushes himself. He just loves the game.
 
If my son has a dream I feel it is up to me to help him achieve that dream. Just like most professional athletes. If it was not for dad they would not be where they are at today.

"Support" (not HELP. he doesn't need help.) and "Pressure" are two different things, and it's about time someone on these forums say it. There are a lot of parents on here that seem to mix these up much too often.
If you are on SAF asking about which soccer program will better likely get your 6th grade son an appointment in seven years, a HUGE red flag is raised for me.
I understand that you want him to achieve his dreams, but they are HIS dreams. Making sure he's doing his job (doing well in school) is all you need to do. The rest is up to him. Like I said, it's blunt, but it's also the truth.
Take it from a cadet who got here because of her parents' support, NOT their help or pressure.
 
"Support" (not HELP. he doesn't need help.) and "Pressure" are two different things, and it's about time someone on these forums say it. There are a lot of parents on here that seem to mix these up much too often.
If you are on SAF asking about which soccer program will better likely get your 6th grade son an appointment in seven years, a HUGE red flag is raised for me.
I understand that you want him to achieve his dreams, but they are HIS dreams. Making sure he's doing his job (doing well in school) is all you need to do. The rest is up to him. Like I said, it's blunt, but it's also the truth.
Take it from a cadet who got here because of her parents' support, NOT their help or pressure.

While I agree with your sentiments, it is useful for parents to know the answer to these questions, otherwise they wouldn't know if their kid is on the path that the kid wants to be on. And surely a kid in the 6th grade doesn't know what it takes and we all recognize kids change their minds. But keep on chiming in because you're absolutely correct. It's up to the reader to decide how to apply it.
 
Thanks Haieym.
I understand where you are coming from. I just want him to understand what he is getting into. He will make his own decision on a career. He has to live his own life. I really don’t have to push him much. The kids he hangs with are very smart and they push each other. The only thing I have to push him on is cleaning his room.lol
 
Thanks Haieym.
I understand where you are coming from. I just want him to understand what he is getting into. He will make his own decision on a career. He has to live his own life. I really don’t have to push him much. The kids he hangs with are very smart and they push each other. The only thing I have to push him on is cleaning his room.lol

Ha! I understand. My mom still yells at me for it when I come home! :thumb:
 
DS (currently a freshman at an SMC) was homework-challenged starting in 3rd grade. By the time he was in 7th grade, I decided the best course of action was to let him learn from his homework mistakes and make his own decisions, hoping that he would see that not doing homework on time or not completing big projects on time would cost him on grades. It cost him big-time.

By the time he DID learn from his mistakes, it was too late -- his grades were in the tank, he had developed bad study habits and he suffered through 9th grade not really prepared for high school work. He's naturally really smart, and once he buckled down academically and started completing projects on time, his grades skyrocketed. But by the time all of that came together, it was 2nd semester sophomore year and by then it was too late and his GPA and class rank would never recover.

He is very smart, having tested 4s and 5s on every AP exam, getting college credit for 5 core college classes, so I think he probably could have been competitive for academy admission. (He had all the other stuff -- leadership, sports, physical fitness, and most importantly, the desire to be an Army officer dedicated to doing whatever it takes to serve his country.)

Now he's doing great academically, physically and mentally at his SMC, and he's on course to go AD with a high GPA, leadership positions and great PT scores, but I kick myself every day for not pushing him more when he was in middle school. He would be killing it at WP, happy to be occupying a spot Haleym says is taken by some guy who doesn't want to be there.

Some middle school kids have it all together and don't really need to be pushed -- they thrive on making all their own decisions. But some kids need more direction. I wish I had pushed my son more.

DS2, a current 7th grader who, if left on his own, would choose never to do homework, is the beneficiary of his older brother's mistakes. Not a day goes by when we don't look over his class requirements, grades and homework assignments together.

Will DS2 be prepared for high school work? Will he graduate with the highest possible GPA? Who knows. All I know is, there's no money for college, so I'm doing what I have to do to help him be competitive for scholarships or admission into an academy if that's where he wants to be.
 
soccer,

The best answer to your question would be ask the AFA next summer when he is at soccer camp.

So many things are going to happen in the course of next 7 yrs., it is just best to keep him on the path he is on currently.

Anyone that has gone through the process for an appointment is emotionally drained after 1 yr. I could not fathom how drained I would be if I spent 6/7 yrs aiming just for a recruitment slot to play soccer at the AFA.

The course I would be placing on him is the ability to get into an Ivy League college. It really isn't going to be much different, except for the medical aspect. For example, I am sure your child is not going to only apply to the AFA, but also many other colleges. The same will be true for all of the other candidates. Yet, like Ivies there is only @a 10% acceptance rate. That is a lot of at this time, we are sorry....letters going out.
 
His mom is Korean, as most Korean moms they normally push their kids very hard at a young age. It all started when he was 6 years old. He was spending a little too much time playing video games. When his mom seen his report card the first 6 weeks of the grading period, she was upset with the results. She did not say a word to him. She just walked over to the TV and unhooks the game system and though it in the trash. I can still remember how big his eyes were. Lol He has never forgotten that day. He has made good grades ever since.

His school gives out awards each year for the top students. We don’t have to say much anymore about studying. He goes after every award he can get each year. We are very proud parents.

I do have an older son that is junior in collage going for an electrical engineering degree. He lives at home while going to school. He has told me many times that he wished I would have pushed him harder at a young age. There is ten years difference between the two boys and I have learned from my mistakes. I feel I am doing a much better job this time around. My older son talks to his step brother a lot about school and what he needs to do to be successful. The 2 boys are very close to each other and that helps a lot.

He will put in for Ivy League schools also as a plan B, and others as well for a plan C. I study about what it takes to get into the Ivy League schools also, not only the military academies.
 
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