ESA Junior

Players looking for 15U soccer, practice 1730-1900 Tuesday Risner Fitness Center!!!!

Practice tonight is at the parade deck on foster.

ESA is currently holding practices
15U 1730-1830
18U 1700-1830

Tuesday and Thursday
Gunners Gym Soccer Field
Camp Foster.

Practice is on!!!!!
Mike petty 5:30-7:00
Tuesday’s& Thursday’s

Scrimmage tomorrow!
Time to get some training in!

Very well said from I group I used to have to compete again in MO.

I beg parents not to turn to club soccer as just a channel to earn college scholarships! Because of Title IX and NCAA rules the number of scholarships a school can offer players is limited and usually results in only partial financial aid for student athletes. For example, if a school fully funds soccer scholarships at the NCAA D1 level, there are only 9.9 scholarships available for men's teams and 14 scholarships for women's teams with an average roster of 29 players.

So why should children play soccer? While I discourage people from putting their focus on using club soccer just to earn scholarships there are schools out there that would love to have club players on their roster. Beside college level soccer, the benefits of youth soccer are huge. Just like any sport, soccer gives players a healthy activity and a support system for children to participate in a safe environment. In my experience raising two sons who both played competitive soccer, I witnessed an increase in self confidence, they both have lifetime friends who share their love for the game. I believe their experiences have helped them to become responsible decision makers. They both perform well under pressure. I don't think these traits are limited to my children and while there are other factors that support these attributes, I am certain soccer is a big influence in their development.

So far this post has been about soccer in general, but why do I think club soccer is important? For many of the same reasons as above, but the following example resonates with me when I think about why I support club soccer. Recently, I had a conversation with a businessman that I have the utmost respect for and we were talking about employees and interviews when the topic of competitive sports came up. He told me one of the questions he likes to ask his employees before he hires them is if they ever played competitive sports? When I asked him why that question, his response was, "Because people who played competitively are more disciplined. Most have to fight for a position on the team and when they earned their spot they had to work hard to keep it." He went on to talk about work ethics, pride these people have in their work and self assessment that goes on throughout their daily job and finished by saying, "those who don't experience that and get the medal for participating never truly appreciate incentives and benefits, they just expect them."

I can't imagine this thought process is singular in the marketplace. Knowing this makes me proud that both my boys, my wife and I all have that experience on our resumes. So does competitive soccer have value beyond the chance of college scholarships? You better believe it does!