Train and play competitive soccer for less

If you have a youngster that is interested in playing competitive soccer, then the following paragraphs might be of interest to you before you get onto the pay-to-play Merry-Go-Round.   It’s about a 12-minute read.

A simple look around the world reminds us of how little it actually costs to play soccer, yet local families spend about $1500-2200+ per year on total costs to play ‘the beautiful game.’  Much this cost is hidden and includes the cost of travel to out-of-town competitions; sometimes traveling to other states just to play teams from your hometown.  These hidden costs can easily push total cost-to-play to around 3-4% of net median income for our area. If you think this is expensive to kick a ball around, you’re right.  It’s one of the widely acknowledged problems with youth sports in America…the pay-to-play trap and is a significant barrier to entry for many kids that want to play competitively.  Even USWNT superstars Alex Morgan and Hope Solo believe that pay-to-play is hurting American soccer.

I believe club-quality training and player-development can be delivered for less…much less.

RB Loveland has been formed to be a genuine all-volunteer ‘grassroots’ organization that breaks the cycle of pay-to-play. Given soccer’s popularity in the last decade, it’s been my observation that there is an untapped pool of extremely competent parent trainers to support this effort.  Many of these parents are already unpaid (or minimally-paid) volunteers in local clubs who would otherwise coach their kids for free anyway.  After all, who is more invested in their child’s development than the parent?  I’ve been volunteering club-quality training in Loveland since 2016, when my own daughters first started playing.  More on my story a bit later, but it’s important to understand how things have gotten so expensive (everywhere).

Recreational soccer generally costs around $120 bucks for a season that lasts as long as a select/club season, plays around 8 games locally, and trains 2 times/week.  Minus the cost of tournament play (another $120), why is there such disparity in cost with club systems?  It’s simple.  The biggest factor is that there are no training fees/overhead associated with parent coaches in the recreational (community) environment.  This element of cost in Club soccer is typically the premium you pay for licensed trainers.  While any continuing education is great, I’ve observed repeatedly that licenses don’t guarantee better training. Some of the best coaches I’ve encountered have been recreational coaches without a license…the great untapped parent resource.

Additional costs include team fees and branded uniform expense; which are about the same.  Kit (uniform) costs for club soccer can range from $300-500 or more depending upon your club, while recreational players receive a jersey with their registration and can get their name lettered on the back for about $5.  Beware of published kit costs under $300 as you will be faced with unforeseen pressures to purchase warm-ups, long-sleeve sets, backpacks, additional branded socks, and logo-ed spirit wear.

This comparison gives us an idea of what type of cost-control is really possible in the absence of fees for professional trainers and branded gear.  My estimates are that per/player costs for a team of 12-14 could be held to about $200/season.  Unbelievable, right?!  These costs are based upon non-league play and participation in 2 local tournaments each season. League play would be replaced with internal scrimmaging and arranging friendlies/scrimmages with local clubs that are interested. Even opting into local league play shouldn’t add more than an additional $100 per season. The non-league path also allows teams to seek out and schedule match-ups that are actually competitive and less subject to the mismatches that often occur in league play.  Travel would be kept at an absolute minimum with no overnights as there is plenty of competition to be found locally.  Branded uniforms can be replaced with a couple of quality Dri-Fit alternative jerseys with lettered name and number for around $60.  I used to think that insurance might be expensive, but it’s less than what one might expect.

The subject line above advocates competitiveness, so the overarching questions are, can volunteer coaches deliver sustainable, high-grade training at a cost affordable by all?  Is it possible to beat the pay-to-play trap and field highly competitive teams in the long term?  As a byproduct of great development, can a genuine grassroots endeavor ultimately compete with the larger organizations that are driving soccer today?  I believe it can.

My name is Scott Wheeler and here’s a little more about myself and the vision for RB Loveland:

I have been a volunteer coach in Loveland since 2016 and have graduated many young players into local competitive clubs, with many of those players eventually making it onto their H.S. teams.  This makes me proud.  The first season back after the pandemic, my recreational team ended up playing club teams that dropped into recreational play, significantly changing the dynamic of recreational play.  This resulted in an experience that wasn’t much fun for players, parents, or coaches.  I reasoned that, if I’m going to compete against club teams, I may as well train a competitive team.  This led me to a tour-of-duty with two local competitive clubs.  Both sent me into Buckeye competition with under-skilled rosters of 8-10 players for 11v11 play and unfulfilled promises of support.  One was well-meaning…the other, not-so-much.  My experiences with local competitive clubs left me believing that a better and much less expensive model could be delivered in our community.  Hence, I’m looking to reboot with a girls U9/10 team as I did my own daughters when they started playing; both have played H.S. soccer and have exquisite first-touch ball control…a consequence of planned early development.

Speak to any teacher and they will affirm that for every hour of classroom instruction they deliver at least 2-4 hours of preparation is required.  While every coach is well-meaning, not every coach is this well prepared.  As a consequence, the younger the team, the easier it is to mask unintended neglect.  Just because your child is having fun, doesn’t mean that real, comprehensive development is happening.   This is an aspect of development that we take most seriously.  We are at the field 30 minutes early and assistant coaches have our training plan in writing a day early.  Everything is thoughtfully planned.  The plan may very-well change, but training sessions begin with a real plan.  If you would like a flavor of how we organize seasonal training, you can find it HERE.  Inspired by our older daughter who self-published a book as a school requirement, I published my Fall U11 training plan during the season canceled at the onset of the pandemic.

On the topic of coaching, you will find us to be very collaborative.  If you have reasonable experience and an interest in coaching, we invite your involvement.  I’ve personally had as many as three additional parents assisting in the recreational environment and it’s extraordinary what can be accomplished with the help.  Also, with respect to coaching, our expectation is for our relationship to be performance-based.  By this, we recognize parents to be ‘Customers’ with the right to remove a coach at any time; just be ready to step-up with a replacement as we are all-volunteer.  Be aware, though, that this relationship is reciprocal.  We set a high standard for training, game attendance, and parent involvement.  In the last 7 years, I can count on one hand the number of training sessions and games that I have missed.  I’ve missed many of my own kids’ soccer games and other events to meet my commitment to the team.  You also need to be prepared to play games on Sundays.  This all might sound a bit demanding, but you won’t have to worry about your child wanting to be at soccer practice.  I’ve never had a problem with kids not being motivated to train, with many reports of them pushing their parents to not be late.

Finally, if licenses are important to you…I earned my USSF National ‘E’ License in February 2017 from the then Director of Coaching for Ohio South Youth Soccer. Three full days of on-site, hands-on education.  Subsequent to that, but not required for anything, I completed the US Soccer Grassroots 11v11 course in 2019 and USSF Referee License in 2024.

We have a pretty simple mission:  To teach your daughters/Sons to play a smart, skilled, and assertive game of soccer and have a great time doing it.  

If this sounds like a model-of-play that you can get onboard with, reach out and let’s give it a go.  If it doesn’t meet your wildest expectations, you have plenty of time to climb onto the Merry-Go-Round.

Scott Wheeler

513-seven.zero.eight-1317