Must have been crazy for about 30 sec. What the F are you spending 5k on dude? Jeeze get the kid a brand new set of clubs and a course membership for 2 years or more.
Competitive club soccer can be very expensive, depending on the club. Both my son and daughter belong to the same club. You have club fees, league fees, tournament fees and yes, you pay the coach each month about $67 per month. You have spring soccer, fall soccer, winter outdoor(yes, the fields have heating coils) and winter futsol, which is played indoors on a basketball court. You have anywhere between 2-3 tournaments in the spring and fall and at least one of those is out of town where hotel stays, meals, gas money, etc....come in to play.
Again, I grew up playing football and I am a huge football fan. My son loves football too, but has not played for the last two years to focus on soccer. He may play football this fall as he enters 9th grade, because at that age there is no longer fall soccer with the club. I was against the idea of starting soccer, but again, I respect it. It is exciting, regardless of the score. Whoever said soccer does not involve hand/foot eye coordination is clueless. You probably need that more in soccer than many others sports.
For those that cannot afford the fees, this club actually offers scholarships. This is truly a developmental club that is affiliated with Sporting KC, the Kansas City professional soccer club. If you make it to the first first level team, or the junior sporting KC team, you most likely are guaranteed a D1 soccer scholarship, if not a shot at professional soccer. If you make a traveling team, you play games every other weekend across the country in Dallas, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, etc....I don't even want to think how expensive that would be for the parents.
Soccer is in fact a very demanding sport physically. It is also a high priority sport in America. The US wants to be competitive on the World scene. You have seen both the US men's and women's teams progress significantly over the last several years in world cup play, olympics, etc....That all starts with junior club soccer in cities throughout the country.
I wouldn't pay for it if I didn't think it was exciting to watch as a parent or think my kids were not benefiting from their experiences. Additionally, both my kids play basketball. So for example, my son will practice basketball or have a game each day of the week in the winter. Throw in a winter outdoor practice each week, two indoor futsol practices, a winter outdoor game and possibly 1 to 2 futsol games on the weekends and you can see it is not only a busy week, but a physically demanding one as well.
I am not blasting anyone for not understanding soccer. However, to call it a sport for p***ies or however you want to label it......well you are just plain missing the boat on this one. Based on what I see, soccer is probably the #1 sport in the country in regards to the number of kids who are actually playing. In big cities, it is utterly unbelievable and soccer complexes are astonishing. The money involved is staggering. In OP Kansas, the Blue Valley soccer complex I believe has 14 fields with heating coils at a cost of about $1 million per field. You have to have many people believing and vested in soccer to get a cost like that voted for on a bond issue. Maybe that is one downside of soccer in the US. If it is too expensive, not everybody gets the same opportunities? However, that is why many clubs offer scholarships, so some kids can get the opportunity that they otherwise may not have had?
Soccer may not be for everyone, but sooner or later, those people will be in the minority. I still love football more, but again, I respect everything involved in soccer!
