Is it worth it? 10 questions athletes should consider if they play on a travel team

What are you getting out of it?

That’s the first question you should ask yourself if you’re a parent of a teenager who plays for a club or travel sports team and your kid wants to play that sport in college.

You’re likely paying thousands of dollars per year. Maybe even $10,000. Or, in this case, more than $20,000 for a 13-year-old.

Our club and travel sports system in America is broken in many ways. A number of parents and coaches with whom I have interacted refer to scene as a racket.

But we can select the club and travel programs that work for us, find the coaches who care about our kids and stay away from the sheer moneymakers.

“Paying for club soccer for the purpose of helping pay for college is a horrendous investment,” Joel Rutherford, a youth referee for the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for three decades and a high school ref for 17 years, tells USA TODAY Sports. He’s also a parent of former club, recreational and high school players.

“Chances for a college scholarship are minuscule," he says. "If a parent is trying to help pay for college, you’d be far better off taking the money for club soccer and setting it aside in a college fund, or pay far less for a few ACT or SAT prep classes or private tutoring to raise grades.”

According to the National College Scouting Association (NCSA), at least 77 percent of college athletes surveyed across of a number of sports reported they played both club and high school sports.

But these teams aren't the only artery for college recruitment. You need to know what you’re getting into, but also that there are a number of ways to catch the eye of college coaches.

Here’s a checklist of what to look for in a club or travel program for a kid with college athletics aspirations:

1. Will you get enough playing time? At this point, your primary goal is not to win tournaments but to be seen.

If you are in high school, you have reached the showcase level. The top clubs will market that goal. Don’t play for one that doesn’t play you at least relatively equally to your teammates.

Don’t get lured to the “top” team in your area or region without an assurance, and follow through, from the coach of playing time. And be skeptical if your son or daughter is put with a group of players of lesser ability at a tryout but the coach tells them they will have a chance to move up to the top team within the organization.

2. You need to play in front of college coaches. But is your coach well-connected?

Finding out which colleges will be at your showcases is a good indicator you will be playing against top competition.

However, college coaches often come to these events to see specific players and can miss you if you aren’t on their radar. Choose a team whose coach knows or has direct pathways to college coaches and will tell them to watch you, too.

You are paying for these connections on a club team. If you’re not getting them, you might be better off playing on a less expensive team and investing in a well-connected personal coach.

3. Is your coach narrow-minded? Don't play for one who says club is the only way to make it.

James Tysz is the father of a U14 soccer player for an Elite Club National League (ECNL) team based in Williamsburg, Virginia. The ECNL is one of many feeders from soccer’s club circuit to colleges, along with MLS Next, which pulls out top players in states and regions across the country.

Tysz estimates he plays at least $6,000 per year in club fees, uniform and equipment costs and travel, which includes hotels, gas, food and airfare.

"Club is almost the only way to play at college level,” Tysz tells USA TODAY Sports. “High school soccer is a mix of rec level up to club level players and scouts don’t have time or interest for that lottery. The U.S. is a pay to play system and is broken, but it’s all we got.”

It’s not uncommon for soccer parents to pay thousands more per year than he does. Check out the amounts listed the comments section of this video of how to fix youth soccer. You see higher prices but also more reasonable ones. (It’s worth a view):

Volleyball, hockey, lacrosse (and sometimes baseball) have similarly exorbitant fees. The club system pushes out players who can’t afford it, and it pushes out good players.

A former coach, who told me he has worked with the Italian national teams and now lives in the states, says a club coach who claims club soccer is the only way is narrow-minded and is just looking for profits.

Play for a coach, instead, who is committed to using all avenues (not just his or her team) to get you to that level.

The most important scouting aspect of soccer, the former Italian coach tells me, is how well you play in a system. Can you play with flash, make that incisive pass or create shots by pulling defenders away? A coach that can identify your child’s best role on any team is a keeper.

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4. Is your kid doing legwork on his or her own? Don’t pay for a team because you think it guarantees college placement.

No club coach can promise you a spot on a college team. There is heavy turnover in college coaching and a transfer portal that allows coaches to pull in existing collegiate athletes on top of high school recruits.

Your kid will need to promote himself or herself to coaches in addition to playing on a team. Get a social media handle on X or Instagram or elsewhere and post clips or highlights that showcase your skills. List relevant metrics you have reached within your sport.

Post videos that exhibit a number of skills – not just goals, baskets touchdowns or strikeouts but clips that show your speed, strength and versatility. Coaches love intangibles such as getting a good lead off first base and making it to third on a single or diving for a loose ball and calling a timeout. Find something that makes you stand out from the others.

Email coaches with a short introduction, followed by your specific interest in their school and one or two short clips.

You may not hear back, but coaches could give you a follow on social media. You never know. A couple years ago, forward Steve Settle told me Howard men's basketball coach Kenny Blakeney gave him an offer after watching his 15-second clip.

5. Have you considered your region of the country before shelling out?

College coaches with limited budgets pinpoint areas with lots of talented players. A longtime high school varsity lacrosse coach in Atlanta told me you probably need to play club to be seen if you live in non-traditional areas for his sport like Kansas, Idaho or Montana.

But there are parts of New York, Maryland, and Virginia and other areas where you automatically play against top competition at the high school level. If you are good enough, a college coach is likely to see you.

Do your research. If you live in hotbed for your sport – such as population dense areas of Texas, Arizona, Florida, California or Virginia for baseball; Texas and Georgia for football; or cities like Memphis, Baltimore, Chicago, New York or Washington, D.C., for basketball – you may not need to play club, or at least on the highest tier of clubs.

You can attend showcases coaches hold on college campuses for a fraction of what it costs to play for a travel team. Ask your high school coach to call the college coach before you attend their showcase and get feedback on your from the college coaches at the showcase on your next steps.

6. Is your time and money investment taking away from improving your grades?

Only about 2% of high school athletes are given athletics scholarships to play in college, according to the NCAA. The percentage of high school athletes who play in college athletics varies from about 3 to 14 percent, depending on the sport.

Balance your time and investment with improving your grades and test scores, which play a large part in your recruitment and can get you scholarship money.

Getting into the school may be a prerequisite for getting on the team. Having better grades can not only separate you from other candidates, but get you scholarship money. And don't be Division 1 or bust. If you play Division II, Division III or in junior college, you will have an opportunity to transfer if you are good enough.

7. Is your coach flexible with you and your schedule?

Your coach should understand if you need to skip a game or a tournament (with enough advance notice from you) to go to showcase on a college campus or study for exams or standardized tests.

His or her goal is to help place you in a college program, which helps the club team's reputation.

Have an up-front conversation about your college strategy with the coach before you join the organization and if, once you join it, you don’t feel like you’re getting your money's worth.

8. Do you know your skills and metrics? They give you negotiating power and a sense of reality.

Find out the key tools and metrics for your sport that will get you recruited regardless of your club team. If it’s baseball, it means you throw in the low 80s or higher as a pitcher (and are accurate and vary your speeds with other pitches) and hit with a exit velocity of above 90.

If you play volleyball, it’s whether you can touch 10 feet or higher as a girl and 11 to 12 feet as a boy.

If you are football player, can you run a mid-4s 40-yard dash despite weighing over 200 pounds?

Evan Gerish, an assistant track and field coach at the University of Dubuque in Iowa, says these numbers would make coaches pay attention:

For men: 100-meter dash – 10.7 seconds; 200: – 21.0 seconds; 400 – 48 seconds; 800 – 1:55; 1600 – 4:15.

For women: 100 – 12.5; 200 – 25.5; 400 – 58.0; 800 –2:10; 1600 – 4:50.

Gerish suggests you check out whomever finished eighth and above at the most recent conference championships of schools in which you are interested and compare yours. You can check on player metrics for other schools and sports, too.

“Recruiting standards vary across divisions and conferences, but there is a lot of overlap,” Gerish tells USA TODAY Sports. “A school like mine, blue blood D3 powerhouse, is recruiting the same athletes as a mid-level D1 team.”

9. Have you weighed the amount of travel and events against the investment in getting better?

Pick an organization that mixes games and skill development to hit those metrics and improve the skills that will get you noticed.

If a team has excessive travel, ask yourself if it is getting in the way of making you better. Showcases show off your ability but you improve through conditioning and practicing, too.

A private coach, even in just a few sessions, can get you on a skills and strength development plan that you can mix with your game play.

Use the early years of high school to get in the best possible shape to showcase yourself. If you are a freshman, maybe it means taking a season off from your main sport to play a different one that makes you stronger or faster.

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10. Are you all in for the journey?

This past summer, I traveled to Atlanta for a showcase baseball tournament with my rising junior. His brother, 14, came along. We shared laughs at YouTube clips, and more serious discussions, along a 10-plus hour drive.

We spent valuable time together watching movies in the hotel rooms, sharing meals and watching a Braves game.

If you are a travel athlete and parent, you need to embrace the ride. Along the way, your athlete might discover playing a sport in college is too time consuming. But in the process, he or she might discover the school they truly love outside of sports.

Maybe all of you will discover more about yourselves.

“Consider the time,” says Rutherford, the three-decade referee and soccer dad I mentioned earlier. “What else could the evenings and weekends be used for? Maybe it’s riding bikes, playing basketball in the driveway, family meals, attending church, having a nap, letting non-sports kids have time to do their thing and more."

"Kids drop out of sports by the time they become teens. Usually it’s because it’s not fun. Parents and coaches are too intense. There’s yelling at the players and officials. Sometimes the more you spend, the more pressure there is on everyone to get ‘results.' "

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

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