My S26 has D3 soccer aspirations. Which I think are not a lock for him right now. But what I see missing from this very interesting conversation, with good points on both sides, is the assumption that your relationship with your children will not suffer if you asked them to give up their sport or reduce hours or step down from competitive club teams. I honestly believe my son would never speak to me again, and that’s not an exaggeration. It would be the undoing of our family. I know some of you might be thinking - how could you let your entire family dynamic be held hostage by sport??? But surely I can’t be the only one.
I very much appreciated the link to the club sports issues at Brown. I know a lot of our kids might think of club as a guarantee if they are not recruited. That was a good read and some info I had not been exposed to before.