Originally Posted by Anonymous
Yes ... this happens. But no it's not normal. Parents do not tell their friends and other parents from their teams about camps, leagues, training, out of club tournaments. Who knows why - probably to give their daughter a leg up.

When I played youth soccer our coach told every player and parents about every opportunity he heard of for extra play and arranged for us to do a couple things together. He wanted everyone on the team to get better - not just his daughter. It's not that way anymore

There are parents (one is particularly egregious) who take 1/2 of their club team and play in tournaments, camps, leagues, etc. and completely exclude the other girls on the team. No actually - its a group of parents. They're not playing in club sponsored activities so no one can actually stop them but you would think common decency would stop it. And they'd NEVER let that happen to their own children but that's the new normal. Worry about what benefits & advances your child and maybe a select few others . For all others - well too bad for them.

It will only get worse when your daughter gets to high school and the competition for things like looks from colleges/under armour, all american, and nike teams/write ups in the papers/spots on varsity & JV/ etc.

Use a forum like this to ask about certain camps. You'll probably get a better answer from anonymous parents on here who aren't worried about your kid outshining theirs

All of the camps, tournaments, UA sponsored events are all on the internet. All you need to do is search for it. I did not need any other parent to tell me about one of these events. I researched them and figured out which ones were worth paying for. Do not be dependent on others when all that is needed is a little research effort.