I'll explain this as simply as I can. Ive been playing soccer for the past 12 years of my life and now at age 17 getting ready to move the next level of the game, which for me is division I at some college or university. Ok so whats the big problem about this you might ask? Well, to be honest over the past 5 years I have started hating the game more and more. It takes up ALL my time, im fucking sick and tired of the people that are involved with it, and I HATE that I am too afraid to tell anyone that. I myself am a decent player having played on regonional US teams and blah blah blah, and the fact that everyone is expecting and planning for me to go to college and play soccer is driving me insane. All I want to do is quit and move on without any questions asked. Its not that simple though.

I have the opportunity to get full ride scholarship to some of the top soccer schools here in the US. Ive talked with alot of coaches, and visited some schools, but I just dont want it anymore. Problem is I keep telling everyone that I do which is bringing me closer and closer to insanity and is just making it harder for me to tell the truth. My dad's whole life outside of work is about soccer, whether it be watching me play, discussing my plans in soccer for the future, and has spent alot of money and time sending me around the country the past 5 years, playing in tournaments etc. and I dont think I can tell him all the sudden that all of that was just a waist. Know what I mean?

If you understood how much time and extra effort goes into playing college soccer at such a high level you would understand me not wanting to go. I have spent the past 5 years playing high level soccer where it seems my entire life is just revolving around soccer and the feeling that I could be doing for another 4 just drives me crazy.

This is the first time I have really told anyone this because its easier here. So do you guys have any advice or something, or I dont know. I dont even know what im talking about anymore. Im so confused!! ack...

sounds like pre-18, post-high school worriment...nothing to be concerned about...unless...



well i wont tell you to stop playing soccer. thats just retarded as its something you must enjoy to put up with for so long. but i urge you to find something other you enjoy (perhaps academic) and then persue that as much as poss. turn soccer into an intramural if you are that concerned...

basically soccer must be interesting to you in some aspect, and most would encourage (read: force) you into playing more until you are bereft of parents tutelage. id say, if its important to you, continue: please!

but at the same time consider something else perhaps, especially something that lets you play football and gets you background elsewhere. get a degree and then look elsehwere in the world for football for fun or for sport|

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'That's like telling a Kodiak bear to stop fcking older men.'

I played soccer for 6 years. I probably didnt get as much opportunity as you. The Highest i played is Grade A Regional Soccer, so it would be hard to relate the 2 scenarios. But i had no problem quiting. I basically stopped playing sport for 3 years (from years 12 & the first couple of years of Uni). These days I am happy playing Rugby in a regional team. We only Practice 2 nights a week & the games on Sat/sunday which suit me heaps better that the soccer training; I guess you would be training nearly every night?? Now i have more time to do my music Projects & hangout with friends = much happier lifestyle. I never intended to play a sport professinally anyways though!

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Another thing I would have to decide. Very good school with good soccer somewhere else far from where I live, or decent school with decent soccer program(division II)located basically in my backyard. Thats kinda where I am right now. Im still not to sure if I could quit or not.

i'm tellling you its an 'end of high school' phase. I was so burnt out w/ all the sports i play, but i'm happy i stuck with. IF ANYTHING, get your full ride, and quit while you are at college, not before you even get there.

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0729 i'm tellling you its an 'end of high school' phase. I was so burnt out w/ all the sports i play, but i'm happy i stuck with. IF ANYTHING, get your full ride, and quit while you are at college, not before you even get there.

They'll take my full ride away if I quit.

quote:

Originally posted by Kakoroto They'll take my full ride away if I quit.

But they won't kick you out of the school....

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0729 i'm tellling you its an 'end of high school' phase. I was so burnt out w/ all the sports i play, but i'm happy i stuck with. IF ANYTHING, get your full ride, and quit while you are at college, not before you even get there.

i disagree with this. i swam competetively for 15 years. i loved it. it defined who i was. i started swimming in college, NCAA D1. I lasted two years. What had happened to me was that I had burned out my junior year in high school. my coaches saw this and really helped me by giving me flexible practice options and the time i needed away from swimming to get my spark back. it came back, and i went to college. but i know now that once you are burnt out and have seen a glimpse of how much you are missing in life outside of sports, there is no hope to regain that innocent love for the sport you once had.

i was lucky because my mom was sick of traveling all over to watch her 3 kids swim. my parents liked to see me do well and showed up to all my meets but my swimming was never their life and they never pressured me at all. i was also lucky to have friends and coaches who knew what burn out looked like and helped me to realize it was ok to leave the sport.

there were kids on my college team who were in a position like you. they had been great swimmers as kids and were still pretty good in college but they were sick of it. they stayed on the team for social reasons (one benefit you might miss is the comradery of being on a college sports team) and for their scolarships. a lot of them couldnt afford to go to school without the scholarships. in the end, most of the people on my team who had burnt out over too many years of swimming balanced out the pros and cons and gave up the money and quit.

i cried the day i knew i had swum my last race. for 15 years it had defined who i was. i had thought it out logically for hours and everything was telling me i needed to quit and to let it go. i realized there had been signs for months and even years that i didnt really want to do it anymore. letting go of the sport is like saying goodbye to a part of yourself, leaving your future to the unknown. it's hard, and it is really fucking scary. forget what everyone else will think, you have to be comfortable with your own decision and KNOW what you are doing is right for you.

i know not all of my experience relates to you, but my advice would be that maybe it is time for you to give up soccer. maybe not. you need to figure out what you NEED and what is best for you. if the people in your life really care about you they will support you. you shouldnt feel like you have wasted these years of your life. soccer has made you who you are today and things like that will always be with you. hopefully you had fun with it in the past and you can remember happy memories of the sport. personally, i waited to long to quit and it took me a good 3 years before i could let go of the bitterness that i had from trying to remain in a sport that sapped every last bit of energy from me...


anyway, i know not all of this applies to you, but think about your decision a lot before you make it.

one other thing that might apply to you as a soccer player that didnt really get to me so much as a swimmer is that if you arent really into it, you could bring bad vibes to your team, and that isnt really fair, is it?

also, i highly encourage you to take all 5 of your allowed recruiting trips because they can be really fun.

its more simple than you think. take the "best" school for you, academiclly and personally(whatever reasons you have) and take that scholarship. see if maybe playing in college is different than how it was your whole life (chances are it will be very different) and go from there.

quote:

Originally posted by Kakoroto I'll explain this as simply as I can. Ive been playing soccer for the past 12 years of my life and now at age 17 getting ready to move the next level of the game, which for me is division I at some college or university. Ok so whats the big problem about this you might ask? Well, to be honest over the past 5 years I have started hating the game more and more. It takes up ALL my time, im fucking sick and tired of the people that are involved with it, and I HATE that I am too afraid to tell anyone that. I myself am a decent player having played on regonional US teams and blah blah blah, and the fact that everyone is expecting and planning for me to go to college and play soccer is driving me insane. All I want to do is quit and move on without any questions asked. Its not that simple though. I have the opportunity to get full ride scholarship to some of the top soccer schools here in the US. Ive talked with alot of coaches, and visited some schools, but I just dont want it anymore. Problem is I keep telling everyone that I do which is bringing me closer and closer to insanity and is just making it harder for me to tell the truth. My dad's whole life outside of work is about soccer, whether it be watching me play, discussing my plans in soccer for the future, and has spent alot of money and time sending me around the country the past 5 years, playing in tournaments etc. and I dont think I can tell him all the sudden that all of that was just a waist. Know what I mean? If you understood how much time and extra effort goes into playing college soccer at such a high level you would understand me not wanting to go. I have spent the past 5 years playing high level soccer where it seems my entire life is just revolving around soccer and the feeling that I could be doing for another 4 just drives me crazy. This is the first time I have really told anyone this because its easier here. So do you guys have any advice or something, or I dont know. I dont even know what im talking about anymore. Im so confused!! ack...

ive been playing compet. since i was a kiddie, and my suggestion to you would be to re-evaluate your desires with respects to the game. if you think you got what it takes to play professionally in the future or have any desires of playing varsity or pro then i'd do it. but keeping that in mind, if continuing on this path will make you loath the game, then i'd drop down to div 2 or just play it recreationally, find a decent houseleague or embassy league. because although some may find it cliché, you play for the game, not the fame, right? i love the sport and if i thought that i was with a team or in any situation that would tarnish my passion for the sport, id be outta there right-quick.

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cheers

tell ur parents to pay for school.....

quit soccer... stop bitching



if u wanna play... play, and entretain me


if u dont, let someone who loves the game and is good play

^^^BEST ADVICE EVAR

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quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD

I asked my parents if they'd pay for my college and they told me McDonalds was hiring.

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Originally posted by ******** Seplling don't demonstrate intelligence and educatoin - knowing does.