Generally speaking, travel soccer is a more competitive youth soccer level involving more time commitment and cost. It also often means tournaments with longer distance travel times.
Maintaining a regular sleep schedule during youth sports tournament weekends can be challenging due to excitement, travel, and unfamiliar surroundings.
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Travel Gear
Travel league soccer takes a massive commitment from players, coaches, and parents. It cuts into other extracurricular activities and homework time and can be costly.
There are also tournament rules to follow, hotel reservations to make, and carpooling arrangements to coordinate. These things can leave a parent feeling wiped out by the end of a weekend tournament.
A good tournament bag and an empty cooler are essential to keep water and snacks in (if allowed). Bringing a first aid kit’s also a great idea, especially if you have active kids prone to scrapes and bruises. A small air pump and a few wet rags to mop up a sweat are also a good addition. A portable iPhone power bank is also necessary for long days in the field.
First Aid Kit
A first aid kit is necessary, even for the most experienced players. You never know what scrapes and bruises a player might pick up during a tournament.
The experts we consulted for this article all agreed on standard first-aid supplies: adhesive bandages in multiple sizes, tweezers, scissors, shears, alcohol and prep pads for wound cleaning and antibiotic or hydrocortisone ointments, a splint, and a cold compress. This value option from Be Smart Get Prepared provides all these items for a meager price.
Additionally, a zippered pouch is included, making it easy to open, find what you need, and close back up. It’s an excellent choice for the budget-conscious parent who still wants a quality first-aid kit.
Extra Cash
Playing Pottsgrove little league soccer is a big commitment for players and parents. It requires much practice, often cutting into other extracurricular activities and homework. It can also require a significant financial burden for equipment, fees, and tournaments.
It can also be expensive to travel to different tournaments across the country. This can cost a weekend of hotel stays, car mileage, food, and video game money. It can be stressful and tiring for kids to go through this regularly, so they must take some time away from the sport. Make sure to bring something that can help them relax and recharge. For example, they may want to pack a book or their favorite music.
Portable iPhone Power Bank
Traveling to soccer tournaments is often a whirlwind experience. Between the multiple games, hotel stays, and food stops, it’s easy to forget essential items or get overwhelmed. A packing list will help ensure your child has everything to make it through the weekend. Other essential travel items include a cooler, a sports wagon (to save trips back and forth to the car), a small air pump for your child’s soccer ball, and a camera to capture all the fun memories!
While travel league soccer is an excellent opportunity for children to learn teamwork and build self-confidence, it requires a significant time commitment that can limit extracurricular activities and homework time.
Camera
Travel league soccer requires a significant time commitment, often impacting how much practice a player gets. It also cuts into family and other extracurricular activities and homework time.
Keeping a camera in your bag will help you capture all of the fun, but more importantly, it can help to remind kids what they’re doing it all for! It can also be a great way to preserve memories from the weekend, even when they’re feeling wiped out after multiple games.
Some mention that they don’t like tournaments that are too spread out, as it takes away from their ability to rest and recover between games. This is one of the reasons why I love that some tournaments offer a compact format that features teams playing only three games daily.
