Poll: What do you think about trevlling far for a tournament (i.e.VA) in the spring?

Wow.. Talk about positive thinking...I don't have a specific tournament in mind as of yet. I'll wait to see what the majority think then I'll talk to Jim and I'll post a few tournaments we can consider. I'd guess vacation timing would be a factor as well as the tournament itself.

From Mary Sharon:

I tried to go onto the website & blog, but I am a computer spaz, and it isn't working! But for the record, here is how I feel about summer select & a far away tournament:

1.FAR AWAY TOURNAMENT With our older two so involved in their sports, we are already strung out pretty thinly. Unless this was a tournament that Mike's team was going to be at as well, we would be unable to attend with Matt. Since he is the youngest, he will have to "wait his turn" , since there is only 2 of us, and three of the kids! We have found that often all three have tournaments on the same weekends, making it very difficult for us logistically. Tara & Mike need to take precedence, because of college & high school interests, etc.

Mary Sharon

If it was a tournament that offered competition to the boys without overwhelming them--we are all for it. It would be disheartening to travel far, spend a good deal of $$, and then watch them get crushed by teams full of gargantuan 10-11 year olds bred in the mud of the earth's core. :-) So if there is any way to get information on the reputation of the tournament and the teams that usually attend--that would be helpful. Just my thoughts on it. We are behind the team and would try to participate in any circumstance.

I know that a travel tournament may be a bigger time commitment than some families are prepared to entertain and in this difficult economic time, cost should always come into consideration and such tournaments aren’t cheap. However, having played club soccer growing up, I think these tournaments are a great experience for kids at this age. I am not arguing we need to travel to see better competition and I am sure there are a lot of people think the boys are too young to travel but as a lot of you know, a tournament can be a terrific experience and I would be very supportive of it.

We already have travel plans between Apr-8 and Apr-17 (which is the recess week in our town) - I am afraid Fernando would need to skip the spring tournament

Although, we do think this will be a great experience for they boys, at this time we feel the boys need to fine tune their skills before we enter into a higher level of tournaments. I agree with the Frosts, it would be heart breaking to travel so far and spend so much $$$$ to see their hopes get knocked down. To that end, we opt out for a far travel tournament at this time.