Is all this travelling to and from games at younger ages really any benefit to the kids or is it all for our egos, I have been asking this question to my subconscious for a long time.
Example
Take for instance, (I have to do Dublin as an example, as I know the league teams better) A kid get up at 8.15am, he might live about 10 minute drive to the club house to meet for a Saturday morning away game. 8.30am is the time we should meet and 8.45am is the time we should leave for the game. The Game is u8s Drogheda Boys V Wayside Celtic. The journey to Drogheda from Kilternan is about 55 mins. WSC arrive at venue and get settled onto the pitch at 10am, warm up done and game kick off 10.30am. Game ends at 11.15am. On average a kids gets to touch the ball 15 times WSC lose 1-0.
All this Travelling for very little playing time
11.30am kids head for the cars, 11.35 start journey back home – Drop kids off at club or at friends house. Kid arrives home at 12.45. Please correct me if my calculations are wrong and if you think this is unrealistic, I don’t think it is and I know every weeks parents and kids are giving up over 4 hours of time to allow their kids to play on average of 30minutes of football time and getting 12 touches of the ball, how is any kid going to get a workout at that rate or even become a better player.
He spent more time sitting in the car they actually playing and thats if he played at all. This is an example of just one weekend, you are doing this every week, maybe not as far but you still get up just as early for home game. 
We so obsessed with result and games, that the kids are the ones who suffer; organised leagues at this age are not good for the kids. You only have to read this to realise how much playing time they get versus travelling time, how many times they actually touch the ball and all for a league system that doesn’t have the kids interests at heart. I think weekend blitz where kids get to play at least 2-3 games(with no Trophy ceremony), more touches of the ball, play local teams so less travelling is needed. Parents can stay and watch or drop the kids off and come back (a bit of time to themselves)
Is this pure madness? I’ll let you decide!
How far did you travel for your game and if you have some spare time see how many times you child touches the ball in any one game?
