Lou Fusz, Scott Gallagher, Rawlings Tigers, and Adidas Athletics. What do all these teams have in common? Over the last 20 years, these club teams have taken over the St. Louis youth sports scene in their respective sports.
One of the sports most affected by club teams is baseball. And no one knows this better than Dave McFarland, who has been a baseball coach for 31 years at Parkway South. He sees the jump to high school baseball better than most because he is the freshman baseball coach. He said he sees the firsthand effect club baseball has on incoming freshmen,
“When kids come to high school there’s so many of them that are on these select teams, and sometimes I think the thought process is that they might be better than what they are. They come in with some false realities and false beliefs about their abilities,” said McFarland.
Sophomore Hayden Kraft has been playing club baseball for six and a half years and currently plays for the Athletics. Unlike McFarland, Kraft sees no cons to playing club baseball.
“I think club baseball has improved my skills as a player,” Kraft said.
One big deterrent for parents signing their children up for club baseball is the cost. After looking up the price on the Adidas Athletics website to play. I found there was no part of the website that talked about the price you would have to pay for your child to play. Talk here about the cost doesn’t include all the hotels and travel you have to do to go to all the tournaments.
While I could not find an exact price, Kraft had an estimate.
“I’d say about $3,000 a year,” Kraft said.
McFarland had more to say about the money aspect of club baseball.
“There are some programs that do a very good job with things and there are some that are unfortunately a money grab. You gotta be careful with what you’re actually getting yourself into. It can be very costly in some situations,” McFarland said.
Robyn Birkenholz, the mother of sophomore baseball player Drew Birkenholz, said she really likes the club baseball team her son plays for. He plays for the St. Louis Legends,
“We love Drew’s coaches which is a big part of why we have stayed with this club team. We feel very strongly that they have his growth and development as their primary goal. His coaches have a strong grasp of the fundamentals of baseball–hitting, pitching, fielding, and base running–but also possess advanced strategies and insights that have helped Drew improve his overall game,” Birkenholz said.
While Birkenholz is very on board with Drew playing and likes the program, she said it definitely has an impact on their family schedule,
“Club baseball is a big time commitment and it does affect your family’s weekend and summer plans due to multiple out-of-town tournaments. During baseball season, Drew is at baseball about 18-20 hours a week. This includes practice, hitting and pitching lessons, and games,” Birkenholz said.
Ryan Hertlein, who plays for the Rawlings Tigers, said he loves playing club baseball and is very committed.
“I really like the atmosphere and I’ve never really gotten burned out even with all the time during the summer I spend traveling and playing,” Hertlein said.
One of the big draws for playing club baseball is having offseason training within your program, and the Tigers, Athletics, and Legends all offer training at their faculties around the St. Louis area. At the end of the day, you do not need to play club baseball to make it to the MLB. Future hall of famer, multi-time Cy Young winner and Parkway’s own Max Scherzer played legion baseball in Missouri. You do not even need to be playing for ten years. Lorenzo Cain, two-time All Star did not start playing baseball until tenth grade and went on to have a very successful career.
Now, let’s see what select teams are like in another popular sport, soccer. Lots of popular teams, like Lou Fusz and Gallagher, cost an average of $1,050 per year, Check this. depending on the size of the team. This isn’t counting the uniforms or possible trips the player would go on. Varsity boys’ soccer coach Kyle Forthaus thinks that the pay-to-play model hurts youth soccer because of the costs.
“There are some young boys and girls out there who, because of the costs, don’t get the opportunity to play. I’ve seen prices rise to play sports, and the cost to play soccer at the club level is very high,” Forthaus said.
Growing up, some players who may be talented, aren’t able to afford the rising costs of club sports. Some people think that playing club will increase their chances of making their high school teams. JV girls soccer coach Matt Morris thinks that we can’t really solve this problem.
“That money has to come from somewhere. So, if you’re not going to put that cost on the players, then it would have to come from sponsorships or the clubs themselves. But, since it’s a profit situation, I don’t really see a way around it, to tell you the truth.”
This is true since the U.S. doesn’t have major clubs like Manchester United or Liverpool. Those teams don’t make parents pay lots of money; usually, they only pay about $200. This lets talent from all classes of society play academy soccer. But in the United States, soccer isn’t as popular as basketball or football so these clubs have to make money somehow.
Lou Fusz player sophomore Kurtis Zalaudek thinks that the prices of soccer clubs affect the talent that comes in.
“I think sometimes it’s just annoying cause it can cost a lot of money to play and people can even have a lot of talent, but they don’t have the money to, really get a chance to play,” Zalaudek said.
Like other club sports in the area, Lou Fusz’s website also doesn’t mention cost, but they do show forms to register for a tryout. Usually, if your kid makes the team they’ll give you a form to sign with the price.
Former club soccer player sophomore Mohammed Barakat thinks that it depends on the club for the price to be worth it.
“I think at that point the price is worth it [Gallagher] but for a lot of other club teams it’s not nearly worth it,” he said.
Some clubs like Gallagher produce great talents, and some players who used to play for Gallagher play on the U.S. National team like former Gallagher players like Tim Ream and Josh Sargent, and MLS players Kipp Keller, and Jack Lynn. But other clubs aren’t as good at this business model and probably aren’t as worth it as the big ones.
But some people do think that club soccer is a good system and does show player development. Mother of Lou Fusz player, sophomore Taylor Barzak, Stacy Barzak thinks that youth sports is a business so they have to make money somehow, and that her daughter has grown as a player through it.
“Youth sports in general is a business. No matter what level one plays at it is expensive. Club soccer is no different, for us it is worth the expense as it has developed Taylor into the player she is today. Our club provides excellent coaching and opportunities,” she said.
