Babylon Parents Balk At Fees For 'Professional Training' For 5-Year-Old Soccer Players

BABYLON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Times are changing when it comes to the price to play ball in the suburbs, with one Long Island soccer club proposing big fee hikes to train first-graders professionally in the sport.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, the fees for the Babylon Soccer Club are not scoring points with all parents.

'This is going to exclude a lot of families because they can't bear the financial burden," said Babylon parent Corinne Samon.

Samon was astounded over the nearly tripling of fees -- from $130 to $320 -- for players under 6 years old. Ten-year-olds pay even more.

"I think parents are just going to quietly leave the league," she said.

The new fees are for "professional trainers," because the soccer club explains to parent that its "volunteer coaching staff …has limited knowledge of the game of soccer."

The clubs said the trend in U.S. soccer is professional trainers for all ages, in order to "stop the exodus of players."

"They're still playing in the dirt, writing their names, chasing butterflies," said Megan Schaming of Lindenhurst. "They can wait a few more years till they spend the big bucks on the trainers, I feel."

Parents with kids not too many years out of diapers are worried about the ever increasing price of suburban club sports, which are often the only option for elementary-aged children to play team sports.

"You have to buy the cleats and the shin guards," said parent Jeanine Ilario. "And I have five children, so you know, that would be huge for me."

Indeed, CBS2 could not find anyone at all who supported the new fees. Even Gene Bodenstein, a former president of the soccer club and the owner of a soccer store, scoffed at the notion of professional training for 5-year-olds.

"Kids are going to burn out at 9 and 10, and parents are going to get burned out with the costs," Bodenstein said. "It's bad."

The Babylon Soccer Club told parents it is not training kids for the World Cup. But the club said professional training keeps kids enthusiastic about the sport because they can better compete and win.

But critics said everyone loses when kids drop out because their parents cannot afford registration fees. They have asked that professional training for the littlest ones be optional.

The Babylon Village Soccer Club did not respond to repeated requests for comment form CBS2. Its governing organization, the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association, said fees are set by each club.