Travel Soccer Savings: Tips to Travel Smart and Spend Less

One day you wake up and find yourself part of a travel soccer family! You might have aimed for your young soccer player to join a travel soccer team, but none of us truly grasp the time and financial commitment until it actually happens.

Participating in youth soccer tournaments can offer an exciting and fulfilling experience for both the player and their family. Witnessing your player thrive on the field and acquire valuable life skills is rewarding, yet it comes at a cost. 

Having traveled across the country for soccer tournaments for over three years as a soccer mom, I am here to share my insights! By utilizing these tips for saving on travel soccer, you can cut costs on your soccer adventures. Let's get started!

Share Your Soccer Travel Expenses

Building friendships is simple when you're part of a travel soccer team, as you share plenty of time during practices, matches, and journeys. Currently, we spend more time with our soccer family than with our own relatives.

By forming close bonds with another family and having players who get along well, you can travel together, making the trips more enjoyable and cost-effective. Here’s how you can enjoy some travel soccer savings.

Gas: Carpool to and from soccer games and tournaments.

Cars: When you need to fly to a tournament, rent a car together. 

Parking: Drive to the airport together and split airport parking. If your trip is more than two nights, consider having someone drop you at the airport or grab an Uber. Be sure to compare prices. 

Hotel Rooms: Reserve a hotel room with two queen beds and share it. Discuss the amount of sleep each player requires to agree on bedtimes. Players may have significantly different sleep needs, making this conversation important to have.

Flights: It is cost-effective to make flight reservations ahead of time. Typically, the sooner you book your flights, the lower the cost will be. Also, consider exploring different airlines and airports to discover more affordable flight options. 

Minimizing Food Costs While Traveling

When you are driving to an overnight or weekend soccer tournament, you can bring a lot of your supplies with you. I recall one tournament I literally spent $10 on eating out the whole weekend. Here is what you can do. 

• Bring a 3-gallon jug filled with filtered water at home. Some people don’t mind drinking hotel water, but I do try to avoid it. Bring your players’ soccer jug already filled with water as well. 

• Fill a plastic container with snacks. We pack protein bars, mini protein snack bags, mini cookies, pretzels, nuts, microwaveable popcorn, and other small, grab and go snacks.  

• Make and bring breakfast or lunch for the car. This will save you money and time, and also eat healthier meals on the go. 

• Pack electrolyte and protein drinks. I usually bring at least one electrolyte drink per day, and protein chocolate milk to get quick calories and energy after (and in between) games. 

• Bring food for quick and healthy meals. I bought large square 24-48 hour ice packs, that really work. Some examples of what we pack include bread, cold cuts, peanut butter, blocks of cheese, crackers, fruit, carrots, salad supplies, chicken strips, condiment packets, mac & cheese cups, hard boiled eggs, protein pancake cups, and more. 

• If you have a complimentary breakfast buffet, you not only don’t have to worry about breakfast, but you can also grab supplies. Consider grabbing some extra bread, peanut butter, butter, cream cheese, cereal, yogurts, and even eggs to eat later in the day. We’ve gotten lucky too, where we’ll have an early game and we have the opportunity to eat before the game and after the game. 

If you are flying, there are modifications you can make to save money, but much of what I mentioned above still works. 

• Instead of electrolyte drinks, bring powder to mix with water. 

• Pre-pack meals for the plane and bring ice packs. As long as the ice packs are frozen, they are allowed through security. 

• We still bring food, but less than if we are traveling to soccer by car. Then, stop at a grocery store on the way to the hotel to stock up. Be sure you will eat what you buy, or that you can bring the items back home. 

Consider Future Travel Soccer Savings Tips

Get a travel rewards credit card, if you don’t already have one. Use this card to earn points or miles that can be redeemed for flights, hotels, or other travel expenses in the future. Try to put all of your expenses on this card so your points will build up fast. 

As suggested in a previous blog, Travel Soccer Tournaments: Hotel Hacks 1010, sign up for all rewards programs. All chain hotels, rental car companies, airlines, and more, offer rewards points good towards future bookings. 

Travel Soccer Savings Summary

While travel soccer can get expensive, there are money-saving ways to cut costs. The most important piece is preparation. Remember to plan ahead, be flexible, and be mindful of your spending. After you have traveled a few times, you will build a preparation and packing routine that will make it easy to watch what you spend. With a little planning and creativity, you can enjoy memorable trips without breaking the bank. 

Enjoy the youth soccer journey, it will be over before we all know it!

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