Our family moved from Milwaukee to KC Metro, and the difference in kids sports was pretty obvious. Maybe it was just because of where we lived (Lenexa), but it seemed that there were a lot of parents who were very dedicated to the athletic development of their kids. Percentage-wise, I don't know if more pro athletes come out of KC than MKE, but it would seem those kids had more opportunity to do so. Then again, we lived in Milwaukee proper, not on the North Shore or Brookfield/Hartland. So maybe it's just a suburban thing.

Now we're in Jacksonville, Florida. It does not seem as if youth sports is nearly as big here as in either of our last two stops. Then again, we're also IN Jacksonville, not St. Johns County. Basically, Jacksonville is almost its own suburb because it's so huge, but there are still suburban areas to the south. We live in a suburban section of JAX, which feels like the suburbs, but it may not have the investment capital and crazed sports parents of St. Johns.

I still wanted my daughter to be able to play soccer, since she thinks it's the thing to do right now. I researched the local leagues, and I found out that several seem to have folded recently. Many others are just camps. Really, you don't need tons of options, but my perception is that the soccer parents have moved further south in this area, hoping to get their girls onto the St. Johns Country Day School girls soccer team / college scholarship factory.

If you're looking for what leagues are in Jacksonville, some of the websites are outdates, so I published an updated list on New Jax Witty. Here are the leagues I looked into (cost, etc.): Antilleans Football Club, Arlington Futbol Club, Beaches Soccer League, Coastal Kicks Soccer League, Crosswater Community Church Upward Sports Soccer, First Baptist Church Flag Soccer, Florida Elite Soccer, Good Lad Soccer Camps, i9, Jacksonville Armada Foot Club Youth Academy, Jacksonville Youth Soccer Club, Jewish Community Alliance Soccer, Mayport Youth Sports Soccer, Oceanway Sports Association, and The Y.