What's Killing Youth Soccer in America Is Also Hurting Most Every Other Sport

[Unregistered]

The big, fancy facility attracts tournaments and that is a lot of cash flow, while the pick-up field attracts those who want to play. The goal of the system is not to develop players, at all .The goal of the system is to generate cash flow.

yessir, as the goal of any private sector system should be in capitalism. that's not the point. the point is we have starved the public sector to death in the past 40 years, as more and more americans, consciously or not, buy into the belief that anything run by government will be garbage by definition, and this is what you get, applying this system to youth sports. but it's not just youth sports. when you're 75, you're going to wish there was a nice place to walk around for some exercise and socialization. instead, we only offer private, for profit, homes for our elderly. i'm not saying private sector is bad, just that we need public sector as well. we had a balance in this country 50 years ago, and now we are seeing what happens when we kill off any public sector investment in our communities.

[Unregistered]

No one talks about the clubs that sponsor a few kids 100%
No one is getting rich.
fake news!

[Unregistered]

No one talks about the clubs that sponsor a few kids 100%
No one is getting rich.
fake news!

Some people are making some good money, but it’s not the coaches. Privately owned clubs make money for owners, and administrators in certain leagues make money. Your standard club coach, at any level, isn’t making real money.

[Unregistered]

worldwide futbol is not a sport for the suburban elites that can afford $3,000 per year or more for their kid to dress up and pretend they are elite soccer players. it is a sport of the poor, of kids that leave their homes and put everything into one basket and take enormous risks with no safety net. even in european countries, the standard of living is not what we have here. kids take public transportation, 1 hour to get to practice, head back on their own at 9-10 pm on the metro. kids live 3-4 in a small dorm room. soccer becomes everything. i'm not saying soccer in the US is doomed, but if we continue to view soccer as a sport for suburban elites that don't want their kids getting concussions playing tackle football, we're never competing internationally.

The rest of the world is moving towards a European model, with many Europeans investing in these clubs. 3rd world nations in South and Central America, as well as Africa, are bringing kids in and out of academies. Kids don’t enter the pro ranks for playing pick-up or street football, they are developed by a club. Difference between those kids and American kids is when they get the boot from the academy there is little opportunity to do anything else. The American kids have other opportunities. I live in America so my kids don’t have to rely on football alone. I’d rather have emphasis on education and then football.

[Unregistered]

I’m not sure if this has been posted, but it’s a good article.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.the...rticle/565109/

[Just a Coach]

yessir, as the goal of any private sector system should be in capitalism. that's not the point. the point is we have starved the public sector to death in the past 40 years, as more and more americans, consciously or not, buy into the belief that anything run by government will be garbage by definition, and this is what you get, applying this system to youth sports. but it's not just youth sports. when you're 75, you're going to wish there was a nice place to walk around for some exercise and socialization. instead, we only offer private, for profit, homes for our elderly. i'm not saying private sector is bad, just that we need public sector as well. we had a balance in this country 50 years ago, and now we are seeing what happens when we kill off any public sector investment in our communities.

I disagree with you. Capitalism is not equal to subpar performance. Any private enterprise purely focused on making profit and nothing else is not going to be successful in the long term. Making money has to be coupled with providing a quality product, whatever that product may be. US Soccer provides a poor quality product. What they do not understand is that by providing quality, such as international competitiveness, they would actually make much more money. They are poor quality, that is all.

[Unregistered]

I disagree with you. Capitalism is not equal to subpar performance. Any private enterprise purely focused on making profit and nothing else is not going to be successful in the long term. Making money has to be coupled with providing a quality product, whatever that product may be. US Soccer provides a poor quality product. What they do not understand is that by providing quality, such as international competitiveness, they would actually make much more money. They are poor quality, that is all.

And if I may add to the above, US Soccer only survives because it has a monopoly. It does not need to produce a quality product, because there are no other options available. So, they benefit from capitalism, but do not have to compete in the same capitalist environment.

[Unregistered]

Confederação Brasileira de Futebol

Jair Bolsonaro going to kill everyone on Earth. Won’t be a Confederação Brasileira de Futebol if there isn’t a rainforest. Earth ends if you burn down the rainforest. Better start calling folks in Brazil and applying pressure to get Bolsonaro out! Come on people. The people of Earth are depending on you!

Bolsonaro Out!!!

[Unregistered]

Jair Bolsonaro going to kill everyone on Earth. Won’t be a Confederação Brasileira de Futebol if there isn’t a rainforest. Earth ends if you burn down the rainforest. Better start calling folks in Brazil and applying pressure to get Bolsonaro out! Come on people. The people of Earth are depending on you!

Bolsonaro Out!!!

Look how many people are on the USMNT? I know there are 20 + but I assume there are -50 plus on various teams.

Orlando has had Dax mccartyand who else?

Who has miami produced.

[Unregistered]

Look how many people are on the USMNT? I know there are 20 + but I assume there are -50 plus on various teams.

Orlando has had Dax mccartyand who else?

Who has miami produced.

S Florida needs to learn how to play the game of soccer first!

[Unregistered-15]

So after thinking about it

So after putting some thought into this. I don't think the problem is greedy clubs (Many are just getting by and don't make money) or greedy coaches (again most of them don't make squat compared to the time they put in and the disruption to their normal life).

The problem I see is the travel. If you cut out the travel the cost and time commitment on the family go way way down. Half the cost is the travel. Most of the time cost is the travel. Less cost mean more players. More players means less travel.

The process of grouping up kids into elite travel teams at such a young age instead of focusing on local player development through the use of local leagues is what is killing soccer and other sports too in my opinion.

Travel shouldn't even start until high school. And US soccer has to decide whether to use high school or clubs to develop kids at that age. Doing both is a huge problem in my opinion.

The other big problem is identification as well. The best players simply aren't ending up in the DA system to begin with. Like a lot of things it mostly depends on who you know and are you in the right place at the right time. AND BECAUSE OF THE TRAVEL everyone else is left to die on the vine. I've heard that college coaches and scouts don't even look at non MLS DA teams. So I mean wow OK no wonder the US hardly has any pro soccer players. I think I heard only like five or six players graduating from college even have a chance to go pro is a lower level league like the MLS at this point.

Something is really wrong. The fact that club coaches also coach at high schools is another problem. You have some club coaches moving player positions around so they can have a super high school team in a few years versus putting the kids in their best position and letting them develop. You have some high schools where if you aren't from the right club you can't get a position because the coach favors his own club kids, etc.. Then you have clubs that tell kids not to play high school soccer.

The whole system needs to be totally revamped. Please lets use promotion and relegation in youth soccer with only local teams only. And only the best local teams getting into the top tier league and having to travel. Travel needs to be exterminated.

[Unregistered]

So after putting some thought into this. I don't think the problem is greedy clubs (Many are just getting by and don't make money) or greedy coaches (again most of them don't make squat compared to the time they put in and the disruption to their normal life).

The problem I see is the travel. If you cut out the travel the cost and time commitment on the family go way way down. Half the cost is the travel. Most of the time cost is the travel. Less cost mean more players. More players means less travel.

The process of grouping up kids into elite travel teams at such a young age instead of focusing on local player development through the use of local leagues is what is killing soccer and other sports too in my opinion.

Travel shouldn't even start until high school. And US soccer has to decide whether to use high school or clubs to develop kids at that age. Doing both is a huge problem in my opinion.

The other big problem is identification as well. The best players simply aren't ending up in the DA system to begin with. Like a lot of things it mostly depends on who you know and are you in the right place at the right time. AND BECAUSE OF THE TRAVEL everyone else is left to die on the vine. I've heard that college coaches and scouts don't even look at non MLS DA teams. So I mean wow OK no wonder the US hardly has any pro soccer players. I think I heard only like five or six players graduating from college even have a chance to go pro is a lower level league like the MLS at this point.

Something is really wrong. The fact that club coaches also coach at high schools is another problem. You have some club coaches moving player positions around so they can have a super high school team in a few years versus putting the kids in their best position and letting them develop. You have some high schools where if you aren't from the right club you can't get a position because the coach favors his own club kids, etc.. Then you have clubs that tell kids not to play high school soccer.

The whole system needs to be totally revamped. Please lets use promotion and relegation in youth soccer with only local teams only. And only the best local teams getting into the top tier league and having to travel. Travel needs to be exterminated.

Spot on. Maybe travel a few hours out for a tournament or showcase but otherwise develop youth players in the local area without as much travel and the expenses that come with it. Travel costs is why we are pricing the lower and middle class out of youth soccer.

[Unregistered]

Spot on. Maybe travel a few hours out for a tournament or showcase but otherwise develop youth players in the local area without as much travel and the expenses that come with it. Travel costs is why we are pricing the lower and middle class out of youth soccer.

Travel cost are more the result cause by by parents who buy into the "my kid is elite" syndrome. Lets face it, what parent doesn't like to be told their kid is good at something. Many kids are really good, but there is a big difference between "elite" and really good. Clubs have been upping the ante for years because you can't call them elite if those kids are playing alongside other kids. Need to create the ever more elite league.

We as parents eat that up, charge away on our credit cards for it. It only is getting more compounded with the increased competitiveness for college admissions. Now kids can't go to a good college they must get into an elite school. Soccer is their edge. The race and jumping through hoops so the kid can play 4 years of college soccer is superseding the decade of playing as a kid.

[Unregistered]

Travel cost are more the result cause by by parents who buy into the "my kid is elite" syndrome. Lets face it, what parent doesn't like to be told their kid is good at something. Many kids are really good, but there is a big difference between "elite" and really good. Clubs have been upping the ante for years because you can't call them elite if those kids are playing alongside other kids. Need to create the ever more elite league.

We as parents eat that up, charge away on our credit cards for it. It only is getting more compounded with the increased competitiveness for college admissions. Now kids can't go to a good college they must get into an elite school. Soccer is their edge. The race and jumping through hoops so the kid can play 4 years of college soccer is superseding the decade of playing as a kid.

The parents are also trying to find ways to keep their kids off computers and gaming five hours a day. New charter schools are popping up with requirement their kids must sign agreements to stay off the computer and TV.

[Unregistered]

Spot on. Maybe travel a few hours out for a tournament or showcase but otherwise develop youth players in the local area without as much travel and the expenses that come with it. Travel costs is why we are pricing the lower and middle class out of youth soccer.

And it wasn't that long ago when that was the case. Now there's too many leagues that give clubs the chance to avoid local competition in the name of getting "better" competition. Again, not that long ago, my older kids' clubs only played relatively locally and there were some big rivalries. Losing to one or beating one was a big deal. Those clubs would sweat it out, worried that if they lost too many local games then players would go to other clubs. Now they never have to play the club half an hour away, but drive 5 hours to play a club that will never poach their players.

Problem is - the leagues exist and there's no one organization that even can control the situation. There will never be a logical soccer pyramid with promotion and relegation with all but the top tier (for older ages) having minimal travel. The free market will have to decide which leagues will collapse. It takes parents leaving clubs, which then triggers clubs leaving leagues to cause the leagues to then collapse.