I'm not a soccer fan. Never have been. Solely because I don't understand it and never played it. Too much running. With that said, this article scares me. Not only as a coach, but as a fan of sports. The rising costs of sports in high school makes me believe this could trickle down to all sports, but is this really what we're trying to do now? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/s...hool-players-to-choose.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1
I'm not that familiar with youth soccer either, but just about everything in that article smacked of idiocy.
Not the thrust of that article, but I detest coaches in high school sports that force kids to only play one sport.
I find it funny that that is what they think keeps American players from being on par with Brazil. Idiotic.
Right. Kids in Brazil pop out of mother and immediately start kicking a soccer ball. Thats the difference
A few thoughts: a) I wonder how much of a say Klinsmann had in this. As a big soccer fan who expects to see the American Captain lifting the World Cup trophy during my lifetime, I'm excited about this. b) This is the way this is done in most countries (at leas soccer crazy ones). In the future, fewer and fewer American pros will play for a high school or college team. c) I wouldn't worry about other sports. Soccer doesn't offer much as far as college is concerned, so it's not as surprising the top players would go in another direction for development.
TV, I agree with you about all of the above. What I am troubled by is that US Soccer continues to convince themselves that our players need more coaching. While I think Klinsmann certainly believes this to be the correct long-term path (though he has some interesting comments about pick-up soccer), US soccer's main ailment is the absence of a "soccer for fun" culture that begins from the womb. At 4 and 5 years old we throw little kids in over-coached leagues with adults that don't know offsides from onside and then convince ourselves that more organization is what is needed when they reject it. They need, frankly, to play soccer for soccer's sake.
It's not nearly as crazy as most think. Brazil may be the only country with a comparable combination of population and athleticism. To clarify, I'm not saying that skipping high school will make us as good as Brazil. I am saying that with proper development, America will become an elite power.
That age is probably too early to determine anything. That said, around 9 or 10, you could probably identify the more talented kids and the kids who are going to stick with soccer.
are there issues as deep as to what soccer will be doing? No. but as far as other sports (namely baseball) there is a huge emphasis on travel ball. Just on our team, we've had to speak with multiple players about watching the amount of time they are spending throwing pens and throwing as a whole with their travel programs. What really pisses you off is that there's this asinine misconception that players HAVE to play for a travel team to get to the next level. This trend started towards the end of my playing days and I just chuckle each time I hear parents and players mention it. Now, with that said, there are some really good travel programs that get kids exposure to talent and scouts alike. But the better portion of the travel teams are just a group of entrepreneurs who realized a way to make an easy buck. I'm afraid that eventually if this decision does in fact change the landscape of soccer, it will trickle down to other sports. Especially those that don't make the money in gate to break even.
I, an admitted soccer novice, mentioned this exact fact to a die-hard soccer guy I know during the last World Cup and was told I had no idea what I was talking about. When I watch American players, I see a bunch of fundamentally and technically sound guys who just don't have a sixth sense for it like other nations do that you can't coach and it just has to develop on its own. JMO IMO IYAN VFL GBO
I'm betting you are going to tell me I'm wrong for making my two year old throw 100 curve balls a day too, right?
You don't HAVE to play travel ball, but what else is there? Rec leagues after the age of 12 are a joke.No player worth a damn in Middle Tennessee would be caught dead playing in a local rec league. I just finished up my baseball "career" last spring and I promise every player I know that was drafted/signed a D1 scholarship all played travel ball after the high school season ended.
That is probably true ole. I think what NYY is saying though is it wasn't like this, nor does it have to be. Plenty of people made it to the big leagues long before travel ball ever existed. There are (were?) some truly great Little Leagues around the state when I was playing. No 12 year old or 15 year old for that matter needed to travel throughout the South to get good at baseball when there was great coaching and players in your own community. Johnson City, where I grew up, produced a bunch of great players long before the travel ball explosion took over.
Look, how is he supposed to throw the splitter by 5 if he's not even throwing a curve until 6? Geez. C'MON!
Definitely agree with that. Little League was a huge deal when my dad played in the late 60s/early 70s. I really have no idea when travel ball started. All I know is that I am 19 years old and it was the only choice that us better players had, especially after the age of 13.
Yet, like we said, it wasn't always that way. The culture has changed. I don't deny that. But the game of baseball is missing out tremendously by creating these "travel" programs who half the time are coached by the same people that would have coached in the rec leagues you spoke about. The only difference is they found a way to make a buck.
Travel ball got really big around my hometown about the time I was 15. Well, that was when the first kid my age left to go play with a team in a nearby city. Now my hometown has travel teams starting at age 8. And it's pretty much fueled by the dads who always though they were 25 times better than they actually were and think they know more than anyone else. (Another conversation completely.) It's pretty much killed the very well-ran Little League program there that has been around for years and years and years. I get if you are pretty good that playing travel ball when you are 13 or so is probably a pretty good thing, but it's completely ridiculous to start at age 8.