Mediocre soccer players is what our country produces

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't set up goals with couple rocks and kick the ball around out in the streets for hours every day. All they get is couple hours of structured play a week, that's the reason.

Yup our delicate little flowers don't face enough boredom. Boredom prompts creativity and activity.

If parents are physically inactive and sit looking at screens all day
Little Johnny doesn't have much influential motivation at home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is what it is. Soccer is not a top tier sport in this country. It’s not in the culture like football or basketball or even baseball. Unless you could change the culture it will never be on par with the rest of the world. The truly top players aspiring to play outside this country tells all you need to know

American football is a dying sport -- fewer and fewer parents want to sign their children up for brain damage.

That leaves basketball (a winter sport, mainly) and baseball.

Far more kids play soccer (2.2M in 2021) than American football (677K); although yes basketball (4.2M) and baseball (3.7M) are the most popular.

Seems to me that soccer has made it into the "top tier" of American sports at this point and is firmly part of the culture of America. America will continue to steadily improve on the world soccer stage.

https://projectplay.org/state-of-play-2022/participation-trends

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't set up goals with couple rocks and kick the ball around out in the streets for hours every day. All they get is couple hours of structured play a week, that's the reason.

Yup our delicate little flowers don't face enough boredom. Boredom prompts creativity and activity.

If parents are physically inactive and sit looking at screens all day
Little Johnny doesn't have much influential motivation at home

This is very true! Starting at U12, almost all the girls on our team had phones, before and after practice, they all go right to their phones. I've seen the screen time consume my spouse's free time dramatically over the last 3 years. Now my kid emulates her significantly. Gott turn off the internet in order for either of them to go do anything else beside watch screens all day long. No kids outside anymore, we have 10 on our street, they all stay inside all day long, even on nice days. It's a problem for sure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't set up goals with couple rocks and kick the ball around out in the streets for hours every day. All they get is couple hours of structured play a week, that's the reason.

Yup our delicate little flowers don't face enough boredom. Boredom prompts creativity and activity.

If parents are physically inactive and sit looking at screens all day
Little Johnny doesn't have much influential motivation at home

This is very true! Starting at U12, almost all the girls on our team had phones, before and after practice, they all go right to their phones. I've seen the screen time consume my spouse's free time dramatically over the last 3 years. Now my kid emulates her significantly. Gott turn off the internet in order for either of them to go do anything else beside watch screens all day long. No kids outside anymore, we have 10 on our street, they all stay inside all day long, even on nice days. It's a problem for sure!

People on phones watching people doing active and productive things on IG they should be doing lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is what it is. Soccer is not a top tier sport in this country. It’s not in the culture like football or basketball or even baseball. Unless you could change the culture it will never be on par with the rest of the world. The truly top players aspiring to play outside this country tells all you need to know

American football is a dying sport -- fewer and fewer parents want to sign their children up for brain damage.

That leaves basketball (a winter sport, mainly) and baseball.

Far more kids play soccer (2.2M in 2021) than American football (677K); although yes basketball (4.2M) and baseball (3.7M) are the most popular.

Seems to me that soccer has made it into the "top tier" of American sports at this point and is firmly part of the culture of America. America will continue to steadily improve on the world soccer stage.

https://projectplay.org/state-of-play-2022/participation-trends

We've heard that for generations now. Soccer numbers are propped up by the U littles because it's the first sport that a lot of kids play. By the time kids get older, they drop it for other sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

Why is it that the US is so successful in most international sports but they're not successful at soccer? The summer Olympics? we're solid. The winter Olympics? we're solid. Baseball - great. basketball - great. Based off our population we should have the athletes to compete - so that speaks to a deeper issue of developing talent. We suck at developing our youth soccer talent, why? because it's a Pay-to-Play model

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is what it is. Soccer is not a top tier sport in this country. It’s not in the culture like football or basketball or even baseball. Unless you could change the culture it will never be on par with the rest of the world. The truly top players aspiring to play outside this country tells all you need to know

American football is a dying sport -- fewer and fewer parents want to sign their children up for brain damage.

That leaves basketball (a winter sport, mainly) and baseball.

Far more kids play soccer (2.2M in 2021) than American football (677K); although yes basketball (4.2M) and baseball (3.7M) are the most popular.

Seems to me that soccer has made it into the "top tier" of American sports at this point and is firmly part of the culture of America. America will continue to steadily improve on the world soccer stage.

https://projectplay.org/state-of-play-2022/participation-trends

I wish there were futsal rec leagues. My DS prefers it, but it is just a winter filler for the travel teams. I would love a WLBL (Western Loudoun Basketball League) for futsal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't set up goals with couple rocks and kick the ball around out in the streets for hours every day. All they get is couple hours of structured play a week, that's the reason.

Oh plenty of them do. I see it where I live all the time. They start very young and truly develop innate ball handling skills, etc. But these families often don't have the resources/means to put their kids in the developmental system. This is OP's point. Other countries manage to take advantage of kids with these skills PLUS their culture is kicking around in the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

Why is it that the US is so successful in most international sports but they're not successful at soccer? The summer Olympics? we're solid. The winter Olympics? we're solid. Baseball - great. basketball - great. Based off our population we should have the athletes to compete - so that speaks to a deeper issue of developing talent. We suck at developing our youth soccer talent, why? because it's a Pay-to-Play model

Have you been paying attention to what the US youth national teams have been doing in international competitions recently?
They have been competing well and winning.
U15's boys just beat Morocco, Croatia and Japan to win a tournament

The true big issue is the transition from youth to Senior men's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

Why is it that the US is so successful in most international sports but they're not successful at soccer? The summer Olympics? we're solid. The winter Olympics? we're solid. Baseball - great. basketball - great. Based off our population we should have the athletes to compete - so that speaks to a deeper issue of developing talent. We suck at developing our youth soccer talent, why? because it's a Pay-to-Play model

Have you been paying attention to what the US youth national teams have been doing in international competitions recently?
They have been competing well and winning.
U15's boys just beat Morocco, Croatia and Japan to win a tournament

The true big issue is the transition from youth to Senior men's

We don't have a domestic professional league that our players can strive for. MLS? there's a reason why it's called the European retirement league. There is a huge issue that our best players have to go overseas to develop - most of the Men's National team now plays in Europe (awesome for them) but we should be able to do that on our own. But if they can't make it in Europe then their development stalls and our national team continues to suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

Why is it that the US is so successful in most international sports but they're not successful at soccer? The summer Olympics? we're solid. The winter Olympics? we're solid. Baseball - great. basketball - great. Based off our population we should have the athletes to compete - so that speaks to a deeper issue of developing talent. We suck at developing our youth soccer talent, why? because it's a Pay-to-Play model

Have you been paying attention to what the US youth national teams have been doing in international competitions recently?
They have been competing well and winning.
U15's boys just beat Morocco, Croatia and Japan to win a tournament

The true big issue is the transition from youth to Senior men's

We don't have a domestic professional league that our players can strive for. MLS? there's a reason why it's called the European retirement league. There is a huge issue that our best players have to go overseas to develop - most of the Men's National team now plays in Europe (awesome for them) but we should be able to do that on our own. But if they can't make it in Europe then their development stalls and our national team continues to suffer.

In today's professional/International soccer, it's more about performance after 18 years old, while continuing to develop.
You better show up at 18 ready to work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't set up goals with couple rocks and kick the ball around out in the streets for hours every day. All they get is couple hours of structured play a week, that's the reason.

Actually, some of them do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is what it is. Soccer is not a top tier sport in this country. It’s not in the culture like football or basketball or even baseball. Unless you could change the culture it will never be on par with the rest of the world. The truly top players aspiring to play outside this country tells all you need to know

American football is a dying sport -- fewer and fewer parents want to sign their children up for brain damage.

That leaves basketball (a winter sport, mainly) and baseball.

Far more kids play soccer (2.2M in 2021) than American football (677K); although yes basketball (4.2M) and baseball (3.7M) are the most popular.

Seems to me that soccer has made it into the "top tier" of American sports at this point and is firmly part of the culture of America. America will continue to steadily improve on the world soccer stage.

https://projectplay.org/state-of-play-2022/participation-trends

Those numbers are for organized play, not for cultural awareness and popularity. To say that any sport in this country is more popular than American football is crazy. The NFL makes more than all the others combined. College football generates huge revenues and helps fund all the other college sports (like soccer). Follow the money, people. There are far, far more kids on school playgrounds in this country playing American football and basketball than other sports. Kids know and follow these athletes. They want to be them. It's not even close. It doesn't mean these sports are better. They are just part of the US culture. There are enough people in the country to have lots of sports but not all can be top tier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't set up goals with couple rocks and kick the ball around out in the streets for hours every day. All they get is couple hours of structured play a week, that's the reason.

Actually, some of them do.

Of course some do. But nowhere close to the number that are playing football and basketball in the streets.