Starting a New club

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

🤕 sorry to bruise your elitist ego. You had so much wrapped up in being a D1 dad. 😢

Truth hurts sometimes.

You're trying to convince someone they should be ashamed of their son or daughter playing D1 soccer while getting a good education?

Tell us you're under-educated and disappointed in life without actually saying it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

College sports are a unique phenomenon in the US. As big or bigger than pro sports in many other countries. Even though it’s mainly college football and basketball that are big, the aura of playing a college sport still exists for other sports. That is why there is such a desire to play a D1 sport. It has nothing to do with the level of play or a pathway to pro. College sports are the dream destination for so many. Think of it as another type of pro league. Good or bad it’s part of the American sports culture.

Correct. It is time to simply unpack the culture if we want soccer to improve in this country. We create world class basketball stars, football stars, track stars, swimmers and gymnasts through our collegiate system. It just does not apply to soccer and we have to begin to accept that it is different.

As emotional wealthy parent #1 has proved, labels mean so much to our American culture and our area:

EDP>NCSL
MLS Next>ECNL
ECNL>GA
D1>D2

None of these labels matter.
There is a reason D1 players can’t even get into international academies.

Personally, I think this is enlightening. We have a problem with the system we are investing thousands of dollars in and we should demand better and try something different.

There is nothing wrong with raising an investment banker who is really good as soccer. Current club soccer, DCU Academy and D1 is perfect for that. It is just not elite. It is a shock to the DMV socialite but the numbers and facts bear it out.

Acceptance of this will bring changes in the marketplace.

Is soccer free and cheap outside the DMV?

When every article and (real) analyst addresses the pitfalls of P2P in the US, are they only speaking of the DMV?

Are the slums of Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Colorado producing La Liga division one club ballers because of their Free2P culture?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. It won’t work.

You can teach a kid to bat or swim or golf the right way and they might be good at those sports. Soccer is such a team game though. If you do not have high level talent and high level commitment from others for your kids to practice with, your kids wont develop like you want them to. Not to mention that lots of your kids will lose interest in whatever individual programs you have them working on and leave to do other activities that are more fun.

Just start a training program like HP Elite. Or better yet organize a consistent pickup game

This would be great!

[Anonymous]

All of these discussions come back to the same place. There is no soccer culture in the US. Other than some small pockets of fanatics, soccer in the US is just another activity for kids. That's why it costs so much to play, there are no pickup games, nobody watches US soccer on TV, and so on. You can't "fix" the culture problem by using different training programs or structuring our leagues a different way.

How do we make the general population care about soccer? Maybe next year's world cup will help grow interest. What we really need is a US born international soccer star. Messi from Michigan. A true cultural superstar like Tiger Woods than can make soccer cool in the US.

[Anonymous]

Put together a year round futsal club that practices off hours at an indoor basketball court. This makes enough money to float itself and gives you connections to all the different clubs in the area. If you can rent court time at a college facility you'll appear more prestigious. Combine this with strength training and private lessons.

This is how you get your foot in the door before moving on the starting a field club.

If you have ridiculous money build an indoor facility. It will fund itself renting fields out for practices and games. Problem is you'll become more of a landlord than a club owner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. It won’t work.

You can teach a kid to bat or swim or golf the right way and they might be good at those sports. Soccer is such a team game though. If you do not have high level talent and high level commitment from others for your kids to practice with, your kids wont develop like you want them to. Not to mention that lots of your kids will lose interest in whatever individual programs you have them working on and leave to do other activities that are more fun.

Just start a training program like HP Elite. Or better yet organize a consistent pickup game

This would be great!

Great for what exactly?

Pick-up soccer helps you work on creativity and tricks.
Doesn't teach you the overall game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

🤕 sorry to bruise your elitist ego. You had so much wrapped up in being a D1 dad. 😢

Truth hurts sometimes.

You're trying to convince someone they should be ashamed of their son or daughter playing D1 soccer while getting a good education?

Tell us you're under-educated and disappointed in life without actually saying it

Not trying to convince anyone of anything. You cannot make me feel anyway I don’t choose to feel. You should try to have that level of intellectual confidence.

So you feel the only response to the “my son plays D1 flex” that people like you have is shame? That is a pretty narrow emotional bandwidth. I hope your child learns EQ in college like my “under-educated” kids learned by 1st grade. I guess some of us don’t need labels to educate.

Your type are a dime a dozen here in the DMV with your snarky insults. I know it is shocking for your type to hear the truth. Be proud of your kids. If D1 is their max, be proud of that. Just understand they may be getting an elite education and may be elite well-rounded people, despite you. They just are likely not elite footballers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

🤕 sorry to bruise your elitist ego. You had so much wrapped up in being a D1 dad. 😢

Truth hurts sometimes.

You're trying to convince someone they should be ashamed of their son or daughter playing D1 soccer while getting a good education?

Tell us you're under-educated and disappointed in life without actually saying it

Not trying to convince anyone of anything. You cannot make me feel anyway I don’t choose to feel. You should try to have that level of intellectual confidence.

So you feel the only response to the “my son plays D1 flex” that people like you have is shame? That is a pretty narrow emotional bandwidth. I hope your child learns EQ in college like my “under-educated” kids learned by 1st grade. I guess some of us don’t need labels to educate.

Your type are a dime a dozen here in the DMV with your snarky insults. I know it is shocking for your type to hear the truth. Be proud of your kids. If D1 is their max, be proud of that. Just understand they may be getting an elite education and may be elite well-rounded people, despite you. They just are likely not elite footballers.

Then why are you disparaging D1 soccer as being a non achievement?
What's your angle if not to tell parents of D1 kids they missed success?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

European academy players and their families invest NO money. The clubs pay the way. Big difference.

If you're just talking pure ROI on the money a family invests in soccer, a D1 roster spot is not great return on a six figure investment. A full scholarship to a D1 program is better ROI but the chances of Americans getting full rides at top tier D1 programs is very slim. Majority of those scholarships are going to players overseas who were on a pro pathway but got dropped or burned out.

Going to college is still a great pathway. No one disputes that. It's just so you need to spend six figures on crazy pay to play fees in order to achieve that result. In today's system, I would offer no.

I could buy the argument that you're making a six figure investment just to get your kid into a choice college. But call it what it is. It isn't about soccer. It is about gaming the college admissions process with soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

I can tell this person is a toxic individual. Calling someone else narcissist and other names when they themselves need some therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

European academy players and their families invest NO money. The clubs pay the way. Big difference.

If you're just talking pure ROI on the money a family invests in soccer, a D1 roster spot is not great return on a six figure investment. A full scholarship to a D1 program is better ROI but the chances of Americans getting full rides at top tier D1 programs is very slim. Majority of those scholarships are going to players overseas who were on a pro pathway but got dropped or burned out.

Going to college is still a great pathway. No one disputes that. It's just so you need to spend six figures on crazy pay to play fees in order to achieve that result. In today's system, I would offer no.

I could buy the argument that you're making a six figure investment just to get your kid into a choice college. But call it what it is. It isn't about soccer. It is about gaming the college admissions process with soccer.

This post touches on what a lot of others are missing: the greater number of academy spots in soccer-first countries leads to greater player development. There needs to be money in any system. Development can't just be "for free" and open to everyone unless you're talking about subsidizing it from a national federation. The academies in Europe see development as a money making venture, and they make money from their first teams. There are many more academies linked to professional teams because there are more money-making professional teams (and academies are required of professional clubs by national federations). Just googling . . . France has 37 professional academies plus 22 pre-academies and academies run by the French federation itself. France has about 1/5 the population of the United States. England, with about 1/6 the population of the US, has 92 academies linked with professional clubs. The key to developing players at a rate similar to more successful soccer countries isn't playing in the playground or starting another P2P club. It's making the sport profitable enough so that there are more professional teams with academies they see as an investment, and thus, more free slots for talented kids and more incentive to develop them.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37574230/how-france-became-football-ultimate-talent-hotbed[url]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

European academy players and their families invest NO money. The clubs pay the way. Big difference.

If you're just talking pure ROI on the money a family invests in soccer, a D1 roster spot is not great return on a six figure investment. A full scholarship to a D1 program is better ROI but the chances of Americans getting full rides at top tier D1 programs is very slim. Majority of those scholarships are going to players overseas who were on a pro pathway but got dropped or burned out.

Going to college is still a great pathway. No one disputes that. It's just so you need to spend six figures on crazy pay to play fees in order to achieve that result. In today's system, I would offer no.

I could buy the argument that you're making a six figure investment just to get your kid into a choice college. But call it what it is. It isn't about soccer. It is about gaming the college admissions process with soccer.

This post touches on what a lot of others are missing: the greater number of academy spots in soccer-first countries leads to greater player development. There needs to be money in any system. Development can't just be "for free" and open to everyone unless you're talking about subsidizing it from a national federation. The academies in Europe see development as a money making venture, and they make money from their first teams. There are many more academies linked to professional teams because there are more money-making professional teams (and academies are required of professional clubs by national federations). Just googling . . . France has 37 professional academies plus 22 pre-academies and academies run by the French federation itself. France has about 1/5 the population of the United States. England, with about 1/6 the population of the US, has 92 academies linked with professional clubs. The key to developing players at a rate similar to more successful soccer countries isn't playing in the playground or starting another P2P club. It's making the sport profitable enough so that there are more professional teams with academies they see as an investment, and thus, more free slots for talented kids and more incentive to develop them.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37574230/how-france-became-football-ultimate-talent-hotbed[url]

And just to follow my own post . . . this is in total agreement with the "soccer culture" post above. One leads to the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

European academy players and their families invest NO money. The clubs pay the way. Big difference.

If you're just talking pure ROI on the money a family invests in soccer, a D1 roster spot is not great return on a six figure investment. A full scholarship to a D1 program is better ROI but the chances of Americans getting full rides at top tier D1 programs is very slim. Majority of those scholarships are going to players overseas who were on a pro pathway but got dropped or burned out.

Going to college is still a great pathway. No one disputes that. It's just so you need to spend six figures on crazy pay to play fees in order to achieve that result. In today's system, I would offer no.

I could buy the argument that you're making a six figure investment just to get your kid into a choice college. But call it what it is. It isn't about soccer. It is about gaming the college admissions process with soccer.

Understand what you're saying.

No one should have their kids play soccer unless its free or unless they have a guarantee for college scholarships or professional contracts

That goes for all sports and extra curricular activities like music etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

I can tell this person is a toxic individual. Calling someone else narcissist and other names when they themselves need some therapy.

Sigmund Freud has entered the chat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A) i) the top players and teams are not playing each other; ii) parents are uneducated on development so coaches have alot of pressure on wins even if they believe in development; iii) 2% of club focus on the technical fundamentals and off-ball movement needed to progressive to higher levels. The lack of technical ability at MLS Next and ECNL is a little shocking IMHO.

B) i) The market determines the price; ii) coaches should be paid their worth; iii) EDP Futures @ Soccerplex does it the best with all teams at one location every week and no posted scored. Yes, parents gossip and know the scores but so what. If you mention an unposted score to me at a cocktail party, I literally might backslap you. These shallow parents should not be the norm like they are here.

C) Yes - Mirror Achilles approach to early develop less the cursing and antics which keeps them boutique.

D) Yes. This is where education is involved. Parents will have to understand the results don't matter before U15 but that is where you will struggle. I am not sure it can work in the DMV as the parental base is simply wealthy parents who are driven by ego. Lookup the DCU string. It has gone silent since someone called them out on this. People here use soccer to get into Princeton vs the love of the game. Most don't understand D1 is like 4th-6th division in most European countries and not really "successful" in real football terms.

I hope you're different. I hope it works out!

Since we are all in America where a kid making D1 soccer is a marker of success, how can someone say its not a successful achievement because of whats happening in another country?

Real here is real here.

No, you have taken the application of other sports like baseball and basketball and equated them to soccer. We created football and basketball so we own the development process. We are seeing the flaws in our processes over the last 20 years with amateurism in basketball as the world has taken interest in the sport since the Dream Team. We have the same head start in women's soccer and the next 20-40 years will be interesting on whether our processes are truly better.

We don't own soccer and made D1 a pathway when it is an international off-ramp to an education and a better life for international academy washouts (men's side).

You can either accept this reality or keep complaining about internationals taking your spots because it is obvious our kids are not good enough. USL Championship teams will destroy D1 teams. USL is ranked around the 75th league in the world which is equivalent to around 4th - 6th divisions in Europe. Congrats, you get to play and learn extreme time management while you learn how to be an investment banker. Congrats, your grades would have gotten you into GW but you get to go to Columbia now because of soccer. Those are both great upgrades in life. Especially for the upwardly mobile with no real aspirations of playing pro. Naturally, there are some kids who can ball and will make the MLS and Europe through the extra development in college just like there are players in lower divisions in Europe that make it to the primetime. However, the faster US sets its standards of soccer higher than D1, the faster you will see us have international success.

We're either speaking of America achievement as a measurement OR International achievement

As the PP stated, D1 is a successful achievement for an American youth soccer player, in America.
They didn't say it was the top achievement.

Your argument is not based on what they said but rather based on what you want to argue.

I guess it really depends on investment. If a violist went to a specialized school with other violinists for four years and spent 4-5 hours daily at minimum playing the violin and could not break into the major pathways to play in a major professional international orchestra by the end of high school, I think we would consider that not a major achievement if that violinist just played for fun in college and prepared to be an investment banker. If you are student athlete who simply came up through rec and school teams, D1 soccer is an achievement. If you are a MLS academy player with $100k+ invested through club fees, tournament trips, private training, group training, etc before you entered the MLS academy, I respectfully disagree D1 is an achievement. You invested alot to manufacture that player and I would question my investment and those I invested with to end with that result. No emotion here, just a different perspective you may have not considered.

Are you on mind altering drugs?

How stupid of a delusional narcissist can you be to tell people what their goals and markers for successful achievement are to them?

Players in Europe go from U8 to U18 at academies and don't make it to professional soccer careers.
Since only about 1% make it, the other 99% have lived wasted useless lives according to you.

European academy players and their families invest NO money. The clubs pay the way. Big difference.

If you're just talking pure ROI on the money a family invests in soccer, a D1 roster spot is not great return on a six figure investment. A full scholarship to a D1 program is better ROI but the chances of Americans getting full rides at top tier D1 programs is very slim. Majority of those scholarships are going to players overseas who were on a pro pathway but got dropped or burned out.

Going to college is still a great pathway. No one disputes that. It's just so you need to spend six figures on crazy pay to play fees in order to achieve that result. In today's system, I would offer no.

I could buy the argument that you're making a six figure investment just to get your kid into a choice college. But call it what it is. It isn't about soccer. It is about gaming the college admissions process with soccer.

This post touches on what a lot of others are missing: the greater number of academy spots in soccer-first countries leads to greater player development. There needs to be money in any system. Development can't just be "for free" and open to everyone unless you're talking about subsidizing it from a national federation. The academies in Europe see development as a money making venture, and they make money from their first teams. There are many more academies linked to professional teams because there are more money-making professional teams (and academies are required of professional clubs by national federations). Just googling . . . France has 37 professional academies plus 22 pre-academies and academies run by the French federation itself. France has about 1/5 the population of the United States. England, with about 1/6 the population of the US, has 92 academies linked with professional clubs. The key to developing players at a rate similar to more successful soccer countries isn't playing in the playground or starting another P2P club. It's making the sport profitable enough so that there are more professional teams with academies they see as an investment, and thus, more free slots for talented kids and more incentive to develop them.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37574230/how-france-became-football-ultimate-talent-hotbed[url]

And just to follow my own post . . . this is in total agreement with the "soccer culture" post above. One leads to the other.

Why do we always do comparisons between all kids playing soccer here to the few select exceptional kids in academies in Europe?