Reply to Diary of the overburdening soccer dad

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "Diary of the overburdening soccer dad "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=westsidesoccer]It's inevitably amusing in the same way that every inmate in the asylum believes everybody else deserves to be there except for them.

Let's step back from this a minute.  It is amusing to see parents grind under these circumstances, and also sad.  But it seems that you think it is especially amusing because the kid won't succeed.

Which leads me to ask you what success is in this context.  None of these kids is going to have a pro career that pays more than an average public school teacher.  Others who sensibly opt for scholarship are not likely to be competitive with most kids who spend a lot more time on academics than on multiple practices, showcases, etc.  The dividends from the investments in human capital pay out over a lifetime.  There are comparably small and diminishing turns for yet another practice doing the same things over and over again.  There is a tiny number of student-athletes who do well and have a combination of qualities that inevitably carry them forward to success in a variety of endeavors.  Most kids getting scholarships are not going to what would be viewed as good academic schools or, ultimately grad schools.  So they have spent an extraordinary time doing soccer to -- at best -- get a scholarship to a marginal school.  I congratulate all of them on it.  But I question whether they could not have spent their time doing something else likely to pay longer term dividends.  By the end of their D-12 career, they will be playing in the equivalent of the NCSL or CCL of universities.

Now if you're spending all of that time and not even getting full rides -- and that is most kids in MLS Next and ECNL -- that truly is a total waste of time and both laughable and sad.

Good luck to your kids and don't laugh too hard at others.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics