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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does anybody else believe that youth soccer in this country is afraid of competition?

It's one area where I believe that HS soccer is superior to club.  I do know that there are some schools in the area that take HS more seriously and actually even are fortunate enough to attract coaches from the club level to their programs.

On the club level, competition and players are fragmented.  Even to the point where you can avoid competition.  This even trickles into the men's pro side with the open cup situation.  The model of isolation is trickling even into the professional side of this game here and what it feels like, is that it just comes down to protecting the almighty dollar.  Clubs, leagues, or teams need isolation when they're trying to protect their product.  MLS doesn't want to participate into open cup because they appear as if don't want to subject themselves to matches against teams that they feel are inferior, but maybe the reality is that they're afraid of the fallout if an MLS team loses to a USL team or some amateur team.  Similarly, there are so many leagues, tournaments, showcases, and clubs at the youth level that this can be done there too.  Even in VA, there are what appears to be 2 state cups for club soccer.  The USCS state cup and the USYS state/presidential cup.  Then think about the fall and spring around here, there's always at least 2 if not 3 tournaments around the area going on simultaneously during certain weekends of the fall and spring every year, so depending on your team, you can absolutely find the level you need to be at or sandbag it or actually find the competition but sometimes there are barriers of entry to even do that if you wanted to.  Now we get to the vast number of clubs in this area.  Are clubs actually putting the best players together?  I'd imagine they're trying to, but with so many clubs around and so many other factors that come into being able to put the best players together, it rarely happens.  Teams/clubs can avoid competition and still try to claim that they are the best.

This has been covered before, and part of the reason why this area has a sense of success but after that full season and these clubs make their way to the national playoffs, they have a hard time against real competition.

With HS's around here you won't find that generally.  There are some exceptions where players aren't bound geographically to be playing at the school they are zoned to, but usually it's the case.  The feel is different than club.  There are so many other factors that come into it when it comes to that kind of soccer.  The team is tied to the area the school is in, it gives those players a sense that they're representing their school, being able to play in front of their peers, and often times there are what feel like real rivalries.  There is no hiding from the big dog schools if they want to make it far in the post season for HS.[/quote]

Youth soccer is more about money than anything else.
On the parents side, it's more about bragging rights than anything else.

Clubs focus on winning because that's what the checkbooks want.

HS is substandard soccer because most of the top tier players in the schools aren't playing.
There are also very view decent coaches. 
So you have PE teachers coaching majority 'B' and 'C' team players [/quote]

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