Reply to Reducing the academic load to play elite soccer.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you want to cut back on academics go ahead.  No one should be surprised that that idea is unpopular on this board.  I think that the demographic that has the resources to be playing high end youth sports is the same demographic that values education for the most part.  These folks are trying to get their kids on track for  college and grad school and professional careers with solid incomes that would enable some financial security.  Pulling backs on academics is not going to sell in this demographic.[/quote],

It's not selling in this demographic because nobody posting has a kid in the top 1% of the nation in their sport.[/quote]

Any kid in a DA program is in the top percent of youth players  in the US and are the ones who populate Division 1 schools along with their foreign counterparts.  No one here is saying to cut Academics.  Only that to play DA, it should be possible to not have to be as extreme academically.  Also no one is advocating a professional soccer career.  We are talking about how playing DA, and DA only, can actually help kids get in better schools as opposed to carrying a heavy academic load and not playing DA, and DA only.  We are ONLY talking about DA here and it’s unique demands on its players.  And we are ONLY talking about playing for a Division 1 school, not D2, not D3.
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I agree with everything you’ve said here, but the OP probably was talking to at least some parents of boys (the equation is very different for girls) who are aiming to go pro out of HS. You almost certainly will have to sacrifice academics in that situation to a degree that would make most posters here very uncomfortable, like taking online classes for a year or two, transferring to schools like the Calverton school so you can spend more time training with DCU, moving overseas for better clubs, etc. There are scores of kids doing this each year from DAs around the country, including several from the local ones.  I know families who were nervous to go down this path whose kids are now playing in MLS or Europe, and they think it was worth it, at least for now. Other pro-focused kids never had the academic aptitude to succeed in college, and making it as any kind of pro will likely improve their employment outcomes over what they’d otherwise do post-HS.

For the very small percentage of DCUM posters who have boys staring in the DA during HS, I bet almost all of us come from families that highly value education and I agree that “cutting back” means nothing like the worst case scenarios presented here. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned much is the way in which playing DA or other very demanding sport can help with academics. My kid was not particularly academically ambitious at the start of middle school, but older kids in the program told him his abilities meant he’d have a ton of great recruiting options if he had all “As” through junior year, which turned out to be true, even with fewer APs than the very top students at his HS and limited non-soccer ECs. To get there he stayed up until midnight or later most nights to study after practice, as did his friends aiming for top schools.  Now that he’s in college, there is both peer pressure and academic mentoring from older teammates who are majoring in subjects ranging from the dreaded Communications to Physics and Engineering. And yes, the soccer bro network is a real thing and more important than just the increased access to internships. [/quote]

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