Wow, what a great Rage Bait post! Before you get the sheep all stirred up, can you define what 'development' means to you?

I don't know, I have boys but someone posted a link to a girls U13 or 14 championship game and it looked like a rec game. I can't believe Girl Dads! are so intense when that is what the games look like.

No one cares about boys soccer development, American boys are just not worth talking about . American girls are so lets keep the chatter about relevant topics in girls soccer. We know how hard it is for boys to get recruited, ID'd, so go play baseball and football those were created with american boys in mind. Soccer was not, and thank gawd, you americans are a suck on good society right now.

-Euro Elitest

(this is satire, but tell me where I'm wrong?)

Nothing new here. If your player has it, he would not be playing in all these clubs here by age 15, MLS Next HD, ECNL, etc. He would be in a real academy club in Europe or here in the states. These clubs offer you training for 90 minutes for three days and a game. That is not going to cut it when you compete against boys who practice 3 hours a day for five days, one day for games and one day to recover/rest. It's a joke and it is funny how some parents walk around like their kid is in La Masia. On top of that D1 schools take mostly foreigners to play and our USA boys, the few that make it, are benched and are used as dummies to train the starters. 80% of players in "travel teams" paying average $3k are not good enough and should be playing in a local team paying $1k year. But parents like to feel special and the clubs are definitely not going to tell you your player is not good enough. Too much money to leave in the table so they keep on selling you the dream. Sorry to be so direct and for insulting some of you but it is the honest truth.

Anonymous wrote:The scam is that too many parents think their kid is special, and the only thing holding them back from greatness is the magic “development” pixie dust that clubs are happy to provide.

This! Too many parents think their DD or DS is special when they aren’t. So much of athletic success depends on genetics.

And thats for every aspect of life. What you do when no one is looking, evaluating you, training you, praising you, is what matters. This is why merit based things like sports are so important in our culture. Despite parent politics, and soul-less clubs just collecting dem check sports is our last meritocracy. Work hard outside of the scheduled stuff, and you will get better!

My kid has improved dramatically just playing at recess every day. It's awesome and free and there are no coaches or adults telling him what to do.

Anonymous wrote:The scam is that too many parents think their kid is special, and the only thing holding them back from greatness is the magic “development” pixie dust that clubs are happy to provide.

If I pay for this and that they will get better right? Right? Why aren't they getting better???

If your kid ain't grinding at home by their own accord they will never progress or develop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are getting scammed by claimed or perceived "development" at clubs. How much development do you think is happening during 3 training sessions a week and a workout? With 20+ kids to care about? Maybe a little bit of film study? How many clubs have more than one coach per team? How many coaches have more than one team! Think about it and wake up...development happens outside of clubs.

For those who are serious believers in their club's "development" (you are the perfect customer!), what are some examples of your player developing strictly because of your club?

Kids get more development playing pickup soccer than most of these clubs.

Darn, your kid that bad. Speaking for yourself I see

No clown. My son has developed very nicely outside of the club environment. I don't expect anything in development out of clubs because I have a brain.

???

The clubs I've encountered with my DD haven't promised development. They all talk about playing with other high level players, and showcasing my DD. This is first team starter at ECNL level. Any smart consumer knows that clubs are necessary gatekeepers in this current process, and thats about it.

Anonymous wrote:The scam is that too many parents think their kid is special, and the only thing holding them back from greatness is the magic “development” pixie dust that clubs are happy to provide.

Yep this

Mother of more than one division one player.

The scam is that too many parents think their kid is special, and the only thing holding them back from greatness is the magic “development” pixie dust that clubs are happy to provide.

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are getting scammed by claimed or perceived "development" at clubs. How much development do you think is happening during 3 training sessions a week and a workout? With 20+ kids to care about? Maybe a little bit of film study? How many clubs have more than one coach per team? How many coaches have more than one team! Think about it and wake up...development happens outside of clubs.

For those who are serious believers in their club's "development" (you are the perfect customer!), what are some examples of your player developing strictly because of your club?

Kids get more development playing pickup soccer than most of these clubs.

Darn, your kid that bad. Speaking for yourself I see

People also use it as a crutch or excuse. Player not doing well? No development at the club. Another team winning everything? Oh, they only care about winning. Your team not winning anything? Oh, we care about development.

All smoke and mirrors.

So many of you are getting scammed by claimed or perceived "development" at clubs. How much development do you think is happening during 3 training sessions a week and a workout? With 20+ kids to care about? Maybe a little bit of film study? How many clubs have more than one coach per team? How many coaches have more than one team! Think about it and wake up...development happens outside of clubs.

For those who are serious believers in their club's "development" (you are the perfect customer!), what are some examples of your player developing strictly because of your club?

Kids get more development playing pickup soccer than most of these clubs.