Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you keep feeding the pay to play system because you fear your kid will miss out, the system will never change.
A $4.5 billion industry that produces mediocre players.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-us-soccer-pay-to-play-u20s-20180814-story,amp.html

There are maybe a few hundred or so kids across this country with world-class soccer potential; the travel soccer population is orders of magnitude higher, and most of those kids have zero shot at getting anywhere close to that level. They aren't D1 players, to say nothing of MLS. Many of the parents are delusional about that. The only real reason to do travel soccer is because your kid loves and is good at soccer. That's the point, not professional development. Please. Your kid is not going pro, unless he is obviously better than everyone else on the field at the highest level you can think of.

As for why U.S. Soccer "fails," it is because the cream of the crop of our athletes play other sports--they are NBA point guards or power forwards, NFL safeties or wide receivers, etc.

Yep.

Hockey players. Swimmers. Track and field athletes..competitive gymnasts and dancers. Skaters. Skiers.

The US excels in so many other sports. It is no big deal if soccer is left for the rest of the world.

That stupid argument fails with women. Admit it. The best women athletes in massive numbers are playing soccer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG. It's not time to panic yet? That's it. I'm done.

Urgency was needed years ago to prevent the women going into the garbage heap---but now the rest of the World has caught up and will continue to glide on past.

There are too many dumb people involved in the sport in the US. Dumb in reference to knowledge of the sport, that is.

Other countries are gaining and and it is likely that the women's team will lose their number one rank in the near future. But to say that we are in the Garbage heap is waaaaay over dramatic and in fact is an insult to the gains that other countries have made on the women's side. Your statement implies that our women's team has gotten worse and dismissing the fact that other countries have simply improved and caught up. It is fantastic that the women's game is growing world wide and that competitive balance will be far more widespread. Frankly, I'd rather be in the Top Five of a highly competitive field than number one against crappy competition, which is what we have been.

What is the point of doing it if it is easy? This doesn't mean that it isn't a wake-up call but we have the talent and our ability to adjust to meet the coming challenges can be met.

If we keep relying on our physicality, as Cruyff's son-in-law said and predicted, we will not be in the top 5. There is nothing going on in the US currently to fix the problem. In fact, the women are copying the USMNT's failed system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG. It's not time to panic yet? That's it. I'm done.

Urgency was needed years ago to prevent the women going into the garbage heap---but now the rest of the World has caught up and will continue to glide on past.

There are too many dumb people involved in the sport in the US. Dumb in reference to knowledge of the sport, that is.

Other countries are gaining and and it is likely that the women's team will lose their number one rank in the near future. But to say that we are in the Garbage heap is waaaaay over dramatic and in fact is an insult to the gains that other countries have made on the women's side. Your statement implies that our women's team has gotten worse and dismissing the fact that other countries have simply improved and caught up. It is fantastic that the women's game is growing world wide and that competitive balance will be far more widespread. Frankly, I'd rather be in the Top Five of a highly competitive field than number one against crappy competition, which is what we have been.

What is the point of doing it if it is easy? This doesn't mean that it isn't a wake-up call but we have the talent and our ability to adjust to meet the coming challenges can be met.

Anonymous wrote:OMG. It's not time to panic yet? That's it. I'm done.

Urgency was needed years ago to prevent the women going into the garbage heap---but now the rest of the World has caught up and will continue to glide on past.

There are too many dumb people involved in the sport in the US. Dumb in reference to knowledge of the sport, that is.

Anonymous wrote:OMG. It's not time to panic yet? That's it. I'm done.

Urgency was needed years ago to prevent the women going into the garbage heap---but now the rest of the World has caught up and will continue to glide on past.

There are too many dumb people involved in the sport in the US. Dumb in reference to knowledge of the sport, that is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Emotionally Over-Invested Parents” should be the title of this thread.

Passion for a sport is a good thing. The over-invested parents are the ones buying into the sh*t and kissing up ruthlessly. The normal ones are the ones fed up with the BS.

And, you have got the premise and message of this thread completely wrong. Parents are tired of the myth. They are tired of the crooks. They are tired of coaches taking the love of sports from kids and shoving it down their throats beginning with mini-kickers at age 3.

Let the coaches and Club officials and US youth soccer crooks come out and start bashing parents. That's the MO.

OMG, it is youth soccer. Get a grip. There is no reason to be "fed up with the BS". It is a game that your kids play nothing more. If your kid chose Piano or dance would be so concerned about the State of American piano playing?

I think you belong on the 'music forum'. This is a soccer forum. And the discussion isn't YOUTH soccer based it's the market for ADULT soccer, the World Cup, etc. Kid activities are hashed around in the 'elementary school' forum, btw.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ ha! Ok, I look forward to watching your son in the nfl or nba...riiight.

Very few kids play any sport past high school. Soccer isn’t what it was when you were a child. But, glad there are players that don’t give a shit out there on the pitch. Explains why they can’t stick with it. The sport has a way of weeding out.

You are really too emotionally invested in this as evident from all of your profanity.

It is a kids sport and one that is not really important in this country beyond the youth level, and certainly not once you get out of high school and college.

There is very little market for pro soccer in this country.

Travel soccer starts too young and youth soccer starts too young (preschool teams are everywhere).

Soccer has branded itself as a little kids sport in this country.

That may change, my friend. 'Merica isn't going to look the same in the future.

Among the minority populations, the greatest growth is projected for multiracial populations, Asians and Hispanics with 2018–2060 growth rates of 175, 93, and 85 percent, respectively.

The market for soccer will continue to grow as well....and, hopefully, by then we will get our sh*t worked out.

People who are right generally do not need to cuss to make their point.

Hmm, tell that to all of the great leaders and Coaches. Listen to their tapes...I think you would be shocked. Eisenhower, Churchill, Lombardi, etc. would disagree.

If "sh*t" bothers you, I think you should get out of sports completely.

Does anyone else have images of the stereotypical armchair quarterback dad yelling !and cussing at a bunch of 6 year old girls?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you keep feeding the pay to play system because you fear your kid will miss out, the system will never change.
A $4.5 billion industry that produces mediocre players.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-us-soccer-pay-to-play-u20s-20180814-story,amp.html

There are maybe a few hundred or so kids across this country with world-class soccer potential; the travel soccer population is orders of magnitude higher, and most of those kids have zero shot at getting anywhere close to that level. They aren't D1 players, to say nothing of MLS. Many of the parents are delusional about that. The only real reason to do travel soccer is because your kid loves and is good at soccer. That's the point, not professional development. Please. Your kid is not going pro, unless he is obviously better than everyone else on the field at the highest level you can think of.

As for why U.S. Soccer "fails," it is because the cream of the crop of our athletes play other sports--they are NBA point guards or power forwards, NFL safeties or wide receivers, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American married to Johan Cruyff’s daughter who runs the prestigious TOVO academy in Barcelona. He predicted Spain ranked 20th eclipsing US women. US women have more registered female soccer players than the entire planet combined. California alone has more players than Spain...and it’s happened.

As he said US women’s “fragile advantage in athleticism will wilt in the face of intelligence”.

We still have people denying anything is wrong. With those shocking numbers—our absolute glut of female soccer players compared to the rest of the entire World—it’s a crying shame. Same losers are running the women’s program and they have the numbers the men don’t have because they aren’t competing with Football, Baseball, Basketball. What is the women’s excuse?!?!?!!!

Oh yea, let’s blame it on the parents.

F@ck you Youth Soccer Federation. YOU are the problem, not parents. You built this myth and preyed on people unfamiliar with the sport.

I always knew you were a piece of sh@t because I grew up in a soccer household trained by the Dutch. I don’t put my kids in the system. They also trained privately for a good portion of youth until now as teens as we turned our back on the shitty travel system. But, how is your average American supposed to know you are selling a bag of lies?

I am writing my letter to the author of that article now. How dare you blame parents..and f@ck you too Hope Solo. You whiny loser, bad sport saying Sweden didn’t play pretty like you after your loss to them in the Olympics. Go beat down your nephew again.

Not sure how many nfl, mlb, nba players can be good at soccer though...

We are talking about women in that passage. Can we PLEASE stop making excuses for our failure at soccer? God, we sound like a bunch of whiners.

More US women soccer players than the rest.of.the.world COMBINED! And we will continue sinking even though women talent base is ENORMOUS. Just stop with the excuses.... Admitting failure is part of growth. Make change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you keep feeding the pay to play system because you fear your kid will miss out, the system will never change.
A $4.5 billion industry that produces mediocre players.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-us-soccer-pay-to-play-u20s-20180814-story,amp.html

There are maybe a few hundred or so kids across this country with world-class soccer potential; the travel soccer population is orders of magnitude higher, and most of those kids have zero shot at getting anywhere close to that level. They aren't D1 players, to say nothing of MLS. Many of the parents are delusional about that. The only real reason to do travel soccer is because your kid loves and is good at soccer. That's the point, not professional development. Please. Your kid is not going pro, unless he is obviously better than everyone else on the field at the highest level you can think of.

As for why U.S. Soccer "fails," it is because the cream of the crop of our athletes play other sports--they are NBA point guards or power forwards, NFL safeties or wide receivers, etc.

Yep.

Hockey players. Swimmers. Track and field athletes..competitive gymnasts and dancers. Skaters. Skiers.

The US excels in so many other sports. It is no big deal if soccer is left for the rest of the world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ ha! Ok, I look forward to watching your son in the nfl or nba...riiight.

Very few kids play any sport past high school. Soccer isn’t what it was when you were a child. But, glad there are players that don’t give a shit out there on the pitch. Explains why they can’t stick with it. The sport has a way of weeding out.

You are really too emotionally invested in this as evident from all of your profanity.

It is a kids sport and one that is not really important in this country beyond the youth level, and certainly not once you get out of high school and college.

There is very little market for pro soccer in this country.

Travel soccer starts too young and youth soccer starts too young (preschool teams are everywhere).

Soccer has branded itself as a little kids sport in this country.

That may change, my friend. 'Merica isn't going to look the same in the future.

Among the minority populations, the greatest growth is projected for multiracial populations, Asians and Hispanics with 2018–2060 growth rates of 175, 93, and 85 percent, respectively.

The market for soccer will continue to grow as well....and, hopefully, by then we will get our sh*t worked out.

People who are right generally do not need to cuss to make their point.

Hmm, tell that to all of the great leaders and Coaches. Listen to their tapes...I think you would be shocked. Eisenhower, Churchill, Lombardi, etc. would disagree.

If "sh*t" bothers you, I think you should get out of sports completely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you keep feeding the pay to play system because you fear your kid will miss out, the system will never change.
A $4.5 billion industry that produces mediocre players.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-us-soccer-pay-to-play-u20s-20180814-story,amp.html

There are maybe a few hundred or so kids across this country with world-class soccer potential; the travel soccer population is orders of magnitude higher, and most of those kids have zero shot at getting anywhere close to that level. They aren't D1 players, to say nothing of MLS. Many of the parents are delusional about that. The only real reason to do travel soccer is because your kid loves and is good at soccer. That's the point, not professional development. Please. Your kid is not going pro, unless he is obviously better than everyone else on the field at the highest level you can think of.

As for why U.S. Soccer "fails," it is because the cream of the crop of our athletes play other sports--they are NBA point guards or power forwards, NFL safeties or wide receivers, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ ha! Ok, I look forward to watching your son in the nfl or nba...riiight.

Very few kids play any sport past high school. Soccer isn’t what it was when you were a child. But, glad there are players that don’t give a shit out there on the pitch. Explains why they can’t stick with it. The sport has a way of weeding out.

You are really too emotionally invested in this as evident from all of your profanity.

It is a kids sport and one that is not really important in this country beyond the youth level, and certainly not once you get out of high school and college.

There is very little market for pro soccer in this country.

Travel soccer starts too young and youth soccer starts too young (preschool teams are everywhere).

Soccer has branded itself as a little kids sport in this country.

That may change, my friend. 'Merica isn't going to look the same in the future.

Among the minority populations, the greatest growth is projected for multiracial populations, Asians and Hispanics with 2018–2060 growth rates of 175, 93, and 85 percent, respectively.

The market for soccer will continue to grow as well....and, hopefully, by then we will get our sh*t worked out.

People who are right generally do not need to cuss to make their point.