With the US out of the world cup, over the last few days the thought has cropped up in my mind about what might be holding back the USA in International soccer competitions. The first thing that comes to mind is this notion of "everyone has a right to play for their High School' crap.
My son is a pretty good soccer player. He's not the best out there. But he is looking forward to playing HS soccer this fall. He played middle school soccer last fall and the coach was his science teacher. We donut yet know who will coach the HS freshmen team this fall, but there's mho doubt that it will be a math/science/english teach of some sort. Not to take anything away from the teachers who coach HS soccer, but I would personally be happier if my son had the choice to continue to play club soccer simply because the quality of coaching is much better at the club level that the HS level.
I know that some kids play academy and play soccer year round and they get elevated form that point of view. But the US always seems to be a player or 2 away from achieving greatness (ok, maybe 3-6 players away ...). But I can't help but wonder if club soccer was year round even in HS and kids had the choice to play either HS or club even in the fall while in HS, then maybe the US would be able to get some of the missing pieces together that will allow us to get into the finals of the world cup. There might be a handful of kids nationwide that, because they could play club soccer in the fall while in HS, decided that this was their game and they eventually rose up the ranks to be on the USMNT.
Could it happen? Possibly.
I just feel that there is too much emphasis placed on HS sports while the level of coaching is not that great. The coaching os not great in my town anyway, it's possibly better in yours. But I just feel that club soccer is so much better than HS soccer in terms of the quality of coaching.
If given the chance, I would suggest to my son that he take the club route over the HS route anyway.
Thoughts?
My son is a pretty good soccer player. He's not the best out there. But he is looking forward to playing HS soccer this fall. He played middle school soccer last fall and the coach was his science teacher. We donut yet know who will coach the HS freshmen team this fall, but there's mho doubt that it will be a math/science/english teach of some sort. Not to take anything away from the teachers who coach HS soccer, but I would personally be happier if my son had the choice to continue to play club soccer simply because the quality of coaching is much better at the club level that the HS level.
I know that some kids play academy and play soccer year round and they get elevated form that point of view. But the US always seems to be a player or 2 away from achieving greatness (ok, maybe 3-6 players away ...). But I can't help but wonder if club soccer was year round even in HS and kids had the choice to play either HS or club even in the fall while in HS, then maybe the US would be able to get some of the missing pieces together that will allow us to get into the finals of the world cup. There might be a handful of kids nationwide that, because they could play club soccer in the fall while in HS, decided that this was their game and they eventually rose up the ranks to be on the USMNT.
Could it happen? Possibly.
I just feel that there is too much emphasis placed on HS sports while the level of coaching is not that great. The coaching os not great in my town anyway, it's possibly better in yours. But I just feel that club soccer is so much better than HS soccer in terms of the quality of coaching.
If given the chance, I would suggest to my son that he take the club route over the HS route anyway.
Thoughts?
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