Sad story.

Perhaps appropriate for NT level players, Olympians. For the 99.999% of athletes a bit of work-life balance is more appropriate. 99.999% won't go pro and plenty won't even play in college.

The OP fails to mention other than posting a link that the quoted answer from her trainer was a response to Carli after saying when asked by her trainer that her goal from soccer was that she wanted to make the full National team... after recently being benched at the U-21. That was his answer because she was out of shape.

It's interesting how many times she practiced that half field shot. Practice makes perfect at anything for any player.

It's rather laughable that anyone would have to post a story like this because it should be understood the lengths one needs to go to be what is considered ONE of THE best soccer players in the world (and being a starter on the US National Team qualifies as such)

It is also rather laughable how others mock the choices or minimize the sacrifices a player like Lloyd must make to achieve the level of success she has achieved. That really underscores just how big the disconnect is between what club soccer is producing and what so many think they are chasing. People like them setting limits is the very heart of the delusion that proliferates in club soccer now.

Right on. What people here fear is making the complete commitment, really going all in, and then falling short. It goes against what the vast majority of club soccer families really want out of this venture. They want to buy a place on a good team, buy growth and great experiences for their kid and help them make high school and maybe a college team. What a talent like Lloyd is pursuing is totally different. She had the ability to be one of the worlds greatest players if she went all in, and to her credit she did that.

Great Story. Great article. Her commitment as well as so many other young women on that team brought themselves and their nation a great amazing experience.

Please explain.

"She had to make soccer the No.*1 priority in her life.“ forget about family,” Galanis told her.

It's 'rather laughable' to think that is a sad perspective? I think it's twisted. If you fall ill and call your child for help and they respond by saying, "Can't come now dad, I've got practice", would you be proud of who you raised?

Nice interpretation. What's the next argument you'll be making? "If her mother was lying on the kitchen floor with a severed arm, she'd walk right past her and say, 'sorry Mom, I'm late for training'"? Please try to work on your reading comprehension.

Wasn't entirely sure what you meant here either, and if I did interpret it correctly, I think it pairs well with the prior comment.

Are you saying the people who mock the commitment, as being excessive or whatever, who themselves don't practice it, but participate in club soccer, are often acting hypocritically through their own delusion? Because while they might not explicitly cite NT dreams, they're coming up short, way short, on whatever their goal is?

Think about how many people are paying in dollars and time, and going through the motion of a player that would, let's say, play D1, but on a C and D team path. They might not even impact a competitive high school varsity team.

There probably should be two, three or maybe four Talking Soccers, just so that it can be clear what viewpoint and level of commitment people are talking from when they post. This Lloyd thread hints at the disconnect.

One group has kids playing club soccer as an activity - maybe a favorite activity. They may not be on a top team or aspire to college soccer, but their kids play on a team, support the team, and we'll see where it goes over time. To them, a player like Lloyd is hard to understand, and the drive and commitment evidenced in this article is foreign. She sounds like a psycho, and many of them are happy that their kids will not be this way.

A second group is more committed to soccer, and their kids are more committed, and are talented enough to play on one of the stronger teams. Their kids will be good high school players and be good enough to consider playing in college. To them, a player like Lloyd might be something they've heard about or seen every now and then in a tournament, but they can't really relate. They're probably pretty happy with how things are going, and wouldn't seek to change much about their soccer experiences.

A third group is much smaller, maybe a dozen players in any age group. At the younger, pre-college recruiting ages, this group has players that stand out in most games that they play. They get invited to special camps or onto special teams occasionally, so the kids see the super-elite players up close from time to time. This group expects to play in the ACC or Pac12 in college, until recruiting realities drop down on them at U16 or so. They see the Carly Lloyd story as admirable, and would seek to emulate it if they really had the same level of athletic talent.

A fourth group is maybe 1 or 2 kids every 5 years. They are the players with the legitimate talent and potential to be an NT player. They are the Mewis's, Andrews, Brocks, etc., and to them, Lloyd is a role model.

The messy fun part about TS is that all these people are thrown in together, and the masses in groups 1 and 2 have no idea what life is like for the select few, and the ignorance and jealousy bleeds into every thread.

Yes that's true - to be at that level or Olympian etc. is something very different than the more typical athlete. There are probably many more athletes out there who have the physical skills but not the mental toughness. And there's nothing wrong with that - it clearly is something that takes tremendous sacrifice and a certain mindset to meet all those challenges. If more people could achieve it teams would be be stuffed with "NT players."

There are many paths an athlete can take - the key is making sure their end goal lines up with that path. Otherwise, as another said, playing C team club soccer won't even help you in HS let alone college.

Outstanding. Fair generalizations, which probably could be segmented a little bit further, REALLY highlighting the mess fun parts better by highlighting whatever the different views, there are also different motives, and when the motives and views don't truly align, club soccer gets ugly...or entertaining.

And for MANY parents, that is something between a hard truth and tough pill to swallow and they want none of it.