I would much rather have more local training games than competitive travel games. The key to improving soccer in the US is getting the kids on the ball more. And its hard to do that when you spend one to two days every weekend simply traveling to a game. Thrown in ODP or MLS Acadmy and its even more of a work load. All of which is displacing actual time playing soccer at home, pick up soccer, scrimages, and real coaching.
Except for a few exceptional coaches I find that most of the coaching for soccer is way way behind other sports in terms of quality. You can find parent coaches for that can teach baseball, basketball, and football better than a certified travel soccer coach can. I can't say it enough the coaching is awful.
The travel kids and most of their parents don't even realize just how far behind our kids are. By 8th grade we are two to three years behind kids playing soccer in other countries in terms of team concepts, technical ability, and basic tactics.
In England kids playing Academy soccer are not allowed to travel farther than 30 minutes for a game. No lie. They waste no time traveling. They play local.
Local soccer is the secret. I would not do travel soccer at all if it were an legit option. But travel soccer particularly MLS academy is the only real pathway forward now. College coaches and MLS academies only scout those programs.
Mix that with poor training most everywhere else and if you are a US kid dreaming of playing internationally you are basically fighting an uphill battle. Not just competition but a lack of coaching, a lack of available playing time, a lack of quality soccer, etc...
In England kids playing Academy soccer are not allowed to travel farther than 30 minutes for a game. No lie. They waste no time traveling. They play local.
Local soccer is the secret. I would not do travel soccer at all if it were an legit option. But travel soccer particularly MLS academy is the only real pathway forward now. College coaches and MLS academies only scout those programs.
Mix that with poor training most everywhere else and if you are a US kid dreaming of playing internationally you are basically fighting an uphill battle. Not just competition but a lack of coaching, a lack of available playing time, a lack of quality soccer, etc...
yea but by comparison, if you travel 30 minutes from ANY location in England you will undoubtedly find a level of competition that you would need to take a plane to get to from central or south FL.
yea but by comparison, if you travel 30 minutes from ANY location in England you will undoubtedly find a level of competition that you would need to take a plane to get to from central or south FL.
30 minutes any direction also brings you to a coast line
Comment