The women are catching up

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i guess they're hoping little girls will want to emulate her and buy their crap shoes (that blows out in basketball games lol)

Lol. Could they find some kids successfully navigating the tornado of club soccer with too much travel, tough academic schedule, church, family obligations, walking the dog, etc. etc? Kind of want my kid to emulate that.

Please for the love of mary don't put ideas in her head of turf installed in the back yard, home schooling and traveling to multiple European destinations to play soccer.

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lol. Players have worn Nike shoes in basketball for hundreds of thousands of games; must be doing something right.

Not sure of the correlation between basketball shoes and soccer cleats, but nice try anyway...

Poor quality is poor quality. That blow out got a lot of press coverage and didn't help their overall brand image. Unfortunately one of my kids needs Nike to fit their foot properly, but I'm thrilled if they make it through one season before they're falling apart.

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What exactly is Nikes angle with this? Does she make us want to buy Nike's just like her? Is this story is a bit frightening and off putting or is that just need?

she has 90K social media followers. Nike buying eyeballs. This kid has worked hard to master some skills BUT its a reminder that image is far more important that actual output

The Us soccer press dont have the guts to call this what is is

1. No one has the guts to tell Dorrance he is out of line offering a commitment to an 11 yr old that he knows was NEVER going to come to UNC simply to get clicks for his program.

2. Nike are marginalizing soccer every day by giving money to players who dont perform. Pugh has not justified her $$ ON the filed. not even close. Now a kid who has done nothing on the field makes more that 99.9 % of the US pros in the NWSL. What does that say about the relative value ?

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the Freddy Adu comparisons are insulting to Adu. He dominated grown men to actually EARN the hype. This kid is a youtube/social media star. Manufactured by wealthy parents.

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My daughter was at the NT camp with her, and of course my kid was like , meh. She said she was quick but skinny, and if she ever went shoulder to shoulder someone would be missing one. That said, this kid is the real deal, she has proved it on the field, mostly against boys. Having connections helps in everything, not just here. I wish her the best of success, but I think its a cautionary tale for our age.

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Good for her. I wish her well!

Let’s face it - she’s got us all talking and other little girls dreaming, and those are good things for the sport in this country. Soccer needs money and publicity to grow.

If she was a boy or poor or a minority, there would be less controversy about her parent’s choices. We celebrate Tiger Woods when his father had him out putting for hours on end.

What’s sad is:
1) the first reaction of some posters is to compare her to their own daughters. It shows that we can’t distinguish soccer talent, and if we can’t identify talent and promote it, then US soccer is in trouble.
2) there is nothing in the US for those on the pro track between the ages of 13-18. We force kids to play HS and college who are too talented for that. ECNL and DA are a joke for someone looking to go pro. They are forced to look abroad and that hurts US soccer.

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My daughter was at the NT camp with her, and of course my kid was like , meh. She said she was quick but skinny, and if she ever went shoulder to shoulder someone would be missing one. That said, this kid is the real deal, she has proved it on the field, mostly against *pre-pubescent* boys. Having connections helps in everything, not just here. I wish her the best of success, but I think its a cautionary tale for our age.

fixed it for you

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrvBbOOcXK0

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Good for her. I wish her well!

Let’s face it - she’s got us all talking and other little girls dreaming, and those are good things for the sport in this country. Soccer needs money and publicity to grow.

If she was a boy or poor or a minority, there would be less controversy about her parent’s choices. We celebrate Tiger Woods when his father had him out putting for hours on end.

What’s sad is:
1) the first reaction of some posters is to compare her to their own daughters. It shows that we can’t distinguish soccer talent, and if we can’t identify talent and promote it, then US soccer is in trouble.
2) there is nothing in the US for those on the pro track between the ages of 13-18. We force kids to play HS and college who are too talented for that. ECNL and DA are a joke for someone looking to go pro. They are forced to look abroad and that hurts US soccer.

The problem is that there's no way an 11 or 13 year old really knows what their life choices should be and she clearly has been stage managed despite her mom claiming how they want her to make her own decisions. Plus, what the hell is the rush? Unlike the men, there is literally no downside to playing in college; in fact it's a better, clearer pathway with the top teams playing meaningful games and many graduates playing domestically or abroad.

And oh, by the way, Tiger did attend high school and Stanford (yes for 2 years).

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The problem is that there's no way an 11 or 13 year old really knows what their life choices should be and she clearly has been stage managed despite her mom claiming how they want her to make her own decisions. Plus, what the hell is the rush? Unlike the men, there is literally no downside to playing in college; in fact it's a better, clearer pathway with the top teams playing meaningful games and many graduates playing domestically or abroad.

And oh, by the way, Tiger did attend high school and Stanford (yes for 2 years).

But alas, none of that is actually your call.

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But alas, none of that is actually your call.

not the point. we don't need to lift this up as an example of "women catching up to men" when in fact it's a perversion of a system and will take $$ away from the rest of the sport, which has proven to be on very shaky ground at the pro level and saw the multiple WC winning USWNT virtually strike to be paid less of a laughable fraction of the non-WC qualifying USMNT.

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But alas, none of that is actually your call.

No. But the nike contract, the media promotion...they are inviting young players to look at this story and admire her.

That invitation from corporations, social media etc. require me as a parent to push back if there are aspects to this that i see as not beneficial for my kid.

[Unregistered]

The problem is that there's no way an 11 or 13 year old really knows what their life choices should be and she clearly has been stage managed despite her mom claiming how they want her to make her own decisions. Plus, what the hell is the rush? Unlike the men, there is literally no downside to playing in college; in fact it's a better, clearer pathway with the top teams playing meaningful games and many graduates playing domestically or abroad.

And oh, by the way, Tiger did attend high school and Stanford (yes for 2 years).

Believe it or not, every parent “stage manages” their kid. Where you choose to live, what you choose to do, the sports and activities you allow or push them to do, etc. They’ve chosen a path for their family and she seems to be a willing participant. Whether you like the Tiger Woods analogy or want to pick another (Simone Biles, Lindsey Vonn, the Williams sisters, etc.), the concept is the same - to be a pro, to be the best, you need to go all in. The “rush” is that you don’t start at 13 and put in only 1 or 2 hours a day and expect to be anything than mediocre.

College is an educational path and sadly one that society pushes every kid towards even when they lack the intelligence or have other technical skills. It is really not a path for a sports pro and most leave at the first opportunity.

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Believe it or not, every parent “stage manages” their kid. Where you choose to live, what you choose to do, the sports and activities you allow or push them to do, etc. They’ve chosen a path for their family and she seems to be a willing participant. Whether you like the Tiger Woods analogy or want to pick another (Simone Biles, Lindsey Vonn, the Williams sisters, etc.), the concept is the same - to be a pro, to be the best, you need to go all in. The “rush” is that you don’t start at 13 and put in only 1 or 2 hours a day and expect to be anything than mediocre.

College is an educational path and sadly one that society pushes every kid towards even when they lack the intelligence or have other technical skills. It is really not a path for a sports pro and most leave at the first opportunity.

You think a promoted media narrative that encourages very young teens to consider "pro" sports careers and all the educational sacrifices that some along with that should not get some serious reality check conversions going? Sorry. No way.

When you are marketing stuff to kids and you get some well well deserved scrutiny whether it is shoes or soccer or skiiing.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrvBbOOcXK0

She looks like she has good technical skills, but she certainly likes to dribble in traffic .... a lot! Was wondering why she does that so often in those hi lites when she has open teammates in so many spots. I think the reason was because so many of her opponents were terrible. Wow, the red team for the first five minutes was standing around watching, ducking, and giving up. So many of the others were the same, giving her space and never doubling down on the one player that could beat them. I am sure she is a good player, but wondering if her bad habits are truly as bad as I saw in those short hilite clips (which she was capable of doing since her opponents seemed so terrible).