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Racial Diversity in WA Youth Soccer

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    #31
    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
    ...Nobody is talking about the thread!!! Really how diverse are our teams/clubs? Individually is the team your kid plays for very diverse? The stream of coaches your kid has access to very diverse I truly am curious!
    not diverse, not diverse, not diverse

    Also, what feels diverse to white folks often doesn't feel diverse to people of color

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      #32
      Newcastle United defender DeAndre Yedlin has revealed he received a disheartening text message from his grandfather stating he would be worried for the full-back's life if he lived in the United States.

      Protests and riots have erupted within cities across the country following the death of George Floyd, who died while in police custody after an officer knelt on his neck.

      USA international Yedlin, who moved to England to join Spurs in 2015, says the systemic racism within his home country makes a mockery of the promise of "liberty and justice for all" - a phrase contained within the national Pledge of Allegiance.

      Writing on Twitter, Yedlin said: "A couple days after George Floyd's death, my grandfather texted me and told me he's glad that I am not living in the U.S. right now because he would fear for my life as a young black man. As days have passed, this text from my grandfather has not been able to leave my mind.

      "He was born in 1946, lived through the civil rights movement, lived through some terribly racist times in U.S. history, and now 70 years later he STILL fears for the life of his black grandchild, in the country he and his grandchild were born in, in the country his grandchild represents when he plays for the United States, in the country his grandchild represents when he's playing in England.

      "I remember being in elementary school, and having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, which ends "with liberty and justice for all". Every American needs to ask themselves, "Is there 'liberty and justice for all'" and if their answer is yes, then they are part of the problem.

      "In no way are we asking black lives to matter more than white lives, all we're asking is we are seen as equal, as more than 3/5 of a man, as humans.

      "My heart goes out in solidarity to George Floyd, his family, and all of the countless number of victims that have had their lives taken at the hands of meaningless police brutality."

      Premier League stars including Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba have issued messages of support towards Black Lives Matter protestors in recent days, while clubs including Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea have taken a knee during training in a show of solidarity with the movement.

      The FA has promised to adopt a "common-sense approach", as encouraged by FIFA, towards any players who make similar gestures during matches that might ordinarily breach the rules of the game.

      FIFA's message to national associations came after the German Football Association (DFB) said it would investigate whether further action was required against players including Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi and Marcus Thuram for their actions last weekend.

      Borussia Dortmund duo Sancho and Hakimi revealed t-shirts with the words 'Justice for George Floyd' during their 6-1 win over Paderborn, while Thuram took a knee after scoring for Borussia Monchengladbach against Union Berlin.

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        #33
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        not diverse, not diverse, not diverse

        Also, what feels diverse to white folks often doesn't feel diverse to people of color
        Good to know how minorities feel... being that I am one I need a temperature check now and then thanks!

        I feel if the team is representative of or more diverse than the community it is diverse. Example: An all black team is not diverse and not necessarily what is ideal diversity.. Again thanks for the class but my son's team I feel really is diverse. And I am curious if truly your teams reflect this same diversity. The boys teams at pac seem all pretty diverse.

        Comment


          #34
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          Good to know how minorities feel... being that I am one I need a temperature check now and then thanks!

          I feel if the team is representative of or more diverse than the community it is diverse. Example: An all black team is not diverse and not necessarily what is ideal diversity.. Again thanks for the class but my son's team I feel really is diverse. And I am curious if truly your teams reflect this same diversity. The boys teams at pac seem all pretty diverse.
          I think it's important to understand the difference between diversity and equity. Diversity means lots of different folks. Equity is everyone getting what they need...In that light, consider why some parents of color choose an all Latinx team for their child, in a separate league, that might not have a "pathway" to playing college or pro. Or why the East African community in South Seattle maintains separate leagues for their kids. I can guarantee you there are many Handwallas out there that aren't going to join any of the major youth clubs due to cost, practice logistics and feeling welcome in the wider soccer community. Soccer is such a social sport. Especially on the girls' side, a lot of parents wrap their own social life into it. I think you soccer doesn't feel equitable to a lot of families of color, as in, the family doesn't really get what they need from the experience, so they may choose other sports or a side league, just to keep it feeling fun and recreational

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            #35
            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            Instead of throwing out sarcasm, why don't you dispute the statements? If you are a coach or director of coaching at one of the clubs people claim dont care about racism and abuse of people of color, state your case.

            Post a link to EFCs diversity statement. If they don't have one, explain, maybe it isn't important because you (the club) already goes over and above with policies that are inclusive?

            It isn't worth the time to show your team stands against racism?

            If you feel there isn't racism and the death of Floyd is overblown say so.

            If clubs promote 100% white Male as DOCs and board members because there arent any qualified women and people of color, say so.

            If you don't give a f×ck and you feel your obligation starts and ends on the soccer field, say so.

            But dont fly over and say sarcastically "Of course it means the clubs don't care and are racist."

            Defend your position with facts.
            Outside of PACNW and Crossfire I’m not familiar with any of the clubs “posted diversity statement”. Are you confusing non discrimination in the bylaws with “posted diversity statement”?

            I am a person of color, stating someone or an organization is racist because they don’t have a “posted diversity statement” or didn’t post something to reflect the murder of George Floyd is not ok. That is slander.

            And giving an organization that has a “posted diversity statement” and did post a tribute to George Floyd a passing grade is just stupid. It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.

            https://www.crossfiresoccer.org/coaches/directors/

            In the end, these are soccer teams. I hope you pick your grocery store, home builder, and employer using the same criteria. You are a better man than me.

            Comment


              #36
              A team’s diversity should be about play style not skin color. We need hard nosed defenders with good touch and forwards with craftiness and finishing ability. We need some
              Midfielders who can defend and others who can attack. The longer the USA is this concerned with tribalism and focused on racial diversity the longer we will go without a World Cup. We are All AMERICAN.

              Any good coach will take the best player and not be concerned with their race. You people are honestly insane.

              Comment


                #37
                Wanting defenders who can only defend, forwards who attack, and distinguishing between types of midfielders? Nothing less than apartheid on the soccer field.

                Universality. That's the answer. That's the modern game. Pep Guardiola didn't die so that little Timmy would just learn how to tackle because he was 5'7" 130 pounds at age 8.

                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                A team’s diversity should be about play style not skin color. We need hard nosed defenders with good touch and forwards with craftiness and finishing ability. We need some
                Midfielders who can defend and others who can attack. The longer the USA is this concerned with tribalism and focused on racial diversity the longer we will go without a World Cup. We are All AMERICAN.

                Any good coach will take the best player and not be concerned with their race. You people are honestly insane.

                Comment


                  #38
                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  A team’s diversity should be about play style not skin color. We need hard nosed defenders with good touch and forwards with craftiness and finishing ability. We need some
                  Midfielders who can defend and others who can attack. The longer the USA is this concerned with tribalism and focused on racial diversity the longer we will go without a World Cup. We are All AMERICAN.

                  Any good coach will take the best player and not be concerned with their race. You people are honestly insane.
                  You need to familiarize yourself with how systemic racism works. At the youth level, it's about creating opportunities for the best players of any race to emerge. After USA Swimming took steps to make swimming as a sport more accessible to youth of color, black swimmers suddenly emerged to win gold medals for the USA. In case you're not familiar, many black people of generations past never even learned to swim because pools were segregated.

                  Soccer is not a diverse sport compared to others -- that's simply a fact -- and USYS has taken no meaningful steps to diversify. That's what's insane. I can guarantee you that South Seattle is full of immigrant talent playing pick up games that can outplay many white soccer kids whose parents pay $2-4K in fees every year, drag them to Toca etc

                  Comment


                    #39
                    I think it's a mistake to think that one message on social media to capitalize on #BlackoutTuesday is a sign that a club is down with the cause. My senior daughter of color is committed to play college ball next year. Her college coach sent a message to the team yesterday saying she hadn't put out a statement on BLM yet because she was CAREFULLY thinking about what she wanted to share and how to make it meaningful. She asked the team to contribute their thoughts and to make individual videos with messages of support. Obviously my kid of color committed to this team and school because she believes she will be supported and respected there. Don't make decisions for your kid based on one or two Instagram posts

                    Comment


                      #40
                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      Wanting defenders who can only defend, forwards who attack, and distinguishing between types of midfielders? Nothing less than apartheid on the soccer field.

                      Universality. That's the answer. That's the modern game. Pep Guardiola didn't die so that little Timmy would just learn how to tackle because he was 5'7" 130 pounds at age 8.
                      Echoes of Bull Durham, "strikeouts are fascist" here.

                      Snark aside, this comment isn't wrong (assuming that I am reading it correctly) in poking fun at the prior post.

                      The problem with US Soccer isn't that it is "concerned with tribalism and focused on racial diversity." At best, that perspective is just wrong, on every possible level. At worst, it is a dumpster fire of privilege/ignorance.

                      The problem is that US Soccer has virtually no coherent, long-term player development process. Rather, from U-little through college, virtually everything is based on pay-to-play with the priority being "winning" now, not later. As a result of this short-sighted system, we *generally* produce two types of players in this country: (1) athletes who lack soccer IQ and/or technical ability, but excel because of their sheer physical attributes at a young age; and (2) players with immense technical ability, but have spent their time in sanitized, controlled academy environments with helicopter parents lining the sidelines. (Arsene Wenger has spoken at length about this latter issue being why Europe doesn't produce elite strikers, these days.)

                      We aren't going to win a World Cup because neither group of player is going to win you a World Cup. It's as simple as that. (Unrealistic expectations are also thrust upon players like Pulisic, who sit outside of this typical paradigm.)

                      Comment


                        #41
                        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                        A team’s diversity should be about play style not skin color.
                        Any good coach will take the best player and not be concerned with their race. You people are honestly insane.
                        Well first there's a lot of bad or average coaches out there. more than good ones. But sure if a player is a stud they'll be taken, but what about the 80% of the team that's just more or less the same player? Who gets picked then? This is where subtle racism unfortunately can play a role. Just look at the teams at say the major club in the Redmond area as one example. Or that big City club as another. Check out the rosters of the ECNL teams vs the B teams vs the C teams. My kid played for one of these teams once several seasons ago. At orientation the parents of the players met in groups and it wasn't hard to tell which was the A team parents group. You just had to look for the group of tall white people LOL

                        Comment


                          #42
                          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                          Well first there's a lot of bad or average coaches out there. more than good ones. But sure if a player is a stud they'll be taken, but what about the 80% of the team that's just more or less the same player? Who gets picked then? This is where subtle racism unfortunately can play a role. Just look at the teams at say the major club in the Redmond area as one example. Or that big City club as another. Check out the rosters of the ECNL teams vs the B teams vs the C teams. My kid played for one of these teams once several seasons ago. At orientation the parents of the players met in groups and it wasn't hard to tell which was the A team parents group. You just had to look for the group of tall white people LOL
                          This is a bad generalization. Most coaches will take the best players to form the strongest team. It’s a slippery slope to say racism plays a roll when picking the bubble players because there are other metrics coaches are using such as positional needs, athleticism, speed, skills, and tactical. If you have 8 players on the bottom half of the roster who are more or less the same, then you are going to choose the best for your positional needs factoring in what I listed above. At the end of the day the coach is going to pick the players they believe will help their team win. Geographical demographics of any particular club also will attract a greater pool of players from various backgrounds. To your point, PacNW attracts more minorities where as XF might not. Hard to make a race determination just by looking at rosters. Too many other things to consider.

                          Comment


                            #43
                            Well all I can say is the optics are pretty bad when the A team is 90% white and you have to go all the way down to the C team to find any amount of brown players.

                            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                            This is a bad generalization. Most coaches will take the best players to form the strongest team. It’s a slippery slope to say racism plays a roll when picking the bubble players because there are other metrics coaches are using such as positional needs, athleticism, speed, skills, and tactical. If you have 8 players on the bottom half of the roster who are more or less the same, then you are going to choose the best for your positional needs factoring in what I listed above. At the end of the day the coach is going to pick the players they believe will help their team win. Geographical demographics of any particular club also will attract a greater pool of players from various backgrounds. To your point, PacNW attracts more minorities where as XF might not. Hard to make a race determination just by looking at rosters. Too many other things to consider.

                            Comment


                              #44
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              Well all I can say is the optics are pretty bad when the A team is 90% white and you have to go all the way down to the C team to find any amount of brown players.
                              not sure which teams you are specifically talking about here. but some cultures also put an emphasis on studies > sports. something that I was lucky enough to have parent's who understood the balance which is necessary in a kid's life.

                              Comment


                                #45
                                First off their are more races than black and white. Our A team is half and half. In terms of African Americans playing the sport. The truth is the top athletes from that culture are not playing soccer. I have said Thai to our coaches for years. This is the reason the United States is not dominant in soccer. The African American culture in this country want basketball and football. Baseball is having the same problem as soccer. As a parent that has a kid that plays AAU basketball and premier soccer. The basketball is actually more expensive. It has more to do with a. Culture liking other sports.

                                Sorry if Barry sanders or Randy Moss or Allen Iverson had focused on soccer from 4 years old they would have been the best in the world.

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