Soccer landscape...are we better?

[Unregistered]

10 years ago the goal was to get as many children playing soccer as possible. Your post in many respects substantiates that that goal has been achieved. The real issue now in my honest opinion is the levelling is all wrong because everything is based upon age groups not ability groups and there is no real upward movement of talented players between different age levels. It creates an artificial bottleneck that effectively throttles the development of all of the players. The "All Star" team application that GPS and NEFC are using is just another form of marketing hype to appease the parents who feed off those sort of labels. If they really wanted to do it right they would at least half the number of "Elite" teams by combining age groups and then place the players more by ability than their age like they do in most other soccer playing countries. The problem with that though is that so many parents take insult to their child being labeled a "B" or "C" team level player (even though they have no desire to actually travel the "A" team route) and that tends to hurt club revenue. This current environment allows those parents to take their "C" level player and put them on some club's "A" team so everyone can smile.

+1

Another way to look at this is to think of the very best high school programs. Kids who've played club soccer for years are beginning to be cut and in larger numbers. There aren't more apps available, but there are that many kids whose parents have paid to have them play the sport and not all of them were ever that good.

[Unregistered]

+1

Another way to look at this is to think of the very best high school programs. Kids who've played club soccer for years are beginning to be cut and in larger numbers. There aren't more apps available, but there are that many kids whose parents have paid to have them play the sport and not all of them were ever that good.

Wonder if it will every sink in that the number of roster spots hasn't really changed all that much.

[Unregistered]

What a slug you are, BTDT. Go cry to NEFC and hold them hostage for even more.

Lol. Reads like a parent who thinks they can buy their kid the stairway to heaven.