College Soccer Sucks so Why the Push by the Clubs

[Unregistered]

Here is the truth about college soccer:

1. Very little money available
2. Short season in the Fall
3. Have to train entire Spring but only play a handful of scrimmages
4. On the boys side, most of the rosters are mainly foreigners
5. Foreigners are the ones getting what little money is available

So my question is why is college soccer the entire focus of most clubs especially given the reality listed above? This doesn't mean we shouldn't play soccer - it is still fun and provides many benefits. I don't even think the main American sports that actually have real advancement opportunities promote college and professional to the degree that soccer does.

[Unregistered]

The answer is profit.

[Unregistered]

Because the majority of soccer families don't see a professional soccer career as the goal - it's getting a good education. So they see soccer as a means to achieve that - either to get whatever help paying for college* or to help get into a better school then thy might otherwise without soccer. Clubs know that's what middle-to-upper income soccer families want at the end of the day, so they play into it. They publish placement lists and some make empty promises of scholarships. The savvier clubs don't promise $ but rely on the strength of good academic placements to draw families in. Even if you know your kid isn't Ivy material it's enticing when you see a club has two Ivy placements in each class along with some other very good schools. It works and the checks pour in.

As for college soccer sucking - it's like HS on steroids. The coach needs a good track record to keep his job. It's not about development but winning. The "mostly" foreigners is a stretch - yes there are a lot on some rosters but never a majority; other rosters will have a token number

* yes athletic money is a joke on the men's side and parents are in for a rude awakening there. But it can be very substantial on the women's side - more scholarships in total numbers and a bigger number of programs that can offer scholarships. That's partly why girls parents are mental

[Unregistered]

As for college soccer sucking - it's like HS on steroids. The coach needs a good track record to keep his job. It's not about development but winning. The "mostly" foreigners is a stretch - yes there are a lot on some rosters but never a majority; other rosters will have a token number

I think you are wrong here. Take a look at this roster as an example. There are like 4 Americans out of 27 kids. This school has won several national championships.

http://www.lynnfightingknights.com/s...2016-17/roster

If you look at the entire Sunshine Conference (Rollins, Lynn, Eckerd, Embry-Riddle, UT, etc.) and the Sun Conference (Southeastern, Warner, St. Thomas, etc.) I would guess that they total percentage of foreign players in these two conferences is over 80% foreign.

[Unregistered]

i do wish the emphasis was not on college scholarships. it ruins the fun; once you have a money expectation from anything, it becomes a job and not fun. parents aren't relaxed enough about it and so that ruins it for the players.

[Unregistered]

i do wish the emphasis was not on college scholarships. it ruins the fun; once you have a money expectation from anything, it becomes a job and not fun. parents aren't relaxed enough about it and so that ruins it for the players.

You're describing rec. There isn't as much profit in that.

[Unregistered]

I think you are wrong here. Take a look at this roster as an example. There are like 4 Americans out of 27 kids. This school has won several national championships.

http://www.lynnfightingknights.com/s...2016-17/roster

If you look at the entire Sunshine Conference (Rollins, Lynn, Eckerd, Embry-Riddle, UT, etc.) and the Sun Conference (Southeastern, Warner, St. Thomas, etc.) I would guess that they total percentage of foreign players in these two conferences is over 80% foreign.

It's easy to cherry pick. Please take a look at a broad sample of rosters and different levels and areas of the country. More typical numbers are 5-8, maybe 10, on rosters of 30. Still high but not even 50%.

[Unregistered]

I think you are wrong here. Take a look at this roster as an example. There are like 4 Americans out of 27 kids. This school has won several national championships.

http://www.lynnfightingknights.com/s...2016-17/roster

If you look at the entire Sunshine Conference (Rollins, Lynn, Eckerd, Embry-Riddle, UT, etc.) and the Sun Conference (Southeastern, Warner, St. Thomas, etc.) I would guess that they total percentage of foreign players in these two conferences is over 80% foreign.

Yes there are a lot of foreign players on men's college rosters, but it isn't nearly as high as you are portraying. Above is correct a more typical roster as ten-ish or under. What matters most to you as a parent or a player is what do rosters look like at schools your player is interested in? If it's a high number of international players and they get most of the PT you may want to move on.

Nor does having a high number guarantee success as you assert. This years D1 Final 4

Clemson 11 internationals http://www.clemsontigers.com/SportSe...4&SPSID=657795

University of Denver 2 internationals http://www.denverpioneers.com/sports...occer-mtt.html

Providence 5 internationals http://www.denverpioneers.com/sports...occer-mtt.html

UNC 3 internationals (1 is Canadian lol) http://www.goheels.com/SportSelect.d...9&SPSID=668056

[Unregistered]

You're describing rec. There isn't as much profit in that.

There needs to be a rec league for players who private trained and got pretty good before they realized they (or maybe their parents) didn't know why they were trying to get so good at soccer. There must be a lot of us. Who's in?

[Unregistered]

Yes there are a lot of foreign players on men's college rosters, but it isn't nearly as high as you are portraying. Above is correct a more typical roster as ten-ish or under. What matters most to you as a parent or a player is what do rosters look like at schools your player is interested in? If it's a high number of international players and they get most of the PT you may want to move on.

Nor does having a high number guarantee success as you assert. This years D1 Final 4

Clemson 11 internationals http://www.clemsontigers.com/SportSe...4&SPSID=657795

University of Denver 2 internationals http://www.denverpioneers.com/sports...occer-mtt.html

Providence 5 internationals http://www.denverpioneers.com/sports...occer-mtt.html

UNC 3 internationals (1 is Canadian lol) http://www.goheels.com/SportSelect.d...9&SPSID=668056

Not only are our flagship universities not offering soccer, the next tier is loaded with foreigners. As state institutions shouldn't they favor residents of Florida that pay taxes for these schools and in most cases have invested in the prepaid plans and have Bright Futures $???

UCF 8 out of 21 are from Europe and one from Ghana

http://ucfknights.com/roster.aspx?path=msoc

FIU 11 out of 30 are not American

http://www.fiusports.com/roster.aspx?path=msoc

USF 7 out of 18 not American
http://www.gousfbulls.com/SportSelec...14&SPSID=36622

[Unregistered]

There needs to be a rec league for players who private trained and got pretty good before they realized they (or maybe their parents) didn't know why they were trying to get so good at soccer. There must be a lot of us. Who's in?

The voters need to take back our public parks from for profit clubs to do that.

[Unregistered]

The voters need to take back our public parks from for profit clubs to do that.

Agreed for profit clubs masquerading as non profits but generating plenty of nice salaries and perks need to either buy the fields from the city or make the fields accessible to all. Thank you lawyers and stupid politicians for making it so hard to find places to play

[Unregistered]

I think you are wrong here. Take a look at this roster as an example. There are like 4 Americans out of 27 kids. This school has won several national championships.

http://www.lynnfightingknights.com/s...2016-17/roster

If you look at the entire Sunshine Conference (Rollins, Lynn, Eckerd, Embry-Riddle, UT, etc.) and the Sun Conference (Southeastern, Warner, St. Thomas, etc.) I would guess that they total percentage of foreign players in these two conferences is over 80% foreign.

Yes, If you look at all of the men's soccer teams in Florida (D1, D2, and NAIA) I am positive if you looked at all the players of these schools lumped together way more than 50% are foreigners.

[Unregistered]

Not only are our flagship universities not offering soccer, the next tier is loaded with foreigners. As state institutions shouldn't they favor residents of Florida that pay taxes for these schools and in most cases have invested in the prepaid plans and have Bright Futures $???

UCF 8 out of 21 are from Europe and one from Ghana

http://ucfknights.com/roster.aspx?path=msoc

FIU 11 out of 30 are not American

http://www.fiusports.com/roster.aspx?path=msoc

USF 7 out of 18 not American
http://www.gousfbulls.com/SportSelec...14&SPSID=36622

And none of those are over 50% but in the 10 or so number that another poster mentioned

Problem is that as long as it's in the regs and whatever laws on the books, and coaches think it brings them results, they'll keep doing it. You may not like it but that is the reality. Like someone said, pay attention to the schools your kid wants to go to. Not everybody gets their perfect combination of top school choice+top soccer choice. More often than not some choices/compromises may have to be made. In the end the school should be the primary driver. If you can play soccer on top of that then that's gravy on the biscuit. Virtually no one is going pro, but that education lasts a life time.

[Unregistered]

Man I was bored waiting for practice to end - but was also curious. Honestly my kid is looking mostly out of state at higher academic D1 and D3 schools, mostly New England a few midwest (not Ivy lol but very good schools). He hasn't seen internationals at nearly the same levels as what I found for FL Schools. But FL doesn't have liberal arts academic schools and he isn't looking at D2 or NAIA either.

Anyway this is what I found

D1 - School #Intern Ttl #Players %Internat'l
USF 7 18 38.9%
UCF 9 23 39.1%
FGCU 10 22 45.5%
Univ N FL 10 30 33.3%
FL Atlantic 5 20 25.0%
FL International 11 29 37.9%
Jacksonville 16 27 59.3%
Average 9.7 24.1 39.9%

D2

Barry 13 28 46.4%
Eckerd 14 32 43.8%
Embry Riddle 17 27 63.0%
FL Southern 8 17 47.1%
FL Inst Tech 17 28 60.7%
Lynn 20 28 71.4%
Nova Scotia 15 21 71.4%
Palm Beach 18 31 58.1%
Rollins 11 32 34.4%
St Leo 16 30 53.3%
Univ Tampa 15 22 68.2%
Univ W FL 6 30 20.0%
Average 14.2 27.2 53.1%

NAIA
Ave Maria 9 29 31.0%
Johnson & Whales 12 22 54.5%
FL Memorial 19 21 90.5%
Keiser 26 28 92.9%
St Thomas 26 32 81.3%
Southeastern 12 33 36.4%
Warner 12 23 52.2%
Webber 13 23 56.5%
Average 16.1 26.4 61.9%