There was a day here (maybe 20 years ago and before) where the youth soccer landscape*was much easier to understand. There were only*two main types of programs - Recreational and*Select.
Recreational: The numbers in the recreational programs were huge, and of course it was all volunteer run with mostly parent coaches. Without commenting too much on the quality of the teams, coaches and players, the program worked, and a ton of kids played soccer. Some of those Rec teams were pretty darned good, and you saw some very talented players because as Goal says the "higher-level" programs were not siphoning players off of Rec teams like they are now. Recreational teams would play in either an "in-house" association league, or a district league.
Select/Travel: The select program were also huge. The format was that Clubs/Associations administered all teams in their area, both Rec and Select. Each club/association had the option to hold tryouts and form select teams. The best kids in the area would go try out, they'd bring in good coaches (sometimes paid) and they would compete in high-level leagues.
District leagues:*These were run by area districts, each running their own leagues. Within the*district leagues would be multiple different divisions or sub-levels, sometimes up to 8 or 9 different levels. Each team would enter the level they thought to be most appropriate for that individual team. In our area there was no mandatory promotion/relegation system, each team/club was just expected to place their teams appropriately. Finish first place in the fourth division, move up to third; etc.
Not any more...
About 10-15 years ago, a movement was started by the stronger clubs that had most of the premier teams. Long story, but they weren't happy with the way the State was running the premier league, an impasse was reached, they said "fine, we're outta here" and basically withdrew from affiliation. They got together and started their own "premier" league.*And the floodgates opened.
The qualifying tournament was done away with. Instead of each team qualifying, a whole different system was started where it was based on the CLUB meeting certain criteria (paid DOC, etc.). Once they did, they were let in, and now the whole club and ALL of their teams were "premier", without having to qualify for anything.
From there, soccer lost containment. The concept of earning the right to call yourself premier was gone, and now not only are the "premier clubs" calling all of their teams premier, anyone else who wants to can just call themselves "premier" and there's nothing to stop them. Back in the day if a team did that without actually being in the premier league, they were exposed as liars and phonies. No one even cares now. Everybody and their little brother calls their program "Premier". Why? $$$$$. Teams that wouldn't have even been middle of the pack select teams before are calling themselves "Premier". It just sounds SO much higher and better. And the parents, who don't know the difference, line up by the tens of thousands to pay for their kid to be on a "premier" team.*Some of the premier clubs*will*create as many teams as they can at each age (C team, D team, etc. ), and call them all "premier". Some of those kids aren't even very good, and back in the day might not have even made a select team.*But the club takes everyone who shows just to form that fourth team, that kid*makes the D team and their parents post on social media "My daughter made a premier team! So proud of her!!!"
So not only do the individual teams not have to qualify anymore, there are some cases where the kids don't even have to, because at tryouts the club took everyone who showed up. Parents want the status of having their kid play on a so-called "Premier" team SO bad that*they will go along with this and pay whatever they ask. These programs have exploded in this area. The bottom line - where there used to be only 24 teams per age/gender that were actually Premier, now there are hundreds of them; where there were only 400-500 kids in the state per age/gender who are actually on a true premier team, now there are*tens of thousands of them, per age/gender.
The result of all of this?*The cost of soccer, on average, has skyrocketed. There are hundreds of "premier" teams per age, and hundreds of "select" teams per age. Parents are paying a lot of money even for select, and gladly do so for the bragging rights. The unfortunate result is the Recreational programs in our area have dwindled down accordingly. Any of the kids who are any good at all (and even some who aren't) get taken by their parents to select tryouts, "make" the team, and most of the Rec teams end up folding by U14.*
The money in youth soccer is flowing like a river; premier and select programs have exploded in numbers, and tons of coaches and administrators are getting paid handsomely, some even making a living from it all. And many of the recreational U11+ programs*are almost gone. Of course, since so many more kids are playing premier/select and getting professional coaching, this has all steadily improved the level of play across the board. Right?
Actually, all of this "improvement" in youth soccer has resulted in a Women's national team that is still very good but no longer dominant, and a Men's national team that couldn't even qualify for the world cup.
You can't fight progress...
Recreational: The numbers in the recreational programs were huge, and of course it was all volunteer run with mostly parent coaches. Without commenting too much on the quality of the teams, coaches and players, the program worked, and a ton of kids played soccer. Some of those Rec teams were pretty darned good, and you saw some very talented players because as Goal says the "higher-level" programs were not siphoning players off of Rec teams like they are now. Recreational teams would play in either an "in-house" association league, or a district league.
Select/Travel: The select program were also huge. The format was that Clubs/Associations administered all teams in their area, both Rec and Select. Each club/association had the option to hold tryouts and form select teams. The best kids in the area would go try out, they'd bring in good coaches (sometimes paid) and they would compete in high-level leagues.
District leagues:*These were run by area districts, each running their own leagues. Within the*district leagues would be multiple different divisions or sub-levels, sometimes up to 8 or 9 different levels. Each team would enter the level they thought to be most appropriate for that individual team. In our area there was no mandatory promotion/relegation system, each team/club was just expected to place their teams appropriately. Finish first place in the fourth division, move up to third; etc.
Not any more...
About 10-15 years ago, a movement was started by the stronger clubs that had most of the premier teams. Long story, but they weren't happy with the way the State was running the premier league, an impasse was reached, they said "fine, we're outta here" and basically withdrew from affiliation. They got together and started their own "premier" league.*And the floodgates opened.
The qualifying tournament was done away with. Instead of each team qualifying, a whole different system was started where it was based on the CLUB meeting certain criteria (paid DOC, etc.). Once they did, they were let in, and now the whole club and ALL of their teams were "premier", without having to qualify for anything.
From there, soccer lost containment. The concept of earning the right to call yourself premier was gone, and now not only are the "premier clubs" calling all of their teams premier, anyone else who wants to can just call themselves "premier" and there's nothing to stop them. Back in the day if a team did that without actually being in the premier league, they were exposed as liars and phonies. No one even cares now. Everybody and their little brother calls their program "Premier". Why? $$$$$. Teams that wouldn't have even been middle of the pack select teams before are calling themselves "Premier". It just sounds SO much higher and better. And the parents, who don't know the difference, line up by the tens of thousands to pay for their kid to be on a "premier" team.*Some of the premier clubs*will*create as many teams as they can at each age (C team, D team, etc. ), and call them all "premier". Some of those kids aren't even very good, and back in the day might not have even made a select team.*But the club takes everyone who shows just to form that fourth team, that kid*makes the D team and their parents post on social media "My daughter made a premier team! So proud of her!!!"
So not only do the individual teams not have to qualify anymore, there are some cases where the kids don't even have to, because at tryouts the club took everyone who showed up. Parents want the status of having their kid play on a so-called "Premier" team SO bad that*they will go along with this and pay whatever they ask. These programs have exploded in this area. The bottom line - where there used to be only 24 teams per age/gender that were actually Premier, now there are hundreds of them; where there were only 400-500 kids in the state per age/gender who are actually on a true premier team, now there are*tens of thousands of them, per age/gender.
The result of all of this?*The cost of soccer, on average, has skyrocketed. There are hundreds of "premier" teams per age, and hundreds of "select" teams per age. Parents are paying a lot of money even for select, and gladly do so for the bragging rights. The unfortunate result is the Recreational programs in our area have dwindled down accordingly. Any of the kids who are any good at all (and even some who aren't) get taken by their parents to select tryouts, "make" the team, and most of the Rec teams end up folding by U14.*
The money in youth soccer is flowing like a river; premier and select programs have exploded in numbers, and tons of coaches and administrators are getting paid handsomely, some even making a living from it all. And many of the recreational U11+ programs*are almost gone. Of course, since so many more kids are playing premier/select and getting professional coaching, this has all steadily improved the level of play across the board. Right?
Actually, all of this "improvement" in youth soccer has resulted in a Women's national team that is still very good but no longer dominant, and a Men's national team that couldn't even qualify for the world cup.
You can't fight progress...
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