High School Soccer season is starting**

[Unregistered]

Would the kid give up DA or ECNL to play HS? The best gymnasts, tennis players, swimmers, golfers and others are not playing for their High schools but using their time to train at a higher level and play high level competition.

I disagree.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commen...ng-high-school

While many HS do not offer gymnastics, figure skating or even tennis and golf; those that do usually have elite athletes on the team. Some kids attend private schools because they offer those sports.

[Unregistered]

Had my father required me to skip school sports so I could play at a higher level with club, I would resent him to this day. Taking a teen out of the HS culture and expecting them to train in a club is no different than Soviet era sports programming. It may produce more winners but it basically robs a child of their youth.

[Unregistered]

I disagree.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commen...ng-high-school

While many HS do not offer gymnastics, figure skating or even tennis and golf; those that do usually have elite athletes on the team. Some kids attend private schools because they offer those sports.

Dude, what world are you living in? Who can afford a private school with ice rink or the top gymnastics equipment for teams when they can barely pay their rent and try to save for college expenses?

[Unregistered]

I disagree.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commen...ng-high-school

While many HS do not offer gymnastics, figure skating or even tennis and golf; those that do usually have elite athletes on the team. Some kids attend private schools because they offer those sports.

Not so fast. I have personal experience with Swimming and went to university on a scholarship . I went to the school that the coach was able to see me at the state HS championships held at that university. I would go in the mornings for HS practice (1 hour), I would then practice in the after noon as well as lifting weights from 2:30 to 6. I would go home and consume mass quantities of calories and return at 7:30 for Club practice. I decided to do this, my parents did not force me and I made the commitment. It is very important to have the club experience as it allows the training / development / skills and competition at an early age on through HS. Without club the overall quality of the sport would be terrible. But, to have missed HS team would have robbed me both of visibility for the scholarship and the great personal experience of being with school mates and friends.

[Unregistered]

Not so fast. I have personal experience with Swimming and went to university on a scholarship . I went to the school that the coach was able to see me at the state HS championships held at that university. I would go in the mornings for HS practice (1 hour), I would then practice in the after noon as well as lifting weights from 2:30 to 6. I would go home and consume mass quantities of calories and return at 7:30 for Club practice. I decided to do this, my parents did not force me and I made the commitment. It is very important to have the club experience as it allows the training / development / skills and competition at an early age on through HS. Without club the overall quality of the sport would be terrible. But, to have missed HS team would have robbed me both of visibility for the scholarship and the great personal experience of being with school mates and friends.

Times have changed, my friend, and this ain't swimming!

[Unregistered]

Click on UF's soccer team roster and view the player bio's, nearly all will lead and dominate with HS statistics and accompishments followed by mostly ODP type references and a sentence referrring to club. Club is where you get seen, but only dumb dumb's discount HS and drink the club only Kool aid.

http://www.gatorzone.com/soccer/bios.php

[Unregistered]

Times have changed, my friend, and this ain't swimming!

Absolutely agree this ain't swimming. By the way My daughter has and is in same path in swimming and is in college on scholarship (Sophomore) and followed same method that I did, times have not changed that much....

Comparing the sports from earlier post is not apples to apples. Lets move back to soccer, this is not talking swimming....

[Unregistered]

Absolutely agree this ain't swimming. By the way My daughter has and is in same path in swimming and is in college on scholarship (Sophomore) and followed same method that I did, times have not changed that much....

Comparing the sports from earlier post is not apples to apples. Lets move back to soccer, this is not talking swimming....

Why are parents of everyone over the age of u15 so obsessed with sports scholarships? Have you not planned well enough financially to put your kid through college? I mean for the cost of club soccer, you could have done Florida prepaid and still had money to spare. What is the deal?

[Unregistered]

For myself, I am not obsessed about athletic scholarships. However, my daughter very much wants to continue playing in college; it is not the potential for scholarship money that is the driving factor, it is the desire to continue playing.

[Unregistered]

why are parents of everyone over the age of u15 so obsessed with sports scholarships? Have you not planned well enough financially to put your kid through college? I mean for the cost of club soccer, you could have done florida prepaid and still had money to spare. What is the deal?

amen!

[Unregistered]

Why are parents of everyone over the age of u15 so obsessed with sports scholarships? Have you not planned well enough financially to put your kid through college? I mean for the cost of club soccer, you could have done Florida prepaid and still had money to spare. What is the deal?

This may be the best comment ever. My player has prepaid and thankfully received a scholarship for academics and soccer.

[Unregistered]

Why are parents of everyone over the age of u15 so obsessed with sports scholarships? Have you not planned well enough financially to put your kid through college? I mean for the cost of club soccer, you could have done Florida prepaid and still had money to spare. What is the deal?

Amen. And I'm one of them. You get caught up in the roller-coaster that is youth sports parents.

We need to step back and just let the kids play. If they are good, they will get noticed.

[Unregistered]

Not so fast. I have personal experience with Swimming and went to university on a scholarship . I went to the school that the coach was able to see me at the state HS championships held at that university.......... It is very important to have the club experience as it allows the training / development / skills and competition at an early age on through HS. Without club the overall quality of the sport would be terrible. But, to have missed HS team would have robbed me both of visibility for the scholarship and the great personal experience of being with school mates and friends.

As is evidenced by the US Soccer Development Academy and the ECNL programs being the primary US feeders for Division 1 collegiate soccer players, HS soccer no longer provides any significant collegiate soccer scholarship visibility and the parity between HS soccer and club soccer is far less than the parity between HS swimming and club swimming.

[Unregistered]

As is evidenced by the US Soccer Development Academy and the ECNL programs being the primary US feeders for Division 1 collegiate soccer players, HS soccer no longer provides any significant collegiate soccer scholarship visibility and the parity between HS soccer and club soccer is far less than the parity between HS swimming and club swimming.

True, it is not a good or fair comparison.

[Unregistered]

As is evidenced by the US Soccer Development Academy and the ECNL programs being the primary US feeders for Division 1 collegiate soccer players, HS soccer no longer provides any significant collegiate soccer scholarship visibility and the parity between HS soccer and club soccer is far less than the parity between HS swimming and club swimming.

Oh please give it up already!!!! Feeders for Div 1...please. Do some research before posting such nonsense. Pick any Div 1 men's program, especially top 20 and tell me what you see. When you do, then get back here and let's talk. Over half of the roster is composed of foreign players! The token American players sit on the bench next to older players from places like Holland, Germany, Ghana and Italy that were developed by REAL academies like Ajax and were basically pros playing second division ball back in their countries. The US Women still have a slight advantage but it won't be long until you start seeing German and Japanese girls pushing US girls from the rosters.

Wake up people! US Soccer DA was created to feed the national team and provide an avenue for kids to become pros, its not working but that is another topic. Only 1% or less makes it anywhere near a US pro team. Forget about Europe. The rest then try to go on to college but a good portion of them ignored their education. Some even dropped out of school or did virtual learning. Their GPAs are in the 2.0 range which means that D1 schools are not going to touch them. So what happens to them after the famed DA stops? No soccer and and no education. On top of it all, they sacrificed 4 years of their young lives so less than 1% can go on to play pro ball. Not to mention the money their families spent.

This is the United States of America where soccer is not important. Let your kids enjoy the game and have some fun while they can. DA/ECNL are nothing more than one more Pay to Play scam. What do you think will come next? ELITE DA/ECNL or SUPER ELITE DA/ECNL or NEW AND IMPROVED DA/ECNL. Each time with a bigger price tag of course.

Stay in school children. Be smarter than us parents!