club soccer and the economy

but now we can all use our election year rebate checks to pay our kid's soccer fees :)

I guess that is better than buying more chinese soccer balls and chinese cleats.

[reality]

Reality, great post above....

Can you expand a little on this...

The incredible systematic upheval on the boys side will also continue to have a huge impact.

I think the emphasis on residency, adoption of the academy system and the fact that MLS is looking to use in-house club systems to develop talent are the things that will dramatically change the way that club soccer works. Traditionally the purpose of almost all clubs was to prepare players for HS and produce college talent. These changes are altering that equation. I think that eventually boys club will closely emulate what is going on in hockey (sorry Cujo). Because boys soccer does appeal to communities that are under-represented on the girls side Or hockey), there is already a willingness to find ways to make ID and development more affordable.

[MASC]

Each academy will need to have teams in several ages. At what age would these properties (that is what the players involved are), "graduate"? One could assume that between U18 and U20, a player is either under a professional contract or cut loose. For those who get the professional contracts such is wonderful. How many would that be per year? 32 - 64? How many plyaers will be let loose with nothing to fall back on? 600 - 1000+?

For every success out of junior hockey there are 100 who are used and discarded.

Will the academy players have the necessary education to pursue careers outside of soccer?

The majority of academy players will still go to college. That is not the issue here.

Each academy will need to have teams in several ages. At what age would these properties (that is what the players involved are), "graduate"? One could assume that between U18 and U20, a player is either under a professional contract or cut loose. For those who get the professional contracts such is wonderful. How many would that be per year? 32 - 64? How many plyaers will be let loose with nothing to fall back on? 600 - 1000+?

For every success out of junior hockey there are 100 who are used and discarded.

Will the academy players have the necessary education to pursue careers outside of soccer?

I think you misunderstand how Jr. hockey works. You still attend High School, but you don't play for your school team. Residency programs, like US Hockey National Program in Michigan is a hockey school, where players have academic requirements and go to "school" on campus. There are golf, gymnastics and tennis acdemies that work this way. These kids often go on to college and do quite well. Take a look at the Yale hockey roster. 27 players, 13 of which came out of Jr. Hockey programs. 20 of 27 Dartmouth players came out of Jr. Hockey. I think the point is that in less than a decade when you pull up the Princeton men's soccer roster you will see many of the players (if not most) listied as not out of HS but coming out of academy programs.

[MASC]

I understand that many players have gone the junior route. There are levels and levels. Those players that I know who have done such have had difficulties balancing being away from home, the demands of hockey and school.

For Yale:

27 players
12 played prep-school;HS
1 national team player
13 played juniors
1 college transfer
7 Canadian players

For Dartmouth

27 players
6 played prep-school;HS
21 played juniors
11 Canadian players

For BC

23 players
12 played prep-school;HS
2 national team players
11 played juniors
3 Canadian players

For BU

27 players
8 played prep-school;HS
5 national team players
14 played juniors
3 Canadian players

I have not had the time to correlate year in college to birth year and HS graduation years. In the long gone past (my era), many players attended prep schools, e.g. Choate, Taft, etc. to be better prepared for college.

The reason for listing the Canadian players was to see what percentage of the rosters were taken by Canadians. It was interesting to see the large numbers at Yale and Dartmouth compared to BC and BU. Probably speaks well to the quality of US players

Re: club soccer and the economy

These multi thousand dollar soccer costs look a bit rich in these times. Air fares and travel costs could double for tournaments next season. credit cards are maxed outand past due.

Re: club soccer and the economy

These multi thousand dollar soccer costs look a bit rich in these times. Air fares and travel costs could double for tournaments next season. credit cards are maxed outand past due.

MPS parents tend to be highly educated from wealthy suburbs and will be least effected by the credit depression.

[offside]

Re: club soccer and the economy

Funny someone resurrected this thread. I was thinking about this today, stuck in traffic burning close to $5.00 a gallon gasoline.

Lately a few families, some even highly educated and living in the suburbs, moved kids to clubs closer to home and cited travel costs as a contributing factor in their decision.

Tough to justify $5,000 to $10,000 a year on expensive Clubs and even more expensive travel if a decent coaching is available nearby at a fraction of the cost.

Re: club soccer and the economy

Funny someone resurrected this thread. I was thinking about this today, stuck in traffic burning close to $5.00 a gallon gasoline.

Lately a few families, some even highly educated and living in the suburbs, moved kids to clubs closer to home and cited travel costs as a contributing factor in their decision.

Tough to justify $5,000 to $10,000 a year on expensive Clubs and even more expensive travel if a decent coaching is available nearby at a fraction of the cost.

Anyone want to still question the reasons MPS, Stars, Seacoast and Aztecs might consider forming a new league?

Re: club soccer and the economy

Funny someone resurrected this thread. I was thinking about this today, stuck in traffic burning close to $5.00 a gallon gasoline.

Lately a few families, some even highly educated and living in the suburbs, moved kids to clubs closer to home and cited travel costs as a contributing factor in their decision.

Tough to justify $5,000 to $10,000 a year on expensive Clubs and even more expensive travel if a decent coaching is available nearby at a fraction of the cost.

Anyone want to still question the reasons MPS, Stars, Seacoast and Aztecs might consider forming a new league?

Daddywarbucks will continue to question whether MPS, Seacoast and Aztec can produce teams that can compete with the Stars.

Re: club soccer and the economy

Tough to justify $5,000 to $10,000 a year on expensive Clubs and even more expensive travel if a decent coaching is available nearby at a fraction of the cost.[/quote]

Anyone want to still question the reasons MPS, Stars, Seacoast and Aztecs might consider forming a new league?[/quote]

Daddywarbucks will continue to question whether MPS, Seacoast and Aztec can produce teams that can compete with the Stars.[/quote]

Aztecs charge just as much as clubs like Stars actually I think they charge more. MPS charge much more so not sure Stars have been brought into this.