USYNT U-15 Girls Camp

[Guest]

Look at what happened to Michael Jordan when he tried playing baseball. He was probably the “best” athlete in the world at the time. You are 100% correct. Being world class in one sport doesn’t mean you could have been world class at another. It’s really funny how some parents really believe you could simply train your way into a world class athlete. It’s just not possible. Those are god given physical genius traits given at birth.

But you can take them when the are young and train them in an alternative sport. You are talking about after the fact. Let’s talk about the front end.

[Guest]

Look at what happened to Michael Jordan when he tried playing baseball. He was probably the “best” athlete in the world at the time. You are 100% correct. Being world class in one sport doesn’t mean you could have been world class at another. It’s really funny how some parents really believe you could simply train your way into a world class athlete. It’s just not possible. Those are god given physical genius traits given at birth.

So you are saying if he only played baseball from the get go he wouldn’t have had success? Hell the fact at such a late stage he could even play minors is a testament to his athleticism.

[Guest]

So you are saying if he only played baseball from the get go he wouldn’t have had success? Hell the fact at such a late stage he could even play minors is a testament to his athleticism.

That’s what I am saying. And his numbers were awful in the minors. He was only on the team bc of his name he was bringing people into the seats. I feel bad for the person who didn’t make the cut bc of him

[Guest]

Back to the topic - heard invites are out for upcoming USWYNT camps coming up in Jan/early Feb. U18/U19 roster released yesterday. The others sometime these next few weeks.

[Guest]

Yes players gravitate towards the more popular sport because they're popular with their friends, family, even in the media. That is holding back our general level of soccer but that isn't why we can't put together a national team of 26 and perform on the international stage.

Players gravitate towards a sport where they either excel at or are passionate about. Often times excelling in a sport reinforces passion for that sport.

Frankly, soccer takes more of a time commitment to develop skills and proficiency than football does. The reality is, football only requires athleticism and then the position is assigned. Athletic, fast, strong and can catch? You're a WR. Athletic, fast strong but can't catch, welcome to being a corner. Big, strong and kinda fat but fast for your size? Welcome to the line. You played baseball and have a strong arm, you're a QB.

A lot of kids actually wash out of soccer because it takes more commitment than football does. Point is, soccer starts much younger and there is a decent body of work to determine whether the kid would have been a soccer stud or not. And honestly, these boards are never filled with our team was great until we lost the most amazing player to fill in the blank sport. Basketball, you primarily have to be taller than average and then athleticism separates players and you don't know if you have the pre-requisite height until high school. The truth is, with American sports, the body type first determines where a kid may or may not excel and then athleticism. Soccer does not have such a filter other than there are no good fat soccer players so half of a football team is off the table right from the get go.

[Guest]

So you are saying if he only played baseball from the get go he wouldn’t have had success? Hell the fact at such a late stage he could even play minors is a testament to his athleticism.

Not the poster and there's more to the story - not just his athleticism but by all accounts it gave the endeavor 150%. He did decently well all things considered. Lots of great athletes have the potential to excel at many sports but lack the interest or drive to do so.

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/mi...aseball-career

[Guest]

So you are saying if he only played baseball from the get go he wouldn’t have had success? Hell the fact at such a late stage he could even play minors is a testament to his athleticism.

Bob Jackson, Dion Sanders. It has been done.

[Guest]

Bob Jackson, Dion Sanders. It has been done.

That there are only two to have had ant success in multiple sports at a professional demonstrates how rare it actually is. Dion has also gone on record as stating he couldn't hit well enough to really stick but he loved the challenge of it.

At some point a athletes specific affinity and attributes come into play and allow them to truly excel. Elway used the "I'll pitch for the Yankees" as a way of forcing his trade to Denver. And while he would have been in the farm system his attributes were better served as a QB rather than a farm system pitcher.

[Guest]

This is the dumbest argument ever. Just because an athlete is good at football doesn't mean they'd be good at soccer.

Speed and pace kills as we know in soccer. Combined with qiuckness and agility .They are all playing football and basketball in our neighborhood as well as yours. Take the top basketball guards and forwards in the nation and take the top wide receivers , corner backs, running backs and the new wave running qbs and put a ball on their feet since age 8 with real soccer training and there you have it .

[Guest]

Baseball does not count so don't throw the Michael Jorda baseball attempt in my face. Hitting a ball is a learned skill much like a golf swing. Speed, agility , quickness and atletiscism does not play intot striking a 90mph curveball.

[Guest]

Speed and pace kills as we know in soccer. Combined with qiuckness and agility .They are all playing football and basketball in our neighborhood as well as yours. Take the top basketball guards and forwards in the nation and take the top wide receivers , corner backs, running backs and the new wave running qbs and put a ball on their feet since age 8 with real soccer training and there you have it .

Exactly. This is the point. Soccer is not getting our best athletes.

[Guest]

Speed and pace kills as we know in soccer. Combined with qiuckness and agility .They are all playing football and basketball in our neighborhood as well as yours. Take the top basketball guards and forwards in the nation and take the top wide receivers , corner backs, running backs and the new wave running qbs and put a ball on their feet since age 8 with real soccer training and there you have it .

It doesn't mean they'd be able to dribble effectively, shoot effectively, pass effectively...and so on. This is literally the dumbest thing I've read on this board and that says a lot.

[Guest]

Baseball does not count so don't throw the Michael Jorda baseball attempt in my face. Hitting a ball is a learned skill much like a golf swing. Speed, agility , quickness and atletiscism does not play intot striking a 90mph curveball.

So if it were so easy to kick a soccer ball and anyone can be taught to do it, why do NFL football teams need to hire kickers? Have you ever seen these football players try to kick? It’s a different type of movement. At an elite level of nation team, which is what we are talking about in this thread, pure athleticism doesn’t mean a person would be great at another sports if they were trained at a younger age. It’s just not the way it works. I believe that football is probably the easiest sport in to learn and can be played by other high level skilled athletes. Tony Gonzales and Antonio Gates come to mind. But those two guy NEVER come close to making a National Team in Basketball. So the Dion Sanders and Bo Jackson theory is probably backwards too. They were probably decent baseball players, bc they weren’t even that good, and good enough athletes to play football in the NFL.

[Guest]

Exactly. This is the point. Soccer is not getting our best athletes.

Soccer gets plenty of athletes, certainly enough to field a national team. We do a crap job teaching the game from the earliest ages, identifying high potential players and developing them. We do not have the same soccer rich environment seen abroad nor the infrastructure. Then add in the pricey pay to play model, greedy leagues and clubs fighting for market share, lack of quality coaches for young kids, the absurd emphasis on wins, not enough creative free play - and you have the mess of US soccer. USSF's own internal dumpster fire compounds it all on the world stage

[Guest]

Soccer gets plenty of athletes, certainly enough to field a national team. We do a crap job teaching the game from the earliest ages, identifying high potential players and developing them. We do not have the same soccer rich environment seen abroad nor the infrastructure. Then add in the pricey pay to play model, greedy leagues and clubs fighting for market share, lack of quality coaches for young kids, the absurd emphasis on wins, not enough creative free play - and you have the mess of US soccer. USSF's own internal dumpster fire compounds it all on the world stage

How many players on the current roster grew up in the US?