The Truth

[Unregistered]

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001...?mg=reno64-wsj

[Unregistered]

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001...?mg=reno64-wsj

Interesting article.

[Unregistered]

That is interesting. There is going to be some pressure when you spend $50000 or more over a soccer career. My son is U13 and I was just figuring we've spent $15000 for soccer, incl travel.

[Unregistered]

And the alternative is?

That is interesting. There is going to be some pressure when you spend $50000 or more over a soccer career. My son is U13 and I was just figuring we've spent $15000 for soccer, incl travel.

So if not Soccer what about Golf, or Tennis or Volleyball or Basketball? or Softball I guarantee that you will spend similar amounts to play at the top of ANY sport.

Now you could always spend $50 and send her down to the skate park but if you did I would make sure you got her a Norplant!

[Unregistered]

So if not Soccer what about Golf, or Tennis or Volleyball or Basketball? or Softball I guarantee that you will spend similar amounts to play at the top of ANY sport.

Now you could always spend $50 and send her down to the skate park but if you did I would make sure you got her a Norplant!

I've coached all levels. Played at a high level. (Not Europe)

You can believe me or not. Doesn't matter.

You could literally have your daughter play with friends everyday or pick up games and I am willing to bet you they will be better at 18 than this outrageous cost to go play when you can train or play against boys or older kids or whatever.

This isn't a joke. You could play pick up soccer and get a college scholarship for girls and I bet you it would be a good one as you would certainly be more creative than these robot players.

If you are a boy.....well creativity comes naturally from watching and devoting to hierarchy of being better than the next boy. It takes much more.

[Unregistered]

I've coached all levels. Played at a high level. (Not Europe)

You can believe me or not. Doesn't matter.

You could literally have your daughter play with friends everyday or pick up games and I am willing to bet you they will be better at 18 than this outrageous cost to go play when you can train or play against boys or older kids or whatever.

This isn't a joke. You could play pick up soccer and get a college scholarship for girls and I bet you it would be a good one as you would certainly be more creative than these robot players.

If you are a boy.....well creativity comes naturally from watching and devoting to hierarchy of being better than the next boy. It takes much more.

Marta played pick up her whole life with boys. She is the best player in the world.

But don't worry, you'll get there by flying 5 hours to play 30 minutes a game while sharing time with 20 people and coaches who dont' care where you train just as long as you play games with them..

ECNL is an utter failure.

[Unregistered]

I ONLY WISH IT WERE ALL THAT SIMPLE.
Where else in the world is college athletics the same as it is in the US?
Where else in the world is club soccer the same as it is in the US?
Where else in the world is ?????
I'd like to see.
If not then comparisons are useless - we've created this monster now we are living with it.

[Unregistered]

Marta played pick up her whole life with boys. She is the best player in the world.

But don't worry, you'll get there by flying 5 hours to play 30 minutes a game while sharing time with 20 people and coaches who dont' care where you train just as long as you play games with them..

ECNL is an utter failure.

How is ECNL an utter failure? Please elaborate.

[Unregistered]

I've coached all levels. Played at a high level. (Not Europe)

You can believe me or not. Doesn't matter.

You could literally have your daughter play with friends everyday or pick up games and I am willing to bet you they will be better at 18 than this outrageous cost to go play when you can train or play against boys or older kids or whatever.

This isn't a joke. You could play pick up soccer and get a college scholarship for girls and I bet you it would be a good one as you would certainly be more creative than these robot players.

If you are a boy.....well creativity comes naturally from watching and devoting to hierarchy of being better than the next boy. It takes much more.

My son loves soccer but unfortunately where we live there are not pick up games of soccer. Most of his friends play football, baseball and basketball.

[Unregistered]

I've coached all levels. Played at a high level. (Not Europe)

You can believe me or not. Doesn't matter.

You could literally have your daughter play with friends everyday or pick up games and I am willing to bet you they will be better at 18 than this outrageous cost to go play when you can train or play against boys or older kids or whatever.

This isn't a joke. You could play pick up soccer and get a college scholarship for girls and I bet you it would be a good one as you would certainly be more creative than these robot players.

If you are a boy.....well creativity comes naturally from watching and devoting to hierarchy of being better than the next boy. It takes much more.

Pick up play is extremely beneficial, but a small percentage of boys in Portland do that regularly, let alone girls. Also no exposure.

[Unregistered]

Pick up play is extremely beneficial, but a small percentage of boys in Portland do that regularly, let alone girls. Also no exposure.

Who gives a rats about exposure. You walk into an ID camp at 17 after playing pickup soccer everyday with olders youngers boys etc. you can go anywhere you want.

The real problem is, most kids aren't motivated to play unless they are on the best team or traveling the country. Especially with girls, if you find yourself simply playing everyday with kids worse and better than you, You would be 200% better than a kid from ecnl or club who spent their entire career training 3-4 times a week, playing one position, technically capable at one postion, tactically knowledgable at one position, creative as a door, and has crazy parents dictating what is most important and teaching them that it's not what you do in your situation that makes you but where you go for them to make you into something.

Take the best sport US competes with other countries in. Basketball. It was not the travel leagues that set them apart. It's the time that kids from the inner city and everywhere else who can't afford anything, playing 1v1 5v5 religiously everyday because they love it. Who needs private training? Who needs a coach having to teach you the game? Who needs a coach screwing up your kids potential because they want to win?

Until people start realizing this is how teams from countries the size of Florida make the US look silly. And if you think the US women aren't losing ground fast to other countries you ll find out soon.

If you are good. You don't need much to get where you need to go. Until that time, throw money at the problem, hire private trainers to make your kid do what they should be on their own, travel them around the country to play kids 2x as worse than the older kids in the club or the boys playing down the street, spend money on the idea of "exposure".

Making memories is what this is about. Certainly not about your kid being good enough to play anywhere they want to go.

[Unregistered]

Who gives a rats about exposure. You walk into an ID camp at 17 after playing pickup soccer everyday with olders youngers boys etc. you can go anywhere you want.

The real problem is, most kids aren't motivated to play unless they are on the best team or traveling the country. Especially with girls, if you find yourself simply playing everyday with kids worse and better than you, You would be 200% better than a kid from ecnl or club who spent their entire career training 3-4 times a week, playing one position, technically capable at one postion, tactically knowledgable at one position, creative as a door, and has crazy parents dictating what is most important and teaching them that it's not what you do in your situation that makes you but where you go for them to make you into something.

Take the best sport US competes with other countries in. Basketball. It was not the travel leagues that set them apart. It's the time that kids from the inner city and everywhere else who can't afford anything, playing 1v1 5v5 religiously everyday because they love it. Who needs private training? Who needs a coach having to teach you the game? Who needs a coach screwing up your kids potential because they want to win?

Until people start realizing this is how teams from countries the size of Florida make the US look silly. And if you think the US women aren't losing ground fast to other countries you ll find out soon.

If you are good. You don't need much to get where you need to go. Until that time, throw money at the problem, hire private trainers to make your kid do what they should be on their own, travel them around the country to play kids 2x as worse than the older kids in the club or the boys playing down the street, spend money on the idea of "exposure".

Making memories is what this is about. Certainly not about your kid being good enough to play anywhere they want to go.

Pretty sure that messi played pick up soccer with older kids everyday. Go figure, he was found.

If my dd played 50% of the time our neighbor son plays basketball outside, she would be phenomenal and she is already top 10% At her age.

[Unregistered]

Pretty sure that messi played pick up soccer with older kids everyday. Go figure, he was found.

If my dd played 50% of the time our neighbor son plays basketball outside, she would be phenomenal and she is already top 10% At her age.

In this country they would have told messi he was too small and needed to play in the midfield while stifling his creativity because the coach wanted to win games and the parents thought they knew best by moving him to whatever teams coach said they could get him a scholarship at UP or needing to be in the next elite thing.

One wonders if he would have quit by u16

[Unregistered]

In this country they would have told messi he was too small and needed to play in the midfield while stifling his creativity because the coach wanted to win games and the parents thought they knew best by moving him to whatever teams coach said they could get him a scholarship at UP or needing to be in the next elite thing.

One wonders if he would have quit by u16

So what your saying is that he would have started out playing rec at ***c, went to salmon creek to win at all costs then moved to FCP because someone said UP to get him to join their club team.

[Unregistered]

Who gives a rats about exposure. You walk into an ID camp at 17 after playing pickup soccer everyday with olders youngers boys etc. you can go anywhere you want.

The real problem is, most kids aren't motivated to play unless they are on the best team or traveling the country. Especially with girls, if you find yourself simply playing everyday with kids worse and better than you, You would be 200% better than a kid from ecnl or club who spent their entire career training 3-4 times a week, playing one position, technically capable at one postion, tactically knowledgable at one position, creative as a door, and has crazy parents dictating what is most important and teaching them that it's not what you do in your situation that makes you but where you go for them to make you into something.

Take the best sport US competes with other countries in. Basketball. It was not the travel leagues that set them apart. It's the time that kids from the inner city and everywhere else who can't afford anything, playing 1v1 5v5 religiously everyday because they love it. Who needs private training? Who needs a coach having to teach you the game? Who needs a coach screwing up your kids potential because they want to win?

Until people start realizing this is how teams from countries the size of Florida make the US look silly. And if you think the US women aren't losing ground fast to other countries you ll find out soon.

If you are good. You don't need much to get where you need to go. Until that time, throw money at the problem, hire private trainers to make your kid do what they should be on their own, travel them around the country to play kids 2x as worse than the older kids in the club or the boys playing down the street, spend money on the idea of "exposure".

Making memories is what this is about. Certainly not about your kid being good enough to play anywhere they want to go.

With boys it's harder. The top players are the way they are because they watch the game, know the game, and emulate players. The standard of creativity and technical ability is much higher. If you are a good technical player as a female you can pretty much slot yourself a college spot. As a boy, at u10 you are already competing with Hispanic players who have played with their family and friends since they were 5 countless times as week .

I don't doubt that a boy playing pick up everyday would be very good in the end but I question if they would need more based on the standards of development in other countries where you pay nothing and go to school playing soccer until you are sold.

But I agree. If your a parent of a girl. Get them to love the game when you aren't there or they aren't with their friends and forget throwing money at people or clubs who simply feel more is better.

It's all touches on the ball.....period.