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Electronics or pay to play for nothing?Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Understandable outcomes. -
Truth is it's just not that popular in the USA. It grew while it was cheap to play but it's become a high-cost factory trying to turn out superstars that don't exist. When the fun goes away, the players go away.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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The birth year shift is the root cause. You have 4th graders playing with 5th graders now. Kids want to play with their friends from school. It keeps kids involved when the going gets tough.
US Soccer is no the sharpest tools in the shed.Comment
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I agree that the birth year shift has hurt participation, at least in the short term.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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You are a donkey. You aren’t fun, so why don’t you go away?Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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The clubs will raise fees to continue to pay six figure salaries to their DoC who has no clue. Wake up, parents.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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I disagree - that is a long term issue, not just short term. Most kids just want to play with their friends, who most time tend to be their classmates. Almost always they start off in town programs - rec and then travel for some. For a good number of kids most of their school friends are on different teams. They're young and don't understand that some guys half way across the country thought this would be good for the US national team ten years down the road.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
The article hit a lot of important issues, but ignored the age change. Problem is I have little faith in USSF taking any steps to make real changes. There's a money guy in charge now - form investment banker who never played the game.Comment
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Participation is down in many sports, not just soccer. Shocking I think no one, participation is highly correlated to household income. As participation costs rise fewer can afford to participate. Also a reason - too much intensity at younger ages, along with forcing ids to pick one sport at an early age
"Experts blame that trend on what they call an “up or out” mentality in youth sports. Travel leagues, ones that can sometimes cost thousands of dollars to join, have crept into increasingly younger age groups, and they take the most talented young athletes for their teams. The children left behind either grow unsatisfied on regular recreational teams or get the message that the sport isn’t for them, Farrey said....."
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, the keynote speaker, said he had spoken with the NBA, NFL and NHL commissioners and they agreed, “the best athlete is a kid who played multiple sports.” But pursuit of a college athletic scholarship has “reshaped” the youth sports landscape, Farrey said, and placed an earlier emphasis on winning and elite skill development that often forces children to select one sport at an early age. That has pushed hypercompetitive selection processes into younger age groups — some basketball analysts rank the nation’s best kindergartners — and ravaged traditional recreational leagues whose purpose is to get kids playing rather than winning games."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.519f55b348e2Comment
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