The Downsides of America’s Hyper-Competitive Youth-Soccer Industry

V

Vin

SILVER
https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/565109/?__twitter_impression=true

Part of the reason soccer has this incredibly demanding top tier, said Rick Eckstein, a professor of sociology at Villanova and author of How College Athletics Are Hurting Girls’ Sports, is that it’s one of the most commercialized of youth sports; it contains a flourishing industry of tournament directors, private club and travel teams, and assorted soccer-related businesses whose financial interest is served by the status quo. And unlike basketball, say, which also has a sturdy commercial presence, soccer has developed so that the top players are identified and nurtured only through clubs. While college-basketball coaches still scout players at gyms and high schools, their counterparts in soccer rely on “showcase” tournaments to fill out their teams. “Soccer is the poster child for hyper-commercialized youth sports because it is played across the country and across the world, it has extraordinarily high participation levels, and is equally commercialized for girls and boys,” Eckstein wrote in an email.
 
interesting article - comment at the end about Belgium is very pertinent to today in light of their bronze medal win in the World Cup:

"Eighteen years ago, Belgium’s national football (the European term for soccer) team lost in the first round of the World Cup. It was a staggering failure, which prompted the national director of coach education, Kris Van der Haegen, to overhaul the way they trained football coaches. The main principle of the new approach was to put the players first, before coaches or teams, and to “create an environment of freedom” that restored the game’s creativity and fun. In 2015, Belgium became the world’s top-ranked team."

US Soccer with the GDA has taken the fun and creativity out of girls youth soccer and does not put the players first - could learn something from Belgium
 
Soccer43 said:
interesting article - comment at the end about Belgium is very pertinent to today in light of their bronze medal win in the World Cup:

"Eighteen years ago, Belgium’s national football (the European term for soccer) team lost in the first round of the World Cup. It was a staggering failure, which prompted the national director of coach education, Kris Van der Haegen, to overhaul the way they trained football coaches. The main principle of the new approach was to put the players first, before coaches or teams, and to “create an environment of freedom” that restored the game’s creativity and fun. In 2015, Belgium became the world’s top-ranked team."

US Soccer with the GDA has taken the fun and creativity out of girls youth soccer and does not put the players first - could learn something from Belgium
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Totally agree. France and Germany did something similar.
 
Bullshit article. Who cares. First of all high school soccer sucks. It’s only three months long and your son or daughter isn’t gonna care when they’re older about missing out on high school soccer. I played all four years when I was in school. I never think about it. Second of all the birth year having to be changed.. who cares. My son doesn’t care about being on a team with his class mates. I’m sure everyone here on this forum son or daughter rather be on a team surrounded with good ballers instead of their class mates stinking up the field. I can’t tell you how many different teams my son has been on looking to improve his game... and you know what’s funny?? The good kids always find each other again as team mates as they get older. And please... if you’re so worried about concussions, then don’t play god damn it. Little boys getting hurt by heading soccer balls is a myth. It’s not from heading soccer balls.. if they do get hurt it’s cause they bump into other boys heads, and usually it’s from getting knocked from another boy who doesn’t even know how to play the damn game. It’s usually just a kid out there hacking everyone running around trying to be Superman trying to show his athleticism superiority. Soccer isn’t like that. Soccer is a finesse sport and good soccer minds know this. Oh and for the USA could Learn something from Belgium... well we did!! We hired the same audit consultantion firm “Double Pass” that Belgium did to help rebuild their soccer structure. Now we, the United States are being audited as I type. Oh and look what happened. Belgium won and came in third today. Sorry for the rant. But this article is just bulshit and it’s people who write about soccer who don’t even know about the sport. Just stupid. I’m a parent and my son plays cause he wants to and I support that. I’m not here trying to compete with my neighbors Range Rover and his sons club team. My son plays for his love of the game. As a parent I support that.
 
Soccer43 said:
interesting article - comment at the end about Belgium is very pertinent to today in light of their bronze medal win in the World Cup:

"Eighteen years ago, Belgium’s national football (the European term for soccer) team lost in the first round of the World Cup. It was a staggering failure, which prompted the national director of coach education, Kris Van der Haegen, to overhaul the way they trained football coaches. The main principle of the new approach was to put the players first, before coaches or teams, and to “create an environment of freedom” that restored the game’s creativity and fun. In 2015, Belgium became the world’s top-ranked team."

US Soccer with the GDA has taken the fun and creativity out of girls youth soccer and does not put the players first - could learn something from Belgium
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Great. Now we have sociologists telling us how to make better soccer players.

The reference to Belgium is a complete non sequitor. Whatever Belgium is doing has nothing to do with solving the “problems” the article associates with youth soccer here. Belgium isn’t telling kids at elite levels to play other sports or less soccer, and elite Belgian youth soccer certainly isn’t less disruptive to families and social lives and doesn’t allow for more HS fun and friends. Shoot, DeBruyne, Hazard and many of the other Belgium NT players moved away from home when they were 14 to attend soccer academies. Surely they weren’t playing HS basketball with their childhood friends at soccer academy in foreign countries. All Belgium is apparently doing is engaging in some mythical way of coaching that a sociologist who can’t bother to do research believes is more effective. It’s probably the same thing people were gushing over about Netherlands eight years ago before their best players got old and everyone behind them turned out to suck.

In the end, you just can’t make kids who are both better soccer players and more well-adjusted people. One comes at the expense of the other, and that’s just how it is.
 
Dr. Richard Hurtz said:
Bullshit article. Who cares. First of all high school soccer sucks. It’s only three months long and your son or daughter isn’t gonna care when they’re older about missing out on high school soccer. I played all four years when I was in school. I never think about it. Second of all the birth year having to be changed.. who cares. My son doesn’t care about being on a team with his class mates. I’m sure everyone here on this forum son or daughter rather be on a team surrounded with good ballers instead of their class mates stinking up the field. I can’t tell you how many different teams my son has been on looking to improve his game... and you know what’s funny?? The good kids always find each other again as team mates as they get older. And please... if you’re so worried about concussions, then don’t play god damn it. Little boys getting hurt by heading soccer balls is a myth. It’s not from heading soccer balls.. if they do get hurt it’s cause they bump into other boys heads, and usually it’s from getting knocked from another boy who doesn’t even know how to play the damn game. It’s usually just a kid out there hacking everyone running around trying to be Superman trying to show his athleticism superiority. Soccer isn’t like that. Soccer is a finesse sport and good soccer minds know this. Oh and for the USA could Learn something from Belgium... well we did!! We hired the same audit consultantion firm “Double Pass” that Belgium did to help rebuild their soccer structure. Now we, the United States are being audited as I type. Oh and look what happened. Belgium won and came in third today. Sorry for the rant. But this article is just bulshit and it’s people who write about soccer who don’t even know about the sport. Just stupid. I’m a parent and my son plays cause he wants to and I support that. I’m not here trying to compete with my neighbors Range Rover and his sons club team. My son plays for his love of the game. As a parent I support that.
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Nonsense.
 
I'm not an expert on Belgium and European soccer --was only referring to the concepts of creativity, fun,and players first before egos and manipulation of coaches and clubs
 
As with most articles, you can usually take some good points out of them but this one is largely poorly written, poorly researched and not really backed up very well. The author is a...wait for it...high school cross-country coach. Soccer expert then clearly. It is written from a pretty 'anti soccer' perspective IMO.

In terms of the Belgium reference, youth coaches and parents should take something from it; to make sure you listen to podcasts where Kris Van der Haegen talks about youth soccer (there are a number online, including 'Way of Champions'). Listen to him for a few minutes and you realize he is a soccer expert. More importantly, you realize very clearly that he is a YOUTH soccer expert. Putting the players first is something many of us coaches (and parents) here in the US could improve in terms of our approach.

Van der Haegen has a brilliant quote that many coaches should consider when complicating or over-planning their approach to coaching young players. "Good on paper, shit on grass."

Keep it simple (making sure it is as much like the actual game as possible) and put the players first.
 
IMO, this article does touch on some facts:
1. How to avoid burnout with youth soccer players going into high school: Give these kids a 3 month break from club soccer.
2. How to compete with the most popular High School sports: Give the academy kids some options to play 1 sport outside of soccer. Maybe a 2 month break from academy.

3. Commercialization of club soccer and tournaments: IMO, tournaments are over-rated, we have too many that are worthless.

I don't agree with the statement on kids wanting to play with their classmates. the fact is that the Jan-Dec age year is really to find the best players (mostly kids born between Jan- April). This is actually going on in other sports.

Overall, I believe that the reason for the burnout factor in this country has to do with the fact that most kids are playing soccer year round and by the time they get to high school, they want to try out other sports that are considered cooler or more fun than soccer.
 
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SoccerFan4Life said:
Overall, I believe that the reason for the burnout factor in this country has to do with the fact that most kids are playing soccer year round and by the time they get to high school, they want to try out other sports that are considered cooler or more fun than soccer.
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My DD doesn't think anything is more fun or cooler than soccer and that's after year round soccer for years. If it is in your heart and soul there is no burn out.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
IMO, this article does touch on some facts:
1. How to avoid burnout with youth soccer players going into high school: Give these kids a 3 month break from club soccer.
2. How to compete with the most popular High School sports: Give the academy kids some options to play 1 sport outside of soccer. Maybe a 2 month break from academy.

3. Commercialization of club soccer and tournaments: IMO, tournaments are over-rated, we have too many that are worthless.

I don't agree with the statement on kids wanting to play with their classmates. the fact is that the Jan-Dec age year is really to find the best players (mostly kids born between Jan- April). This is actually going on in other sports.

Overall, I believe that the reason for the burnout factor in this country has to do with the fact that most kids are playing soccer year round and by the time they get to high school, they want to try out other sports that are considered cooler or more fun than soccer.
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I may be wrong, but it seems to me that ‘burnout’ was invented here in the US. In soccer-first countries (most of Europe and South America), burnout doesn’t really exist, certainly not in soccer anyway. If you love a sport and enjoy playing, you don’t get burned out.

And the bit above about other sports considered cooler and more fun than soccer? Sorry, those sports haven’t been invented yet!
 
Paul Spacey said:
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that ‘burnout’ was invented here in the US. In soccer-first

And the bit above about other sports considered cooler and more fun than soccer? Sorry, those sports haven’t been invented yet!
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I think you missed my point regarding other sports. The MLS is the 5th or 6th most watched sport. In high school the attendance to a high school soccer game is minimal compared to the big 3 or even track. I love soccer but tell that to a kid that attends high school and everyone talks about the other sports.
My point is that we have to stop treating soccer kids as adults and let them have fun and play multiple sports.
Our focus is so much on year round soccer that it becomes a job for these kids. Yes there are exceptions of kids that love soccer but the stats show that there's a big drop out when they get to high school. Just in my kids team we already had 3 of our best players quit to do football or baseball in high school.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
I think you missed my point regarding other sports. The MLS is the 5th or 6th most watched sport. In high school the attendance to a high school soccer game is minimal compared to the big 3 or even track. I love soccer but tell that to a kid that attends high school and everyone talks about the other sports.
My point is that we have to stop treating soccer kids as adults and let them have fun and play multiple sports.
Our focus is so much on year round soccer that it becomes a job for these kids. Yes there are exceptions of kids that love soccer but the stats show that there's a big drop out when they get to high school. Just in my kids team we already had 3 of our best players quit to do football or baseball in high school.
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I do see your point and I get it. I don’t know that the perceived popularity of high school sports is that important though and the MLS reference is completely immaterial as any kids who truly love soccer generally don’t watch MLS; they watch and are interested in European soccer (hopefully that changes as MLS continues to improve though). As far as I know, many of the big sports here now ask for or demand year-round commitment and so it’s not just a soccer thing.

I’ve had players drop out of soccer (from our club) at high school and I completely understand and support that if they want to change sports. It’s worth pointing out though that those kids are always (not sometimes but always in my experience) players who never truly ‘loved’ playing anyway; they played soccer for a bit of fun and that’s totally fine of course. In my many years coaching and playing, I have NEVER seen a kid who truly loves the game (and is excited to practice every day and really wants to improve) quit at high school age. The high school dropout rate here is largely a result of kids who have enjoyed playing club soccer but never truly loved it and so the extra workload and social aspects of high school mean that is a sensible and obvious time to let soccer go.

Bottom line; if you love soccer, you’ll continue playing. And if you love soccer, you don’t give a hoot about the ‘popularity’ of other sports in terms of choosing whether to continue playing or switch. Last time I checked, I believe soccer was the #1 youth sport here in the US in terms of participation (happy to stand corrected if someone has info which suggests otherwise).
 
Paul Spacey said:
I do see your point and I get it. I don’t know that the perceived popularity of high school sports is that important though and the MLS reference is completely immaterial as any kids who truly love soccer I have NEVER seen a kid who truly loves the game (and is excited to practice every day and really wants to improve) quit at high school age. The high school dropout rate here is largely a result of kids who have enjoyed playing club soccer but never truly loved it and so the extra workload and social aspects of high school mean that is a sensible and obvious time to let soccer go.

Bottom line; if you love soccer, you’ll continue playing. And if you love soccer, you don’t give a hoot about the ‘popularity’ of other sports in terms of choosing whether to continue playing or switch. Last time I checked, I believe soccer was the #1 youth sport here in the US in terms of participation (happy to stand corrected if someone has info which suggests otherwise).
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SoccerFan4Life said:
Soccer is #1 among until they get to high school and then it drops to #5
https://nfhs.org/articles/high-school-sports-participation-increases-for-27th-consecutive-year/

Let's hope that we can finally see a change in high school participation but as I mentioned above, we have to make changes to keep the moment going from youth to teenage years.
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The issue with the teenage years is that starting freshman year your choices really start to affect your college applications. If you are going the academic route, and plan to sell yourself as an engineer to colleges (other than state schools taking a straight by the numbers approach), you better show you are passionate about engineering. If you are going to be a theater major, they care about what plays you've done and what workshops you've taken and playing soccer only helps you check off that well rounded box. If you are going to go the soccer route, you better show you are devoted to soccer...whether you do track as well isn't going to help much because you've already hit the wellrounded sports box on the check list (you'd frankly get more mileage being a chess club champ). Academics get more intense in high school, testing (whether SATs or AP tests) begins, kids get more choices in their extracurriculars, not to mention that social lives become more complicated. Mistakes also get magnified...you don't want to be sitting with a recruiter or admissions officers explaining if you are relying on the academic route why your grades dropped junior year because of your soccer activities, or why to keep up your grades you dropped out of that DA team to play United for a year if you are relying on your soccer to get you in.

The reality is that given how early kids are specializing now days, it's really hard to get really good in multiple sports. And given the demands on their time, it's difficult for kids to carve out the time for multiple sports, particularly when it's not going to help them in the college rat race. The drop in sports participations in the teenage years is largely a function of how hypercompetitive we've made college admissions. I don't see that changing any time soon.
 
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