I think that's the stated intent of things like MLS Go, attempting to provide a reasonable rec soccer opportunity to as many kids as it can reach. But it sure seems hard to scale, and to gain ground (or even push back) against all of the unrelenting attempts to profit off of parents willing to spend thousands on their kids' sports dreams.
What’s more absurd is they just held a huge conference in Montana on the backs of those $3000 a kid club fees.
I grew up in England, where everything is “rec” really, other than the official academies, but the difference was that if you were good in rec, you’d probably be spotted. Over here, outside of rare examples, you need that pay to play for even the potential for exposure, which means a whole lot of talent is being overlooked. Not sure what the answer is.
The problem isn't so much that talent is overlooked, it's that we're very poor at identifying talent, particularly anything beyond the current season.
With most schools being test optional, unless your're scoring in the 1500's or thereabouts, it's virtually worthless to submit an SAT score for admissions. At a few schools, a very good score above 1300 may help with a scholarship. The other wrinkle is the higher the SAT score required for the school the odds are that you will be paying much higher tuition.
Unlikely in California despite the recent protest letter by several professors. It would create an instant Asian problem for California give the scotus Harvard ruling and they’ll do everything they can to avoid that hornets nest (it’s why it’s not even optional). The south especially Florida is headed in the opposite direction due to the politics there. As for the rest, it’s too lucrative for them not to ignore it…reinstituting it instantly creates a rankings problem if you accept people lower than your average to enhance any sort of diversity (not just race, athletic legacy first time college)…so the only ones you can afford to do it are ivies and tech schools who have their pick of diversity pools anyways and whose options have been narrowed already by the scotus Harvard ruling.
