Crystal Palace Academy Selection Process - EYE OPENING!

[watfly]

I would say that it would be fairer to say that the US population in general hates the cost of college, but are willing to pay (something). The cost has increased a way faster clip over the last 20 years than reasonable.

Meanwhile the endowments of these universities have grown even faster.

Probably sorta a "duh", but the more people who train in a sport generally (within a selection group), and the more quality training they get, the better the average outcomes from that group for top talent will be on average. You can see examples of this across the board: US with basketball, Europe and South American with soccer, etc. The US has one of the best women's soccer teams in the world, for example, because of the relative higher opportunity for girls/women to train and compete in sports in the US.

Yet, European players are starting to dominate American players. Look at the top players in the NBA and the recent draft.

I don't think you can say that Kobe & Jordan would have made excellent soccer players. They were both 6'6", which is nowhere near an ideal soccer height. They may have been, but their height alone would have been a major impediment and restrict where they could be effectively used on a soccer field.

The problem on the pro soccer side is that the kids being produced in the US are not good enough to break into the teams in Europe, even the lower leagues which pay better than the MLS. You can earn a very good living in the English Championship with an average salary of $500K per year, for example. This is a systemic issue which goes back to coaching (being mediocre) and pay to play (as a barrier to playing at a decent level to advance) ... imvho.


The average NBA players is 6'6". the average EPL player is 5'11". If we take your 80% stat, we could easily say that 80% of the NBA & NFL players would never make good soccer players. For NBA, it would be the "shorter" players, and for NFL we're talking RB, WR, corners, maybe some special teams, but definitely ruling out DL, OL, TEs etc. - way too big.

There's (apparently) 2.3M youth (male) soccer players in the US. There's 1M HS football players. Basketball has greater numbers than both, 4M+ from what I could find.

I've never bought the argument that our best athletes play other sports. We have the largest soccer participation in the world, there are plenty of great athletes that stay with soccer. Also great athletes don't necessarily make great soccer players. Great soccer minds make the best soccer players.

I'm not sure the builds for football and soccer are that different. For linemen, sure, but receivers or cornerbacks would make excelent forwards / wingers and linebackers could play defense. Football players are big because they train to get big, but most NFL running backs would fit right into a soccer pitch if they trained running for 90 minutes rather than short bursts of 10 seconds.

Soccer players make great football players. You just can't replicate the body control, footwork and overall coordination these kids learn as youth soccer players as compared to kids who grew up playing youth football. While maybe you can't bulk up to lineman size, plenty of soccer kids bulk up in high school. Weight training is a huge part of high school football. Many excellent DA/MLS Next players that my son has played with, and including my son, have moved on to football. They weren't the top 2% of soccer players, but, mostly didn't have the same "soccer culture" passion as the cream of the crop. These kids are now dominating in football.

 

[aong cangkol]

Yet, European players are starting to dominate American players. Look at the top players in the NBA and the recent draft.

Basketball popularity and participation in Europe is somewhat similar to soccer in US.
If they can produce top NBA players, then the argument that our "gifted" athletes are in basketball and football is not valid.
I don't think anyone can argue that Europeans are superior in their athletic genes or have better basketball coaches.
It has to be their systematic approach in youth sports development.

US system does not maximize our talent pools, too many kids left behind. I would argue for all sports. It does not make sense Jamaica can compete with us in sprints.

Let's take Japan swimming achievement in world stage. That is an example of maximizing athletic talents. Nobody can argue that Japanese has genetics superiority for swimming.

 

[watfly]

It has to be their systematic approach in youth sports development.

That's my theory too.

 

[focomoso]

Basketball popularity and participation in Europe is somewhat similar to soccer in US.
If they can produce top NBA players, then the argument that our "gifted" athletes are in basketball and football is not valid.

Why not? I'm not saying they have more gifted athletes. I'm saying that a larger percentage of their gifted athletes go into soccer than do here. This is starting to change which is why I think the US will start doing better on the world stage. Not because we're getting better at soccer, but because other countries are diluting their talent pool.

 

[Socal-Soccer-Dad]

I have to say, if you have money US system is much better system

Hey, if you have money, it's pretty nice anywhere...

I'm not rich by any means... but I'm still not complaining... US system not as terrible as people make it out to be...

 

[Socal-Soccer-Dad]

I've seen a few of these documentaries. I've heard many parents here complain about pay-to-play and say "In Europe, you don't have to pay!" type of comments. Of course, in Europe, their kid would have probably been cut years ago!

LOL

Yea I hate the blind ignorant statements against "pay to play".

And it's not "free" in Europe as in yea it's free for the kids but someone pays the coaches, and for the fields, leagues, tournaments, etc. It's paid by the pro teams who fund the academies. It's just that they have 10x (100x?) more pro teams with fully funded academies because people watch soccer like how we Americans consume American football here...

 

[Socal-Soccer-Dad]

I've seen a few of these documentaries. I've heard many parents here complain about pay-to-play and say "In Europe, you don't have to pay!" type of comments. Of course, in Europe, their kid would have probably been cut years ago!

hey this is great.

what are some others?