Friedel also grew up in Ohio in the 1980s. Because of the climate and the underdevelopment of club (what we called "travel" season) soccer, there wasn't year-round soccer even if you wanted it. You could play indoor soccer with boards during the winter, but not many places were set up for that so most kids had plenty of time at least for winter sports. Plus, most sports didn't have club or travel, so you could easily play soccer, basketball, baseball with your school teams and never have to travel anywhere for practices. Soccer in Ohio was early to the travel ball concept precisely because many schools didn't even offer soccer.
My apologies Dargle but I am not sure I understand the point you are trying to make.
Friedel grew up in a time and place where everyone played multiple sports and activities. It wasn't an active choice. It simply wasn't possible to do one activity year-round in most sports. So, while he is surely right that it is great to be well-rounded and it certainly helped him in a variety of ways, his example of getting scholarship offers in three sports is much rarer today even for kids who play multiple sports. Moreover, it's also not what differentiated him from other goalkeepers who succeeded in his era (not all were as successful as he was, of course, in those other sports, but many played other sports).
So are you suggesting that today’s players cannot be active and successful at a high level in multiple sports/activities?
I was suggesting he was comparing his time/place/era with ours and that's really only plausible if you're saying that GKs then were better than they are today (which I'm not sure he was saying, although you reported the comment so perhaps you have more context). Today, if you did enough to get scholarships in two non-soccer sports, the chances you would be able to play at a sufficiently high level club/DA etc to also get a scholarship in soccer are not great. Not impossible, particularly in girls where there are more scholarships available and more sports opening up, but difficult. Certainly moreso in SoCal where soccer overlaps with a lot of other sports' seasons. Now, perhaps that's all Friedel meant - that we've gone crazy with year-round training in every sport and everyone would be better off if we backed off a bit. Which was my point. There's a major structural/systemic difference from where and when he played and today.
I should add that I do know players who have been successful in multiple activities and sports. We probably could all cite examples (although perhaps not players with offers for D1 scholarships in three different sports). For example, I know a GK who is also an accomplished pianist. He's going to have to make a choice about his priorities soon because piano competitions are national/international and he'll need to be on a team with at least one other GK and possibly two others because it's common to have one injured, but that's fine. He's certainly a great kid and is better off for life having done both. The benefit of piano, though, is he the schedule outside of competition can fit nicely with soccer. Not as easy anymore with AAU basketball, travel baseball, club volleyball, serious gymnastics etc.
My Keeper Kid plays Rec. Basketball and it seems to coordinate well with his goalkeeper stuff.
My apologies for not responding sooner. I hear every word you have said Dargle, and you do make some good points. I'd like to take a step back and look at the subject of this thread which is "Do your GKs play other sports?" My reason for bringing up Brad Friedel's comments was even someone who played at the highest level appreciates the value of diversity in our kids. Comparing eras and crazy ear-round training isn't the point. The point is what are we doing with our kids and specifically to this post, to our GKs in relation to other sports. I tell all my parents that 99.99999% of the kids I coach will go pro in something other than soccer, but 100% of the kids I coach will grow up and will need to be well rounded. Sidelines are littered with kids and adults that for one reason or another did not turn pro. To insinuate that it is the era, or year round training that is forcing parents into that decision in my opinion is wrong. I have a 6'5" Junior who is an amazing keeper, he is also working on his eagle scout, he is a junior life guard, plays in his HS band and is in the national honors society. In my personal opinion he is a better keeper because of his diversity and not 100% focused on goal keeping only. I also have 9 and 10 year olds who don't want to do anything else but play keeper and that is OK too, but if they want to do other things as they get older regardless of how good of a keeper they become, I will encourage the diversity. Just my two cents.
My apologies for not responding sooner. I hear every word you have said Dargle, and you do make some good points. I'd like to take a step back and look at the subject of this thread which is "Do your GKs play other sports?" My reason for bringing up Brad Friedel's comments was even someone who played at the highest level appreciates the value of diversity in our kids. Comparing eras and crazy ear-round training isn't the point. The point is what are we doing with our kids and specifically to this post, to our GKs in relation to other sports. I tell all my parents that 99.99999% of the kids I coach will go pro in something other than soccer, but 100% of the kids I coach will grow up and will need to be well rounded. Sidelines are littered with kids and adults that for one reason or another did not turn pro. To insinuate that it is the era, or year round training that is forcing parents into that decision in my opinion is wrong. I have a 6'5" Junior who is an amazing keeper, he is also working on his eagle scout, he is a junior life guard, plays in his HS band and is in the national honors society. In my personal opinion he is a better keeper because of his diversity and not 100% focused on goal keeping only. I also have 9 and 10 year olds who don't want to do anything else but play keeper and that is OK too, but if they want to do other things as they get older regardless of how good of a keeper they become, I will encourage the diversity. Just my two cents.
I guess I would put getting good grades (e.g., NHS) and doing other things (Friedel's non-athletic activities point) and playing other sports (Friedel's comment about getting scholarship offers in three sports) in different categories. I was generally responding to the latter. I don't know anyone who is against the former, although year-round sports can interfere even if you do multiple sports. This thread has mostly been focused on the latter point.My apologies for not responding sooner. I hear every word you have said Dargle, and you do make some good points. I'd like to take a step back and look at the subject of this thread which is "Do your GKs play other sports?" My reason for bringing up Brad Friedel's comments was even someone who played at the highest level appreciates the value of diversity in our kids. Comparing eras and crazy ear-round training isn't the point. The point is what are we doing with our kids and specifically to this post, to our GKs in relation to other sports. I tell all my parents that 99.99999% of the kids I coach will go pro in something other than soccer, but 100% of the kids I coach will grow up and will need to be well rounded. Sidelines are littered with kids and adults that for one reason or another did not turn pro. To insinuate that it is the era, or year round training that is forcing parents into that decision in my opinion is wrong. I have a 6'5" Junior who is an amazing keeper, he is also working on his eagle scout, he is a junior life guard, plays in his HS band and is in the national honors society. In my personal opinion he is a better keeper because of his diversity and not 100% focused on goal keeping only. I also have 9 and 10 year olds who don't want to do anything else but play keeper and that is OK too, but if they want to do other things as they get older regardless of how good of a keeper they become, I will encourage the diversity. Just my two cents.
Understood Eagle33 but isn't that a family decision? I'm assuming your keeper is having an amazing experience and you are all comfortable with the decision vs. feeling like something is missing.
