Here's the real situation folks. You know what, forget what I think. Let's see what Paul has to say. I like this guy and he seems fair and objective.
Diane Scavuzzo of SoccerToday interviewed North Carolina head coach Paul Riley prior to the 2019 NWSL College Draft in Chicago.
www.soccertoday.com
He went all in ECNL I think so someone isn;t listening to some smart soccer gurus. This was a while ago too. Big mistake. Highlights:
Diane Scavuzzo caught up with
North Carolina Courage head coach
Paul Riley,
NWSL 2018 Coach of the Year at the NWSL College Draft and discussed the big question:
Are we doing enough to develop our next World Cup winners? The biggest controversy in elite soccer today is over the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s
strong preference (wrong choice of words imho. Forced, mandated or not allowed to play unless you get waiver for private school kids) that their players not participate in High School soccer. While this has existed on the Boys side of the DA with minimal resistance, there is
overwhelming pressure on the Girls side to allow participation in High School’s soccer programs.
The DA needs to be adaptive with a new approach to high school.
The boys coming out of DA have the chance to go straight to MLS with homegrown players becoming more and more normal.
In the girls game, it’s
very rare a 17-year-old makes one of the NWSL teams. We are about 10 years behind MLS.
Therefore it’s all well and good talking about developing World Class players (a pipe dream) but we need to be realistic that
99.9% of female players are going to college, not the pro league. So we need a detailed plan to provide our players with every opportunity we can to grow their game.
The best competitive environment is where we will grow better players.
I
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you think about players being able to play high school soccer?
Paul Riley: I think this is important because otherwise, the clubs are going to continue to be splinted if we don’t tweak the issue of high school soccer. I’ve got some ideas on how to reach a compromise.
Diane Scavuzzo: In simple terms, what is the value of high school soccer?
Paul Riley: Socialization. Leadership. While I think it’s not great for the top players, for the next group of players,
(my dd and the rest of the 99.9% of us) it is really good. They get to become focal points. Maybe they play out of position, but they get to be a leader.
(One problem that I witnessed Paul was that a lot of girls were ball hogs in the GDA, all trying to be that .1%ter. I have a question to coach Paul or to anyone on here. Please define "top players" What awards or qualifications make up a "top player" so they can train full time and go pro? I'm assuming the .1% are the "top players" he's talking about or are there maybe 1% top players? I like those odds a little better. 100 to 1 you have a chance probably and maybe take the chance and work hard at the training 4 days a week with just one game. How much $$$ we talking about Paul if dd makes the pros in 5 years?)
The negative about high school ball is that some players play at good high schools and some don’t.
(I agree, just like American football. My school was in a tough league and we got killed. It happens, not sure it's a negative except for the .1% of the top goats.)
The question should really be who wants to train full time and who doesn’t.
(I agree and also how much they can get paid to go for full time and what are the odds of making it pro and make some dough. .1% players make it pro and some dough is not promising. The rest go off to college. I hope we can fix the odds because that's not worth going full time imho). And that is a decision for the player and her coach.
(Or, who thinks their in the top .1%. I think I had a better chance of playing semi pro hoops in Istanbul back in 1988)