you missed all the good stuff if you are hung up on the money thing. It is just part of the elite soccer scene.
How in the world do we as adults ignore the overwhelming data that shows we are the ones who are running kids away, and putting our desires and dreams on the kids? Remember the person who wrote we have to get the good 8 year olds together. There were some good points in what I wrote, the blessed Europeans have missed it for years... Go to Give Us Back Our Game and watch the video.
That is what I see when I watch our fields today. (Ours means all of the fields I see, yours, mine, everywhere) We have to quit pushing our kids too early... it is just wrong... "My kid has to play challenge""they need to train with the best" OMG - nobody can tell the best DA. Watching a match I saw 10 knee braces on two challenge teams at an MPSC tourney, keep on push, push, push, see what you get, blow back...
