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Joined: Jun 2010
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corner kick
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corner kick
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 261 |
It all goes back to the money. Make soccer more affordable for every child and you'll get better soccer. Soccer in this state and maybe others doesn't make it affordable for low income to middle income families to participate on travel teams for 4+ years with a price tag of $4000+ per year. I've heard some players are offered scholarships with clubs but that doesn't cover travel costs. When we started in this travel soccer 6+ years ago we were traveling to just southeastern states by car, this last year in a 3 month period our team traveled by jet to Seattle, Texas, NJ.
In other sports such as baseball, football, basketball those sports look at the ability of the youth athlete first, not the parents bank account. Soccer is a sport for the upper middle class to upper class, it's kind of like golf, although the game of golf has started to break those barriers with free youth programs for low income families. I guess we just have to take soccer for what it is, a "very expensive participation sport". with not a bright future unless they start letting everyone play.
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Goal Kick
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Goal Kick
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 135 |
Another metric one could look at is recruitment of SC players by out of state universities. If you look at boys football, you find SC players rostered on many of the best prgrams throughout the country. Furthermore, many of the best SC football players who chose to stay in state at D-1 programs had many out of state offers. Can the same be said about boys soccer? In the last 5 years there have been very few SC who have gone to D-1 programs outside of SC? Much has been made about exposure on a regional and national level. Were many of the SC players who are currently on D-1 programs in the state recruited by top programs from around the country? If not, why not?
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 249
Corner Kick
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Corner Kick
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 249 |
Much has been made about exposure on a regional and national level. Were many of the SC players who are currently on D-1 programs in the state recruited by top programs from around the country? If not, why not?
Probably not, because there are many of the same caliber players in NC, GA, etc. in which those schools can get players that are "in-state" and thus, lower tuition. SC has the added value of recruiting a local kid in hopes that if they have good academics, then with LIFE scholarships and such, the player is very cheap or what is termed a "free" player, because none of the 9.9 scholarships for soccer are having to be spent on that player.
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Joined: Feb 2005
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world cup
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world cup
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 5,659 |
Quote:
Much has been made about exposure on a regional and national level. Were many of the SC players who are currently on D-1 programs in the state recruited by top programs from around the country? If not, why not?
Probably not, because there are many of the same caliber players in NC, GA, etc. in which those schools can get players that are "in-state" and thus, lower tuition. SC has the added value of recruiting a local kid in hopes that if they have good academics, then with LIFE scholarships and such, the player is very cheap or what is termed a "free" player, because none of the 9.9 scholarships for soccer are having to be spent on that player.
So the South Carolina player (assuming he/she is a good student) is relatively "cheap" for USC, Clemson, CofC, etc.
If the player is really good, these schools should be fawning over them.
How good is "really good"....with repect to the players from GA, FL, NC, etc. that these coaches are also looking at?
Kids play sports because they find it fun. Eliminate the fun and soon you eliminate the kid.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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hat-trick
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hat-trick
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,429 |
Quote:
It all goes back to the money. Make soccer more affordable for every child and you'll get better soccer. Soccer in this state and maybe others doesn't make it affordable for low income to middle income families to participate on travel teams for 4+ years with a price tag of $4000+ per year. I've heard some players are offered scholarships with clubs but that doesn't cover travel costs. When we started in this travel soccer 6+ years ago we were traveling to just southeastern states by car, this last year in a 3 month period our team traveled by jet to Seattle, Texas, NJ.
In other sports such as baseball, football, basketball those sports look at the ability of the youth athlete first, not the parents bank account. Soccer is a sport for the upper middle class to upper class, it's kind of like golf, although the game of golf has started to break those barriers with free youth programs for low income families. I guess we just have to take soccer for what it is, a "very expensive participation sport". with not a bright future unless they start letting everyone play.
There is an athletic density problem with soccer that doesn't exist with baseball or basketball or football.
A highly talented hooper from Columbia for example.....doesn't have to go any further than the Y to get into a pretty high quality pickup game. And chances are excellent that there are a handful of high quality AAU teams in the Cola area. And within 2 hours of Columbia....there are tons of really really good players and teams.
My kid can walk over to a buddies house and get involved with a pickup basketball game or football game. He has to get into a car and drive to get a soccer pickup game.
Very good soccer players/teams from places like south carolina HAVE to travel becasue there simply isn't the depth or breadth of adequate competition locally or within the state. Highly dense places like Southern CA are probably different.
But to me the model isn't broken. Its a numbers issue....until soccer hits a critical mass in terms of numbers of players this problem will exist. So long as you have to drive to get a pickup game......you probably need to bus to get a quality match, if you are at a very high level.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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hat-trick
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hat-trick
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,429 |
Quote:
Another metric one could look at is recruitment of SC players by out of state universities. If you look at boys football, you find SC players rostered on many of the best prgrams throughout the country. Furthermore, many of the best SC football players who chose to stay in state at D-1 programs had many out of state offers. Can the same be said about boys soccer? In the last 5 years there have been very few SC who have gone to D-1 programs outside of SC? Much has been made about exposure on a regional and national level. Were many of the SC players who are currently on D-1 programs in the state recruited by top programs from around the country? If not, why not?
Could be a legit argument except for finances. Football and basketball are dealing with full scholarships. A SC soccer player looking at an out of state school is looking at out of state tuition plus the loss of lottery money.
A SC player who gets a 1/4 scholarship to say.....Winthrop. And if we make the assumption that the kid is a decent student and has earned the LIFE scholarship is looking at maybe $9-10 per year in out of pocket expenses.
Same player looks at......UNC Wilmington. Out of state costs probably in the $28-30k range less the 1/4 scholarship means out of pocket expenses of $22-23k.
Delta of $12k per year times 4 years is over $50 grand, when adjusted for time value of money.
Thats why you don't see many SC kids playing out of state D1.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 293
corner kick
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corner kick
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 293 |
Quote:
Quote:
Another metric one could look at is recruitment of SC players by out of state universities. If you look at boys football, you find SC players rostered on many of the best prgrams throughout the country. Furthermore, many of the best SC football players who chose to stay in state at D-1 programs had many out of state offers. Can the same be said about boys soccer? In the last 5 years there have been very few SC who have gone to D-1 programs outside of SC? Much has been made about exposure on a regional and national level. Were many of the SC players who are currently on D-1 programs in the state recruited by top programs from around the country? If not, why not?
Could be a legit argument except for finances. Football and basketball are dealing with full scholarships. A SC soccer player looking at an out of state school is looking at out of state tuition plus the loss of lottery money.
A SC player who gets a 1/4 scholarship to say.....Winthrop. And if we make the assumption that the kid is a decent student and has earned the LIFE scholarship is looking at maybe $9-10 per year in out of pocket expenses.
Same player looks at......UNC Wilmington. Out of state costs probably in the $28-30k range less the 1/4 scholarship means out of pocket expenses of $22-23k.
Delta of $12k per year times 4 years is over $50 grand, when adjusted for time value of money.
Thats why you don't see many SC kids playing out of state D1.
Is it possible to offer an out-of-state student in-state tuition?
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Goal Kick
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Goal Kick
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 135 |
It's perfectly reasonable that a player (and his family) given the option of playing in state versus out of state would choose the in state school because of the cost difference. But that's not the question I raised. I'm wondering how many SC players are recruited by out of state D-1 schools and have that option of choosing between the two. Also, I don't buy the argument that out of state schools are not recruiting SC players because its cheaper for them to take players from their own states. Just look at the rosters of the major D-1 schools and you can see this is not the case.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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hat-trick
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hat-trick
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,429 |
There's a ton of well off families who have kids playing soccer. Maybe for some families walking away from $12k per year is not that big of a deal. Why, would a family pay $48k or whatever to go to Furman versus $20k to go to Clemson? I know there are reasons......just saying even if I could afford it, I would swallow really hard paying Furman bills knowing my kid could go to Clemson and get just as good of an education for less than half as much.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,429
hat-trick
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hat-trick
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,429 |
Quote:
It's perfectly reasonable that a player (and his family) given the option of playing in state versus out of state would choose the in state school because of the cost difference. But that's not the question I raised. I'm wondering how many SC players are recruited by out of state D-1 schools and have that option of choosing between the two. Also, I don't buy the argument that out of state schools are not recruiting SC players because its cheaper for them to take players from their own states. Just look at the rosters of the major D-1 schools and you can see this is not the case.
I was actually just having this conversation with another forumite whom I'm friends with and both of our kids are being recruited by out of state schools.....and I have no idea how the money deal will work. Its one of my questions that I guess time will tell.
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