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If a hispanic kid can play, and the family is willing to make the TIME commitment, I'm sure any of the top clubs in South Carolina would certainly help with the FINANCIAL part.

I think chase85 is right. It's a matter of awareness.....and perhaps there a few cultural obstacles to overcome.

Good points:

Cultural, awareness and financial issues are obstacles.

Cultural, you can't change. Financial, you can address on a kid-by-kid, club-by-club basis. Awareness? To me, this requires a non-traditional outreach effort. Rec Departments and websites are not enough.

Totally disagree with your post.We're not just talking about hispanics. We're talking about all minorities including blacks. Minorities are very aware of the cost of youth soccer. You'll see many minorities playing in the YMCA and rec leagues but it stops after that because of costs. My daughter started out playing soccer at CESA in their rec leagues and she had minorities on those teams, but in her 5+ years of playing premeir at CESA I can't recall any of her teammates being a minority. Youth soccer clubs will offer soccer financial aid to some, but their not going to offer it to all who apply. Where would the soccer clubs revenue come from? All of their revenue comes from parents.
Also when was the last time you saw a soccer club like a CESA reach out to minority neighborhoods for clinics, leagues, etc. The clubs won't go there because there's no money there. Face reality that soccer in this country is for the white midle class and up. And it's mainly why soccer has been a dud on the professional level compared to the big three sports. Who would watch the Miami Heat if it was a starting 5 of a bunch of rich white kids.

clubs will cover club costs for a player but not travel/tournament cost.
at all levels above rec, soccer in the USA is about making money.
you name it (club, national league, odp, encl, academy,ussa,usysa)and its about making money and profit.

us soccer is only interested in identifying/marketing to players/parents that can pay.

Devil's advocate...haven't played that in a while, but thought I'd throw a speculation in before leaving for the weekend...what about the REASONS a club might be all about winning championships?

If winning championships is a great recruiting tool, and it helps to get more people to see the value of the club and therefore makes more people willing to spend their money there, then winning championships is profitable.

If championships can be won with all paying customers, then championships are more profitable.

If championships are won using a significant number of financial aid customers, and they encourage greater numbers of financial aid customers rather than full-paying customers, then championships are less profitable.

If championships are won using non-paying or low-paying players and the public image of the investment required to achieve championship status is disrupted, then championships become CONSIDERABLY less profitable.

So the rationale of the argument hinges on this: IF a club is all about winning championships, then is it for the sake of winning championships, or for the potential for profit that winning championships can generate?

If it is the first, then Hurst, your argument is sound. If it is the second, then suddenly the logic changes a bit.

Off to sit around a campfire with some fellow high school and club coaches of all levels tonight...you can be sure we will put a little thought into current topics of conversation.

Also please note...the previous post only addresses the logic itself, not the accuracy of any of the premises it's applied to.

Their winning championships with soccer players, not neccasarily the best athletes. Anybody can become a good soccer player if they want to spend between $5,000 - $10,000 a year. Go ask a parent of a AAU youth basketball team in SC who has a team with a majority of minority kids if their spending $5,000 to $10,000 a year on training and travel. I highly doubt it. I thought the last few posts were about minorities not being able to play because of cost, not about winning championships.

"clubs will cover club costs for a player but not travel/tournament cost.
at all levels above rec, soccer in the USA is about making money.
you name it (club, national league, odp, encl, academy,ussa,usysa)and its about making money and profit."




You contradict yourself with the above statement. You say that the club will fore go club fees but not travel but then that it's all about money. Where is there money if they don't charge the club fees?

whoops - cover cost for a player in need of financial assistance.
thanks for the heads-up