I agree that in a public forum like this it is most appropriate to refrain from identifying the grade history of any particular young player in the State. That having been said however, academic achievement and the lack thereof plays an ABSOLUTELY HUGE role when it comes to deciding who is offered scholarship money and who is not.....and here is why: At one of our major universities in the state, the Men's Soccer Program has nine (9) scholarships to give in any one year and I believe the Women's Program has 14. (Discrepancy due to Title IX gender equity) Last time I checked, there were eleven (11) student/athletes playing on the field at any one time and another fifteen (15) on the roster alongside the starters. That means for example that the men's coach is forced to divide nine full scholarships among 26 players in need of scholarships. Giving players at least half a scholarship means that 18 players get half their tuition paid and yet that leaves still more than one third of the players on the roster (the players holding the remaining 19 through 26 roster spots)who would get nothing from the atheltic scholarship pool. So how do college coaches overcome the limited funds in their athletic scholarship pool to attract the greatest number of highly skilled soccer players? The answer is LIFE Scholarship money and similar academic/grade based scholarship money available to all students. Absent the rare situation where a college coach would ever give out a full scholarship to any one player of Freddie Adu caliber, coaches at state institutions of higher learning across the country will soon start (and in fact have already started) looking to sign the best soccer players in the state who have GPAs and test scores that will qualify them for academic based scholarship money, which when added to a quarter or half soccer scholarship, will provide a full ride package for the student athlete.......but the days of receiving a full ride to any Div. 1 university are long gone. Additionally, I believe that bringing in an in-state player costs the coaching staff less than brining in an out of state player because in-state tuition is less than out of state tuition and that is why you will see programs leaning towards signing more and more instate players as the talent pool increases in time.
To all Soccer Moms, Soccer Dads and Youth Coaches out there....for as much as you are pushing your kids to excel on the pitch, push them even harder to excel in the classroom. The reality of the situation is that if a college coach has the option of taking two equally skilled and talented soccer players but one qualifies to receive academic money and the other does not, and both are in need of a full ride in order to attend a college, chances are that the player offered will be the player who costs less to the coaching staff - that is, the player, Player A, who only costs the coaching staff $30,000 over four years versus the player, Player B, who would have cost the coaching staff $60,000. (Numbers were pulled out of the air and don't reflect actual costs of any particular 4 year college!) EXAMPLE: Player A would get a full ride of $30,000 ($30,000 athletic scholarships + $30,000 academic scholarships=$60,000) Player B would get 0 because with poor grades and poor test scores, he or she would cost the coaching staff $60,000 over four years for a full ride completely funded out of the limited pool of nine athletic scholarships. A coach is better off using his or her limited scholarship money in a two for one deal....signing two academically qualifying student athlete soccer players for the price of one non-academically qualifying soccer players. It just makes economic sense, pure and simple, and besides, participation in college soccer demands that a player have excellent time managment skills.....So when it is all said and done, instead of worrying about how Johnny or Sally played last weekend in the Atlanta Cup or whether he or she makes the greatest Premier level, Challenge level, ODP or XYZ team or whether your Club is the best or their Club is the best, make sure your children and your players are the best students they can possibly be especially if you are truly trying to bank on your child's or player's soccer skills to pay for college. If you don't, you may be short changing yourself and short changing your child's needs in the long run! And that is all I have to say about that.....
Good luck to all in Cup play!
Yours in Soccer,
EuroFan
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