SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP What do Clubs owe the community they draw from?

Listening to the XM Radio pre-World Cup broadcast yesterday, the moderators made the point that the US will continue to lag the world so long as soccer remains a middle class, ‘pay to play’ sport, and many of our best natural athletes migrate to other sports. I think that the point is valid. Baseball, football and basketball all have tremendous opportunities for elite player development at minimal cost to the athlete. This is not the case for soccer. My guess is that the average ‘elite’ player in SC spends $2000 to $3000 or more per year in fees, camps, travel etc. This starts at U10.

My question is, how do we (as a State, as coaches or simply as people who love the game) develop players who can’t afford to get a ride to practice let alone come up with $750 for ODP camp. Do clubs play a role?

I heard most of the same radio show you did. Very interesting!

Does this help?
Club Soccer Thread

I know at CESA we have scholarships and then the players can also sell advertising for the RBC Tournament to earn money to offset expenses. We also have ref. positions available to earn money.

Kim

Scholarships are fine, but what do we do beyond that? Don’t get me wrong, that is a huge step in the right direction. I’m not looking for charity, I’m a make your own way kind of guy, but I am wondering how do we get all kids hooked on the game early and improve training and competition at all levels?

One thought…clubs sending elite players to help Recreational coaches in skill training. It might improve the overall talent pool and perhaps gets young kids more fired up Another is to sponsor training sessions for Recreational level coaches. We could offer support and resources to insure that kids are learning the skills they need to succeed in the game.

When I go to South America or Europe I see kids kicking a round ball everywhere. They are playing 1v1 at bus stops using their shoes as goals. In a lot of places soccer boots are a thing kids hope to have one day. So my question remains…Club soccer is where the success is in the US today…how do we infect the rest of the population with the ‘Beautiful Game”?

Like I said before and multiple times. The celebrities of this country will always command the awe of the best atheletes. WHO HONESTLY WANTS TO BE MARCELO BALBOA? Give me a break. That guy is a joke. I'd rather be the least paid NBA player who's never seen 1 second of court time than be an MLS player. Economically speaking it's a better option. If you want Lebron James to play soccer, Michael Jordan should have been in cleats. If America only played the sport of soccer, the world cup wouldn't need exist.

The problem is not getting to play because of the expense it is getting them to play despite the fact that you will never ever earn a multiyear multimillion dollar contract playing soccer in America.

A good example of football over soccer is a recent Dutch Fork player that earned a full ride to a very good college to play football and was only offered a partial ride to play soccer at another instution. He is very good at both but went, rightfully so, with the money to pay for his education.

So I guess it is money at all levels, from what it costs to play and what you could possibly make it you are good enough.

just my thoughts

There are a lot of kids who would want to be Balboa..but could MJ have been a Ronaldino? Is it all about the money?

In response to the initial post: I think clubs do owe the community something. Be it letting scholarship players play, doing clinics for rec leagues other than their own, going into the schools and doing clinics, or what have you. But they do owe something back!

shut^&play

Interesting point about how the World Cup would be unnecessary if soccer was the only/main spot in America. Funnily enough, then, wouldn't you say that Baseball, Basketball, and Football would all be dominated by America?

Football would be won by the US in every dimension because obviously the US is pretty much the only country that does play it, as all of the players in the European League are guys who used to play or are not good enough to play in the NFL.

Basketball and Baseball, however, is a different story. Look at the Olympics. The USA did not win the gold in Athens and then the US did not win the World Baseball Classic. Maybe what you're saying isn't so true?

CRSA has scholarships and is expanding the program this year. It has also conducted training sessions for midlands YMCA coaches.

I believe that offering better training for rec coaches is probably the one thing that could produce the most bang for the buck. Soccer is by far the most accessible sport to very young kids. It would keep more of them if they received decent basic instruction which allows them to improve.When a kid has played 3 or 4 years of rec soccer and is still kicking toe balls, he has been done a disservice. Unfortunately, so many of them receive virtually no instruction, and become frustrated as the game becomes more competitive.