SC Soccer

We have discussed soccer and education often on this site—I just ran across a brief comment about the difference between professional CYCLISTS from the US and Europe and couldn't help thinking about soccer as well.

This is from an on-line site dealing exclusively with cycling; it is a review of Floyd Landis's new book:

"(Most American professional cyclists come from an upper middle-class background, in sharp contrast to the working-class roots that are still strong in the European peloton. Most European pro riders today have the equivalent of a high school diploma, as many left school in their late teens to race their bikes full-time, largely because they were already among elite riders.)" [See http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/?id=/tech/2007/reviews/landis_book_review07 for the entire review.]

Interesting parallel with how players come to high levels of soccer—through college in the US and straight from HS in Europe (even without finishing HS).

In a great book called "The Italian Job" Gianluca Vialli wrote about English and Italian soccer cultures, and discussed the fact that kids begin to play professionally at an early age in both countries. However, Vialli points out that this is changing, as young people in Europe have more options available to them and many are reluctant to give up everything for a chance at top level soccer (the vast majority don't make it). While I believe that American socccer is too much of an upper middle class sport, I don't believe that Americans will buy into the European model of player development, nor do I think it would be a good idea to do so.

LeGrazie—

I agree—I think both the US and Europe have made some mistakes with respect to expectations and focus—I suspect there exists a middle ground between the two approaches—If we are lucky, both may be moving toward that middle—