I wouldn't take it personally, Cainhoy...seems there will always be two opposing schools of thought when it comes to youth soccer, and it's not the individuals but the philosophy that comes under attack.
One side favors dominance of a few in the elite arena by making sure that all the best players end up on the same team. Since all of the above can't seem to agree to a single joining-point on their own, the idea is to force this to happen by making sure there is only one place for them all to go--which means eliminating other options. Problem is, by doing this, you reduce the overall number of young athletes who feel they have a chance to get started in the sport.
The other school of thought favors maximum opportunity to reach more players at all ages and levels of the sport; the more young people who get involved and developed, the greater the chances of growing the sport as a whole and of finding and developing the players of greatest potential, as well as providing a broader base of opportunity, popularity, and support. The downside is, as the best naturally rise to the top, there isn't a natural gathering point for them; each individual club that develops players tends to want to expand into the top levels of play, and their top players remains separated from the others at other clubs--so a single dominant team that can compete with consolidated dominant teams from other areas isn't formed.
Seems like an ideal situation would be to provide as many local, inexpensive options as possible to get young people involved in the sport, and a common gathering point for those among them who rise to the top level and wish to compete in the elite arena.
Question (otherwise known as "Ay, there's the rub") is...under whose banner will they unite?
Feel free, of course, to provide any alternate elaborations on the "anything right" that everyone seems to have the "inablilty to do"...seems like there's a lot of "right" being done out there, just not always the "right" that satisfies everyone.
