I want free choice for kids....and I don't want dumb constraints put on them that says if they take an AP literature class they must also take AP calculus. Thats dumb.
However, if Academy expanded into spring for SC and Fall for NC kids.....true conflict would exist for kids who want to do both.
My son was encouraged to play school soccer this spring and I looked at the schedule. He would never make a practice and I think there were 5 games where there wouldn't be a conflict. Five. Is that worth doing?
High school soccer plays a lot. More or less 4 days a week, sometimes 5 days a week, in between practices and games. Now you add something else to it like Academy? Academy practices 3-4 times per week. Where would be the time to do school ball?
High school kids typically aren't allowed to play two school sports in the same season. If you play football, you can't also run cross country. If you play baseball, you can't also play soccer.
To me that is a better parallel.
No one should tell a kid who plays football in the fall that if he plays a sport in the spring it has to be baseball. If he wants to play soccer then have at it. But, I am ok with the rule that tells a kid that if he plays football he can't run cross country too. Even if you can jam 5 events into a season, its not good for that athletes body.....to do so.
USSF is wanting to improve this country's top soccer players and rightly or wrongly, is looking at Academy going year round as a path to do so. I don't see it as a conspiracy or elitist or anything else other than an honest attempt at improvement. And the logic behind the move.....makes sense. Agree or disagree there is logic to it.
