I have been a part of college soccer as a player and coach. Here is the question you need to think about. College soccer is the highest level of play in American terms for an American player. This will be the highest a player will go, for the majority at least, few will see the likes of getting drafted by an MLS team or USL team, so college soccer is the pinnacle. We now have a 10 month academy which is good for the country as far as improving our level of play and getting kids more opportunities to be seen by college coaches.
So if college soccer is the pinnacle of most american soccer players why are these college coaches looking overseas??? They are killing the game in America! Why is the woman's national team so good? Why do they always win? The woman's game in college is dominated by American players! They breed their own success, the woman's college teams are successful with American woman, and the national team is successful with picking these American woman college players.
I think it's great to give people opportunities to come to our country and get an education and play college sports, but if the game is going to grow college soccer needs to be dominated by American players. You don't see our Academy team looking overseas and recruiting foreign players, no, they look within the state and get American players; just like all other academies. They take these American players and develop them to compete against other American players = good for American soccer!
Yes the majority of Academy players think D1 or bust, and a lot do get picked up by the major in-state universities, which is great for them. There is also some good talent left in the academy and at the Elite levels in SC. This is where it also comes down to the club coaches to think about "development" vs. "trophies" approach. If the ultimate goal for our players is to play in college, no matter what level, we need to develop them and give them the best opportunity possible to do so! On top of that the college coaches need to focus on playing good soccer and developing their players in every aspect possible as well. This way you remove gaps in talent in recruiting class ability levels and build a well rounded program.
The answer is simple, if we want to grow the sport and create better soccer players, college teams, pro-teams, and national team pools, we need to focus on our American players!
