I recently had a conversation with an individual who is very involved in AAU basketball. He asked me whether it was true that club soccer coaches were often paid. When I told him that they were, he asked where the money to pay them comes from. I explained that most players pay fees, and he was surprised. A fee based system would be unworkable for most of the AAU teams that he works with. While there is sponsorship money, most of their coaches are volunteers.
Please understand that I am not complaining about soccer coaches being paid. One of the biggest improvements in youth soccer from when I played a long time ago, is the availability of qualified coaching. But the cost of soccer is clearly a huge systemic barrier to entry. The efforts of clubs to provide scholarships simply do not, and cannot, address the obstacles created by the cost of playing. As hard as some try in that area, I fail to see how DOCs can make raising scholarship and endowment money to lower fees their top priority. In fact, it is probably not in their best interest to do so it they have an available pool of players who can afford to pay. I believe the problem must ultimately be addressed on a regional and national level, through US soccer and charitable giving.
