SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer Baseball model vs soccer model

Lots of talk on other threads about the path soccer kids take. In Europe or South America......skilled players with the dream of playing professionally go directly into a professional environment. In America......most kids go on play in college...even the kids who really want to play professsionaly. Got me thinking about baseball.....

When I was younger....if you played baseball and were talented and had that dream......virtuallly everyone went straight into the minor leagues. If you were good, lucky, etc etc etc...maybe in 3-6 years you worked your way up to the Show. Now a days.......the top players look like they are going to college instead of the A league.

My take......is that this has just changed in the last 10 years or so. Is that true? And if so....what changed about either the minor leagues or college baseball....that 10 years ago would send a 3rd round draft choice to the New York Penn League and today to Clemson or USC or Coastal?

Are there lessons to be learned for soccer, either college or professional?

The quality, facilities, coaching and scheduling of college baseball tend to be better across the board than they were 15-20 years ago ... to the point where many MLB franchises prefer drafting/signing 21-year-old college products to their 18-year-old counterparts.
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To me, the more interesting question regards Latin American baseball players and their "development." The baseball model routinely scouts and signs these kids at young ages, then develops them over a 4-6-year period at the minor league level. There is no presumption that, once past a certain (arbitrary) young age, kids will not become more technically proficient.
U.S. soccer's greatest blind spot is overly strict adherence to pre-teens "early" evaluation, often ignoring "older" players who grow/mature as players "later."

Very good topic. Good points by both of you.

My take is that college baseball, especially at the higher level, is better and more competitive than that of A or AA baseball. If you take a look, many of the college players end up starting at AAA or above the level than they would have out of a high school. This also has the plus of gaining a college education, providing the professional teams with a better look at the player development and caliber, and saving everybody a few dollars. Last time I checked, it cost the major league team about a million dollars to develop a player that reach the majors. Pretty good investment.

The question that still puzzles me is why do sports with smaller rosters have more coaches, run practices with stations and position specific drills and we have soccer coaches not following a similar model?

Agreed. High-level college baseball is often more competitive than Short Season, Low Class A or even mid-Class A ball. By the time guys reach fast Class A or Class AA, they're generally a bit older and more seasoned (i.e., better prospects). I'd also point out that MANY high level college kids were drafted as 18-year-olds, but chose college as their developmental venues. They are essentially Class AA-AAA prospects after then junior years, when draft eligible.
As to your question, having been at training sessions overseas/elsewhere, I can say that many include multiple, progressive "stations," each manned by a trainer. I would love to see more of that here.

The college baseball season runs about 5 months, excluding pre and post season activities, and about 50-60 games. Draw you own conclusions here. From what I've experienced at the college level, teams show up 2-3 weeks before school starts and play about 20 games and 4 months. My take is that soccer doesn't provide sufficient station/postion specific activity, except for goalies.

How about getting forwards out 1/2 hour before team, maybe include the goalies, then team together for 1-1 1`/2 hrs. then defenders and/or mids for 1/2 hour? Positions and activities could be rotated.

As Hurst ratios show, a HUGE discrepancy. Last time I checked American football has position specific activities and coaches.

Of course, there are many models to consider.
--NBA basketball, where there are more guy in suits than shorts on and around the bench.
--High-level D-I football, where assistants often make more than $500k/year on multi-year contracts.
--Irmo. (Just kidding.)

--Irmo, where you have such a large number of people with great love, respect and admiration of the school, the coach and the program, that there are people waiting in line to give their time freely, to help in any way possible.

Backscreen, you just stated that, "...having been at training sessions overseas/elsewhere, I can say that many include multiple, progressive "stations," each manned by a trainer. I would love to see more of that here."

I know of at least one high school soccer program in this state run in a similar fashion, but you seem to want to bash on it every chance you get. So, you'd like to see "more of that here" as in the lowcountry, the state, the country; or here, as in anywhere but Irmo?