Licenses are over valued in youth soccer, but they do serve a purpose. I've done the NSCAA State and Advanced Regional I believe....and I have found them to be quite useful in helping structure and organize practices.
Kind of like a teacher learning how to do a lesson plan. Being able to construct a great lesson plan doesn't make a great teacher. But it takes someone with teaching chops and gives them the tools to best use their gifts.
I think the problem is less about licensing....and more of good old fashioned supply and demand.
In the American Big 3....if you are a player, you will get found. May not be ACC-SEC.....but a gifted football/basketball/baseball player will land on their feet.
Soccer......the roadmap is a lot fuzzier and the recruiting network far more subtle. Parents (and kids) rely more on "experts" to tell them how to navigate the process and the experts tend to be the same folks who are knee deep in the status quo. Reliance on things like regional or national teams/pools.......they don't exist in football or baseball and are a lot less significant in basketball (as opposed to soccer).
A good friend of mine told me that the best thing I could do for my child in soccer is to help them become a good player. The rest will come....or not.
