It all goes back to the money. Make soccer more affordable for every child and you'll get better soccer. Soccer in this state and maybe others doesn't make it affordable for low income to middle income families to participate on travel teams for 4+ years with a price tag of $4000+ per year. I've heard some players are offered scholarships with clubs but that doesn't cover travel costs. When we started in this travel soccer 6+ years ago we were traveling to just southeastern states by car, this last year in a 3 month period our team traveled by jet to Seattle, Texas, NJ. In other sports such as baseball, football, basketball those sports look at the ability of the youth athlete first, not the parents bank account. Soccer is a sport for the upper middle class to upper class, it's kind of like golf, although the game of golf has started to break those barriers with free youth programs for low income families. I guess we just have to take soccer for what it is, a "very expensive participation sport". with not a bright future unless they start letting everyone play.
