Yes, youth soccer fees are high. But, doesn't the scholarship each year, for 4 years, that a lot of kids get, or could get if they swallowed their pride and looked at the appropriate school/level, offset that?
Paying 5K a year for ECNL for U15-U18 is 20K. Most kids on a ECNL team can find way more then 20K of scholarship over four years. As far as Mattern, I think it's safe to say she paid nothing for 3-4 years at South Carolina. Not a bad return.
Maybe opinions on the cost of youth soccer should be held until after a kid 1) decides not to play college soccer or 2) graduates from college after a four-year career. One does correlate to the other.
