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Message: [QUOTE="ZooCougar, post: 1728578, member: 296"] Households are not paying $2000 a kid to play AAU basketball if someone else is picking up the tab. And we're not just talking about the inner city here. A few organizations are beginning to realize all of these untapped communities. The team I follow, Sporting KC is sponsoring a new developmental Academy and PDL team all the way out in Garden City, Kansas. It's actually a smart move, because there has been huge Hispanic community there since the 1960s and there is a ton of talent there. None of it will be "pay to play". [URL='http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mls/sporting-kc/article4468934.html']Sporting KC hopes to build youth academy training center in Garden City with STAR Bonds[/URL] [URL='http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/03/31/new-frontier-sporting-kc-look-west-garden-city-search-next-generation-mls-ready']New Frontier: Sporting KC look west to Garden City in search for next generation of MLS-ready talent[/URL] [I][B]"Sporting's development system will get a shot of street-game toughness and creativity in an American game in which white, suburban and affluent players have long been over-represented. In return, Garden City gets all the benefits of a major construction project – and one that will anchor further development – while becoming a hub for player development within an MLS club’s academy system, something few if any other small towns can boast."[/B][/I] [B][I] “If you look around the world and you look over the history of soccer, the best players came off the streets,” Vermes said. “That's kind of going away in our society, just because of many things that we could talk about. But to still have the opportunities for those kids who go out and have pickup games – or you may want to, but you don't have the space or the environment, and now they do. These things are all part of the master plan that we're thinking about.” [/I][/B] [/QUOTE]

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