2024 Recruiting: Liam McNeeley

[husky429]

Guess I'm out of the loop... McNeeley plays soccer now?

But his parents can't afford the travel. Must be why he enrolled at Montverde for basketball

 

[KembaRunner]

I hate basketball too. Unfortunately my only other hobby is getting punched in the face and my wife says I can't do that any more.

Have her come talk to me. I’ll learn her the importance of you being socked in the kisser.

 

[KembaRunner]

Guess I'm out of the loop... McNeeley plays soccer now?

Well, he has 2 feet and 10 doesnt doesn’t he!?

 

[JMick]

It is the cheapest to technically just play - you just need a ball. You can set up shoes as goals or whatever you want. However, in the U.S., to become a great player you need coaching and coaching is extremely expensive at the highest levels. A local youth club near me charges $3,000 per player per season (3 seasons, so $9,000 for the year). If you want to be seen by college coaches and play in showcase tournaments, etc. you need to play on those elite teams. College coaches don't pay any attention to high school teams because high school soccer is abysmal.

When I was playing in the 2000's, clubs cost about $1500 - $2000 per year, and prices have skyrocketed since then.

Baseball is the same way unless you find the right program/coach. Most AAU teams were $3000-$5000/yr. Mine was tournament entry fee divided by the number of players and pay your own travel & hotel costs. We were all very fortunate. Half the team went on to play college baseball and a couple guys got stints in pro baseball.

 

[connVA]

Guess I'm out of the loop... McNeeley plays soccer now?

Correct. It’s going to be tough for us to beat the NIL offer from Man U but where there’s a will there’s a way.

 

[nomar]

I hear Kentucky throwing serious NIL at LM to sway him.

I definitely want to go get coached by the goofy guy who's never won a game at UK and never won a tourney game period rather than the 2-time defending champion coach who's gonna have put 5-7 guys in the NBA over 2 years.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Most track events are boring but have you ever seen a steeplechase? Absolute insanity

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Nowell has a man's body already, so that's a big plus, but so did Solo and he didn't have a huge freshmen year, but they're different type players. I'm convinced Nowell will have a great year, but we need HD. Can't have only one true ball handler.

Solo didn't have a huge freshman year because of TN, CS, SC, and HD!!!

 

[superjohn]

Most track events are boring but have you ever seen a steeplechase? Absolute insanity

I love track and field. Everyone is doped up and doing insane things the human body isn't supposed to be capable of. There will always be something really cool about being the fastest person on the planet. I was there as a kid for the Dream team and all the records being shattered in track and field and the track and field was more exciting.

 

[KembaRunner]

Im in Jamaica right now and listening to the locals talk about Usain Bolt is very cool.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

I love track and field. Everyone is doped up and doing insane things the human body isn't supposed to be capable of. There will always be something really cool about being the fastest person on the planet. I was there as a kid for the Dream team and all the records being shattered in track and field and the track and field was more exciting.

I appreciate that. My experience was a little different sitting on bleachers at Hall High in March shivering and waiting for the half mile and 4x4

 

[Waquoit]

Biggest what-if with Khalid…what if he had stuck around for one more year and got to pair with Caron for a season?

That never occurred to me. I always think he would have been better off leaving as a freshman. But yeah, once he got hurt late as a soph he likely would have been better off staying.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Take the soccer talk elsewhere please?

 

[Lynyrd]

Humans were given 10 fingers and 2 arms for a reason. Sports that make it a rule not to use them are just plain weird.

God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason as well but people still talk twice as much as they listen

 

[Waquoit]

Can we all just agree soccer is stupid? My kids are playing basketball, track, or learning how to fight. Everything else is foolish.

It the best sport ever. It's so good the US hasn't been able to mess it up yet. Lord knows they are trying.

 

[NJHusky]

Bodes well for us as in we have the chance to lock it up before he takes any other visits. Not implying he’s visiting us first because we’re his favorite as of today.

good point...plus he's already been through the recruiting process so prob doesn't need to see as many places...

 

[Waquoit]

Most track events are boring but have you ever seen a steeplechase? Absolute insanity

Dan Jenkins once said, "The only thing more boring than track, is field."

 

[Umami Zen]

So Liam- Big Hoss is going to be grabbing some Boards for you so you can do your thing . Gonna be a fun ride. Are you in?

 

[TheHorde]

Guess I'm out of the loop... McNeeley plays soccer now?

Yeah but how’s his pickle ball game?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Wasn't this thread about something other than youth travel soccer at one time?

 

[Fishy]

That never occurred to me. I always think he would have been better off leaving as a freshman. But yeah, once he got hurt late as a soph he likely would have been better off staying.

Remember - he left after his junior year.

He had some really basic deficiencies as a point guard that were less obvious in college than they were in the NBA. He was very small and he really struggled to get the ball inside against big NBA defenders…and they’re all big. Could not see over them, could not get around them.

So he was really destined to play overseas from birth.

I think Calhoun thought that he had gotten everything he could out of the El-Amin era and really wanted to move on. That likely helped us down the road in 2004, but I really wish I could have seen what would have happened if Khalid had been paired with Caron and that group for one season.

 

[TheHorde]

Wasn't this thread about something other than youth travel soccer at one time?

Wait this isn’t the Khalid El Amin thread?

 

[kobebeanbryant]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

 

[Fishy]

Yes, of course. But in addition she played D1 basketball so she probably has more knowledge of the process and is more interested. Remember how Flagg's mother, who played D1 basketball at Maine, ran her son's recruiting process? And yes, mothers should be involved in their sons' recruiting, but you don't hear much about the mother's involvement in most recruitments.

I am sure that being a low major recruit decades ago in women’s basketball has made them experts in recruiting. They probably wrote letters for their sons and then mailed those with a floppy disk of their sons’ highlights, the way they did back in 1996.

 

[UCFan1513]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

My opinion is don't waste your money. Build well-rounded kids with many interests. Competitive sports at the high school level often are more toxic than they are helpful to development. Unless your kid has league potential.

Also, there are plenty of better ways to pay for college (and alternative / lower priced colleges) than on an athletic scholarship - all my D1 athlete friends hated their lives