I think that's exactly what LRock was talking about. What that blog shows is that there is HIGH demand for elite soccer at youth levels - there is no doubt, otherwise these kinds of programs that charge so much money and are selective and put so much drain on parents - and are not available to the lower income neighborhoods and families - none of it would exist. That youth program in the pacific northwest by my guestimation is probably one of thousands that exist around the country in affluent communites. There is a lot of money to be made in youth soccer. Always follow the money. Good rule when looking at stuff.
There is very little organization it seems to me nationally for youth soccer down to the levels discussed here. It seems to be all locally controlled, and driven by the best and most motivated local coaches who are also good recruiters and business people.
Play a mental game - Say there are two kids in Seattle area - hypothetical both have the potential to develop as adults into world class players. One is that kid in the story that the coaches were trying to get the mom to bring to practice, but the kid never makes the program because of socioeconomic problems around fees, travel, transportation, etc. Another is in mom's kid in the program, but the parents get fed up, followed by the kid gets fed up with the insanity of it, and the kid changes to a different sport (football) as they reach 13-14-15 high school age that is more convenient for everyone and most importantly, the kid sees his football idols on TV every weekend in the fall.
How do those two hypothetical kids stay interested in soccer, and develop? To me, and my experience with sports, those kids wherever they come from, and whatever they do, need to have idols in the game they love to emulate and want to be like when they grow up. It's that simple. If you look at common threads among highest level athletes and their backgrounds they almost all can point back to a time very early on when they would play and pretend to be somebody they idolized.
I think we have hit some kind of social critical mass with soccer though, because more and more people everyday seem to know who the players are, where they play, and who is the best.
The reality as I see it, is that all a 10 year old kid with the ability needs, is direction and motivation and purposeful, directed coaching with a common end goal in mind. Elite programs that have the best facilities and equipment and clothing and costs thousands of dollars can produce the same exact results as a coach with a group of kids playing barefoot in the dirt with a rag ball, and therein lies the fundamental difficulty of getting organized. Conflict of interests at the basic levels. There are many ways to attack that kind of problem, but one of the easiest ways to bridge those differences, is by having a very strong national team program U18, U19, U20, senior team.... that kids from every background can all want to be part of.
It's going to be slow change, if it ever takes hold and does change, but I don't think anyone has ever really tried with a plan and effort that makes sense until very recently with Klinsmann in charge.
What will really help, also, is a lot of dedicated sports coverage and television coverage of the sport, both the US national team programs, and the U.S.A. professional leagues.
