OT - Soccer: The Toughest Of Decisions: Play For High School, Or An Academy?

[huskymedic]

Interesting article and know it was discussed somewhere around here just can't find the thread (maybe in an obscure Conference Realignment thread.

http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78120678/

 

[coachRD]

Interesting article and know it was discussed somewhere around here just can't find the thread (maybe in an obscure Conference Realignment thread.

http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78120678/

Full disclosure: I am a high school coach who has 37 seasons between football, basketball, and track & field. I am certainly biased when it comes to travel/premiere teams....in general, my comments represent my opinion of what I have observed the MAJORITY of the time, not 100% of the time. Having coached 2 sports that represent the largest teams (football and t&f), I have worked with around 1,000 athletes from the full spectrum: boys and girls; winless freshmen teams; undefeated varsity teams, multiple pro athletes, etc....the whole range of kids. My perspective is ultimately just my OPINION, but it does come with quite a bit of experience in this area.

I am a fan of kids playing sports & doing active things year-round, but I am NOT a fan of them specializing in a sport year-round. From my experience, travel/premiere teams foster a sense of selfishness & delusion (in the kids themselves, but mostly in the parents who pay for their kids to be on these teams). Most of these leagues do not contain the talent pool that high school sports possess-that makes sense since these teams are very expensive to join in general. These teams give kids/parents a false sense of their abilities (I can't tell you how many girl soccer and hoop players I have coached in Track & Field whose parents are astounded that their little girl who scores all the time on their "travel" team just doesn't seem to have the same level of success on the high school team...."stupid high school coach doesn't know what he/she is doing....").

Having fewer practice sessions and just traveling from weekend tournament to weekend tournament skews the view of what it takes to be successful: less emphasis is placed on focused daily practices and the "grind" and more focus on traveling to cool locales for tournaments where the gear/swag the kids "earn" gets the same focus as the actual games. Many of these leagues are a complete joke and need to consolidate if they want to have some level of legitimacy: some of the leagues don't even have enough kids on a weekly basis to field teams so they end up "borrowing" players from the other team! When all kids do is play in tournaments, the focus is on winning the game right in front of you, rather than long-term skill development (I can get "just" high school kids to work on their off-hand in hoop in practice, but it is almost impossible to get the kid who plays on a travel team to work on their off-hand).

Games often lose their value because that is all the travel teams do-they don't learn to appreciate games the same way as "just" high school kids because the ratio of practice time to game time is flipped from the way it should be IMHO. Since these travel teams don't place a premium on the value of practice, many of these same athletes avoid the "real" work of a weight room in favor of playing in these diluted weekend tournaments instead of joining their high school teammates in putting in some sweat equity.

Many wonderful kids and well-intentioned parents get involved in these leagues and have great experiences. Some of these travel coaches are very talented and have the kids best interest at heart....However, a (t00) large percentage of these coaches (relative to my experience with high school coaches) sacrifice development for just trying to win the immediate game that weekend, and many of them pressure kids to drop all other activities to be 'all in' for their one team. There is a high percentage of players and parents that I would classify as "selfish" in terms of sports where they are just obsessed with stats and their kid "getting theirs" as opposed to contributing in a meaningful way to the success of their town/school teams. Many of these families have delusions of grandeur that these leagues are the ticket to getting their kid a scholarship.

As one of the coaches mentioned in the article you linked-if you can play, colleges will find you. Kids who play on travel teams get plenty of schollies. From my experience, they didn't get these schollies BECAUSE of their travel teams, however. They would have gotten them anyway.

I have seen it over and over-kids who are willing to leave their town friends/teammates behind to join these travel teams tend to be more selfish than kids who either play exclusively on their high school team or limit their "travel" play to the summer and/or only do it for perhaps 1 season when they aren't playing on their HS team.

 

[huskymedic]

Nice post Coach... Happens in baseball/softball and now lacrosse as well.

I guess the "academy" prohibition against playing HS sports is what chafes me the most. Plays right into the new "me" generation.

 

[Matrim55]

I work in professional soccer, and talk regularly (multiple times a week) with current pros, former pros, head coaches and scouts -- guys from Arsenal and Villarreal, all the way down to USL PRO teams. I have had MLS and La Liga teams consult with me on American and Canadian talent, which is by way of saying that I have some expertise in this field.

And unanimous opinion of the people I talk with is this: It's ridiculous that "Academy vs. High School" is even a debate. Any coach who says "Play with your HS team" is doing the kid a disservice.

In 5 years, this won't even be a discussion.

 

[Matrim55]

I guess the "academy" prohibition against playing HS sports is what chafes me the most. Plays right into the new "me" generation.

It's not "me." It's about putting quality talent around more quality talent so taht they can learn to play the game, instead of just boot the out of the ball as far upfield as possible.

 

[UConnDan97]

It's not "me." It's about putting quality talent around more quality talent so taht they can learn to play the game, instead of just boot the out of the ball as far upfield as possible.

No doubt they are going to get a higher quality of training at the academies. Absolutely no doubt. I'm with you there.

I think the issue that the article is bringing up is whether or not the academies should structure themselves to allow the kids to do both. If it could be done, I think it should be done. I think it allows the kids to grow within their social life as well, so that they don't burn out. But if it has to be a choice between academy or high school soccer for the serious player who wants to try to go to the highest level, then yeah, you can't be taught soccer at a high school where the soccer coach is also the golf coach...

 

[upstater]

There is absolutely no comparison between soccer at the high school level and at the academy level.

It might be different from other sports, but the powers that be have clearly chosen to adopt the European model rather than stick to the American model for training. I see this up close as someone who has recently coached youth soccer and has a very young daughter on a travel club team. The whole enterprise receives money from MLS, is affiliated with the New England Revolution, the US National team sets the practice goals and drills, all the way up the ladder. The kind of training they do is eons ahead of the high schools. Many of the coaches are either NCAA D1 head coaches (up here, the head of U Buffalo runs one club) or else professional/top flight coaches and players (Rochester Rhinos). The same people who throw millions of dollars into constructing stadiums (see Sahlens Stadium in Rochester) build out huge training facilities in Buffalo (Sahlens Center), and every kid that goes through there is elite/travel. No house leagues or teams are affiliated.

As for expense, we were charged $185 for November through July. I donated more for scholarships for the West Side kids areound me, mainly Somali immigrants.

I don't like the high school rule personally, and yes parents are delusional. My daughter got onto the elite/travel teams largely because she likes soccer and really there is no other choice but to play there. We've found that kids wash out of soccer early (by age 10) and if you try to pick up the sport late, well, it's kind of a nightmare. A few weeks ago I was asked by the local House league to fill in for an absent coach (even though I'm not coaching house any more), to coach a U12 team (11-13) in a House League game. I didn't recognize any of the kids though I'd been around the club for several years (i.e. I hadn't seen them come up in the lower ages). Most of those kids had either gone onto travel/elite or given up the sport. Well, I immediately saw why. These 11-13 year olds, some of whom were well into the 5 foot range, were hammering each other. Some of these kids were winding up anytime the ball came near them (and missing). Cleats to the nuts, cleats to the skull. I seriously asked the club how they could even allow it to go on.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I coach myself, albeit the always entertaining U8 level right now and am torn about the academy. I do support the effort to upgrade the development of soccer talent in the US; but, I do not support the cost both in terms of dollars and to the community and the players by excluding Academy players from their respective high school teams. Kids want to play in front of their family and friends, which they cannot do on an Academy team that is likely based miles away and travels all around the region. I went to a girls’ soccer game a few weeks back for the County Championship and there were 1,500 people there. Plus, I am not entirely sure that an Academy team can beat one of the top high school teams in my area. Overall, the Academy program will greatly benefit the 3 or 4 kids in the region who are going to an elite D1 soccer of maybe even a MLS or US development program; but, it may hurt dozens of kids who are not quite at that level and will miss out on the fun of being a kid for the opportunity to play DIII college soccer, which is what they could have done in high school. I also worry about the push in every sport to specialize at a younger and younger age.