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Message: [QUOTE="upstater, post: 2530207, member: 153"] A lot of articles have been written lately about the candidates for President and the communities US Soccer overlooks. I agree that DA is a big problem (my daughter's club is part of DA, and the club has already asked us to join, but we are non-commital and will probably not accept). However, the root of this is much more problematic because it has to do with US culture and playing spaces. The critics want US soccer to enter into more urban areas where presumably poorer people live and talent goes undiscovered. But the money is not there for structured soccer clubs to service these kids. Where is the money going to come from? Secondly, there is a big problem with fields and playing spaces in urban areas. Mostly, I see kids playing in parking lots. Third, as someone who donates time and money to a local club that was meant precisely to service the needs of soccer-loving refugees, there are many obstacles. Forget about the money for now and assume the money is there. 1. These kids walk 45 minutes to an hour through dangerous neighborhoods just to get to a playing field (city-owned, not well kept, lucky to have soccer goals at all). 2. If they play travel (we have only 3 teams in a league currently) it is a major problem finding transportation to games. How do you get the kids to games? 3. Parents work 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet, and the kids are largely left alone during the day to fend for themselves. They do not take to discipline and structure very easily, especially with some of the local coaches from their community who are very vocal, tough, much tougher than paid coaches at premier. My daughter trains with these kids occasionally and we often see kids just up and leave in the middle of practice when the going gets tough... but they come back after a couple weeks. 4. Anecdotally, I don't think soccer has made inroads into the local African-American community. The basketball courts are full, whereas this club doesn't have a single African-American kid enrolled (it is free tuition). [Our refugees around here are Somali, Sudanese, Burmese, Central American]. Whereas the other club in town which rents space in a private park (my daughter's former travel club before moving to premier) gives a few scholarships here and there to deserving white and black kids, a couple of refugees as well. Although I agree that DA is a problem for icing out talented players (I can't justify $5k a year for soccer myself), I also think there are cultural issues in the US that will hold back soccer from poorer areas. Fields, lack of money, transport, absent parents by necessity, etc. In other countries, a talented kid might get scooped up very early into a youth academy, and play for free. Nothing like that exists around here. There is almost no solution to this, IMO. Maybe in the future, if football dies and top soccer is on the networks regularly every Sunday afternoon, it will begin to seep into the bones of the culture, but until then... [/QUOTE]

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