Not sure. If so, it's not much. The lower levels of the German pyramid are called "amateur"--5th level and below.
An interesting bit at the end of the article says he is looking at studying Sports Management and attending a language school. This leads me to think that he might be looking to study in Germany, which IMO is a brilliant move. I've actually looked into it as a possibility for my son. The cost of studying at a university in Germany, even as a foreign student at one of their top schools, is way cheaper than in the US. Unfortunately, my son's high school doesn't offer German, so he's been teaching himself and hoping to take a few classes through College Credit Plus in hopes of possibly meeting the language requirements. Seriously, when you look at the costs of sending your kid to German universities, it's amazing more parents aren't getting their kids German lessons, considering how outrageous even state school tuition is getting.
So what's lower....sixth division German or whatever the heck Vietnamese(?) league Cunningham ended up in? Tongue in cheek...I don't really care. Seriously though, good on Horton to keep playing as long as his desire is there.
Yeah, it's cheaper - but make sure that their degree is recognized by the accrediting bodies in the USA or it's worthless.
The degrees tend to be more at the doctorate level too, though bachelors in some fields have been added. The German HS system goes an extra year, and most students come out of it with about a junior in college level by US standards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany#Tertiary_education
My understanding is that in general, German Degrees are widely accepted, but the difficulty in the past was that German universities used to offer the degrees of Diplom and Magister rather than Bachelors and Masters. Thus, in fields where accreditation or certification was required, a person with a German degree might have had to submit their degree for review to have the level of their degree assessed. However, German universities have since adopted the Bologna system and have replaced the Diplom and Magister degrees with Bachelors and Masters, making it much easier for German degrees to be recognized internationally.
There have been some changes since I attended there... (exchange program, so my credits counted at my US alma mater).
The best way to learn German is to go. My path was slightly different. I grew up in an ethnically German area, so it was given not only in HS bit in junior high and even some in elementary school. But, in my case, what really helped was getting hooked on the Bundesliga and learning to read German better from Kicker magazine. That and two foreign studies programs in HS and college. But I mentioned going first, thinking about a friend of mine. We had two complimentary foreign studies programs from my college to Cologne. Half was in a business track in English, while my track was in German (humanities, basically). My friend Sue was in the first one and had only had one class in German before she came over. But by the end of our time there, she was a fluent as I was, because she plunged into it (the same wasn't as true for the others in her track). We were there for 12 weeks, as I recall.
You're preaching to the choir on this point. I spent a year of undergraduate and then went back as a grad student to the University of Salzburg through BGSU's A Year Abroad program. Even with years of High School and College German under my belt, I still felt like I was talking like a caveman when I got off the plane. I learned way more German in a month in Salzburg than in years in classes. You can definitely pick up a lot more going to the beer halls with German speakers than in an American classroom. I would also agree that not all programs are the same. In the AYA program, even though they had their own classes, all classes were taught in German by University of Salzburg professors. We were also put in regular student housing with Austrian roommates. As a result, I felt like everyone in our program were way more proficient in German than the people from other programs we would run into, where they had classes in English and had their own housing with just Americans. The one criticism (or some would call it a feature) of the program is that a lot of us came back with a distinct Austrian flavor to our German, which I likened to ESL students speaking American English as opposed to British English. .
Thanks for the offer. My son took an English class at Kent State this past semester through CCP. Our biggest issue has been with the German Department, figuring out the appropriate level of classes he should be taking. Although he has never had a formal German class, he tested into Intermediate German II on the placement test. Unfortunately, that class did not work with his schedule, so the best that they could offer him this semester was to do an Independent Study with one of the German professors. He's not taking any CCP classes in the spring, but he has 4 AP classes right now, so he's focusing on those. I might have some questions when he starts looking into scheduling for next fall semester.
Miami FC (used to be in the NASL but just joined USL)...not Inter Miami in MLS ...if that was the confusion.
You know the Augustiner, then....Great place. In my case, it was run thru the university in Germany with German profs from the business faculty (plus some other guys/gals they knew). But grades were given as if I were at my home university (which led to the odd result that I actually graduated before I took my last exam--I guess the profs sent back that we were passing for the three of us that were seniors--it was usually a junior year deal). We lived in the dorms in Efferen, outside the city--but almost all rooms were singles. Still got to know some of the students, not all of which were German. I still have a bit of a Rhenish accent. Did have one of my classmates who spoke with a Scandinavian accent as she was Icelandic, who had moved to the Harrisburg area as a kid.
Kent's foreign programs may or may not be thru a European university. My niece did the summer in Florence program--it had no contact with the University of Florence and Kent has their own building there. She did not learn much Italian, sadly (she's of Italian heritage).
I have had many experiences at the Augustiner. It is one of my favorite places in the world, especially when the beer garden is open. In the German Family Society, we have our Austrian contingent, but also a resident Düsseldorfer who will make the funniest face when you offer him a Kölsch.
Yes, when I went to Kent State back in the day, their exchange programs were in Geneva and Florence and were not "language" programs. I chose to do the AYA Salzburg program through BGSU because I could get full credit from Salzburg to Kent through BGSU.
According to my wife (she's all over the instagram), both Danny O'Rourke and Eric Gehrig got married recently - in the past couple weeks. Congrats to them both. And Mr. Gehrig had such a great time that he finished the evening shirtless and in the arms of William Hesmer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the new Mrs. Gehrig.
Bake calling the shots. They sure are getting the band back together. https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4030657/ex-united-states-star-brian-mcbride-named-usmnt-general-manager