Lets face it. Most kids don't play sports ad-hoc in yards or neighborhoods on a daily basis anymore like decades past. That's old news I realize. Free time is now spent on on video games, 200+ TV channels and electronic gadgets. Outdoor basketball courts are usually empty most evenings. Public tennis courts are being removed from parks, sand volleyball courts have weeds growing in the sand, forget pickup football games or baseball games in open back yards/playgrounds anymore. The only pickup soccer games I see are in the Latino communities. Most all of our kids athletic development comes through participation in organized sports programs and the best are groomed in club or premier travel teams...all which require significant financial investments by parents. There seems to be a transition in this country of our top athletes, where the majority of our best athletes are now primarily coming from upper-middle class and affluent families and not as many off the farm, the steel mill/factory or inner-city ghettos. The top sports high schools in my county clearly are from the most affluent communities which was not always as consistent in decades past. Actually in the past it was the inner-city high schools that put out the best athletes and sports teams, but now its the wealthy suburbs dominating the top in most every sport. My guess is its a combination that affluent parents influence their children to be committed year round to various organized activities (music, sports etc) but also that in today's athletics, it takes more money to get your child into the premier clubs, clinics and camps where that seems to be the only way to reach maximum potential. Am I offbase in my perception or does this seem to be the new American top-athlete (coming from more affuent upbringing).
Not always... I think what you said about the "gadgets" and time spent is major. They still play basketball... but online on ps3 and what not. My son tanked the season in soccer... didn't do as well as he could have. Prior to the season starting... we got a new ps3. We stayed playing fifa12...instead of the indoor games we would play in the living room up to 5. I got rid of the ps3 and we went back to basics. We are not rich, but the extra's play a big part. He can play outside but at the end of they day, every day except practice with the team days, we train. Every saturday and sunday we wake up extra early to watch soccer. Instead of spending our time playing video games... we play the game and workout. It made such a big difference in his play lately... my wife and I don't want to break out the playstation again! If we do... it will be heavily regulated and he just can't "turn it on and play" at any time in the day.
I would say this relates to the money put into the development of these players. There are still quality players coming from lower-class communities and families but that is usually a product of their own hard work and determination. As far as actual player development, the families with money are the ones benefiting form this. Youth Academies and Sports teams are willing to put more money into the development of their children and this is becoming more and more obvious. Keep me posted on your progress.
I'm not clear on what you mean by this statement as I don't know how these academies work. Are parents paying more to get their children into Youth Academies and Sports teams, or are the Youth Acadamies and Sports teams, identifying very talented kids early on (coming right out of rec teams/leagues) and giving them a free ride thus allowing poor but potentially highly talented kids to get the best training?
[QUOTE If we do... it will be heavily regulated and he just can't "turn it on and play" at any time in the day.[/QUOTE] We put the daily parent timer on our son's Xbox. He's got 1.5 hrs. a day for video games and then its done. Been pushing for 2hrs+ for over a year now and we won't budge. I think 1.5 hrs is plenty until he's 18.
My son plays for a MLS club in their under 12 team so too young yet to be part of their academy. Several MLS clubs do not require boys to pay to be part of their Developmental Academy program, unfortunately at this time my son's club is not one of them. Currently I believe parents pay $5,500, plus travel a year for their son to be in the Academy. But we were told that within two years it will be free and that it will become part of the first team's budget. For the younger kids with potential, they do offer financial help to parents. They also provide free elite player training for their most talented kids in the younger age groups.
That was hardly a constructive comment. Care to elaborate. Not that really care what your opinion is.
$2500 tops for top level teams, including MLS "affiliated" teams. Anything more is just a fleecing.. sorry. Any parent paying over $5000 is getting ripped off and personally funding at least 1 academy player. As Chicago Fire Junior parents are learning after years of paying to be part of the Fire, so that maybe one day their little darling on the D team will make it big time, the reality is that its over and all the acquisitions of other clubs was just a bums rush to build the organization before the Fire pulled out. Just get good training, don't worry about the brand, and if you're kid is good enough, they'll advance accordingly. Save your money to pay for college, because even the top players don't get full rides for 4 years.
Absolutely. There's a significant cost associated with getting a child from the US to be a top level athlete. Even if there is a schlorship or a club that lets them play for free, there's a huge time commitment for the parents, 2 working parents or a single working parent won't be able to do it for a younger child. Plus, transportation is expensive. A child who waits until they can drive themselves, or use public transportation alone will be behind their peers in most cases. I was just reading a study that generally supports the OP. The study compared low middle and high income families and school grades. Apparently, the low income students showed improvement during the school year (in some grade levels, more so than the better off kids) but showed a drastic drop after the summer break, consistantly. That was bringing them way below the other students because mid- and high income kids showed not only a steady improvement during the school year, but also a big leap forward over the summer break. Why? Because while the low income kids were just hanging out at home the "better off" kids were being sent to camp, in activites, basically doing stimulating, educational things... I can see how that relates to sports. Well-to-do kids go to camps, have personal trainers, play for 2 or 3 teams, ect. Those hours add up. There may be some low income kid who goes to school, then comes home and practices alone or in a pick up game for hours and hours. Maybe they'll get noticed, maybe not. But I think it'd be a rare one who could teach themselves everything. Some books I've read say there are some key points to becoming a professional anything. Practice, hours and hours (10,000 as I'm sure you've heard), great coaching (dollar signs) & support (parents), complete focus, opportunity. Most of the time, in the US anyway, great coaching and opportunity go to the ones who can pay for it
Where in the world does it happen for free? Nowhere. But what does differ is who pays for it. In the US, it's the parents. In Europe and elsewhere in the world, it might be a club. But it costs money, nonetheless. Even little Peles, Ronaldos and Messis don't spring fully-formed from the womb.
I guess free may have been a wrong word choice...but less expensive / free to the parents of a particular player. Some clubs have a scholarship program (funded by the other parents, sponsors, ect). Then that money can be used to cover another players expenses, therefore, it would be free for those parents. In extreme cases, the club can get the player, provide room & board, schooling and training for them, maybe even relocate the family. More commonly, the player is taken to the facility or a bus location (some transportation for parents), but the club still provides schooling & training, team & uniform, at no cost for the family.
Its not a question of where but when. There was a time when the best athletes in America (pick your sport...really doesn't matter) emerged with little financial or time commitment from parents (only exception I can think of is golf which requires $$$ to play/train on courses). It wasn't year round organized training of children athletes by highly paid trainers, camps, clubs etc. You played short seasons and cheap and local for only a few months of the year in an organized league, more hours were actually clocked in played ad-hoc with friends, siblings and neighbors in your free time after school and weekends. Where more affluent families or educated parents made their children spend more free time studying or involved in other activities (scouts, music lessons, dance etc) to become educated and well rounded adults, children with less affluent/educated parents spent most of their free time playing sports at the neighborhood playground. If affluent = 20% or less of our population, our current situation in sports in American is pretty much keeping out 80% of our talent pool from reaching their potential. I blame technology as the #1 culprit to our current demise in U.S. sports and athletics. Its providing the majority of our children a more entertaining escape in their free time than going outside to play sports. The affluent children / small percentage of our population base have the leg up to reaching the top tiers in most all our sports now (or from players coming from outside U.S.). I think this is why our U.S. athletics on the world scale are on the demise. More European/Russian players are making it in the NBA, MLB is about 50% or more Latin American/Carribean now...forget U.S. tennis. Our children with the most athletic potential in this country are unfortunately spending their winter months honing their skills at Modern Warfare 3 instead scraping the snow off the neighborhood basketball courts and calling the neighborhood kids to play some pickup ball like we all did in decades past.
NBA and NFL College scholarships are the incentive. Pro leagues are the inspiration. And colleges dont have academic requirements. Basketball can be played in the inner city without much space. football is a school sport so its cheap. and games/role models are on tv. Baseball has more pro options than basketball with the minor league system and foreign leagues and more roster spots but inner city black kids arent playing it because the pathway really isnt there for them anymore. throwball has 32 teams plus a few in canada and the ufl and arenathrowball. lulz.
It was cheap back then but we were only comparing ourselves to other American kids with similar backgrounds. With soccer, if you just compare American kids with other American kids then you'll get a similar result. But comparing them to players abroad in professional academies is where the difference comes in. And, I strongly believe, that since the 90s our elite travel teams have been able to hold their own against professional academy teams in europe. They really pull away from age 15 onward. You think kids in other developed nations don't have the same distractions? Germany, Holland, England, France... PS3 and Xbox are just as popular with those kids. I'm sorry, but I'm in the minority of those who don't buy all these arguments that our best athletes are going to other sports or choosing to play xBox as a reason we're not much better at the top. I think we have enough good athletes playing the sport. 1. We don't have enough good coaches, doing the right thing who are "in contact" with these good athletes. 2. Our better youth coaches need to be at the youngest ages. Or if that can't happen more of the coaches at the youngest ages need to get with the program and give players a skill set that the good coach down the road can really run with. soapbox time . . . If we use message board questions as an accurate sample of what the U-little coach is trying to teach . . . it's more about tactics, strategy, formations, where to put good/bad players.
Okay. So I will blame it on something else. The demise of the two parent family. Having a dad at home to kick the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball.
Where do you get good training? And how do you know you are getting good training? This is the dilemma that the average parent faces
What "good training" is depends on what you want. For many parents (and kids), it means learning how to be a starting player on a winning team at a young age.
How about the demise of the small highschools? Every time 3 or more small towns merged high schools It cut out a majority of slots open for athletes. Perpetuation of Division sized schools playing other same sized schools kids are hosed. This happened a lot back in the 70's ... Big Division schools fielding more teams would keep kids from passing around something other then a ball. Grow a few more role models. Screw being part of a feeder system for college atheletics or pro. Some kid living out in East Bumfluch will have a much better chance of securing all those atributes of making a team while any kid in a metro area is hosed with a steep wall. Sports should be about making our communities better. Reducing both correction facilities and waistlines. In soccer if your kid is that gifted. a club will scholarship in club fees and leave you with travel and food. If a club isn't doing that then they should learn how. It's not difficult for an academy to figure out how. Charge a little more. Scholarships...Every club is ussually on board. Cause some other club will ...
Bigred, My younger bro is coming to play for DC United. Here is a test of how big a fan you are. He transfered from RSL. Who is he?