75% of US youth soccer players abandon the game at age 13

i also believe it has a lot to do with youth soccer associations.

generally the youth soccer leagues start young, usually around kindergarten, and the final year that children tend to be 'age eligable' are the kids that are entering the 6th grade.

after 6th grade, the more serious 'traveling' teams begin to form in very serious ways...sure there are 'traveling' teams for all age groups but the youth soccer associations give the kids who are not top quality players a place to still play the game at those ages.

there is that blackhole between 6th grade and 9th grade where children who cannot afford to pay for travel expenses, find ways to multiple practices, and cannot weave their way in to 'select travel team' politics lose interest in the game from a players perspective...

 

Gross misstatement.

75% of youth players do not "abandon the game AT age 13.

Rather, 75% of youth players "abandon the game BY age 13"

Enormous difference.

This includes a whole heck of a lot of kids who "abandon the game" at age 6 or 8 or whatever. The numbers do not fall off a statistical cliff, as you state. Rather, there is a gradual erosion.

And the biggest reason, apart from those who find they do not like the game, or those who have no talent (and remember, youth soccer at the youngest age groups is the repository of the completely unathletic; it's considered an "activity" like piano lessons, rather than a sport)

And as kids get older, and other activities and sports become available, they choose them instead. Football for boys is a big one; typically, younger athletes will play baseball AND soccer in the Spring, football AND soccer in the Fall, etc. But by the age of 12 or 13 they are asked to choose and commit, and most are still not choosing soccer.

We're making some inroads, but we've still got a long ways to go.

Middle school soccer isn't any part of the solution, and state athletic associations for soccer are not going to give up even the smallest portion, the merest iota, of their complete autonomy to help USSF or anybody else.

What's needed is building a passion for the sport all across the spectrum in our society, and that is taking time. Be patient. We;ll get there.

But you don't help anything by completely misquoting the facts, as you've done here.

And don't blame the "travel teams" and all that crapola. If it wasn't for them, we'd have NOTHING in this country. Every single American MLS player, every single NCAA player, is a product of that system. "Politics" is not the problem. Those teams compete to win. If you're good enough, but don't have the money, trust me - you can get on.

I personally, just last weekend, took a talented 14 year old to a practice for an elite team. They want him, and the fact that he comes from a broken home and can afford to pay nothing wasn't even an issue. He left with a brand new pair of shoes, too.

Fcat is, I know a heck of a lot of upper level youth coaches, and I don't know of a single one of them who isn't "carrying" a kid or two, or three, or charging a reduced rate for some families or arranging transportation or finding somebody to provide shoes or uniforms. They all do it. Partly because they have to because they want the talent, and partly because it's the right thing to do.

I don't think Mrs. Adu paid a dime for Freddy to play for Bethesda Internationals. If you've spent any time around youth soccer, you'd know that money is not a problem for the truly talented.

And as for "politics" , of course there's some of that - name me one single solitary human endeavor that DOESN'T involve some "politics" sooner or later. But it almost never impacts the elite, the top kids, the ones everybody wants. Go ahead, cut the kid with tons of speed and a first touch from God because somebody else's father is your pal. The kid'll have another team by sundown.

It just doesn't happen. What DOES happen is that, given the choice of a couple kids with similar abilities, a coach will be influenced by other factors. But he ain't picking little Johnny Clumsy over Freddy Adu, I don't care WHO his daddy is. It just doesn't happen.

ODP is another kettle of fish, but ODP is a dinosaur.

Mostly though you're barking up the wrong tree here. You need to be out there encouraging all the kids who grow up dreaming of playing shortstop or point guard or quarterback to play soccer instead. Until we get our fair share of the athletically gifted elite dreaming of playing center mid for the USMNT, all the teams and trainers on Earth won't accomplish what it is you think you want.

My advice to you is to quit sitting on your fat ass wasting your time reading and then grossly misquoting two year old USSF minutes, go find a talented kid and hook him up with a coach and a team. Buy him a pair of good boots. Give him a ride.

It's a lot more constructive than bellyaching on a message board.

 

Re: Re: 75% of US youth soccer players abandon the game at age 13

everything he said.

 

the state associations may not be giving anything up, particularly re rec soccer, but they may soon be seeing significant entitites go on their merry ways, and USSF might even be part of that.


Things ARE changing.

 

Another gross misstatement of the facts. While you CAN shell out that kind of money, VERY few do, and they have to sign up for overseas trips and three or four expensive camps to pull it off.

Typically, you can play a very high level of club soccer in this country (I mean regionally ranked, top ten age group) for $250 a season, less uniform (which in any case is a one-time charge) and even THAT is negotiable.

Don't pull silly numbers out of your ass.

I am going to presume that somewhere in here there's a point about athletes that you are completely misconstueing.

Here's what I'm saying: Training is a wonderful thing, and the more top level traing we can get for American youth, the better brand of players we'll produce

BUT

That only goes so far. The bottom line is that top level soccer players- elite, world-class guys - are also extremely gifted athletes. Isn't this obvious? Name me a top soccer player - anybody at all - and I'll show you a gifted, elite athlete who could have succeeded at a number of sports.

And the POINT is that (and this is so obvious it's ridiculous to have to even say it but apparently I do) in America the top athletes, by and large, choose other sports. Take a look at the NCAA Tournament coming up. Check out all the kids playing point guard; lightning fast, incredible feet, vision, coordination, drive, the whole package.

If those kids had played soccer from the time they were 5, instead of shooting hoops, you'd have something.

It's the ATHLETES we're not getting. Everything starts there.

I'm assuming you're referring here to Sam Grant? And this has something to do with what, exactly?

I didn't say you were "bellyaching" because you said "at" instead of "by". I said you misread the statement and misquoted the facts.

And frnkly, that's pretty undeniable.

I already told you what you can do.

Well, you could start by taking your potty mouth someplace else, along with your attitude.

Your original post said that we should establish Middle School soccer to prevent all these kids from quitting soccer "at age 13".

I responded that you were wrong. And you are.

As for the rest of your blathering here, well, helping kids is always a good idea. If you don't think so, OK by me.

I said nothing whatever about Freddy Adu's age. Nothing. Whatsoever.

So what you're talking about here, I can't imagine.

But thanks for using some more gross language. Really moves the dialogue forward.

Ask anybody around here - I felt very good about myself long before that. And frankly, a bunch of you made a much bigger deal about that than I ever did.

But thanks for adding ANOTHER obscenity to the thread. It's really helping.

(PS: the topic was NOT "the shootout package" - you might want to check with Sylvan for some remedial comprehension work)

Honestly, I thought there were rules about using all this foul language. My Mom always said that was the sign of a poor vocabulary or a man who had lost an argument.

As for that thread, it was a legitimate question and, your silly remarks notwithstanding, a goodly number of people, including myself and several moderators, felt that the fact that - a) Mark Cuban is now involved in MLS b) that ANOTHER television channel will now be carrying live MLS games and c) that MLS games will be available for the first time in a really neat format - WAS actually rather interesting.

If you found none of that to be of interest, then you should have just moved along.

Aw, no need to apologize. I understand how embarassing this is for you.

But please - Big Soccer has some rules, and little kids sometimes check in here.

Please - watch the language. It's just not cool.

 

An important point to keep in mind is that youth soccer not only develops players, but also fans. I'm a parent who never played the game whose kids played youth soccer until the high school level when they hit the end of their talen potential. The same thing happened to their friends. They knew and played against a talented few who went.

This happens in all sports. What also happened is that my kids became soccer fans, go to MLS games, watch soccer on TV. They don't know or care much about baseball; they'd rather watch the game they know, soccer.

 

Geez, I volunteer to moderate the mild-mannered Youth Soccer forum, and it degenerates to name-calling in a flash. And wouldn't you know, it's not even by kids! Bill Archer is right in his last post about the language (and overall tone) of this thread being inappropriate. But please follow your own advice, Bill, since you were the one who set the tone in the first place.

 

Good stuff. Not many of us have the talent to go all the way in ANY sprot, regardless of the training or teaching we receive.

I always encourage kids to take the referee class. You can get a grade 8 liscense when you're 10, run lines for a few years, make some money, work your way into doing centers in your mid-teens and, if it turns out that your playing talent isn't exactly up to Bruce Arena's standards you can still stay involved in the game.

And who can say - maybe Brian Hall will retire someday.

Moreover, kids like yours will have thier own kids one day and will end up coaching and teaching the game. It's all part of the gradual evolution of the game.

It isn't gonna hapen overnight, but it's gonna happen.

Look Sue, I know you have a problem with me beacuse I had the sheer audacity to disagree with you once, which got me a bunch of name-calling from YOU as well. Maybe you've forgotten.

As for my post, I disagreed with the guy completely, and said so. I didn't use foul or inappropriate language. There's a big difference.

 

I quit youth soccer at 13 when I got cut from a travelling team. I decided to concentrate on other sports to play in HS.

But playing Youth soccer is one of the main reasons I am a soccer fan today.

 

75% doesn't shock me a bit.
A big rec program may have 200 kids at 7 years old initially. Six years later, after the entirely unathletic and uninterested are no longer forced to play by mom and dad, the number can decline to thirty or so plus a competitive travelling club team. I think you'd see the same thing in basketball or baseball.


Middle school soccer programs are definitely NOT the answer. As it is, I think high school programs are hurting more than they're helping.

I know more than a handful of programs that are run by PE teachers who don't know a thing about soccer at the high school level. Often times you have one or two stars who play good club soccer on these teams with 14 players who couldn't even make the first cut at a star player's club team.

I'm not trying to disparage the high school teacher who also coaches. It's just that there aren't enough of them brought up playing the game at a sophisticated level to have a lot of good programs out there.

In middle school, you'd face the same problem times 10. I'd take a U-11 or U-12 club team any day.

Likewise, there is a lot of difference between a ninth and twelfth grader or a sixth and eighth. If a school only has the funding to have a varsity team, the kids on the young side can get squeezed. They're good enough to sit the bench on the varsity squad, but their growth is stunted through lack of game experience. This is what soured me growing up.

Myself just as an example: I was good enough to be one of three kids taken as a freshman on a very good high school team that regretablly had no JV team. I was a 6-1 145-150# kid who had always been athletic as hell with good touch but I was going through an awkward phase. I needed touches on the ball playing for a good club team at age level to regain my coordination and touch on the ball. I didn't need to be knocked off the ball by an 18 year old for 2 high school seasons while I grew into my body. As it turns out, I turned into one of the better 3 players by my senior year, but over the my first two HS years, I lost two full seasons of development. I know of at least a dozen players in the same boat. At that age, losing that much time can be disastrous.

The development will come at a club, where kids can play at age level or a year or two up if they are so inclined.

 

Let me say that if it were my decision, there would be NO high school soccer. High school soccer (atleast where I went) is completely politics; you have a brother, you play.

High school soccer is why I quit playing the game on a competitive basis. I still play indoor but I refuse to ever be affiliated with my high school team.

A little info on my high school soccer team and my class. Our freshman year, we had a freshman team with twenty-five (25) players. The next year, only nine (9) returned.

...think of the potential that high school soccer ruined in sixteen quality players.

 

I like the idea of "free soccer", but I'm not so sure how easy it would be to fix the problem of coaching in schools. Getting the benefits of USSF would only come if a middle or high school coach actively sought instruction or training. Most coaching jobs go to teachers first. Some would be legitimately interested, but in my experience, most would not. I played with a couple of guys who were DI players, technically very good with coaching licenses. The would not get a job at my middle school if one were open. Instead a teacher (getting first priority) would take the job to enter the coaching pyramid. They would pay their dues for a couple of years to try to become the head coach of the boys basketball or football program, which they would then use to become an assistant/head coach of the high school boys team. In the mean time, the middle school program, under their divine tutelage, would master the art of kickball.

Another 10-15 years down the road, as soccer awareness increases even more and todays 20s and teens become coaching eligible, maybe. But by then, I would hope we would have better "free" opportunities in the club system.

 

A lot of good and interesting points on this thread. As the father of a 13-yr old playing club soccer I'd have to agree more with fidlerre more than bill archer. I can not imagine only paying $250/yr to keep my kid in competitive soccer. I'd put it closer to $1K/yr. Even the best kids I know who are INVITED on to "premier" teams are paying this much. And yes, 13 is the age that the "recreational" youth soccer teams start to fade out.

The key dilemma culturally for the US is that at 13, our athletically gifted kids do not want to play any one sport 24x7. I gotta wonder, reading all the threads where someone says "once we get kids playing soccer 5 days a week at age 13". Maybe at 16-17 they will concentrate on one sport like in the SI articles. I don't see it at age 13-14. And if national success at soccer requires single-minded training at this early age, then maybe we should forget about it.

 

The local clubs in northern New Jersey where I live charge between $250-500/year including 10 training sessions per season. The cost of the uniform is separate. It also includes participation in a Fall (Columbus Day weekend) and Spring (Memorial Day weekend) tournament. I really fail to see where these clubs are charging over $1,000. My son's club was voted by our local soccer league Northern Counties, the club of the year and typically we do well at tournaments. I could see if you were talking about the most elite of clubs that travel to 2-3 tournaments per season and go to the Sun Bowl, the Surf and dallas Cups.

Also the USSf is looking to improve the level of soccer by offering deals on ODP programs for socially and economically disadvantaged kids. I don't know if it is in practice. I am only repeating what I have been told by the people running the ODP program in New Jersey and several other states. I have also seen clubs offer no fee for exceptional players including several Bolivian kids that immigrated to the USA and had played at Tahuichi Academy.

 

Marc Connolly...wake up buddy...come on Frank

Many people on the sport media here in USA seems to be still on SHOCK.....Soccer people does not need to invite nobody to their parties, THE SOCCER PARTY IS AROUND EVERYBODY ELSE, people like Frank Defforts, Connolly, can't still admit that soccer OUTSOLD ALL SPORTS COMBINE TOGETHER ON THE LAST 3 OLYMPIC GAMES HELD HERE IN USA......