I think one of the problems is that the NWSL doesn't want a ton of players signing while they are still in high school. There is already enough of an uproar over the minimum salaries for adults with a college education who we expect to be able to make decisions for themselves, but if you start getting a bunch of girls joining and giving up college scholarships only to be a best, then you are potentially looking at a lot of bad PR. There was already this discussion with Olivia Moultrie.So many people were saying how it was just her parents taking advantage of her, and that is an athlete with a large sponsorship deal. All of that said, now that they have opened the door for underclassmen and now that foreign teams are pursuing our girls out of high school, I see that change coming. I think you will see teams getting partnerships like the Spirit just did with a local university to provide players with free access to college classes. And this will likely be even easier after the pandemic now that online learning is so readily accepted so it will likely be a more readily available option. That would largely take away the perceived downside of turning pro early, so the only remaining question would be whether the NWSL thinks they are ready to have that many young, developmental players. There is going to have to be a whole different infrastructure built up for those 16-18 year old players leaving home for the first time instead of the players who have gone through four years of college.
Even if the NWSL change the rules how many 15 or 16 year old players would actually play? They have to be really exceptional for the clubs to invest so much time, picks and resources and not to lead to Adu like player. For example, how many players under 18 are playing in Europe for the senior team?
Well, Europe is a big place and there are a lot of 1st tier clubs that are semi-pro or straight amateur. I would expect a lot of sub-18 players are playing, but not necessarily many with the top clubs. But having an academy makes it easy to bring up a young player to test her out. The youngest player in English WSL history is 16 (and that's a pretty new league). There are a lot of teens playing in Australia's W-League. I think the possibility of missing out on the traditional college experience for a less-than-life-changing pot of money will keep most teen girls out of NWSL.
Few exceptions like Hogan and Pugh. Think Rodman too? Think she played only 1 year in college I believe.
Those were all 18 when they turned pro early. There might be some younger players who are tempted to turn pro, but it's gonna be a small number.
If they did allow high schoolers, then you would see a lot of families uproot their kids & move them to which ever city has an NWSL team; we’ve seen Olivia Moultri’s family did it as well as that girl from Hawaii(forgot her name), without being allowed yet to play for the pro team yet You might like watching yesterday’s Bayern Munich’s ladies team. They played an Kazakhstan team in the Championship’s League that featured 5 Americans(which included one that’s made our u23 NT). Having the big lead from the first leg, Bayern started three 18 year olds, they looked so proficient/advanced, yet amazingly the best one, a winger named Gia Corley, was born in Tacoma, Washington. We could try to ‘poach’ her back to the US(as she’s only been so far on GER’s youth team). But apparently we love our 30 year olds, lol & their coach lived turning teens into senior NT’s
The Kazakhstan team didn't do too bad, so far 1 given up in a penalty and opened Bayern player in the far post from the corner kick when deflected, they forgot to cover that side. Starting the 2nd half. So far I think Bayern won't get far. Same for Rosengard. Saying Rosengard sounds like Lord of the Rings name.
Almost done with 2nd half. The last goal was another penalty. By the way was the U-23 player name Brooke Denesik? Because she's got speed and physicality. Shes all over the place defending.
I liked her too(though she did give up at least one PK). I wonder why she decided to play all the way in Kazakhstan? It’s not as poor country as it has been made out to be(Borat, lol), but it be hard to get discovered usually playing 6 time zones away from main Europe & then there’s no footage to be found of their 1st leg match with BM Bayern sat out Buhl, Schuller, Simon (3 probable GER NT starters), started three 18 year olds instead . Plus took out Magull at the start of the 2nd half(so took it a tad easy). But their predictable, deliberate over passing style will hurt them, as it stops them from any fast break attempts(that’s the part of German soccer I’ll never understand) What did you think of the American born high schooler named Corley?(#8/(BM’s winger). My book; She seems so technically advanced, but didn’t have the legs to to play our ‘direct style’ soccer. She’ll be heading next season to Hoffenheim, the one Bundi club that seems to give college scholarships to college heir players(I guess instead of an proper salary?)
Guess being the key word. How has she become :better than other kids who are training, playing and improving? Read a lot of folks comment son development. Often read about competitive games and training being so important. If you believe she is too good already, I wonder ow she did it and how she is continuing to show that to those interested in her?
I am all for giving players opportunities, but why keep giving them to a player who, for whatever reason has not taken them? The answer has a lot to do with the lack of a real development pathway outside of College.
Shes impressive so far, reminds me of the Japanese players, good technical skills, passing and awareness. Problems are would be her stature and pace, but shes young and still growing.
Oh she trains hard and its her profession. LOL! Also she has her own personal soccer field the size of an indoor field and she is homeschooled so she can train for 8 hours a day along with top coaches. https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/05/29/olivia-moultrie-pro-us-soccer-nwsl-portland-thorns-nike So, how good is she? That’s the first question most people ask. And few are better judges of soccer talent than North Carolina women’s coach Anson Dorrance, who’s won 21 NCAA titles and coached 59 future national teamers, including Heath and Mia Hamm. Dorrance first heard of Olivia in 2017, when she was 11. A coach in California called, said Anson had to see this crazy-good girl. In time he would learn her backstory: how Jessica had been a defender for South Carolina and K.C. had played basketball for NAIA Montana State Northern. How they raised three daughters in Canyon Country, Calif., chronicling vacations and first days of school on a family blog. How in their firstborn they saw glimpses of greatness. (“All of a sudden she is dominating,” Jessica blogged when Olivia was 5. “She has figured out how to be competitive and sweet!”) How Olivia started playing against boys. How K.C. left his job in pharmaceuticals to focus on Olivia’s development. At first, though, all Dorrance knew was that she was “ridiculously young.” Then he watched her at a camp and saw a girl with a preternatural ability to control the ball, read space and create scoring opportunities. Someone who could probably already make his college team. “A little technical and tactical wizard!” says Dorrance, who believed Olivia had the potential to be “Tobin Heath–esque.” So he offered her a scholarship, even knowing, as he says, “we’d be excoriated at every turn.” She accepted. (And he was right.) The potential payoff was worth it, even if it would be years before Dorrance knew for sure. That’s the thing about banking on a preteen. “You never know what her final athletic platform is going to look like,” says Dorrance. “She still has to traverse puberty.”
His name came up on a volleyball board; he's a big Washington State fan. So, I put a line out on both boards to see if he surfaces. I hope he's well heath-wise.
Reminds me of the fact both Mia Hamm and Lilly started the USWNT at age 15 and 16 respectively. And both in High School. Crazy how times change.