I agree. I see the depth and strength of the clubs in North Texas and had to admire it. An age group from South Texas here and there could compete, but never a club. Even with my daughters team they could compete here and there against some of the better North Texas team but her team rarely had the depth to make it through an entire tournament. I think South Texas also has to deal with a cultural attitude of "girls don't play soccer", thus the disparity between the performance of their boys as opposed to the girls. I witnessed this first hand when we lived there. I remember one father, a man who played for the Mexican national team, when asked why his daughters did not play soccer responded "It is not proper for girls to play soccer." It was easy for boys to find extra training, pick up games, good coaching, much more difficult for girls. The only reason my daughter improved was because she was friends with a girl whose father was the coach for a boy's team and would sometimes let them practice with the boys. It was pretty frustrating. It is changing, but very slowly.
I think that relatively, it is changing rather rapidly. The girl's teams are getting more attention here and there, although I do think more female coaches are needed in the girls/women's game, be it at the club or high school level and there are tons of openings out there. Many of the Dallas area private schools are always looking for part-time, seasonal soccer coaches who want to 'get their foot in the door'. Just check the respective websites for openings. Getting into coaching for any young woman who loves the game, wants to continue to learn the game and is willing to build her resume, the field is absolutely wide open.
no, it used to be that way. most academies now have at least 2 teams in each age, one competitive and one not as competitive. For U17, PDA has 4 teams out of 3 locations. MF has 3 out of at least 2 locations. "academies" have pretty much taken over here. there are very few competitive teams out of town clubs. for ODP, we have one team.
That is northern NJ... In central to South most teams/ clubs have one team including club and town teams... Town teams choose not to be in competitive leagues or competition.... They don't feel the need and generally stop teams at u14.. Their goal is to get the kids to high school
US Youth Soccer Percentage of population playing in USYS (both girl & boys) Total National 2013/2014 Total – .0097 Rank by Region 01- East Total – .0139 02- West .0095 03- Midwest .0087 04- South .0074 Rank by State 01- Massachusetts .025 02- Rhode Island .022 03- Utah .0217 04- Virginia .0174 05- South Dakota .0172 06- New Jersey .0170 07- Maryland .0165 08- Delaware .015 09- New Hampshire .0146 10- Washington .0143 11- Minnesota .0142 12- Colorado .0138 13- Pennsylvania .0128 14- Vermont .0127 15- Nebraska .0115 16- Montana .0106 17- North Dakota .0105 18- Iowa .0103 19- Wisconsin .0099 20- New Mexico .0098 21- Wyoming .0096 22- Oklahoma .0095 23- Indiana .0093 23- Michigan .0093 23- New York .0093 23- Texas .0093 27- Kansas .0087 28- Arkansas .0085 28- Kentucky .0085 28- West Virginia .0085 31- California .0084 32- Maine .0083 33- Georgia .0079 33- Idaho .0079 33- Ohio .0079 36- Arizona .0078 37- Alaska .0077 38- Tennessee .0076 39- North Carolina .0074 40- Mississippi .0072 41- Oregon .0064 42- Illinois .0062 43- Florida .0058 44- Louisiana .0056 45- Missouri .005 46- Hawaii .0048 47- Connecticut .0047 47- South Carolina .0047 49- Nevada .004 50- Alabama .0033
....But not the best coaches....certainly not in North Texas....the reason so few Texas girls are on the various age groups national teams...Club soccer in North Texas is mostly a money grabbing joke...and the new development academy will feature the same clown coaches who are currently providing little in the ECNL.