Euro Tournament 2024

[jterrell]

My problem with the US team is that it's pay to play at the younger levels. If theyd actually take the opportunity to get young players with clear talent, regardless of income levels, into an academy where they can hone their skills, the US would be much better at the sport.

There is no doubt. 3500 a year for a 9-year-old to play soccer is nuts.
Free sports typically aren't available until ~7th grade. And by then if you haven't played any soccer, you are woefully behind.

 

[jterrell]

So my son is a 2012. Has been in club 3 yrs. It’s a horrible system. He was with a smaller club to start that was more about development. They sold out to Solar and he played great but all those coaches..including his old ones…cared about were Ws and they ruined a team of good kids. It was also eye opening going into ECNL tryouts this past Spring. He was their captain and top player but wanted him to play on one team. They took two other good kids who just had more size and said “you are Acsfemy” He then went and made a MLS Next Team and a FC Dallas team. When you aren’t on the Acsdemy team you are paying for the free Academy kids. It’s dumb. In the end one of the top young coaches/trainers in DFW decided to start a new 2011 team after success with a younger team. Every kid on his team now is former ECNL big league kids because they were tired of the system. Now there is a shift to development again.

Overall some of these Academy level kids are burned out early. They don’t get development. They have measurables and don’t care. In DFW there are a ton of extremely talented kids and I bet half are pushed out before even high school. System sucks. We did a Real Madrid camp over in Madrid this Summer and kids we met from there come from different mindset.

Sorry babbling but right in the middle there f when things get crazy …

That is exactly what most experience.
You end up with a big-name club and frankly parents end up a big portion of the problem.
America has this insane win or quit mentality.
Everyone wants their baby to the star of the winning team, and they are willing to pay for it.

I coached AAU basketball all the way from elementary up.
I always wanted us to finish in the medal round of tourneys but never win.
If ever won, it all the tourney wasn't hard enough to me.
If we lost early, then we lost games and I hated that.
We'd force 5 passes before a shot and other rules to get development going.

My co-coach had his daughter playing for Liverpool in soccer. 3000 a season! NWSL, Classic leagues and such.
She had never been taught to bend, banana, curve the ball in any form?!?! Playing as a center forward???
I was shook when I played with them all for fun and looked at her skill level.
All she knew how to do was press the ball and then run it into the net...
Insane.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

There is no doubt. 3500 a year for a 9-year-old to play soccer is nuts.
Free sports typically aren't available until ~7th grade. And by then if you haven't played any soccer, you are woefully behind.

Exactly, and, if you're behind by 7th grade, then the odds of you being able to compete on an international level is significantly more difficult if not unlikely.

 

[Miller]

That is exactly what most experience.
You end up with a big-name club and frankly parents end up a big portion of the problem.
America has this insane win or quit mentality.
Everyone wants their baby to the star of the winning team, and they are willing to pay for it.

I coached AAU basketball all the way from elementary up.
I always wanted us to finish in the medal round of tourneys but never win.
If ever won, it all the tourney wasn't hard enough to me.
If we lost early, then we lost games and I hated that.
We'd force 5 passes before a shot and other rules to get development going.

My co-coach had his daughter playing for Liverpool in soccer. 3000 a season! NWSL, Classic leagues and such.
She had never been taught to bend, banana, curve the ball in any form?!?! Playing as a center forward???
I was shook when I played with them all for fun and looked at her skill level.
All she knew how to do was press the ball and then run it into the net...
Insane.

It’s funny you bring up the girl at the end. One of the kids from my son’s team that they sent up to Academy had no skill set except he was big and had a big leg…when he actually hit it. He was a good teammate to start. Kind of a midfield enforcer. Well going into the Spring they discovered he had a little “edge” to him and literally told him to not listen to parents but to fight and be physical with teammates during practice. There is a difference in playing hard and taking out teammates. Kid turned toxic. Black eyes and injuries. But that’s what they wanted. When my son, he and another played up with Academy they benched him. But they still forced him up after tryouts.

We had good parents whom I’d have a beer with. Don’t get me started on Academy parents who think their kids are special. In one game alone the parents were peeved our kids played with them and were talking bad about our kids. The goalies parents were so mad about a penalty their son committed they threw chairs on the field and called the ref ********. Then the wife harassed the opposing parents. At the end of the game another unhappy parent told the coach he’d rip his arms off and asked why he didn’t play. Coach handled it well and told them to ask the son why he wasn’t running back to defend.

I’m happy we found the right team but it still cost. Our team manager is a Mom who is actually using some of her own cash to help the coach and give funds to kids who can’t afford. That’s my goal if I come into too much money….scholarships for all the kids that just want to stay in it

 

[csirl]

How does the system work in the US? Paying to attend pro team academies seems strange to us in Europe.

Generally speaking, in Europe, players play for local amateur clubs until they reach high school. If they're good enough, a pro team will take them into their academy - based on merit with the academy often paying the kid/family.

Some kids will stay with amateur clubs a little longer or join some of the bigger elite "schoolboy" amateur clubs who have a track record of producing pro players. In most areas there are multiple levels that kids can play at from pure recreational to highly skilled players - my local league has 10-12 divisions in each age group.

 

[Miller]

How does the system work in the US? Paying to attend pro team academies seems strange to us in Europe.

Generally speaking, in Europe, players play for local amateur clubs until they reach high school. If they're good enough, a pro team will take them into their academy - based on merit with the academy often paying the kid/family.

Some kids will stay with amateur clubs a little longer or join some of the bigger elite "schoolboy" amateur clubs who have a track record of producing pro players. In most areas there are multiple levels that kids can play at from pure recreational to highly skilled players - my local league has 10-12 divisions in each age group.

It varies depending on what you are looking for.

Lowest level is rec. it’s basically your town or neighborhood has teams based on age groups and they split them up and play. Around us it was Grapevine Southlake Soccer Association or Colleyville Soccer Assoc. Cosches are volunteer Dads and it might cost you $150 total.

Club Level is next and it would take me days to explain but it’s all over the place. Like the rec group CSA above has a club called Evolution for higher end kids and they play Classic league but it’s not considered high end. Solar and FC Dallas and other big clubs have dozens of teams all at different levels….Pre-ECNL, ECNL, Classic, etc. There are 20 acronyms for different levels within club. It costs. It’s anywhere from $2000-$3000 usually. Though there are clubs like Ft Worth Vaqueros that don’t charge except uniforms. But it took me a year of talking with patented to keep up. There are so many clubs with different reps and each state is different

Academy is next level and the bigger clubs have at least one academy team per age group. Most are free and the money from the lower teams pays for these kids. However some clubs still have pay Acadeny…like Solar. There are also some clubs that have schools like DKSC. You pay $18k and your kid goes to school, trains 3 times a day and you are a top team

The highest before pro is MLS Next. Most of the MLS teams have this. Heavy travel, heavy investment. They run along with Acadfmy. In DFW FC Dallas was the only one to have this team but now there is the Dallas Hornets. This is allegedly the level that gets you pro end college looks.

Honestly I could go into way more details but this is bare bones from a Dad with a 12 yr old in the system. Overall if you want above rec you are paying a large sum AND team fees for tourneys, refs, uniforms etc

 

[Miller]

I also forgot to add that you can play in school. Most public schools start middle school through high school and is part of the school system. So some clubs allow you to play Fall/Spring with them and then you play Wintet/Spring with school. However MLS Next does not allow you to play for your school and if the school isn’t good many kids play club only and get recruited out of there.

 

[csirl]

It varies depending on what you are looking for.

Lowest level is rec. it’s basically your town or neighborhood has teams based on age groups and they split them up and play. Around us it was Grapevine Southlake Soccer Association or Colleyville Soccer Assoc. Cosches are volunteer Dads and it might cost you $150 total.

Club Level is next and it would take me days to explain but it’s all over the place. Like the rec group CSA above has a club called Evolution for higher end kids and they play Classic league but it’s not considered high end. Solar and FC Dallas and other big clubs have dozens of teams all at different levels….Pre-ECNL, ECNL, Classic, etc. There are 20 acronyms for different levels within club. It costs. It’s anywhere from $2000-$3000 usually. Though there are clubs like Ft Worth Vaqueros that don’t charge except uniforms. But it took me a year of talking with patented to keep up. There are so many clubs with different reps and each state is different

Academy is next level and the bigger clubs have at least one academy team per age group. Most are free and the money from the lower teams pays for these kids. However some clubs still have pay Acadeny…like Solar. There are also some clubs that have schools like DKSC. You pay $18k and your kid goes to school, trains 3 times a day and you are a top team

The highest before pro is MLS Next. Most of the MLS teams have this. Heavy travel, heavy investment. They run along with Acadfmy. In DFW FC Dallas was the only one to have this team but now there is the Dallas Hornets. This is allegedly the level that gets you pro end college looks.

Honestly I could go into way more details but this is bare bones from a Dad with a 12 yr old in the system. Overall if you want above rec you are paying a large sum AND team fees for tourneys, refs, uniforms etc

Soccer is one of the cheapest sports to run. Several thousand dollars seems very costly - and will cut out most promising players. What is the money spent on? I'm an assistant coach at a mid level club - coaching 15/16 year olds. Got involved via my kids when they started playing. We run a full league season - c.30 games, plus training 2-3 nights per week for approx. $250 (we also do some local fundraising).

 

[Miller]

Soccer is one of the cheapest sports to run. Several thousand dollars seems very costly - and will cut out most promising players. What is the money spent on? I'm an assistant coach at a mid level club - coaching 15/16 year olds. Got involved via my kids when they started playing. We run a full league season - c.30 games, plus training 2-3 nights per week for approx. $250 (we also do some local fundraising).

Agree but everyone here wants to make money off of it…especially tournaments. So the money I pay for my son usually covers coaching fees, field rental fees, league entry fees, ref fees, tournament fees, Veo camera fee, US Club Registration fee, equipment fees and club admin fees. You then pay about $300 for a kit.

Tournaments are a racket. They will charge teams $300-$500 and then if it rains out you only get 50% of your money back. Overall people want more games so they get into more tourneys..that in turn get you ranking points

 

[joseephuss]

Agree but everyone here wants to make money off of it…especially tournaments. So the money I pay for my son usually covers coaching fees, field rental fees, league entry fees, ref fees, tournament fees, Veo camera fee, US Club Registration fee, equipment fees and club admin fees. You then pay about $300 for a kit.

Tournaments are a racket. They will charge teams $300-$500 and then if it rains out you only get 50% of your money back. Overall people want more games so they get into more tourneys..that in turn get you ranking points

There is no reason a kit should cost $300 and friends have told me that they pay around that much for their kids. That much money should be able to pay for a home and away jerseys, shorts, and socks and still have money left to get good shoes.

 

[csirl]

Agree but everyone here wants to make money off of it…especially tournaments. So the money I pay for my son usually covers coaching fees, field rental fees, league entry fees, ref fees, tournament fees, Veo camera fee, US Club Registration fee, equipment fees and club admin fees. You then pay about $300 for a kit.

Tournaments are a racket. They will charge teams $300-$500 and then if it rains out you only get 50% of your money back. Overall people want more games so they get into more tourneys..that in turn get you ranking points

Interesting. Sounds llike the system needs more regulation from the National or State Federation. Does the US Soccer Federation have a pyramid or pathway structure?

Paying for tournaments sounds nuts to us Europeans. If we need extra games in addition to our regular season, we just contact other clubs and arrange things between ourselves - splitting costs.