Touchline
American (13.1% in general population). Most of the players of color come from Africa, Central America, The Caribbean and South America. Conversely, 78% of the NBA is comprised of African Americans players and 77% people playing in the NFL are African American. Baseball, much like soccer, has a minimal
of coaching. Within high school programs there are players who play for their local clubs and have the skills to be among the elite players but will never be recognized. Rhetoric from Developmental Academy Directors consistently bash high school soccer and recognizes only a handful of elite club
“Irony is evident within youth soccer. How could a sport, that in order to play you really only need a ball, cost so much money?” amount of African Americans playing. As of 2013 only 8.5% were African Americans, from a high of 27% in 1975. This may be due to the high cost to play baseball, as baseball now sets up all year travel programs much like youth soccer and the influx of Caribbean players signing inexpensive contracts at early ages. This practice of signing young foreign players is also becoming common in the MLS.
programs, the Developmental Academies and the Elite Club Soccer League on the girl’s side as being the future of U.S. Soccer. Would it not make sense to examine all programs and players throughout the United States, with a strong scouting system that makes the effort to find players at every level rather to keep investing time and money into programs that promise very little?
In a time where criticism from U.S. Soccer Academy coaches is directed at high school soccer; these high school programs still provide players recognition at a minimal cost or no cost, a chance to play with neighborhood friends, play in front of their local community, play against players up to three years older and in many instances have the same quality
I really believe it would be a short amount of time before U.S. Soccer would reach the pinnacle of success on the world stage if soccer was made more affordable to all children. I can’t help but think Jurgen Klinsmann would enjoy choosing from a pool of the entire population rather than the 50 to 60 percent who can afford the high costs to play soccer.
The argument can be made that MLS Developmental Academies are providing free training for their players but those players also received quality training at younger ages before they entered the academies. What type of positive influence would there be in our National Programs if the money from Nike to support the Developmental Academies initially, would have been used to instill quality programs in the inner cities? If an initiative would be pushed to bring soccer to children with less means we would have a higher percentage of Americans playing in the MLS (currently 57.2%). Irony is an overused word today but irony plays a huge part of this discussion. I took my grandchildren to the movies recently to see The Lego Movie. As I bought three bottles of water for $13.50, I examined the irony that I could have the same water for virtually nothing in my home. Irony is evident within youth soccer. How could a sport, that in order to play you only really need a ball, cost so much money? How can you predict a successful player at age seven? How can we praise the virtue of youth soccer when a city with an MLS team cannot provide travel teams or school soccer to the children? We don’t need mandates from U.S. Soccer but just a rethinking of how soccer or any sport can be made affordable to all.
27