MLS- David Beckham?

Soccer is dying in America. Travel leagues have burned kids out. More kids went out for XC this year than soccer for the first time ever! They all say that they are burned out from playing year round since they were little kids.

They won't watch either!

Talking about at the local high school in my town.

While I love the sport and have a son playing DI in college, I tend to agree with you.

I spent thousands of dollars over the past 8 years while he was playing select soccer. He loved it, so it was worth it.

What concerns me the most is the emergence of "Academy Teams" in the lower age-groups. Parents are concerned that little Johnny isn't getting developed properly because he has to play with kids below his talent level. They join an Academy Team to get more practice and skills training under a professional coach. There's nothing wrong with that until you realize that these kids are 6 years old!!!

I think that we're going to see a situation where kids are going to quit soccer at age 12-13 because they are sick of the constant pressure from the parents and coaches. We'll have some survive and do well, but the depth of talent will shrink.

On a local soccer website, I see that numerous teams are having trouble getting enough players this year. I also saw where some of the top players in the league (one of the top league in the country) are quitting to play other sports.

your story kind of gets at the heart of the problem in the US. In most of the rest of the world kids play for fun from a very young age. Pick up games, such as seen in basketball in the US, are the norm. I think soccer will only catch on in the US once pick-up games, spontaneous games, and games just for fun reach a similar prevalence to the rest of the world. I think it is a great sport and I hope it does catch on.

I was just about to add a similar comment. A lot of kids are in soccer, but none of them play soccer. When you go by soccer fields near me they are either practicing or in a scheduled game. I never see any kids just kicking it around with their friends and playing games. Soccer has become something your parents are suppose to put you in at a young age because everyone else is doing it.

that is so sad to hear. because just three to four years ago i remember spending hours a day every summer just shooting around, playing horse, hitting long balls just countless hours knocking it around. i miss those days.

Soccer dying??

The US U-20 just beat Brazil 2-1 and is headed probably for its first World Cup final ever!! I think there is at least a 50% chance the US will be playing Argentina in the finals. They are not there yet, but things look damn good.

More kids are playing soccer in the US than any other industrialized nation.

The MLS is gay! I LOVE soccer, but I could never make myself watch an entire game without falling asleep! And people still wonder why soccer is not so hot in the US!? Beckham is not going to be a savior for the league- no way!

runn wrote:

More kids went out for XC this year than soccer for the first time ever!

Where did you see these stats? I'd be really interested to see the study.

I was part of one of these "travel teams" for about five years, and it definitely ruined the game for me. Fortunately, it helped me find cross country.

Crap, I just read your next post. Sorry.

It is better than no league at all. Can you really say baseball is any more exciting than a good MLS game.

The MLS has a long term plan and it does not include buying stars from abroad. The NASL was exciting for awhile, but they paid to much for foreign stars and it eventually lead the league to ruin. The MLS is going to develop gradually and will probably be around a century from now. The NASL was a flash in the pan, but the MLS is a viable league that is designed to survive.

We have a situation in our town where local D1 coaches are telling parents that their kids shouls play soccer year round in order to get a scholarship. The main problem is that they are directly involved with the local travel league.

They have not given any scholarships to local kids. Local kids rarely if ever get soccer scholarships. Most of the very best don't even get recruited by DIII schools.

I tell parents to put the money they waste on travel soccer in a college fund, tell their kid to get good grades and get college money that way, play a variety of sports in high school, and play pick up soccer with their friends if they love it that much.

Ironically, we have a lot of kids get track money from our area.

I wonder how ethical it is for those coaches to be coaching high school and younger kids and giving such horrible advice?

I always joke that I'm going to start a 5 Star Future Olympian gee my child is a track prodigy travel track and field team and charge parents $500.00 per child to mislead them like they do.

and MLS has gotten much better over the years. When the league first started, I couldnt watch a game. It was slow and unskilled. I started watching soccer again after the World Cup, and I discovered MLS games had become one of the more exciting leagues out there. The game is up and down the pitch at a high intensity for the full 90 minutes, and the skill level is improving. I hope and expect MLS to survive and flourish in the future. Hopefully the Beckham deal helps the league in the long run, rather than crippling it like the Peles and Beckenbauers did to NASL.

I would peg the MLS as equivalent to some of the better asian leagues. It's not comparable to anything in europe, but it's correct to say that it's better than nothing. It's giving lots of young players an outlet to keep going after college. Although many of the US starters now play in Europe, it wasn't always that way and the MLS was effectively a farm league for better teams.

The true improvements however are going to be coming out of Africa. Give it 10 years to develop more stars like Essian, Drogba, of Eeto will be numerous. The academies for football are becoming like St. Johns (is that famous kenyan one) is for running. It's a way out and the Ghanan team will only get better.

you dont want football (soccer) to take off it takes over everything eles as in england and no other sport has a look in

I meant for just a few schools in my area. At the school I coach at the soccer teams did not get enough kids out to have full JV and jr high (modified) boys teams. They actually called kids who came out for XC and asked them to switch. The AD quickly put and end to that.

The girls rarely had more than 2 or 3 sitting the bench and now their numbers are dwindling.

Other schools in the area have noticed a similar trend.

A PE teacher told me that she can't believe how many kids want to be part of the XC program. Our team is very good and they know they most likely will not break into the top 7, they are just learning that they love the sport.

It helps that they play in a soccer game with 40 or 50 spectators then go to an XC invite with a few thousand or a dual meet with a couple hundred (when you have 80 kids on the team (7th-12th grades it is easy to get a 300 spectators at a dual meet with just the parents and a few friends, teachers, and casual spectators at the meets).

jack... wrote:

you dont want football (soccer) to take off it takes over everything eles as in england and no other sport has a look in

Actually I think that would be awesome and do want that.

I think the main problem is travel coaches making money off of innocent (ignorant?) parents. They have a good thing going, why should they stop?

If they cared about soccer they would tell the kids to go out for track in the spring to develop speed and endurance.