Do Youth Academies take the love out of soccer.







       Soccer is a game of love. Soccer is a game of passion. People play the game of soccer to be apart of something bigger. Soccer is game which stretches across generations, cultures, and genders. For such a beloved sport, youth should be taught to appreciate the game for the values it embodies, and the character it builds. BUT for the youth academy system in the United States, monetary incentives are pushing clubs to train their kids for different motives.

 Negative Externalities of a Winning Mindset
For the elite youth clubs, winning is everything. When deciding on a club, parents of prospective talent don't have any other metrics to compare with, so all they know is the balance on the scorecard. More importantly, winning international tournaments pays out well for the club and the coaches. This creates a positive feedback loop. As top clubs continually get the winning players, they get the winning teams. This motivation for winning causes coaches to train their youth more aggressively, trying to squeeze the maximum talent potential out of kids as young as 7 and 8 years old. Athletes that young should be developing their knowledge of the game, how to be a student of the game. That's the belief of FC Barcelona's La Masia. They don't start fine tuning the skills of players until they've reached a certain level in their system. The youth are actually shown to appreciate the game for all it is worth. This is not to say this European farming system does not have its flaws..


"Trying to Pick the Orange Before its Ripe."
What's worse is when kids quit playing soccer because they burn out. Their original love of the game is gone. Nothing is left. Approximately 75% of kids drop out of soccer before they turn 13. Much of the time it's because they don't feel a sense of self-worth at their clubs. They're "consistently told they're not good enough" While that's obviously tragic for the kids, who quit a sport they love because a winning-centric style of coaching took the fun out of it, it also certainly shows that clubs have lost out on some Landon Donovans or Mia Hamms, which is negative for the winning aspect of it.

 Spending hours traveling to tournaments takes a toll on the children. More and more time is taken away from the sport of soccer and allocated to the flashy aspects of the football. Parents are much more willing to send their kids to internationally programs. Their hope is that their children receive "world-class experience." When it come down to the bottom line, clubs are aggressive. None of the elite clubs want to miss out on the next diamond in the rough.


https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2018/2/22/17017496/us-club-soccer-ceo-kevin-payne-future-youth-game

-Joe & Bryce

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