United Soccer League Launches “USL YOUTH,” New Platform to Elevate the Youth Player Experience

[whatithink]

It all depends on how many tiers and the number of teams participating at each level.

If there's 10 tiers of teams and 100s of teams per level pro/rel doesn't really matter as long as your only moving up/down 3-4 per year.

If there's 3 tiers and 10 teams at each level pro/rel really matters especially if there's 3-4 moving up/down per year.

That reminds me of someone saying their kid is playing D1 soccer in college, and I look up the college and they are ranked 300+, so really they are playing D15+ soccer (if split in divisions of 20 teams each ranked), and knowing that there are D2 etc teams that are better. I've watched some lower ranked D1 one teams play in person and on TV, and they suck ... but living the dream!

 

[Carlsbad7]

That reminds me of someone saying their kid is playing D1 soccer in college, and I look up the college and they are ranked 300+, so really they are playing D15+ soccer (if split in divisions of 20 teams each ranked), and knowing that there are D2 etc teams that are better. I've watched some lower ranked D1 one teams play in person and on TV, and they suck ... but living the dream!

Yes but in this case there is promotion and relagation between the different levels.

People would quickly figure out that D1 Gold is much different than D1 Silver, and D1 Bronze. (Using the college D1 analogy)

The big downside of pro/rel at the youth level is that if you get relagated it's usually the end of the club because everyone leaves for other teams/clubs when it happens. Likely before relagation occurs clubs would join a pay to play league to save face and not lose $$$.

 

[Zeke]

I wish it was 5K total. With required "donations", fundrsaising, gear and club fees - it's 5K, without travel and extra tournaments.

Once you add the cost of traveling to Arizona, Dallas, Maryland, Richmond, Tennessee, Colorado, Florida, etc with the cost of car rental, hotels, eating out, and flights, it definitely hits another 10K a year because you're also paying for a team of coaches to travel with you. Plane tickets range are bt 300-700 for flights. Hotel rooms range from $200-350 a night. Food is about $50-100 a day per person. Car rental ranges from 200-1000 based on how long the trip is.

Yes, you could split the hotel and car rental, but you can't split the flight and food cost. Maryland, at it's cheapest, was $1400 a kid without any other family members attending. Tennessee cost the girls approximately $1200 for the very basics and splitting everything, without other family members attending. There's at least 3 showcases a year, other tournaments, and finally post-season (which are two very expensive trips because they're long trips due to addition of nonplay days).

That is a total of 15K.

My suggestion is a 10K cost for each player, with a local league and traveling only for 1 national competition showcase/tournament/championship. On a team of 18 players, that's 180K. A coach and club could definitely do some great training, scrimmages, fitness, film review and technical training with that amount of money. This would be better for coaches too because their family would appreciate it.

Suggested Strategy:
Cost=10K club cost
Games= 1 local league game every week and scrimmages if needed (excluding holidays and break periods)
Tournaments = 1 National Tournament per year and unlimited local tournaments as desired

I think this is a win for clubs, a win for coaches, a win for player development, and a win for parent cost/family & personal time.

Works for GA and the bottom 2/3 of ECNL.

Teams like Koge and Surf are going to want to go play the other big dogs.

Then, if you restrict it, everyone else is going to be upset that they aren’t big dogs. They break off and start “super elite big dog academy”, and you’re back where we started.

 

[Grace T.]

Yes but in this case there is promotion and relagation between the different levels.

People would quickly figure out that D1 Gold is much different than D1 Silver, and D1 Bronze. (Using the college D1 analogy)

The big downside of pro/rel at the youth level is that if you get relagated it's usually the end of the club because everyone leaves for other teams/clubs when it happens. Likely before relagation occurs clubs would join a pay to play league to save face and not lose $$$.

It's not just the ones that get relegated. The ones that stand still also lose their better players because they stood still, and then they have to restart from scratch because they have to get the new people on board who start weaker than the old. This happened to my kid's second team...they were constantly missing out on promotion by 1, they'd lose the strongest players that got recruited elsewhere, they'd have to bring new people and start from scratch, rinse repeat. It means that winning and losing become everything. The only way that works is either: 1) you make it less important so people don't care (take college out of it; no big cub pay days; like Latino league), or 2) you tie teams and players (like highschool transfers...you are stuck where you started and you have to dance with the one that brung you, unless you physically change addresses)....both clubs and parents would hate that because it means you have one bite at evaluating the player/club and then you are stuck.

 

[Carlsbad7]

Works for GA and the bottom 2/3 of ECNL.

Teams like Koge and Surf are going to want to go play the other big dogs.

Then, if you restrict it, everyone else is going to be upset that they aren’t big dogs. They break off and start “super elite big dog academy”, and you’re back where we started.

As long as it's an Open Super League everyone is ok with it.

Problems occur when you have a closed "super league" because over time the best will win and the worst will lose.

Other leagues will say our best can lose just as well as terrible the super league teams lose.

 

[Carlsbad7]

It's not just the ones that get relegated. The ones that stand still also lose their better players because they stood still, and then they have to restart from scratch because they have to get the new people on board who start weaker than the old. This happened to my kid's second team...they were constantly missing out on promotion by 1, they'd lose the strongest players that got recruited elsewhere, they'd have to bring new people and start from scratch, rinse repeat. It means that winning and losing become everything. The only way that works is either: 1) you make it less important so people don't care (take college out of it; no big cub pay days; like Latino league), or 2) you tie teams and players (like highschool transfers...you are stuck where you started and you have to dance with the one that brung you, unless you physically change addresses)....both clubs and parents would hate that because it means you have one bite at evaluating the player/club and then you are stuck.

For me as long as the league is Open there's a chance for others to "join the club" of teams that play against academies.

I can see situations where top ENCL, GA, NPL teams jump into a Pro/Rel league and move up fairly quickly.

 

[sockma]

Works for GA and the bottom 2/3 of ECNL.

Teams like Koge and Surf are going to want to go play the other big dogs.

Then, if you restrict it, everyone else is going to be upset that they aren’t big dogs. They break off and start “super elite big dog academy”, and you’re back where we started.

I don't think this is true. Currently, the system has them playing the bottom 2/3 of ECNL at least 2/3 of the time so why would it bother them if the local league did that? Koge and Surf are local teams. One big national tournament would let the big dogs play against each other for something meaningful.

Money would be going directly to coaches and clubs instead of hotels and airlines. Players would be spending money on development and not travel. Most parents of these big dogs would give up those big travel tournaments and spend that money for their kids development.

 

[Zeke]

I don't think this is true. Currently, the system has them playing the bottom 2/3 of ECNL at least 2/3 of the time so why would it bother them if the local league did that?

It would bother them for exactly the same reason low level league play bothers them.

You guys don't notice it as much in socal. Even a #1 team still has a half dozen decent opponents within their conference. Limited, but not awful.

For other areas, it's different. Some of these teams only have one reasonable opponent within 300 miles. Don't be surprised they travel. It's how they keep from getting complacent.

 

[aong cangkol]

I grew up in the UK and no one gives a crap about college sports. Our intramural team beat the University's official soccer team which would have been a big story here, but over there meant little more than a few free pints at the pub afterwards. Once we moved here, it took me a while to understand the obsession with high school and college sports, especially as in the UK, any really talented kids might already be playing professionally by high school age.

One of the parents on our club team noted that if college is the end game, then you may as well put all your club soccer fees into a college savings account instead and you'd be better off.

It is very difficult to understand for new immigrants and foreigners. To get scholarship as financial help is not the end game. College is already free for low income families. Plus low income family cannot afford club sports anyway.
I slowly begin to understand as I talk to these parents, not all of them are the same.
- There is prestige even only to play varsity high school sports.
- There is pride for getting sports scholarship, even if it is 5K off a small private college.
- There is hope that soccer or sports will help their kids getting admission to a good college (not to play sports, just admission)
- There is confusion from NFL and NBA culture where college is a path to pro and college game itself is a mainstream entertainment event.

IMO people should look at US soccer similar to tennis. There are a few people make it to a pro level. High school and college may be competitive but basically recreational. It is expensive to develop a player so only the rich can play (unless you are an athletic unicorn with crazy parents
Club training will always be expensive but if you compare to tennis, golf or even volleyball, club soccer is cheaper.

I don't see this can change because government intervention is impossible in US.