I don't think it's lost forever. The current system exists because of some trends out there. One, college has become hypercompetitive and parents have become paranoid about what they need to do to get their kids to succeed (lots of stories about fake charities, kids at kumon from early ages, mandatory music classes for unmusical kids). There has to be a limit, though, to the current rat race as we are seeing in survey after survey that both time and cost are at a break point. Two, our education system is firmly rooted in a belief that no child should be left behind, that every kid has a right to college and that every child (if taught properly) can be Mozart. But despite the many political reforms (from NCLB to Common Core), we are seeing the limits of that strategy as reality always prevails in the end, and the politics will eventually change (don't know if they change right or left, but change is always a certainty). Three, the pendulum swung from the feel-good Millennial generation to the hypercompetitive iGeneration. It will swing again. Four, there's a teaching gap in rec soccer that isn't present in other countries since AYSO and other rec relies about volunteers. But you don't get to choose your coach, everyone gets equal play time, and your coach may not know what they are doing so parents looking to improve their kids (and that don't have the knowledge themselves) need to seek out the so-called professionals. As the crop of kids raised in the late 90s and early 00s begins to have kids, they'll be less of a need for this, particularly as some of the more outlandish aspects of all this become more and more generally known (such as the Eagles contracts, or clubs promising scholarships which in the end don't materialize). I think you are right it might get worse in the immediate future, but I think you are wrong that this lasts forever. The value of club soccer will deteriorate as the US gets more of a soccer culture, and the rules of economics, or supply and demand, are hard and fast.
The top 11.
