NYT: Youth Soccer Participation Drops by 14% in the USA

[razor ray]

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[Melrose Munch]

These sports leagues should stop gouging children and their families.

 

[powerstuck]

In general, participation in youth sports nationwide has declined in the past decade, as children gravitate to electronic diversions and other distractions.

So, gotta wonder how it looks percentage wise. 600k is a lot, but they have 2.3 million ''youth'' players.

 

[SupremeNachos]

So, gotta wonder how it looks percentage wise. 600k is a lot, but they have 2.3 million ''youth'' players.

You have to wonder if they do the same thing the Gov't does when it comes to finding the unemployment rate. Do they include everyone who has ever signed up for a program either through a school or town or just at a certain level.

 

[cutchemist42]

Ive always maintained the drop in participation in sports was more broad than sport-specific like some wish it was to suit some narratives.

No sport is safe from rising costs and overall decline in the slice that sports occupies for socirtys overall interests

 

[Canadiens1958]

Is this a definite loss or simply the drift between governing bodies?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Is this a definite loss or simply the drift between governing bodies?

The numbers underlying the article appear to come from this report, which is based on a household survey of sports participation: https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2017/12/FINAL-SOP2017-report.pdf

Funny enough, it seems that soccer (which has long been perceived as the most “democratic” of the major sports in terms of demographic participation) has a list of complaints virtually identical to those seen in similar threads about hockey — upward-spiraling costs, over-focus on travel, over-competitive atmosphere at a young age, narrow pathways to advancement, lack of outreach to minorities, sharply declining participation by low income families, and a high burnout rate.

 

[Canadiens1958]

The numbers underlying the article appear to come from this report, which is based on a household survey of sports participation: https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2017/12/FINAL-SOP2017-report.pdf

Funny enough, it seems that soccer (which has long been perceived as the most “democratic” of the major sports in terms of demographic participation) has a list of complaints virtually identical to those seen in similar threads about hockey — upward-spiraling costs, over-focus on travel, over-competitive atmosphere at a young age, narrow pathways to advancement, lack of outreach to minorities, sharply declining participation by low income families, and a high burnout rate.

Thans for the link which provides the answer in the following:

In an effort to develop better players for its national teams, the sport’s governing body began implementing a rule that all youth teams be comprised of players born in the same calendar year. Prior to 2016-17, teams were formed with players born between Aug. 1 and July 31, roughly following school-year groupings. Reaction was swift and largely harsh, as the new rule broke up most youth teams, affecting millions of youth nationally. Research shows that playing with friends is a high priority for most children.

Key is the extent of influence that the governing body has on school competition. In Quebec, the local provincial governing bodies have little influence.

School leagues provincially, regardless of sport set their own eligibility rules. So you get drifts of youngsters to the best situation. Participation actually goes up since competitiontakes place during school hours or between the end of the school day and supper.

 

[IamNotADancer]

The youth "system" in this country is an utter disaster and way to reliant on school and YMCA programs.

There are literally no local governing state bodies that control, create and regulate local leagues.

I have no doubt in my mind the US is a sleeping giant that is being kept asleep by the sheer incompetence of the higher ups.
A complete overhaul of this system needs to be done and they need to simply copy the lower league division setup from European countries such as Germany and England.


There is no reason, not even the geographical size of the US, that would prevent the creation of local federations with USSF acting as an umbrella corporation. Those local federations then in turn would control the day to day operations in their state and oversee youth development.

I continue to be baffled why this hasn't been implemented the second MLS was born.

 

[Svechhammer]

USSoccer doesn't know what it's doing, and a big big problem with the whole thing is the way in which they're allowing themselves to be played by MLS to make that league money and not necessarily for the growth of soccer in the US.

For just one small example in a sea of incompetence, take a look at what is going on in Raleigh. Over the past couple years they have made some headway into getting a MLS team here, with the intention of promoting NCFC from the USL to MLS. We brought in a women's program and resurrected the Courage in women's soccer, and we had the two youth programs in the area merge to form the nation's largest youth soccer program under the umbrella of the NCFC with the intention of using it to effectively create a feeder program to the MLS. Except, MLS is really only using this area as leverage to get sweeter deals elsewhere, completely squandering the developmental opportunities it provides. And this is in an area that effectively set the stage for the current phase of US Soccer when you consider that the women's national team was built upon decades of dominance by the University of North Carolina who won 24 of the first 26 national titles.

 

[Canadiens1958]

USSoccer doesn't know what it's doing, and a big big problem with the whole thing is the way in which they're allowing themselves to be played by MLS to make that league money and not necessarily for the growth of soccer in the US.

For just one small example in a sea of incompetence, take a look at what is going on in Raleigh. Over the past couple years they have made some headway into getting a MLS team here, with the intention of promoting NCFC from the USL to MLS. We brought in a women's program and resurrected the Courage in women's soccer, and we had the two youth programs in the area merge to form the nation's largest youth soccer program under the umbrella of the NCFC with the intention of using it to effectively create a feeder program to the MLS. Except, MLS is really only using this area as leverage to get sweeter deals elsewhere, completely squandering the developmental opportunities it provides. And this is in an area that effectively set the stage for the current phase of US Soccer when you consider that the women's national team was built upon decades of dominance by the University of North Carolina who won 24 of the first 26 national titles.

Kindly explain the relationship between between Youth Soccer and School Soccer in North Carolina.

Distinct, blended or one and the same?

 

[Svechhammer]

Kindly explain the relationship between between Youth Soccer and School Soccer in North Carolina.

Distinct, blended or one and the same?

The youth soccer is rec league, so what kids play from pretty much age 5 through high school. This is also the league that has the elite traveling teams which is where the major investment from the professional soccer club in the area goes. The entire youth program feeds the elite teams with the eventual goal that those players are primed to eventually play for the professional club one-day.

The University is separate. UNC soccer was a major women's soccer powerhouse for decades before soccer really took off in the US. The early days of the US Womens National Team was built primarily through women who had made their way through UNC. For this reason it is not unreasonable to consider this region the home base of at least women's soccer here in the US.

 

[Canadiens1958]

The youth soccer is rec league, so what kids play from pretty much age 5 through high school. This is also the league that has the elite traveling teams which is where the major investment from the professional soccer club in the area goes. The entire youth program feeds the elite teams with the eventual goal that those players are primed to eventually play for the professional club one-day.

The University is separate. UNC soccer was a major women's soccer powerhouse for decades before soccer really took off in the US. The early days of the US Womens National Team was built primarily through women who had made their way through UNC. For this reason it is not unreasonable to consider this region the home base of at least women's soccer here in the US.

Do grade schools, junior and senior high schools offer soccer as part of their athletic programs?

 

[Svechhammer]

Do grade schools, junior and senior high schools offer soccer as part of their athletic programs?

Grade schools, not really. Junior (Middle) and High schools do, at least in my area.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Grade schools, not really. Junior (Middle) and High schools do, at least in my area.

As long as the school programs are independent, not much to worry about.

 

[KingLB]

As long as the school programs are independent, not much to worry about.

Meh,

Nobody who is serious plays at the high school level in soccer (or atleast makes that their primary team). The only sports that still really do that is football/baseball. Otherwise travel teams dominate the landscape year around.

 

[tony d]

That's interesting, always thought soccer had good participation #'s that were increasing. I know my nephew plays soccer but gave up on hockey.

 

[DaveG]

Meh,

Nobody who is serious plays at the high school level in soccer (or atleast makes that their primary team). The only sports that still really do that is football/baseball. Otherwise travel teams dominate the landscape year around.

Bingo. And the costs for high levels have been rising exponentially pricing out a ton of talent. There's no real structure there where pro teams help cover the costs like there are in Europe where the intention is that the players on the various age group teams will eventually make up the pro team.

 

[cutchemist42]

Im not enough of an MLS expert to pin some blame there, altho I do see others mention it.

I will say that North Ametica seems to have this weird tendency to turn "cheap" sports into something only the white kids can do.

Just my belief but I umdetstand how hockey is thr small talent base with rich guys playing it. I dont see how baseball and soccer turned into that.....

 

[chizzler]

Meh,

Nobody who is serious plays at the high school level in soccer (or atleast makes that their primary team). The only sports that still really do that is football/baseball. Otherwise travel teams dominate the landscape year around.

That’s the problem. Travel teams take all the kids a the parents get gouged paying to have their kids on them. Local teams or high school teams are struggling to get players. You see coed teams more and more. It’s about money.

 

[chizzler]

Im not enough of an MLS expert to pin some blame there, altho I do see others mention it.

I will say that North Ametica seems to have this weird tendency to turn "cheap" sports into something only the white kids can do.

Just my belief but I umdetstand how hockey is thr small talent base with rich guys playing it. I dont see how baseball and soccer turned into that.....

When a traveling team gets involved it is expensive.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Sounds a bit fishy to me. Surprised they didn't state the sport causes high rates of concussions also.....

I have a friend in USSF; I'll get the straight story, and post....

 

[Howie Hodge]

These sports leagues should stop gouging children and their families.

It is typically "Elite" and "Premier" programs where the price can become prohibitive.

Regular Travel and House not so much.

But with many people striving for excellence and opportunity with their kids, there are many participants in programs that are simply not going to make most of them much better. Will make their families a bit poorer though...

 

[Edmonton East]

I mean what's going on in soccer is the same thing that happens in our education system. And no one cares about that (they care about other things related to education, but never the private feeder school issue), so why care about soccer?

Soccer: Good players have to pay a lot starting around age 9 or so, but this money isn't necessarily for BETTER training. Rather, it is buying your way (to a degree) into a more VISIBLE group of players to play in leagues that more powerful people tend to scout from as you grow older.

Education: A lot of very mediocre or even below average intelligence kids that get to go to a private school, still get into a decent college because their parents paid for them to have that school's "pedigree" for their education. Meanwhile, that same kid from a public school system is going to a trash college 9 times out of 10. Or even none at all. Same goes for the top of your class at a private school, where several kids go to Ivy's. Heck, I know a lot of barely above average kids that went to Ivy's from "good" private schools. Then take your top handful of kids from run of the mill public school (not an "elite" one), and you'll be lucky if more than one gets into an Ivy.

To summarize my mini-rant: Soccer, like many other things, is far too political. It's a societal issue where spending $XXX doesn't really mean shit about skill level or improving said skill level. Instead, it gives you a leg up on the competition by putting you in the purview of more important people down the road.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Seems to me like the only way participation in the North American model is 'democratic' is if the schools organize it. The moment you take it out of the schools, the more time and money intense it's going to be due to the lack of local organization by the federation.