(1st in a series of articles about elite youth soccer in America being at a crossroads)

I don’t mean to be too dramatic in the title of this series, but I do believe there are some fundamental questions facing the world of elite youth soccer in this country. In about five years time we’ve seen the conversation about the game change almost completely.

In that time we’ve had a business model that seemed relatively unchallenged come under great fire. Today, while this model is still largely in place, there have been several alternatives and at least one major reform effort crop up. At this point that has served mainly to muddy the waters from a consumer point of view, making it even more difficult for American soccer parents to understand what is right and wrong for their child.

Furthermore, while the conversation has changed in many ways, there is no shortage of entrepreneurs who are willing to speak the new language without really changing the realities of their philosophy or the product they deliver. It is crucial to get into the nuts and bolts, below the DOS level if you will, and find out what is really making our top clubs and coaches tick.

So for the next few weeks I want to opine on a series of issues that fundamentally affect what kind of soccer nation we will be. If you’ve read this site for a period of time you already know my views on players development and how it must be given a higher priority than winning matches at younger ages. You’ve seen my critique on coaches and clubs that simply recruit good athletes for the U10-U14 age groups and take shortcuts to win tournament trophies without really teaching the game as it needs to be played at a higher level.

These things are still concerns but we’ll be going much deeper than that as we look into systemic ailments and dilemmas that are present in our national soccer subculture. The priority of development will be assumed as we look at any number of questions.

As a brief outline of what I’ll be discussing, look for separate articles on the following:

1.    The financial imperative of the club development model

It may surprise you that I start with money, but the fact is we cannot ignore the need for soccer coaches to make a living if they are to provide the best possible tutelage and development for our young players. Going beyond that, clubs, whether they be professional or amateur, need to be able to prosper by offering a good product that commands a reasonable price. There are so many nuances to this, including the high end of the international transfer market, but we will save that for the actual article.


2.    Realistic goals for consumers in the American youth soccer market

If players and parents have a proper perspective about what is out there, what their ambitions are, and what their true potential is in the game, it would solve a lot of the problems currently present regarding expectations, disappointment and promises made in the club soccer world. I see at least three main tiers in the soccer marketplace, but often the promotion and marketing act as if there is just one. We’ll talk about managing expectations and defining potential, with a special eye toward the social role of the game in this country and the need in many cases for parents to be educated about the game.


3.    Finding the right structure and business models for elite youth clubs.

How can clubs set themselves up properly in order to make the trains run on time and collect enough revenue to make it all worthwhile?  For starters, clubs need to be actual clubs, but there are so many more issues related to this that I want to discuss.


4.    The ins and outs of successful product delivery by elite youth soccer clubs.

This gets into coaching education and coaching performance, but also a systemic understanding of where we need to be, down to the nitty gritty of what kids need to be able to do by certain ages and how best to help them individually and as teams, get to those places. I’ve been speaking with Erik Visser on one of our radio programs about this and I’ll probably lean some on his comments when we get to this part. The thing that concerns me is that really is no consensus on some of these curricular items at this point.


5.    End Game: What it could all look like in this country.

Here we can get a bit imaginative and discuss what our ultimate goals would be, including how reaching them would change our overall product. You can’t get lost in fantasy, but this is a good fantasy.

Continue to Part 2: Clubs Must Make Money