HelenaHandBasket
Well-known member
Who said anything about high school sports. The discussion is about youth club soccer. Very few top female soccer players actually play for their high school team, even in the US.
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Current US World Cup Game
- Thread starter mthoopsfan
- Start date
I did not hear that. Very interesting. Makes complete sense though. You want to really coach up lower levels. The highest level is more game management and strategy type stuff. Cool info. Thanks for sharing that.
Totally agree. Our youth development is far superior for all other sports... i find it obnoxious that youth clubs get compensated for kids they produce professionally in Europe. We don't have a system like that in America for any sport, that I can think of.. Kids should be encouraged to compete in multiple sports... it breeds more competitive and adaptable kids and athletes. and i think actually creates better athletes. The euro system breeds single sport athletes. Good for them, go win a world cup. But you've done a disservice to those youth. There is s a very small percentage f those kids that get to go onto play professionally, yet they probably were sold the story of focusing only on soccer.
alabamagrizzly
Well-known member
Down to the final 8. 6 euros, 1 African, and 1 south american.
MissoulaMarinerFan
Well-known member
For sure - the other main difference to that is for those other countries, soccer is the only sport they really care about competing in professionally - outside of the small handful that are really into basketball. US is pretty unique in that there is MLB, NBA, NFL AND Olympic sports. Other countries seems like soccer, olympic sports and mayyyyybe basketball.
MLB, NBA, NFL, MLS, NHL, PGA, NASCAR/INDY,
HelenaHandBasket
Well-known member
I think this is a basic misunderstanding of sports outside the US. I also think it actually makes more sense for youth clubs to get compensated for the players they produce which means more kids get to play for minimal expense as opposed to parents paying thousands.
HelenaHandBasket
Well-known member
Youth clubs in the US have zero incentive to produce top quality players compared to other countries.
Some orgs get huge and have a lot of teams subsidizing the top. Like with most things in youth sports, there are levels. If you’re ECNL with options to go to a different org, and you don’t want to pay full dues, guess what happens.
HelenaHandBasket
Well-known member
Exactly the point.
You guys are all hitting at pieces of this, but within the US soccer system cronyism is rampant and creates a huge barrier that actually limits participation due to financial requirements/pay-to-play systems. Also, a who you know good old boy system within the national team development pipeline stifles many from even getting a sniff at an opportunity.
Other sports in the US have continued to rise in popularity due to similar investment strategies as other countries have utilized for futbol. Place basketball courts or football fields in impoverished areas and show that it’s a way out of squalor. Lift up examples of guys that came from nothing and now make millions. Although there is great stories from this USMNT, most of the examples aren’t coming from kids trying to lift themselves and their family out of poverty, but rather kids with parents who sacrificed everything to pay for the opportunity.
Other sports in the US have continued to rise in popularity due to similar investment strategies as other countries have utilized for futbol. Place basketball courts or football fields in impoverished areas and show that it’s a way out of squalor. Lift up examples of guys that came from nothing and now make millions. Although there is great stories from this USMNT, most of the examples aren’t coming from kids trying to lift themselves and their family out of poverty, but rather kids with parents who sacrificed everything to pay for the opportunity.
mthoopsfan
Well-known member
Only 49 million watched the last US game. 7 more million also watched at one point.
"Fox announced Tuesday that 30 million people tuned in to watch the United States fall to Belgium 4-1 in Seattle. The audience peaked at just shy of 37 million people. That made it the most-watched soccer telecast in American history.
By comparison, the NBA Finals earlier this summer averaged more than 20 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, which made it the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998. The deciding Game 5 of that series averaged 24.5 million viewers. [More watched the Super Bowl.]
NBC and Telemundo announced on Tuesday that about 12 million people watched the game in Spanish, too. That put it on track to be the highest total audience for a Team USA soccer match in Spanish-language media history."
sports.yahoo.com
"Fox announced Tuesday that 30 million people tuned in to watch the United States fall to Belgium 4-1 in Seattle. The audience peaked at just shy of 37 million people. That made it the most-watched soccer telecast in American history.
By comparison, the NBA Finals earlier this summer averaged more than 20 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, which made it the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998. The deciding Game 5 of that series averaged 24.5 million viewers. [More watched the Super Bowl.]
NBC and Telemundo announced on Tuesday that about 12 million people watched the game in Spanish, too. That put it on track to be the highest total audience for a Team USA soccer match in Spanish-language media history."
World Cup 2026: 30 million people watched USMNT-Belgium, making it the most-watched soccer match in U.S. history
Belgium rolled past the United States 4-1 on Monday night in Seattle to reach the quarterfinals.
AZhoopsMTfootballfan
Well-known member
Is our youth development superior in baseball? You have families spending $10,000 every year on travel ball in the US only to have a kid from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela that spent close to nothing on youth baseball beat their kid out to get to the MLB.
Is this a joke? The US lost in a absolute battle in the world baseball classic championship to Venezuela this spring. American youth baseball development is as solid as can be. We play travel ball for our 2 boys... it doesn't cost $10,000. It may some places, i don't know. MLB invests a ton of resources in Dominican Republic for their youth development... because there is talent, and... they need the investment because its a 3rd world country.
American youth baseball is very healthy, and you're seeing significantly revitalized youth programs nationwide. Little league is at record enrollment numbers nationally. We go to travel tournaments all spring, and they are very full registration. For us, the furthest we travel is spokane and billings. We host fundraisers for families to participate in if they have a hard time affording dues. We encourage all of the kids to play others sports throughout the year to help them gain competitiveness and athleticism.
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Agree. I’ll just add that the Dominicans we see on TV playing in MLB are a tiny fraction of a group that grew up playing in fully funded MLB academies with incredible facilities where they deal in 11yo shortstops. All 30 MLB teams have such academies in the DR, most within a small radius east of Santo Domingo. They’re given an education (there are debates about the quality, but our own public schools might take a gander inward), but they train all day. The image many of us have of an MLB scout stumbling upon a Dominican power hitting infielder in the jungle with a cardboard glove and a stick for a bat and putting him on a plane to Miami is largely outdated.
I’m not sure the youth baseball system in the DR is aspirational for the US.
