In fact, a small fraction of high school soccer players receive scholarships to play in college, a mere 1.1% at the Division 1 level. An even smaller fraction go on to play professionally. Paying to play doesn't guarantee a child will receive the best coaching, either.
This is simply ridiculous! Not only are these programs expensive, but our children are also not getting the best coaches and services with these programs. We simply need a solution!
Of course, the liberals would be screaming that a government program should be created to better help our children, but that is not nearly a good enough solution. Big government is never the answer, especially when it comes to our children. The schooling and healthcare systems in the United States is already a mess, and we do not want the same entity in charge of those programs to run our kids' sports. The last thing we need is more government anyway! Big government also makes things more confusing and challenging, which will only harm the families that try to go through the system. This government use will also drive up the national deficit even more, which will continue to harm the economy.
The other solution to this pay-to-play solution is, in my opinion, the better option. This option is the complete privatization of United States soccer. Rather than making it the government's responsibility to develop young athletes, private, professional clubs and teams should take over youth development. This idea would keep our children's sports out of politics and into the brilliant minds of entrepreneurs and managers.
Although comparisons with our lessors are painful, our European counterparts privatized their programs, which see them performing at the top level. According to Football Benchmark, private clubs and teams in England find our youth to be investments. Through rigorous academies, these children are given the best opportunity to succeed. Once they are completed with their training, the club team is then able to sell their youth to other professional teams for money! Our South American counterparts are also using the same systems as Europe, and they are equally as successful in their production of young superstars. Many of these programs in South America are in poor nations that will take any child regardless of economic status and only look for the skill of the player. This is a glaring contrast to what we currently do! I understand that there is a long-standing tradition of soccer set into the minds of the people in Europe and South America, but the United States is seeing popularity with soccer grow as more parents put their children into recreational soccer leagues every year! Although soccer in not as big in the United States currently, its rising popularity can also be seen by many corporate entitles.
Big banks and clubs recognize the profitability of soccer, with companies like Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan investing millions of dollars in similar programs overseas. Why not bring that same lucrative business to our country? We have a much larger group of youth children that would benefit from this exposed environment of clubs training them to greatness. These banks understand that there is money to be made when betting on these children's success. Many youngsters are sold to major clubs for millions of dollars just because there is a promise of them producing at the club level. Of course, this will eventually transcend to the international level when they are called up to the US team.
When privatization of anything whether it is sports or any other major industry, there are always fears that the exclusivity of the industry will become worse than it was before. However, any exclusivity of soccer will cause the risk of running these programs to go up! If there are more players to train, there is a higher chance that a few of them could be turned around for a profit at the end of their training. This means that many of these academies and clubs would be more than happy to allow many children into their programs to cause their risk to go down.
The other major fear that privatization brings is the lack of oversight by any government body. However, places all around the world are succeeding in the privatized system whether you look at Europe or South America. These programs show that key partnership deals with organizations and professional clubs helps to protect the children as many of these children are seen as an investment, which often relies on the clubs being fair and compliant to the demands of the players.
The United States has a lot to prove in Men's Soccer. We are so great at everything else we do, and we continue to do it better than everyone else. We should finally take on the task of beating everyone else at their own game. It's time to abandon the outdated pay-to-play model and give our young athletes the tools they need to succeed. If we truly want to prove our greatness on the world’s stage, the transformation must begin now.
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