It’s Official! US Soccer Academy Development is Now Forcing HS Soccer players to choose betwen their varsity team and club team
In a press release that went out nationally last week, the US Soccer Development Academy fired a major salvo at traditional HS varsity programs. The essence of the message? If you entertain any dreams of playing college soccer or even pro soccer, you need to walk away from your local HS team and play exclusively … Read more
At last! An online college recruiting service that makes sense!
If you have a youngster in HS who aspires someday to play sports in college, I do hope you had a chance to listen to the Sports Edge this AM. I had the opportunity to speak with Vish Prabhakara, the young CEO of BeRecruited.com, and I must admit that I came very impressed with how … Read more
Why Force Talented HS Soccer Players to Choose Between their School team and Travel Program?
We all know that life is full of choices – many of them quite difficult — so why put talented soccer players in an awkward spot where they have to choose between two passions? Playing for their HS team or their US Soccer Academy travel team? But that’s what’s happening with increasing frequency around the country. … Read more
Are You Okay with Public Schools Charging for Team Tryouts?
In an effort to defray the soaring costs of HS sports, I had read where some scbools in the Midwest were now charging kids a fee of $50 if they wanted to try out for a school team. As was pointed out on my radio show this AM, parents routinely fork over anywhere from $30 to … Read more
My Top Ten Sports Parenting Predictions for 2012…
So much has happened in recent years in the ever-changing world of sports parenting, that I thought I’d finish out 2011 with my Top Ten Predictions for the coming year. Here we go: 10. LL Baseball will follow the NCAA and the Nat’l HS Baseball Federation and allow only BBCOR (and of course wood) bats. … Read more
College recruiting: Be forewarned and do your homework first!
If the ultimate payoff for a young, talented, and dedicated athlete is to someday play at the collegiate level, you would think that parents would be better informed. The sad reality is that too many moms and dads sit up and fully expect scholarship offers to roll in during their kid’s senior year. Or that … Read more
A question of propriety? Should HS coaches be allowed to run travel programs for their players?
Rarely has a topic generated more comments on my show than this one – and understandably so. In short, as travel teams inexorably begin to dominate the HS landscape, more and more HS varsity coaches are beginning to see a potential payday by running their own travel programs for their players in the off-season. The … Read more
Forcing HS athletes to choose between travel teams and varsity teams….why?
So, you’re a talented HS soccer player – so good, in fact, that you’ve been playing for the elite US Soccer Academy Development team in your region. It’s a premier team that allows a soccer player to compete against other elite players, all of whom are in the hunt for a college scholarship, or even … Read more
Who Owns Youth Sports? (Part III) What Two Innovators Can Teach Parents and Coaches
By Doug Abrams Last week’s column urged adults in conventional youth-sports associations to combine the best of pre-1970s sandlot play with the best of today’s organized play. The focus was on individual coaches. “In today’s organized programs,” I wrote, “thoughtful youth-league coaches can combine the fun, spontaneity and individual autonomy of sandlot play with the … Read more
Who Owns Youth Sports? (Part II)
By Doug Abrams Last week’s column discussed the sandlot play that thrived in the United States until the late 1960s, and contrasted it with the adult-organized youth leagues that dominate today. I concluded that because children used to play sports without adult involvement most of the time, today’s children “do not need the adults to … Read more
"The Sports Edge"
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Doug Abrams
