English soccer has a 24-level structure. The highest being the Premier League and the lowest being the Bristol Downs League 4. However there every team from league 4 to the Premier League has the chance to reach the Premiership or be regulated to league 4 play. And that in itself is what I love about English soccer, the ability for any team to be champions of England.

I think this is something the USSF should take a look at. We have fairly organized leagues-USL, MLS, NPSL, and the amateur USASA. However, it wasn’t until now that a club from the USL had a chance at gaining entry to the MLS-our top league. While the near future will surely have these inclusions-the MLS dream of reaching the goal of 18 teams by 2012. The only foreseeable way to reach this level would be to include top USL teams. However even the top amateur teams would have to go through a big process to even reach “semi-pro” status.

We see a little smidgen of this in the recent inclusion of the San Francisco Glens. Recently the Glens, of the San Francisco Soccer League, have been added as a provisional member to the NPSL West.

English Soccer Opportunities:

Until I took a good look at how English soccer really works, I thought every single person that I heard that was going to England to play was literally crazy. Here was my thinking: I I would hear of guys flying over to England to try and make it professionally. To me, that was ludicrous, why would you think you could make it over there, if you couldn’t make it over here. To add another note: The MLS All-stars play a English Premiership team and most of the time, they lose.

Having taken a good look, I see why so many people try to make it over “there”. There are 24 leagues of play. That means that there are probably thousands of teams, and that is not including the Premiership. So say a player gets a try-out from 250 lower level teams. Odds are pretty good of making it there.

Most people will probably not make it to the Premiership or even the top 10 leagues of play in England. However, opportunities are high when there are 14 different levels to choose from all with 10 or more leagues, and all of those with double digit clubs in them…this time, you do the math.

I have just found out that Arsenal FC, of England, yes!! The Gunners are making a academy in Commerce City, Colorado!

What this means:

Well the clubs of England know what they are doing. In plainer terms, they know how to attract players, get players, and hopefully send players to the Big Club. While this does not significantly help American clubs such as the MLS or the higher divisions of USL, maybe these leagues can learn something from the Arsenal Academy.

]]> http://soccerdays.net/1-step-closer-to-my-dream/feed/ 0 http://soccerdays.net/the-guide-to-finding-success-in-america/ http://soccerdays.net/the-guide-to-finding-success-in-america/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:56:36 +0000 jason http://soccerdays.net/the-guide-to-finding-success-in-america/ For many young people in America, finding success is very hard. For one thing, the game is a lot different here and how it is carried out. The level of professionalism and play is different as well. For instance, in every where else except the United States like in Europe or South America, pro teams are scouting out players at a very young age for their academy system. It works like this:

• Play for a amateur club team
• Get noticed by a pro club team
• Get put on that pro team’s academy program
• Get noticed by the Senior club-hence-The Real Deal

In America we do the mumbo jumbo of playing for a rec league, play city-league, play club, maybe Police League in the middle of that, maybe ODP, then finally get on a college team. Weird and confusing structure indeed.

Here’s how to find success. If I were a parent or adviser to a parent of a child who really wanted to go pro. I would tell them to play as much soccer as possible…literally. I would advise the following:

1. Find a good city team – (ages 6 – 18) AKA Sunday League-these teams practice maybe 1 or 2x a week plus games on Sunday. Not very hard, just getting them used to it. You could probably find 2 teams in a Sunday league–one the same age and one the level up. The more soccer the better.
2. Find a good Club team(10 – 18) – Club teams are organized travel teams. The highest level is Premier or division 1. A person needs to be here by high school.
3. Join Olympic Development Program – district, region, state, hopefully national!
4. Go to as many clinics as possible i.e. camps, college camps, college ID camps, etc. etc.
5. By the latter years of high school, join a local semi-pro team or a team that competes every year in the United States Open Cup – while this team probably won’t win this cup, the exposure is good enough.
6. By the time you or your player is a Senior at high school, this player should have played almost everywhere and experienced a lot of soccer.

Hopefully at the end of that whole long ride and commitment, you or your player will have a scholarship at a 4-year University or maybe even be a draft pick – I think there were 4 guys just out of high school in this year’s MLS Superdraft… Wow – Dream that!

But lets take a wonder at why American soccer is so, lets say, middle pecking – like luke warm.

American View:

• Soccer is below Baseball, Football, Basketball
• Soccer is considered Latino in Pop culture American Views
• Soccer is new to America, we like things we made.

That is what Americans will tell you. But what is the real reason?:

• American Soccer does not have Academy Teams
• American Education systems limit soccer time
• When the average MLS player makes 10,000 Grand a year, that can’t be that inspiring.

A true Academy team allows players to develop underneath professional coaches and their guidance. While there are a handful of good amateur coaches, pro coaches are surely better. Also, these players will play other academy teams where they will be constantly competing with one another, playing with and against the cream of the crop, and develop with a strong soccer environment.

My Tips for American Soccer:

1. Obviously we need to start Academies – even if they are only Summer Academies.
2. The Olympic Development Program is great, but we could step this up.
3. Academys would be able to find and sign the world’s talent.
4. Talent will not be lost – it will be found early on and honed to its max level.
5. If anything, build more soccer schools in the U.S.

I have high hopes for the U.S. but we just need to start somewhere. Now is the time. This is the type of stuff I hope “Project 2010″ is discussing. If not, that committee is useless, do they really expect to win the World Cup??

~Jason