Vince Sumbry over at Back of the NET wrote a really interesting article that I just had to add my two cents to. Here's the link to Vince's original article: The Back Of The NET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: "Growth of US Soccer (Inner City)": Now as a kid from the suburbs I can't speak to Vince's experience but it did make me think about something that is desperately needed in the United States if we are ever to be a power house of soccer: infrastructure. US Soccer has done a nice job with their academy system but it pails in comparison to many European countries. And to Vince's point I agree that the inner city is a fertile and untapped resource. Most club teams are accessible to middle/upper-middle class children. While inner city kids have some access the majority of clubs stay out in the burbs. We here stories about Clint Dempsey learning to play soccer on the streets of Nacadoches with local Hispanic kids in his neighborhood. I ask where those kids are? Did they have the same chances? We see more and more young Hispanic American talent playing for Mexican clubs. I want to see those kids developed in the US Soccer system and playing in MLS and Europe. I want to see them playing more for the USMNT and in top college programs.
MLS's home grown player program is a nice start but I would like to see more support and attention paid to building up the infrastructure of youth soccer and making it accessible for all. Vince's point of paying more attention to the inner city and it's development as a potential amazing talent pool for the future is spot on and something that US Soccer should be paying more attention to.
Follow Vince on Twitter at @vsumbry and as always find me at @SoccerNutBlog
Jay N
No comments:
Post a Comment