08/02/2026
YOU'RE DOING IT ALL WRONG AMERICA
With some of our club's top teams now being U13 & U14, we have of course lost players to bigger clubs offering shiny leagues. It's natural in the youth soccer ecosytem, it happens every year, and with the age band changes it has been a slighter deeper, more painful cut this year. But players do come & go, plus stronger players or the most ambitious parents jump for the shiny leagues mega-clubs have bought there way into. I don't blame families for trying other environments, or for simply trying other patches of grass because I know it is generally never greener, it is just a different shade of grass. And often it actually shines the light brighter on our program once they see how poorly run some clubs are. God forbid they actually hear about a convincing philosophy with facilities & programming built around it, or that they ever hear from the owner.
But what I have been shocked by hearing this summer is that some of those players that departed for MLS or ECNL teams are practising 5-7 times per week. When I heard that 1) I was shocked because I think I know better, and 2) I started to do my research because I always need to remember that maybe I don't...
Do you realize how many times per week a pro academy in the UK practices below U17? From U17 they generally are full-time, because kids can leave school at 16. But below U17 it's generally 3x per week. I'm talking about Premier League clubs.
And don't hit me up with "it's pre-season", because even when you're in-season you'll still be doing at least 4x per week, plus other sessions occasionally.
Do you know why you're doing that many sessions? MONEY. That's it, that's all... Because with so many sessions the club can
1) pay the coach more, which helps with retention of what I agree are generally very good coaches, and
2) so they can warrant the stupid amount of money they're charging you to be on a team by saying "look at how much work we put into your child".
While those clubs and coaches consume your earnings that you could be investing into a college fund, you're burning out your kid.
If you think I'm wrong, if you think the Premier League club's are wrong, and you are confident that these US youth mega-clubs are right... check how well the US is doing internationally, which is consistently poorly on the men's side, and increasingly less well on the women's side. You might want to reflect a little. With the continued growth of the pay-to-play model in the last 20+ years, your international standing has flat-lined or dropped.
I was born in England but I am a proud American. We have all the resources to get it right, and to do so much better. I am amazed how many American families just blindly pay a fortune to have their kid worked and worked and all for what... a very low % chance of a D2 or lower scholarship or partial.
Oh, and if you are not concerned with burnout because you are confident your super legit big big club, with multiple technical, athletic, welfare, etc "directors", knows what they're doing. You might want to check out US Soccer's recommendations... which funnily enough, also recommend 3x per week at those older ages
https://www.soccerwire.com/soccer-blog/best-practices-for-youth-soccer-player-development-avoid-burnout-foster-creativity-more/
5-7x per week at 12 or 13 years old! SMDH!
Coach Neil Marshall, Dallas Legends
[stepping off the soap box now] Your turn...
