Rhett Fordham

Triplet Dad - Investment Advisor - OWNER HOTWORX FRANKLIN-WEST - Coach - Vols - Titans - BA Eagles -FHSAdmirals

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@vol212320 Was there two weeks ago and saw Levi and Ethan play. Very excited about what Ethan brings next season! ⚾️ 🍊

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

With two kids in this currently I agree with everything.

It’s the same with baseball. Except more 💵

When I say $30-$50K a year for three kids in multiple travel sports I am not lying.

Just this summer. 2 four day baseball tournaments in Bham, a 5 day in Atlanta. This week a 4 day in Louisville while my daughter and wife (a Club Soccer coach) are in Denver for a week in a “National” soccer tournament

It’s ridiculous

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[Tennessee Athletics @Vol_Sports]

Vol Nation always shows out 🙌

For the third consecutive athletic year, Tennessee boasts the largest total attendance across football and men's and women's basketball!

Read more » https://t.co/SLVPceQoxv

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

Fire Elander

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@TennesseeVolun4 @Russell___Smith Or Bishop Boswell

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@HawkEmDownChris

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@TheCinesthetic Top 5 IMO

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@_sorrengailll 100% yes

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

Stranger Things Finale was outstanding. Amazing storytelling. Timed right. Perfect execution. Can’t believe it’s over. Can’t wait to rewatch it w/ my daughter tomorrow who threw a party tonight and had to miss it. #StrangersThings5

[Ryan Cey @RCEY28]

Some spend life chasing the perfect wave. Others become the reason someone else finds theirs

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

Unreal

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

Shohei Ohtani tonight

6.1 scoreless innings with 10 Ks on the mound

THREE HOME RUNS AT THE PLATE

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@Kreager As a Wilco middle school coach I’d vote against extending the season.

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@CollinRugg God bless you Frank 🙏🏻

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@xSynternal Amen 🙏🏻

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@DisrespectedThe ❤️❤️❤️

[Rhett Fordham @RhettFordham44]

@KennyBurchard Amen 🙏🏻 brother

[Buck Sexton @BuckSexton]

We were winning the debate, winning the culture back, Charlie was leading the charge

And they assassinated him for it.

Unspeakable evil done here. The loss for Charlie’s beautiful family is beyond words.

We wake up in a different country tomorrow.