Bring high school into the US development system.
It doesn’t need to replace anything.
It doesn’t need to be taken over.
It doesn’t hurt anything.
Just bring it into the pyramid.
More moments like this can happen ⬇️
In 2013 I surprised Cristian Roldan at his El Rancho High School Marine Bio class to award him Gatorade HS Player of the Year. He was just named to his second U.S. World Cup roster.
@thefalse9tx@ussoccer@MLS@NFHS_Org Austin FC would be a great place to play the finals. We play in AT&T and Reliant for football. Why not an MLS Stadium for soccer.
The quality and the development can increase ten fold if US soccer and MLS decided to bring them under their development pipeline. They could have regional, state or national style tournaments/invitationals for top teams, partner with MLS for local events, use the stadiums for big games or state playoffs and even provide coaching resources to local coaches. It doesn’t need to replace the club, academy to pro method, but it can encompass all players instead of alienating it.
If a normal world, @ussoccer and @MLS would partner with high schools and the @NFHS_Org to bring playoff games and state championships to their stadiums, offer state championship teams visits, provide coaching resources, provide swag and more. But nah.
The boys session at Nebraska boys state soccer hit 7,529 (Gretna vs Lexington, Lincoln Southwest vs Omaha South).
The girls brought in 4,599 (Lincoln Pius X vs Blair, Omaha Marian vs Elkhorn South).
#nebpreps
There should be a shift in mindset regarding the end of the school year at the high school level. This isn’t college, and the reality is that many students are not yet prepared for the expectations of a college environment.
Currently, many high school students who are exempt from finals are still required to attend simply because of the financial impact that absences have on the district. They’re just showing up and sitting there for a half day doing absolutely nothing.
Stop having ‘finals’, stop giving ‘exemptions’ and simply have the kids take the end of semester exam or test.