In order to improve
international competitiveness the United States Soccer Federation has
decided to modify the club team system in a way that prevents young
athletes from playing for their high school teams.
According to a recent N.Y. Times article, this decision has caused some controversy, not
least because it highlights a conflict in youth sports between the
priorities of athletic and educational development. The club teams
claim that they are at least as committed to players’
education as the schools are.
Is there any special
educational benefit to playing sports on school teams as opposed to club
teams? One may be the experience of representing one’s school and
local community. Although college and professional
players rarely hail from the places they play for, high school athletes
generally do and, as H.G. Bissinger’s great book
Friday Night Lights illustrates, participation in these teams
makes youngsters aware of their membership in and responsibility to
local communities. Though Bissinger’s book is about football in Texas,
the experience of other high school athletes contains
similar lessons—albeit on a less intense scale.
To be sure, many (if not
most) young athletes are motivated by dreams of professional and
international play. They are willing to sacrifice the chance to
represent their schools, in the hopes of someday representing
their country. But there is an extremely small probability that their
professional dreams will be realized. Youth sports need to offer some
additional benefit to the overwhelming majority of young athletes they
serve. This is true even of development clubs
sponsored by pro teams and national federations. The question is
whether the more-focused club system in fact has educational benefits
equivalent or superior to those of high-school teams—or are they selling
out the masses in order to feed the professional
leagues?
by Heather Reid
1 comment:
While I think the transition of American soccer to a youth academy system is philosophically interesting, I do not believe that the question highlighted at the end of this post was the correct one. Whether or not a youth academy can provide education for young athletes in the same way a high school can is more of an empirical problem, the answer to which will depend largely on how the academy system is establish. Thus, understanding the foundational concepts of human development through education and participation in sport is more important than understanding which type of system is educationally stronger at first look.
I would be interested to hear answers to the following questions:
1) What outcomes constitute positive development?
2) How does/should a high school education contribute to these outcomes?
3) How does/should participation in sport contribute to these outcomes?
4) How can a sports program (high school or youth academy) be set up so as to best accomplish these outcomes?
and maybe
5) Are training for elite sport and training for life mutually exclusive such that a system set up with the purpose for training elite athletes will always fail in some other desired developmental outcome?
I look forward to hearing any ideas people may have on this subject.
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