The headline is – Arizona Club Soccer Produces Scholarship-Backed Players, but At What Cost?
For all his wily ways, Armstrong has delivered what club soccer parents paid for — victory at any cost and opportunities to play before college scouts. Former Sereno parent Jim Dougher says, “Les was verbally abusive, in my opinion. His method for motivation was fear and intimidation, a lot of threats. But he really does a good job of getting kids prepared to play at a college level.”
Competitive parents created the market for coaches like Armstrong. Now, it seems, they’re getting what they paid for.
The Ozark’s has it’s share of issues with parents and players, but I haven’t seen anything that approaches this level yet. And we’ve explored the economic facts that the cost of club soccer will NOT be recovered via college scholarship funds except for a very small minority (1%) of the players.
So as we begin a new year, what are the issues we should be exploring here in the Ozarks? Hat tip to TIAS.
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Unfortunately this coaching culture permeates youth sports both rec and competitive. Parent sanctioned abuse is perhaps the worse kind but happens at entirely too many youth sporting functions.
The justification being “that is the way the real world works”. What many parents, coaches and administrators don’t understand is that kids aren’t yet in the real world and instead of “preparing” them for the real world it destroys their self concept. In school this abuse isn’t tolerated, on the field (perhaps the best educational forum) it is more than tolerated it is accepted/expected.