(The original article and all of its comments can be found here.)

A line must be drawn between two camps:

Both have vastly different requirements.

This does not mean the rec soccer community' as in reserved for AYSO or its analogues.

No. This could include anyone, anywhere throughout the soccer pyramid. From those having a role in Bronze level club to Development Academy, to college, to MLS, to the National Teams themselves. And to any organization and its supporters.

What we're talking about here is a state of mind.

That, in and of itself, will be reflected in what your product is, and who it's for.

If you apprentice under a master violinist, you go to reach the maximum at the violin.

Again, you go to learn the god damn violin! You don't go for mathematics, morality, or treat it as some extra-curricular activity.

It is the curriculum! It is the passion!

This goes for both student and master, and their expectations of one another

Hopefully you can tell this is a vastly different mindset:

Here is where we have a severe problem in the soccer community.

FAR GREATER than 99% at any level fall in the recreation camp, and can't seem to distinguish between the two. Most don't even recognize, or want to recognize, this line let alone explore it.

I can accept that.

That's a huge problem and reason for this country's mediocrity.

The requirements are so different, they are essentially opposites.

These are all artifacts of the recreational state of mind (non-exhaustive of course). And that's ok for recreation.

Sure these things have a place in the professional camp, but the frequency and magnitude with which they arise along with the context is a dead giveaway on which side of the fence one resides.

If you want to pursue footballers and a field product of the highest quality, you do not apply the recreational mindset and requirements.

Doing so leads to recreational products.

And that's what we're living with. Essentially one big AYSO community operating under the guise of competitive', academy', professional'.

Now, if you don't churn out quality professionals, it doesn't necessarily mean you're in the recreation camp'. Similarly, if a quality pro happened to have come from one of your teams, that doesn't mean you're in the professional camp'.

I think the differentiator is the following:

There exist two camps:

Both have vastly different requirements.

And finally, since FAR greater than 99% at all levels are in camp #1, whatever few camp #2 people exist have enormous pressure to conform and pander to camp #1 mentality (ie mediocrity).

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The post Episode 250: Quality Pro Player Development or Recreation? People don't know the Difference. appeared first on 3four3.