NCAA and The Beautiful Game

            I would doubt that anyone that has been involved with soccer for any length of time in the US has not had to deal in some way with NCAA rules.  Regardless of whether or not your team is a collegiate team you have probably had to make sure that you are not breaking any NCAA commandments.  We take precautions to make sure that our youth players are not involved in situations where their NCAA eligibility might be affected.  Youth teams, high school teams, club teams, summer amateur teams, indoor teams, and more need to toe the line for an organization that clearly doesn’t understand the game like they should.

One question I raise is “should the NCAA have so much control over this game or should they lighten up and do what is best for the sport and the athletes”?  For instance, the collegiate soccer season is really rather short when compared with how the game is played everywhere else in the world.  To answer this they allow a “mini” spring soccer season that is really just tossing a marshmallow to a bear in a zoo.  (I know, dumb analogy.)  Not too many teams take this very seriously.   I believe the coaches use this little bit of time to keep their players in shape so they’ll return after the summer in better shape.  If asked I would bet that they would prefer to be able to have real serious competition during this spring season.

Another question has to do with developing players for higher levels.  It’s rare to see a US player be successful in the professional ranks outside of the US after a four year stint in college.  The ones that do are competing against seasoned veteran players of 20 or younger who have played professionally for a few years already, playing for 9-10 months per year as opposed to the American kid who only plays for 4-6 months per year.  It takes some time to work into that level of fitness.  Will the US ever make a serious challenge in the World Cup if we focus on collegiate players?  Naw. 

One problem as I see it is that because some athletic programs have had serious breaches of the NCAA rulebook (usually in American football and men’s basketball) all the other sports suffer from misdirected wrath that intends to keep collegiate sports clean, holy and pure.  Another issue is the thought that all sports should fall into the same type of season.  This just doesn’t work with soccer.  Baseball gets a raw deal on this one as well.  Teams in northern tier states have to deal with weather issues that challenge them every season since they are forced to start in the spring and be finished before the summer break.  More and more baseball programs appear to be going under.

Do I have a solution?  Not really.  But I think the dialogue for soccer needs to begin.  Those of us who love this game need to speak out a little more and see if we can improve the situation.  Personally I’d like to see the NCAA lighten up and improve the sports they represent in a way that makes sense.  Either that or we need to build up academy or non-NCAA amateur leagues.

*Would love you to share your opinion.