Rightardia applauds the university for dumping football. Football programs are expensive especially for a private school like Hofstra with an enrolment of around 12,000 students. In addition, the Hofstra team had 84 players on it and at least half were likely on a scholarship.
Hofstra should consider converting its football program to soccer. Soccer teams are one fourth of the size of a football team and the it would cost less for the school to field both a men's and women's team than the single football team it has been supporting. The soccer equipment and uniform requirements are also substantially less than the under armor that football players have to wear.
Traditionally, US athletes are groomed in higher education to prepare for post-sports careers, and accordingly,
Division I college soccer has been the primary feeder to a professional career and the
national team.
Now, however, the new Major League Soccer
(MLS) youth academies are training, funding, and signing players early, encouraging early withdrawal
or possibly bypassing college soccer programs altogether. MLS is also turning away from
colleges and heavily recruiting more skilled foreign players to staff
the starting eleven.
MLS youth academies are a reaction to deemphasis on soccer in many colleges and universities. Soccer which is an important international sport which is not true of American football.
So although the NCAA’s stated mission revolves around athletes’ “well-being, safety, and academic progress,”
its restrictive regulations put college soccer players at a competitive
disadvantage. Many of the best players leave college, and that fewer college educated players will represent
the US on the national and international stage.
To avoid this failure of its
educational mission, the NCAA could allow Division I soccer to model
traditional development programs and:
1) relax regulations restricting
season length and coaching contact
2) allow increased student athlete
contact with the professional environment
3) increase the number
of soccer scholarships.
Individual colleges could also broaden their
vision by employing international coaches with valuable professional
qualifications, but by virtue of their cultural background, no
four-year degree.
“We cannot be Germany, we cannot be England, we cannot be Brazil,” said
Sasho Cirovski, head coach at the University of Maryland, whose Terrapin’s just won the
American College Cup for the second time in four years.
“College
soccer, which is a larger scope of the college experience in America,
must be part of the solution in any of the development programs we
have.”
The two routes, MLS academy and college, can work concurrently with
the diverse American youth to create a competitive international
influence. The academies are fully funded by MLS franchises and select
young players based on ability, as opposed to wealth or academic
standing.
The college soccer route favors the affluent with traditional
American backgrounds and values, but also provides an avenue for the
late-blooming athlete, such as the Revolution’s Steve Ralston, not even
a starter on his varsity squad, yet Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s
greatest competition for 2008 MLS MVP.
“Most of our athletes don’t mature until they’re 19, 20, 21 years old,” said
Bret Simon, head coach at Stanford University,
“it’s very hard to predict when they’re 13, 14, 15, 16, who will actually be the best players.”
But to date, the NCAA have treated soccer as the bastard
stepbrother of the big three American sports, football, baseball, and
basketball, overlooking cultural differences and imposing regulations
that restrict players from fully maturing.
The failure of this
regime is evidenced in the 1998 World Cup, when the US finished in last
place, in 2002 only advanced to the quarter finals, and in 2006 were
eliminated from the group rounds after losing to Ghana.
Currently, most American MLS players have college degrees and are selected through the
January college draft. Overseas, however, most players follow a youth club curriculum and step right into professional contracts at 16.
Hofstra should take a look at soccer. It would be able to recruit better players than its football team could because of the intense competition in the NCAA for premier division 1 football players. Many smaller colleges and universities have excellent soccer teams.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed:
feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 4763 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
