On Monday, the arbitrator assigned to the complicated grievance filed by US Club Soccer, American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) and three of its associated clubs, ruled in favor of US Youth Soccer and five of their state organizations.

The grievance, which was filed in August and reported here, challenged what the filing parties felt were discriminatory practices in treating US Club Soccer teams differently than teams from USYS state associations on issues that include: denial of insurance coverage for USYS teams attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; denial of a team’s use of their USYS player cards, rosters, etc. when attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; and charging US Club Soccer teams an extra insurance fee for playing in a USYS sanctioned tournament.

The decision stated: “The Arbitrator finds nothing in the USSF bylaws, policies, or resolutions to support the proposition that Organization Members must afford the same benefits to their players or teams when participating in another organization’s activities as apply when the player or team is playing within their own organization.”

MYSA has recently agreed to sanction all 2010 National Sports Center (NSC) Tournaments but for one in which NSC did not request sanctioning. This olive branch extended by both the NSC and MYSA made part of the decision “inapplicable” according to a statement by the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association (WYSA):

A number of the claims alleged in the grievance also focused on events related to the 2009 USA Cup at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota, and actions of the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association, the North Dakota Youth Soccer Association, and the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association. The arbitrator made certain rulings that only applied if the 2010 USA Cup is not sanctioned by a US Youth Soccer State Association, but since the 2010 USA Cup applied for and was approved by the MYSA, those provisions of the arbitrator’s order are inapplicable. At the same time, the arbitrator specifically held that US Club Soccer and AYSO had not proven that Wisconsin’s, Minnesota’s or North Dakota’s policies violated any applicable Federation rules, and the challenges to the policies of those State Associations were all denied.

The Arbitrator did take exception with a statement in a letter from WYSA president Peter Mariahazy. The ruling stated that the Wisconsin Youth Soccer executive should issue a communication to its members clarifying the decisions ruled on by the arbitrator. According to an apology letter posted yesterday by Mariahazy, he had sent an email to the organization’s members last July which stated several inaccuracies. Mariahazy had said that its member clubs could not participate in the Schwan’s USA Cup, which was not true. “It is important for WYSA to make it clear to all of its members that they are completely free to participate in any games, events or activities,” said Mariahazy in his apology letter. “The policies and insurance policies of WYSA do not have the intent or the effect of prohibiting any WYSA teams from participating in any non-US Youth Soccer activities.”

Madison Soccer Central is reporting that a spokesperson for US Club Soccer issued a statement to its members in which it said it was “generally disappointed” with the decision and that the group was considering appealing the decision to the U.S. Soccer Federation Board of Directors, which it has the right to do within 10 days.

“We want to emphasize that US Club Soccer will continue to follow the (principles) on which it was founded, which include allowing youth soccer players and their clubs to compete freely and easily in any USSF-sanctioned open competition with full membership rights and insurance coverage,” the US Club Soccer statement concluded. “We are disappointed that USYS and some of its state associations continue to feel that the best way to ‘compete’ is to make playing soccer more difficult and more expensive for youth soccer players. We commend the USYS states that have not employed such tactics, and will continue to lobby the USSF and the other states to do the right thing.”

Candace Daley, Executive Director MYSA, talked to IMS on Wednesday but said she preferred to not make a comment about the ruling at this time. She did state that she would be meeting with President Bob Poretti last night and a statement will be issued to its members and posted on the MYSA website on Thursday.

Steven Olson, COO of the NSC, also declined comment at this time but said he may have a comment in the near future. Olson did optimistically reemphasize that MYSA has agreed to sanction the Schawn’s USA Cup for 2010.

IMS has learned that the Grievance filed last August by US Club Soccer against United States Youth Soccer and its affiliate clubs, Minnesota Youth Soccer Association (MYSA), Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association (WYSA), North Dakota Youth Soccer Association (NDSA) as well as the South Carolina and Tennessee Youth Soccer Associations will be heard this Thursday December 17, 2009, in Chicago IL.

The grievance states that US Club Soccer, the Minnesota Thunder Academy, Coast Futbol Alliance and Vitesse Soccer Inc. have complaint with the previous stated parties. The grievance is to challenge what the parties feel are discriminatory practices in treating US Club Soccer teams differently than teams from USYS state associations on issues that include: denial of insurance coverage for USYS teams attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; denial of a team’s use of their USYS player cards, rosters, etc. when attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; and charging US Club Soccer teams an extra insurance fee for playing in USYS sanctioned tournaments.

The grievance against MYSA, WYSA and NDYSA is in direct connection with the issues brought to light earlier this year concerning the National Sports Center’s (NSC) tournaments and those three state youth soccer associations’ attempt to convince teams that they would not be covered by the 3 association’s insurance nor would state association passes be honored at any of the NSC tournaments.

For more details on the grievance please see the original IMS article that links to the actual grievance filed by US Club Soccer and the original articles at IMS explaining the issues between the NSC and MYSA.

IMS will continue to update you on this situation.

For more information on US Club Soccer please see this earlier article I published at IMS on What is US Club Soccer.

Inside Minnesota Soccer has learned that US Club Soccer has filed a grievance with United States Youth Soccer and its state arms, Minnesota Youth Soccer Association, Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association, North Dakota Youth Soccer Association as well as the South Carolina and Tennessee Youth Soccer Associations.

The grievance states that US Club Soccer, the Minnesota Thunder Academy, Coast Futbol Alliance and Vitesse Soccer Inc. have complaint with the previous stated parties. The grievance is to challenge what the parties feel are discriminatory practices in treating US Club Soccer teams differently than teams from USYS state associations on issues that include: denial of insurance coverage for USYS teams attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; denial of a team’s use of their USYS player cards, rosters, etc. when attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; and charging US Club Soccer teams an extra insurance fee for playing in a USYS sanctioned tournament.

In reading through the document, IMS has found that the grievance against MYSA, WYSA and NDYSA is in direct connection with the issues brought to light earlier this year concerning the National Sports Center’s tournaments. As was reported here at IMS in January and again in March, by changing their sanctioning body from MYSA to US Club Soccer, MYSA, WYSA and NDYSA sent out letters concerning the new sanctioning body and telling its clubs that they would not be covered by the association’s insurance. The letters also stated that state association passes would not be honored at any of the NSC tournaments, which the NSC denied in a statement of their own.

According to USSF rules, the grievance will now be assigned to an independent hearing examiner, who will hold a grievance hearing in approximately 90 days.

Below is the statement from US Club Soccer. Please note the link to the actual 208-page document.

Aug. 26, 2009
OFFICIAL NOTICE: USSF grievance filed
On August 17, US Club Soccer, along with AYSO and several other member clubs, filed a USSF grievance against US Youth Soccer (USYS) and several state associations.The thrust of the grievance is to challenge what we feel are discriminatory practices in treating US Club Soccer teams differently than teams from USYS state associations on issues that include: denial of insurance coverage for USYS teams attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; denial of a team’s use of their USYS player cards, rosters, etc. when attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; and charging US Club Soccer teams an extra insurance fee for playing in a USYS sanctioned tournament. Pursuant to USSF rules, the grievance will now be assigned to an independent hearing examiner, who will hold a grievance hearing in approximately 90 days. To view a copy of the grievance, click here. While we will not comment further publically on the merits of the case, we will keep you posted as the grievance moves forward. Bill Sage, Executive Director US Club Soccer

Hello everyone. I’m back from a week’s vacation. IMS has been going for 9 months and this is really the first significant break I’ve taken. The time off was nice but a lot happened while I was gone. Let’s try to briefly catch up.

US Club Soccer Nationals
Back in early July the U-17 SHATTUCK-ST. MARY’S  beat FC Pride 92 Elite, 2-0 in the US Club Soccer’s regional final in Indianapolis. The Shattuck-St. Mary’s U-17 boys traveled to Virginia Beach this past week to compete for the national championship at the Super Group level at US Club Soccer’s 2009 National Cup VIII Finals.

While at the finals, US Club Soccer did a feature article on the team which can be found HERE.

The team beat PSC Coppa Pele  3-0; they played Jersey Shore BOCA Alliance, beating this side as well by a score of 4-1, and finally drawing 1-1 with Mundial from the Colorado Fusion. This placed SSM into the finals in a game against Toras from FC Irvine. The team played well and tied the game 2-2 which forced the contest into a shootout. Sadly, SSM lost in penalties so the final goes down as a 3-2 to Toras. Congratulations to Shattuck St. Mary’s U-17 team for taking it all the way to the National Finals.

MYSA State Tournament
While this tournament has just finished up I don’t have results yet but will bring them to you as soon as the full list is posted.

US Loses to Mexico 5-0
Just a few thoughts on this game from over a week ago. I watched this Gold Cup Final on TV tuned to Univision from a bar in a hotel in Lutsen, Minnesota with computer volume up on my laptop where I was online. The website Veetle was carrying the FSC stream.  The internet connection was a bit slow and choppy so it was nice to get some US commentary and watch the game on the bar’s TV. Isn’t technology great!

The game itself was embarrassing and I actually thought the US played fantastic the first half. But our B-team just couldn’t get the job done in the end. If you look at the overall tournament it was a huge success for these mainly MLS players. What worries me about this loss is the total blowout and the confidence this gives the Mexican team after being on the ropes for so long and not winning in the US against the US for many years. Of course the Mexican team knows this isn’t our first team, but confidence in sports is a funny thing. I think this is true even for the fan as I was reminded by a friend this past weekend who has lived in Mexico City for 20 years. He was in town this week and asked me what was going on with the US team and the embarrassing 5-0 loss. He said everyone in Mexico City was ecstatic and ready to take it to the Americans again on August 12th. I don’t think the psychological effect of this win on Mexico, its players or its fans can be overstated. This just makes the job all the harder as we travel to Azteca.

Note: This is an afternoon game but we will be having a watch party at the Sweetwater. Try to get the time off and come on down to the biggest US v Mexico match in a long, long time.

Max Lipset and the Kitsap Pumas
As you know we’ve been following Max Lipset and his first year PDL team the Kitsap Pumas. Max reported to me this weekend that they lost a heartbreaker 2-1 to Ventura County Fusion. Max scored the only goal for Kitsap on what he called one of the better goals he’s ever scored. The game was played in Laredo, Texas in 110°  heat.  Unfortunately, the referee awarded a very controversial late free kick in the 92nd minute of the game which Ventura converted for the game winner.

Congratulations to Max Lipset for a great first season with his Kitsap Pumas.

Minnesota Twin Stars
The Minnesota Twin Stars made it all the way to the NPSL semifinals on Friday evening. Unfortunately they lost to a very good Sonoma County Sol. The Sol won the 2009 NPSL National Championship 2-1 over the Erie Admirals on Saturday evening.

In Friday night’s game against the Twin Stars, things weren’t going too badly for the team at half. Minnesota had equalized. Richard Kamara got the Twin Stars (5-3-1) back into the match with a stellar goal. The defender controlled the ball about 35 yards out on the left side in the 45th minute and let loose with a drive, and his blast beat Sol keeper Juan Sosa to the upper left corner, putting the team back in the match at halftime.

“That kind of shook us a little bit,” Trevor Hurst of Sonoma reported, “and then they came out firing in the second half.”

Indeed, Midwest champion St. Paul made five changes at halftime and switched from a 4-5-1 into a 4-3-3 – though one of the changes was forced as Kamara suffered a hamstring injury on his long-range goal – and last year’s NPSL runners-up made things interesting early in the second half.

The 63rd minute proved to be a turning point.

Twin Stars midfielder Jean Viardin received a yellow card for a tackle and another for dissent and was sent off. St. Paul coach Youssef Darbaki said the card for dissent was a matter of a misunderstanding – he said Viardin pointed to his head and/or eyes in an attempt to ask an official if he saw the play, but the official interpreted the motion as an obscene gesture.

“The red card really killed us,” said Darbaki, who added that he had a substitute ready to go and was moments away from taking Viardin off. “After that, it really wasn’t our day.”

The Sol finished off the victory by scoring twice in a 4-minute span. Shawn Percell’s conversion in the 76th gave all three of Sonoma County’s starting forwards a goal on the night, and substitute Tyler Hurst headed in Lafon’s free kick in the 80th.

Sonoma County Sol
2 -  2 – Final 4
St. Paul Twin Stars
1 – 0 – Final 1
Sonoma County Sol – Trevor Hurst (Andrew Bailey) 12
Sonoma County Sol – Eric Lafon (Trevor Hurst) 29
St. Paul Twin Stars – Richard Kamara 45
Sonoma County Sol – Shawn Percell (Christopher Daly) 76
Sonoma County Sol – Tyler Hurst (Eric Lafon) 80

SONOMA COUNTY SOL: Juan Sosa; Mickey Daly, Adam Shields, Scott Preckwinkle (Norm Crochetiere 59), Lee Sandwina; Eric Larsen (Steven Browne 46), Christopher Daly, Andrew Bailey (Tyler Hurst 59); Trevor Hurst (Mike Nikol 81), Shawn Percell (Tim Maycock 78), Eric Lafon.
ST. PAUL TWIN STARS: Jules Alex Nyom; Richard Kamara (Pedro Amusu 46, John Matacjek 78), Anthony Keller, Juan Fiz, Phong Vang; Adama Diawara, Edi Burs (Karim Darbaki 46), Igor Stosic, Kelly Masango (Greg Rosenthal 46), Isaac Kannah (Jean Viardin 34); Keido Pour (Karmil Solarim 46).

Saves: SCS (Sosa) 3; SPTS (Nyom) 8. Shots: SCS 20, SPTS 11. Corner kicks: SCS 1, SPTS 4. Fouls: SCS 9, SPTS 12. Offsides: SCS 2, SPTS 2. Discipline: SCS – Daly (38, caution); SPTS – Kamara (19, caution), Darbaki (55, caution), Viardin (63, caution), Viardin (63, caution), Viardin (63, ejection, second caution), Diawara (90, caution).

Thanks to NSPL and Eric Anderson of Madison Soccer Central for the story.

Minnesota Thunder
The Thunder played the Portland Timbers in a near repeat of last month’s home game at the NSC. Portland came into the game with a USL record breaking 17-game undefeated streak. They left after 90 minutes with the streak unbroken and extended to 18 games. However, Minnesota being behind 1-0 since the 55th minute when Ryan Pore scored for Portland, continued to play strong  and just like last month’s visit came from behind in the waning moments of the game. In the 90th minute, Chris Clements was pulled down in the box while going for a header and the ref blew his whistle for a spot kick which was coolly converted by Ricardo Sanchez for the draw. The final was MN 1-1 Portland. A good crowd of nearly 4,000 watched the game on a beautiful Saturday evening.

The team now goes on the road for an extended 5-game road trip and doesn’t return to the NSC until August 27th against the Cleveland City Stars. Minnesota currently sit in 9th place of 11 teams, one place above Austin. The Aztex had 2 points deducted from the USL-1 club this past week as the league determined that they had played an ineligible player in a game where he should have been sat out for a suspension.

FINALS

U-12 MINNESOTA THUNDER JRS 97S BLUE Loses final 3-0 to U12 SOCKERS CUP TEAM

U17 SHATTUCK-ST. MARY’S  Wins 2-0 in Final against FC Pride 92 Elite

FINALS

* U-12 MN THUNDER JRS. 97E BLUE Wins Final 2-0 to St. Louis Scott Gallagher United

U-15 MN THUNDER ELITE 94 WHITE  Lose 2-0 to Sparks  in final

* = Team that was disqualified by MYSA in USYSA Regional tournament

Congratulations to Andy Kassa’s U-12 Minnesota Thunder Academy Regional US Club Soccer Champions. They will now move onto the National Championships.

Teams from 10 states – Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia – have traveled to Indianapolis, The Circle City, for a chance to capture a regional championship and, for the U-13 through U-17 teams, to advance to the National Cup VIII Finals in Virginia Beach, Va., later this summer.

The Minnesota Thunder Academy has 7 teams participating, Eden Prairie has one team and Shattuck-St. Mary’s has two teams.

U-16 Boys Premier: Minnesota Thunder Academy Elite 93 Blue

As of Sunday morning, here are the win-losses from teams from the states participating:

Indiana:  3-7-3
Illinois:  20-20-6
Kansas:  0-2-0
Kentucky:  1-1-0
Minnesota:  7-3-0
Missouri:  6-3-0
New York:  0-3-1
Ohio:  5-4-0
Pennsylvania:  2-0-0
West Virginia:  0-1-0

As you can see, there is quite a bit of parity among the states. Minnesota, Missouri and Pennsylvania seem to be at the top of the pack, but we’ll see how the standings change after today’s games.

Go HERE for schedules and results. I’ll try to give a team-by-team report on Tuesday after the teams have played all three first round games.

UPDATE ON INTERPLAY ISSUES
A statement issued on 04/24/09 by Roger Stawski, Acting Executive Director and Steve Olson, Chief Operating Officer of NSC

This weekend the National Sports Center will operate the NSC Spring Cup, the first of six soccer tournaments for the 2009 season.

All six NSC tournaments have received approval from the United States Soccer Federation as unrestricted international tournaments and are sanctioned through US Club Soccer.

As an operator of international tournaments, the NSC is bound by the rules of FIFA and the USSF with regard to proper identification and protection of players.  Although the requirements for 2009 are the same as they have been for past years, some confusion on this topic has arisen.  In order to make this issue clear, please take time to review the following information with your members.

US Club Soccer teams:
The issue at hand does not affect teams with US Club Soccer pass cards.

In order to participate, simply bring your US Club Soccer pass cards and official roster to the tournament. All teams with US Club Soccer pass cards are insured for all USSF-sanctioned events, including those at the National Sports Center.

For those teams interesting in joining US Club Soccer, please contact your respective Membership Services Representative.

For all other USSF Member Organizations (USYS, AYSO, SAY):

Player Identification:
»  The NSC accepts ALL player identification cards issued by Member Organizations of US Soccer per their directives.  Please review this document from the General Counsel of US Soccer.
»  The majority of US Youth Soccer State Associations allow the use of your USYS pass card at other Member Organization’s tournaments.  However, if your USYS State Association has chosen, at their discretion, to restrict the use of player passes, the NSC will provide the NSC player pass form and produce player identification cards for your team based on information provided on the USYS Team Player Information Form.   See NSC tournament websites for details on this process:  Required Forms or Team Central/Team Checklists.
»  SAY and AYSO affiliates should follow the policies of their respective organizations relative to the issuance of pass cards.
»  ALL AFFILIATES will complete an on-line roster per the instructions on each tournament’s website.

Player Protection:
»  The NSC will provide insurance coverage, at no cost, to all teams/players requiring secondary medical insurance for participation, if directed by their state associations.
»  The NSC will provide liability insurance coverage through the US Club Soccer policy which is written by Bollinger.  The certificate of insurance is posted on the respective tournament websites.

In addition, please ensure you comply with the tournament and travel regulations of your Member Organization, be it US Club Soccer, USYS, AYSO or SAY.

Inside Minnesota Soccer asks: What is US Club Soccer and will it change the face of youth soccer as we know it?

I have to be honest, I didn’t know much about US Club Soccer until Minnesota Youth Soccer Association (MYSA) and the National Sports Center (NSC) entered into their highly publicized feud over schedules for Schwan’s USA Cup held in July. As documented in past stories on Inside Minnesota Soccer, MYSA seemed to stop communicating with NSC. NSC, which is overseen by the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission, then allowed US Club Soccer to sanction Schwan’s USA Cup and all 2009 tournaments hosted by NSC. MYSA had sanctioned the tournaments for the previous 24 years.

With all of this US Club Soccer talk, I began wondering what the organization is and why it was started. US Club Soccer was happy to share their story with me.  They put me in touch with Bill Sage, Executive Director and CEO of US Club Soccer.  Sage was Chief Administrative Officer of the United States Soccer Federation. From that position, he oversaw eight Federation departments, including membership services, coaching education, international games, legal, finance and referees. Prior to the USSF, Sage spent five years as Executive Vice President of Major League Soccer, where he was responsible for all league operations. In other words, Sage has been around the block a few times in regard to US Soccer, it’s laws and hierarchy. The man understands the landscape of soccer in the US as well as anyone.

I sympathize with people not associated with youth soccer. They love the game but their eyes often roll up into their heads when they hear the maze of soccer organizations, leagues and their parent organizations with acronyms like: USSF, USYSA, AYSO, USOC, ODP, MYSA. etc. I coached for a good many years and never did learn all the nuances of youth and club soccer organizations. To say it’s confusing is an understatement and perhaps one of the reasons we often get mired down in the bureaucracy of youth soccer instead of putting the players’ development first and foremost.

Bill Sage understands this and addressed the political issues in youth soccer when he spoke to me.

“I think it’s too bad that soccer in this country has become so political and that soccer organizations, -the grownups- lose sight of the importance of this being a game,” said Sage. “We need to allow youth soccer players access to all sorts of opportunities and not throw up a bunch of roadblocks to limit those opportunities and we, (US Club Soccer) don’t agree with that. Hopefully we can move forward and keep the kids’ best interest at heart.”

There’s a reason the word “Club” is in the title of US Club Soccer. They truly believe the club and not the organization is the key to the success and development of a player and in recognizing that, do everything they can to make the club’s job as easy as possible to accomplish the goal of allowing youth soccer players to achieve their maximum potential.

US Club Soccer addresses these very issues in their purpose statement: We have spent too much time governing competitive soccer rather than encouraging its growth. The business of the day-to-day development of top youth players rests with the competitive soccer club.  A business-friendly environment must be created to develop programs and services which assist the competitive club and player, provide a minimum of rules and regulations to assure basic fairness, and allow clubs the flexibility to build programs that meet their needs.  For example, in all US Club Soccer sanctioned competitions, players will be allowed to “play up” in age if their club so chooses, and travel permissions will not be required to attend events in other states.

So first off, let’s try to demystify the hierarchy of youth soccer in this country, as it’s different from other parts of the world where the professional club is king and provides youth soccer academies and reserve teams where players are developed under the wing of the club. Because we don’t have the history and infrastructure here in the US, we’ve developed a different model. Sage explained that because there is a World Cup every 4 years, FIFA came to be and with that a national organization was formed for each country. The United States Soccer Federation is our umbrella organization here in the US. He also explained that the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) also has a role to play and that USSF must fall under the USOC with something called the Amateur Sports Act. Because soccer is an Olympic sport, the USOC is mandated with the purpose of developing athletes to compete in the sport for the US.

Sage stated, “The original focus of US Soccer was not soccer development. Over time, state associations developed and US Youth Soccer developed as an umbrella organization overseeing the state associations. In the USSF bylaws there’s a provision for a state youth and state adult organization for each state in the US.” He further explained, “These organizations grew on their own and that’s all there really was. Because of the language in the USSF bylaws, primarily because of federal law and USOC rules, the USSF would also have to be open to other member affiliates as well.”

AYSO was the first organization to test those waters, being admitted in the mid 90′s as a National Association of the United States Soccer Federation. US Club Soccer followed in 2001 and was also recognized as a National Association. Although the two organizations are very different, each has their place as Sage explained, “AYSO has a motto which is, “Everybody Plays,” which is great but very much recreation oriented. We wanted to foster the development of the competitive club soccer in the United States.”

Sage and US Club Soccer have strong feelings about putting clubs first and the power that state organizations have over clubs and therefore the players.

“There’s been a huge shift in the structure of how soccer is organized in this country. While the state associations will continue to exist there’s now a club model where the better players participate,” explained Sage. He said the club model is now embracing recreational soccer and adult soccer as well.  “There’s a market for adult soccer at clubs. So theoretically, you could play within the same club from the time you’re 4 years old until you’re 40 or older.  That’s going to take a long time to emerge but that’s really what’s happening.“

Sage says developing US Club Soccer has not necessarily been an easy job because of the power hold of state associations. “State associations historically have a monopoly and I think anybody who has a monopoly doesn’t want to lose it,” explained Sage.  “We’ve had a lot of battles and issues with the state associations as have many clubs. The underlying premise of the USSF and the USOC is that a player should be able to play to their highest ability and they should be able to play where they want and when they want and all this regulation doesn’t belong in sport. It’s counterproductive and counter intuitive in terms of what soccer really ought to be as a sport in this country.”

Sage emphasized that US Club soccer does have rules concerning membership, sanctioning programs and the safety of its players.  He explained,  “We recognize that soccer is very different in different parts of the country.  In southern California you can run a 12-month program and you clearly can’t do that in Minnesota. Inversely, indoor soccer has a different place in Minnesota that it does in Texas. So there are a lot of local variances that need to be taken into consideration. We feel we need to lower the decision-making process to the people that are closest to the players and their consumers rather than have state-run organizations making those decisions and that is the healthiest thing for the game as a whole.“

US Club Soccer claims that they are committed to minimizing the red tape and paperwork often associated with youth soccer associations. Their website states that rostering rules are designed to provide clubs with maximum flexibility in player development by allowing players to move freely between the club’s teams. It also states that custom team rosters can be created for special events and unlike youth soccer associations, no signatures or other approvals are required to make these moves.

“The thought that somebody needs to get permission from a state administrator to go from Minnesota to Wisconsin is crazy. There’s no rationale for that at all!
Bill Sage

I asked Sage about these claims and what specifically US Club Soccer could do for the high level player in order to help their game over what a state association could do for a player.  He said that US Club Soccer players don’t have travel permissions. “The thought that somebody needs to get permission from a state administrator to go from Minnesota to Wisconsin is crazy,” exclaimed Sage. “There’s no rationale for that at all! Likewise, if a 14-year-old has a lot of talent and is capable of playing a game every once in a while with some 15-year-old kids there shouldn’t be restrictions other than physical issues that prohibits a player from playing at their highest potential. You shouldn’t have to have the same roster all the time and likewise you should be able to move an A team player to the B team and move players around to give them the best experience possible to fulfill their competitive abilities.”

Sage continued to explain the US Club advantage. “There are also a lot of other rules and restrictions concerning sanctioning tournaments and what people have to do to play in the State Cup,” stated Sage.  “I think everybody feels that there are too many games that youth soccer players are involved with and if you look at the demographics there’s a significant drop off in soccer registration at the age of 14. For some of these players they just burn out because they’ve been playing too much organized soccer. Some chose to do other things or play other sports, but some of them are just beat down by the system. We would rather have them play up to their highest level of potential.”

I asked Sage what he thought youth soccer will look like 10 years from now and what changes we will see. He said, “I think clubs will continue to grow and continue to be the vehicles in which competitive players develop. I also think clubs will start having more components. State associations will always be around and always provide an important service, but more and more of the better players and players in general will gravitate towards the club program. The state association model doesn’t really lend itself to facilitating that same kind of growth.”

Sage concluded by saying, “US Club Soccer feels very good about our reason for being and our rationale for what we’re doing, We know we are going to grow over time and are very committed to the club model.”

US Club Soccer currently has over 2,300 club and league team members. They currently run 9 state cup competitions, a National Cup Competition with regionals, a National Collegiate Showcase, regional leagues and they also sanction tournaments.