Kids in the United States are getting shortchanged of the opportunity to get involved in sports– specifically, at the youth level. We have a pay-to-play system and it’s hindering our ability to properly involve the kids who have the talent but don’t have the money.
Former Temple University and North Penn boys and girls soccer coach, David Jones, has had enough of it — and he’s doing something about it.
Jones has officially started his non-profit organization, the North Penn Sports Club, which aims to provide basic level training for sports. Its first focus is the sport of soccer. Programs are $25 for Npenn Nuggets (3-5-year-olds), $25 for Npenn Gobbets (K-2nd grade), and free for “Npenn Pulse” (3rd-6th graders).
“We have two locations; we have Fifth Street Park in Lansdale and we have School Road Park in Hatfield. And so, we’re basically just going to try and get kids out there and introduce them to the sport and find kids that aren’t playing. That’s our biggest goal. If kids can’t afford, we’re going to have people that sponsor players,” Jones said.
“You have all these kids that aren’t playing right now because we’ve either priced them out of it, they’re not in the right circles, they might have English as a second language so their parents might not speak English or good English, or they might’ve just come over to this country. And the one thing that should help them get connected is sports, and especially soccer. And money shouldn’t be the reason why they can’t play,” said Jones.
Once in a program, a participant will receive a ball, a shirt, socks, and eight weeks’ worth of one-hour sessions located at local parks and schools in Hatfield Township and Lansdale Borough.
“I want mine to be at the local school or the local playground so that it’s not like you might have to drive 15, 20, 30 minutes to get to a location. So, if your family only has one car or your parents worked late or, or you can’t get there, you don’t have to worry about getting all the way to Montgomeryville if you live in Hatfield. Part of my goal is to make it as local as possible so they can walk or ride their bike or an older brother or sister can take them and it [won’t] be a big deal,” Jones said.
The issue of “pay-to-play” in the U.S. that Jones is trying to combat stems from a much larger branch. Here’s just one example: for soccer specifically, the United States Soccer Federation created the Developmental Academy in 2007. Its purpose is to give kids professional development, elite training, and overall guidance to the professional or collegiate level of soccer. The development program starts at U13 and runs to U19 when they are expected to either commit to a college or go pro — all your kid has to do to be given the opportunity and be talented at the sport of soccer.
You’d think so, right? Wrong.
They are also expected to pay a high level of fees. According to D.C. United, the average cost of being a member of their academy is $2,800. The developmental academy system is made in such a way that if your child isn’t from an upper-middle-class family, they won’t even have the opportunity to play at a high level.
The United States is an outlier in this dilemma: other countries don’t seem to have an issue with high fees.
Look at the Netherlands, for example. For young talented players, training is either free or comes at a very reduced rate. Ajax — home to one of the most prestigious academies in the world — charges players 12 euros a year and the club covers the rest of the expenses. That’s $14, compared to $2,800 at D.C. United.
Even locally, this is an issue. Most travel teams range anywhere from $500 to $4,000 depending on a kid’s skill level. That doesn’t even include hotel fees for away tournaments. The problem is this system inadvertently excludes underprivileged kids from even getting a chance to play at a high level in the scope of youth sports.
“Soccer has turned to an upper-middle-class sport. So, there aren’t a lot of kids that maintain their childhood dream of playing professional soccer. They know they’re going to have the safety of going to college and getting a real job,” said Jones. “And until soccer becomes an inner-city sport in this country, we’re still going to struggle to find players that can compete at the highest level internationally.”
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Outliers, he attributes the notion of “pay to play” to the Matthew Effect, the idea that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer — and that ideology stems from the bible. Specifically, Matthew 25:29:
“For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him, that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”
We are exposed to the idea that successful athletes are in the position they are in simply because they worked harder and are better than their peers. But what if it’s not that simple? There are also hidden advantages and opportunities that stem from familial legacies that allow them to learn quickly and work harder than the ones that cannot.
Youth sports in the United States serve as a clear analytical basis for that assumption. Kids from middle-class families are able to play travel sports, and once those kids are playing travel, they get better coaches, more games, and more in-depth practice sessions at an early age. Those kids will, in turn, grow up to be better than their friends, who aren’t as fortunate to be able to play on a travel team.
“Sports have changed a lot now — they think we can throw money at it and we can make our kids better athletes,” Jones said. “And I just don’t think that’s the case. I think kids have to play because they love it and they want to put time and effort in it — on their own. And I think we’ve kind of taken the fun out of that and it’s made it so that they don’t want to play pick-up games when they get home. Because they equate sports to a coach yelling, them standing in line, and doing it in a certain way.”
The North Penn Sports Club isn’t trying to physically condition your 3-year-old to become an athletic prodigy; its aim is to simply expose them to the fundamentals of the sport for a cheap cost so kids from all backgrounds can participate.
“I want part of it to kind of be like a ‘pickup mentality.’ I think that’s what we’ve gotten away from as well,” said Jones. “I think we have too many teams where it’s not fun anymore because every board is trying to make them into little professionals and these unbelievable players and kids to just want to have fun.”
For more information on the North Penn Sports Club, click here.
See also:
Photos: North Penn Little League Returns to Action
Wolf Vetoes Bill Giving Local Control Over High School Sports Decisions
