The simple answer to this question has to do with the structural inadequacy and inefficiency of our NCAA College Soccer system as a platform for the development of our best women-soccer-players. It produces athletic players whose technical skill and tactical knowledge leave much to be desired due to a comparative dearth of consistent training and competitive-game experience.
The U.S. System Produces Less Experienced Players – a Maximal, 16-Month Competitive Season in 4 Years for Most Players.
In the U.S., most of our elite women-soccer-players – to wit, NCAA Division I College Soccer players – generally undergo organized training and challenging matches during a three-(3)-month competitive season; namely, from the beginning of August until the end of October. If an elite player is lucky enough to be on a team that does well in the conference championships, her season is extended for another week-and-a-half until the first week of November. And, ultimately, if she is lucky enough to be on a team that gets a playoff berth and reaches the College Cup semi-final or final, then her season is extended until the first week of December of a given year, to wit, a maximum of (4) four months per year. (Usually, the College Cup semi-finals are on the last Friday of November of a given year, and the College Cup Final is on the first Sunday of December.) Such elite player would play a maximal, 16-month competitive season in four years if she were lucky to be on stellar teams.
In soccer, like in most sports, competitive experience is paramount. Indeed, soccer is like golf. It is a sport that is highly technical, in which player-development emanates from repetitive and consistent training, daily, and from playing, at least, one highly competitive match each week. Yet, in the U.S., after such three-month season, our elite, NCAA Division I College Soccer players are almost exclusively students whom are working arduously - studying a myriad of subjects that consume an inordinate amount of time each day - during the remaining eight (8) to nine (9) months of such college year (except for a few weeks of spring training) in order to earn a college degree. Soccer is not their main focus during this eight-to-nine-month period. Consequently, after four years of college, the total sum of consistent training and competitive matches that such type of player receives amounts to about twelve (12) months, or a maximal period of sixteen (16) months in the best-case scenario. This is reprehensibly astounding, but true. (Given the likelihood of injury or lack of playing time in Division I College Soccer, it is likely to be less than sixteen months in five years if an elite player is forced to redshirt due to injury.)
The European System Produces More Experienced Players – A Maximal, 44-Month Competitive Season in 4 Years for Most Players.
In Europe, elite, youth female-soccer-players are exposed to professional soccer in Europe’s best leagues from an early age. Usually, an elite-level, youth soccer player in Europe is playing professional soccer - whether it be in Division III or in Division II - when she is only sixteen (16) years' old. By the time that she reaches nineteen (19) years of age, such is most likely playing Division I soccer in Europe's top leagues, such as Liga F (Division I in Spain (formerly, Liga Iberdrola), Bundesliga Frauen (Division I in Germany), Le Championnat (Division I in France) Some study, part-time, while playing professional soccer; others just focus on training and being professional soccer players. Rather than spending most of their time studying non-soccer subjects in school, soccer is their principal focus. They study soccer primarily and become students of the game.
Comparatively, the competitive season in Europe lasts about ten (10) months, to wit, from the first week of September of a given year until the first week of June of a given year. (Usually, an elite player will get a paid-holiday of (30) thirty days in July and will return for preseason in August of a given year.) And, in stark contrast to U.S. players, an elite youth-soccer-player in Europe will play competitively for forty-four (44) months (including the preseason) during the same four-year period during which an elite, American player will play Division I college-soccer. During such time, not only are these European teenagers making money (while our American players are studying and trying to get an education), but, most importantly, they are getting valuable professional experience in Europe’s top leagues.
It does not take a rocket-scientist to figure out who will be the more competitive player after four years of development. Obviously, the European player – with (44) forty-four months of serious training and match-play – will be more experienced (and, hence, more competitive technically and tactically) than her American counterpart, who will only have (12) months of competitive soccer experience in the same four-year period. Voilá the comparatively defective aspect of the U.S. system of using NCAA (Division I) College Soccer as a platform for the development of elite, youth, female-soccer-players. As a result, such player - assuming that she plays four years of college soccer - places herself in a competitive disadvantage compared to her European counterpart by going to a university to play college soccer instead of going to Europe to play professional soccer. Consequently, our best players, in the future, will be skipping college soccer to play professional soccer in Europe or (if they get drafted by an NWSL team) in the U.S. This ought to be priceless insight for those elite-level, young, female-soccer-players in the U.S. whose sole objective is to become professional women-soccer-players as a trade or career.
The O.R.T.A. Professional Soccer Academy Is the "Pathway to Europe" for Our Elite Female-Soccer Players Who Wish to Become Professional Players Instead of NCCA Student Athletes.
The O.R.T.A. Professional Soccer Academy ("Academy") seeks elite-level, female-soccer- players, whose age is seventeen (17) or eighteen (18) years' old, that are outstanding, resilient, technical, athletic soccer players. If your sole objective is to become a professional soccer player as your trade or career, come join us at the Academy. Our fitness training, technical training, and tactical instruction is par excellence. We will not only train you and prepare you for the adversity, the challenges and the obstacles that you will face in Year 1 of your professional soccer career, but also obtain a contract for you in a European soccer club that is a good fit for you, one in which you will continue to develop technically and tactically. Our Academy is the sole "Pathway to Play Professional Soccer in Europe" for elite-level, youth, female-soccer-players who wish to turn professional instead of becoming an NCAA (Division I) College Soccer student-athlete.
(© 2018, Written by Rafael A. Castro, III)
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