For generations of players, pickup soccer wasn’t a development program. Nobody had to manufacture it. You found a park, put two shoes down for goals, picked teams, and played. And you figured things out. There was no coach stopping the game. No parent protecting you. No age bracket ensuring everyone was at the same stage […]

U.S. Soccer is taking over U.S. Youth Soccer, the largest youth soccer organization in the country. The move is being framed as an effort to unify a fragmented youth soccer landscape—but what does it actually mean for the American soccer ecosystem? We examine the potential consequences of consolidating more power under U.S. Soccer, particularly given […]

Debates sound like a good way to get closer to the truth. In practice, they often do the opposite. They reward quick talking points, encourage people to defend positions they already hold, and leave almost no room for the kind of depth required to understand a complicated ecosystem like American soccer. That problem becomes especially […]