sucking the country dry
Not many pathways for kiwi kids, bro. Understand why plenty choose it.
how many are choosing it under false pretences? SLASH lets build some local pathways
Such as? ACFC in A league or more quotas for Kiwis in Handy Premiership, as opposed to journeymen from Spain, Ireland, UK? What other ideas do you have?
Also, I don't understand "false pretences" either. Given the minute chances of getting any sort of pro contract, many would think it's smart to get some college education. It's not the only option, but certainly valid. Not really sure what you're getting at it - care to expand?
A, many of these colleges don't offer a decent education, so while they may get a degree, it's not really a career track degree
B, I'm not sure as to the size of this - but how many are going on full scholarships vs how many are going on partials? Earlier chat in this thread suggests many partials, so one of the main potential benefits (free education) disappears
C, wide range of standards. If you're Cory Brown at Xavier, or Sam Brotherton at Wisconsin or Rosie White at UCLA, you're in a fairly well-regarded programme. But look at how many kids are over there and the number who are at tiny liberal arts colleges in the middle of nowhere.
D, can we work with our local (excellent by world standards) universities - Uni of Waikato has Hilary Scholars for example - to give 19yo, 20yo Kiwis similar benefits? Would also need changes to our national league to make it aspirational.
E, it means that where there should be a group of kids coming through and giving NZ a strong national competition, they're going to the US
F, theres heaps of examples of kids who go for one year and don't find it to their liking.
I believe full scholarships in "soccer" to be extremely rare - the coach has a max of 9.9 (Div 1) full scholarship amounts spread across the whole roster (average size 28 players). I understand 60% is considered very good at a good soccer programme. Conversely, the worse rated the school is educationally or soccer wise they may offer more to a good player to attract them.
Having seen some dialogue with coaches one of the initial questions may well be : "How much can you contribute" or "we need players who can contribute $20k (approx 50%)"
Just as an example at where soccer ranks revenue wise for a very good programme::
University of Louisville (top 10 soccer ranking)
Revenue: Basketball $45.6 mio
US Football $40.6mio
Soccer $147,779
Soccer Expenses: $1,494,013 (average per player $10,368 - *not scholarship $'s but travel,kit etc)
University sticker price: $41,306
Average Athletic Scholarship: $20,230 - All US Football & Basketball are full scholarships so there will be plenty athletes on zero or partial scholarships
(I calculate across NCAA Div 1 the average athletic(not specifically soccer) scholarship is at approx 32%)
