Letter From A Soccer Fan

In Grand Central Station this morning, I was sharing, with a proud father of one of the Scarsdale High School Varsity Soccer team players, how fabulous it was for me to watch the team play at SUNY Purchase last Saturday night. That night was cold and raw and the conditions were only made worse by the consistent wind that seems to inhabit that particular field. While all of the spectators shivered, the kids on the field shined. It was my first time seeing this team play. I grew up playing soccer and my three children are all graduates of the Scarsdale Youth Soccer programs but what I saw on that field was not your “fathers” brand of soccer. Terrific ball skills, poise under physical and emotional pressure and a great sixth sense about their fellow players collectively blew me away.

After my conversation with the dad ended, I was struck by a thought that I was not too happy to be struck by. The thought goes like this…if Scarsdale had not developed the youth soccer program that it has today, it is likely that these high school kids would not have achieved the high level of play and accompanying competitive success that I had witnessed.

To this point, I have been mostly critical of youth soccer in Scarsdale. After all, what parent wants to see their young child told that he or she is “cut” from the first tryout of their young lives. Was it really necessary that youth soccer players play outdoors in fall and spring and indoors in the winter as well? I was and continue to be a believer that kids should be playing lots of different sports and that sports specialization at the youth level should be left for the truly gifted few. I witnessed a Scarsdale Youth Soccer League (“SYSL”) organization that proceeded with a Prussian sense of its own hegemony. It was my experience that coaches and parents who dissented were brushed aside or edged out. I coached teams and participated in many of these meetings while my kids wanted to play on those teams and was happy to wash my hands of it the moment their interest faded.

Despite my own take on the Scarsdale youth soccer experience, I cannot help but acknowledge that the players on the 2010 Varsity team are getting the experience of their lives because the “soccer generals” did what they did. To be clear, I am not suggesting that this particular “end justifies the means” and it is also not my judgment to make. I am not suggesting that the clearly terrific experience of the few overwhelms the more mixed experience of the many. But at the same time, Scarsdale Youth Soccer had a vision of what it wanted to accomplish when it was formed twenty-ish years ago and it is only fair to acknowledge that I saw some it “played out” at SUNY last Saturday.

Eric Karp
November 11, 2010