Behind the Numbers: The True Odds of Turning Pro and Analytics vs. Results | Ep. 119

Let us know the topics of interest to you!

Breaking the Line is back with ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken and the team hits two topics this week that every soccer parents should be paying attention to.

In Episode 119, Breaking the Line first sets out to break some myths about the odds of becoming a pro soccer player. Three out of every four parent believes their child has the skills to turn pro in whatever sport they play. The reality is, only 1% of all youth athletes turn pro. In soccer, academy players earning first team minutes vary by club; some it's as high as 50%, others it's as low as 1%. And if a kid signs on to an academy at the U13-U14 level, it's nearly impossible to make an academy. So how can clubs and parents be realistic about an individual's talent level without crushing their dreams?

That discussion leads to another one, where wins and losses are replaced by a "quality of play" algorithm to determine who is the better team; both on the pitch that specific day and over the course of a season. How does this help a player develop? Does this teach kids the wrong things about soccer? What role does analytics have within the game? It's a great discussion, one that has strong opinions on both sides. 

As always, thank you for tuning into the podcast. Make sure to subscribe to Breaking the Line on YouTube, follow the ECNL on all social channels, and if you have any questions or podcast topic suggestions for the Breaking the Line podcast, send them to us at https://ecnl.info/BTL-Questions.