who are we... and why are we doing this? |
We are three soccer dads, based out of Southern California, but - with kids still playing club soccer - have made a decision to remain anonymous, for now.
The reason we started doing this thing - originally, in a moment of grandiosity over cocktails, we called it the Kante Project - was to figure out what was accurate about the clubs and about our players, our kids, and what wasn't. How did our kids and their teams compare to other kids and teams? Were our kids good enough to play in college? Was what the clubs and coaches saying accurate and/or helpful? |
Having a child in competitive youth soccer - MLS Next, ECNL, GA, Premier - requires a significant commitment of time, energy and resources, and, honestly, we weren't convinced that it was worth it.
And then we started producing content and analysis, and started posting on the SoCal soccer forum (thank you Dom!) under the screen name Kante. It's been a lot of work but it seems to be helpful. And people seem to enjoy the insights and, most importantly, contribute to the ongoing dialogue. Now that we've been doing this for a while, and after a Covid-driven hiatus, we are back at it, trying to evolve the discussion around youth soccer in the United States to make sure that families have all the best information to make the best choice for their kids. Basically, as close to full information as possible, in an environment, that was - and is - frequently purposefully opaque. In addition, based on feedback from users we interacted with, the demise of the website youthsoccerrankings.us :-(, our own venture into the world of college soccer recruiting and feedback from our significant others that we were spending "waaaaaaay too much on something that was wasn't paying the mortgage", we will be adding a paid subscription service. We are still putting the finishing touches on everything, but we think it will be worth the wait. Hope this all helps. Thanks for dropping by. Good luck this weekend! |