USA Struggles With Lesser Talent - Open Mic

It is clear with our recent losses in international competition that our soccer and rugby teams are not loaded with enough talent to be competitive against the majority of the other nations in those respective sports.  Many question why?  Why is the USA so bad when we send our best athletes in those sports?  The answer is simple.  Those are not our best athletes.  They are not even our second level of top athletes.  Not to take away from the players passion and heart or from the hours of hard work that all of them put forth to make the USA as competitive as it can be.  It's just a simple fact.    We are facing the best athletes the other nations have to offer.  The gap between our athletes and their athletes is just too great. 

I should know.  As a former rugby player I was competing at the highest level in the USA and I am not anywhere close to a great athlete.  I did not lack the heart or the willingness to mix it up.  I lacked the ability to run fast enough, tackle well enough and kick the ball far enough.  The truth of the matter is, our best athletes go where the money is.  Our football players go from college to the NFL, CFL, AFL and some even try many of the low income Semi-pro leagues found across the USA.  Many of these athletes, with proper training, could go overseas and play rugby and make an excellent living.  Problem is, they just don't know that and they don't know the game. 

Soccer is known in this country with leagues for youth through adult found in every community.  We have even tried having pro leagues in soccer, but so far they’ve all failed.  The professional soccer league the UScurrently has is dominated by foreign players (some that couldn't play at a high enough level in their own countries’ leagues).  Therefore, our very best players are nothing more than mere subs in the European leagues.  Their aging players are stars over here.  There is just no money in the sport and our grass roots programs are not producing the quality of athletes who can gain ground.  We have multi-sport athletes in the US, but when it comes time to choose one sport, not surprisingly they go where they can make the most money.  Those athletes who do not make the cut wind up playing soccer or becoming weekend warriors on the rugby pitch. 

Rugby is not even an NCAA Varsity sport.  It is only recognized as a club sport.  The same is true in high school.  Dan Lyle was a tight end for VMI and an excellent athlete but not good enough for the NFL.  Instead Lyle moved to England and went on to have a great career with the Bath Wasps as an 8 man.  He is a great example of what we could field with the many who are just not quite good enough.  With these players we could dominate.  Ask any foreign player about the athletes we could put on a pitch (in either soccer or rugby) if we had the funds to attract them.  The players I have asked all agreed that the US would become a force.  I am not saying that we wouldn’t lose games, but we would be in every game and no doubt take some titles along the way.

I'm Scott Wordham and that's my word on sports.