Watford captain Troy Deeney believes football should learn from the American youth sports system and make players’ school grades a mandatory part of their progression at academies.
Countless former and current academy players speak of an environment where schooling was secondary to their development as a footballer, even though the chances of a young teenager in an academy making it as a progressional remain slim.
In 2017, all 20 Premier League academies were awarded an “Outstanding” rating by Ofsted. But, ultimately, a players’ grades do not influence their ability to train or play for their club.
“We can learn so much from American sports,” Deeney tells i. “If your grades don’t match up you don’t get to do the sport. In the NBA, NFL, your grades have to add up. You have to be above a certain average. It doesn’t matter how good you are.”
In England, players as young as 14 are taken out of their school and into a system whereby they attend lessons within their club alongside their team-mates. At age 16, when many teenagers will go on to take A-levels, talented footballers given two-year scholarship deals will mainly leave schooling altogether.
In contrast, talented American athletes considered future sports stars receive scholarships with universities where their academic achievements are linked to their sporting development. It works within an entirely different sporting culture, yet that does not mean aspects of it could not be integrated into English football’s own academy environment.
“We should learn from this because I think now certainly players are given a bit more of a pass in education if they’re seen as promising. But what happens if we let them go?
“We’re setting them up to fail. I always think you should make better humans, and better people, and then if they happen to be good at football off the back of it then happy days.”
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2RcZP91
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