Can't say for soccer but as a HS coach of multiple sports, I disagree wholeheartedly. I have had multiple kids play professionally in football, basketball and baseball and it not close how much more time I have to spend on fundamentals for the majority of the kids. A top flight few are like what he says but the majority are kids who dont have the sport IQ or understanding of when to do certain things. Basketball footwork is terrible and shooting form is worse. No kids box out and defense is questionable. Are they more athletic and able to do fancy dribbling a little more, yes but beyond that, give me the kids from 20 years ago.
Not to get too technical ... but you're full of poo.
I remember thinking how awesome I was ... how I was a D1 prospect back in high school and I just naturally knew how to do everything on the baseball diamond. I remember thinking how skilled we all were out there.
Then I came across the two games my parents had videotaped. Summer between 10th and 11th grade. I was already sitting mid-80s, as a lefty with a nasty wipeout slider ... and hitting bombs at the plate.
My god, the amount of problems in my delivery and in my swing. Insane. And my teammates? They looked handi-capable.
If I watch a random 10U baseball tournament, 90%+ of those kids are more fundamentally sound.
And basketball? These kids have ball-handling skills that are LIGHT YEARS above what we had back then. And they break ankles. And shooting. 12-year-olds draining pro 3s on a regular basis. Little ones, too ... not just the early physical developers.
And football? Back in the day, I remember going up against a 6 ft 200 lb. frosh, who was known as a physical freak. He was a legend ... even then. He eventually played high D1 and then pro ball. My youngest son played frosh football this past year. That size is normal now. With strength and technique. Kids are going to "elite" camps and skill guys are playing 7v7. DEs in frosh have the full basket of rush moves down pat.
What you might be referencing is that they're not "team coached" in the old style anymore. Yeah, that's sometimes the case. They may not know bunt coverages as well (and coaches suck at teaching them). They may not know help defense as well at an early age.
But in terms of "skill" and overall development? Today's kids are light years ahead of where we were at 30+ years ago.
They have year round play. They have year round training. They have pitching/hitting instructors and regular lessons at 8 years old (and below). They go to personal trainers, specifically geared toward sport-specific training, at a young age.
We had whiffle ball in the backyard. If you were lucky, you knew an ex-player or a coach and got a little better teaching now and then. We had after school lifting at the dinky school gym. And pitchers were told not to lift.
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