(This is the time of year when the horse racing season for the Ivory Pine Syndicate is winding down, but the soccer season for the Rosevelt Soccer Club is gearing up. Here's a 90-day glimpse of the day in the life of a horse racing managing partner and soccer club administrator.)
Awoke, 6:21a
Ivory Pine Syndicate, 6:45a-7a
Posted on our partnership's socials a notice that we're down to only three spots remaining in our 2025 Offering, which will consist of 25 of us partners.
By the time I went to bed, there was only one spot remaining.
Watched men's College Cup final, 9:15p-10:45p
I watched the second half of last night's men's College Cup final with mixed thoughts.
The good: Two states not usually represented in our country's professional leagues--Vermont and West Virginia--were competing against each other at the highest level of their sport on national television.
The good: Maine native Max Murray and University of Maine men's soccer alum Rob Dow played vital roles for Vermont as a center back and head coach respectively in Vermont's national championship season.
The not-so-good: Thirty-three players from both Marshall and Vermont made an appearance during regulation, but only seven of those players (or 21%) have American hometowns listed on their program's roster. The remaining 79% players who made an appearance have hometowns in thirteen other countries listed in their biographies.
College soccer is uniquely American, and most of American youth soccer's structure--especially at the so-called elite levels--is geared toward preparing players for collegiate soccer. Yet a vast majority of minutes played in the men's college championship were played by players developed elsewhere. Last night seemed like an indictment of our country's flawed youth sports industrial complex.
International players and the the transfer portal are drastically transforming college recruiting at the highest levels of collegiate soccer (especially on the men's side), and I don't think parents and players appreciate the level of transformation happening right now.
And finally, last night was a reminder that the University of Maine should reinstate men's soccer and women's volleyball programs that were cut for budget reasons in 2009. Vermont plays in the same conference as Maine sports; both states share similar demographics, geography, and meteorology; and their national championship drive was led by a University of Maine men's soccer alum who's been coaching the Catamounts since 2017.
Asleep, 11:06p
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