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[QUOTE="creatorsgam, post: 3053395"]
The participation numbers are indeed on a downward trend, at least last I knew. I wonder how much of this is related to parents and players fed up with the pay-to-play model?

My high school players (apart from 1 incoming freshman I know of) don’t play club ball. In a rural school district they aren’t driving to the other side of the county or into Raleigh, nor can most afford to access the sport in this manner. What they do instead is play a lot of pickup ball. Organize it at a school or park and just play. They don’t get coaching but they are at least getting touches on the ball. Also, there isn’t an emphasis on winning. They play hard and do it because they love the game. I wonder how much the over-emphasis on playing to win (at least at the younger levels) impacts participation rates? I think it can spoil it for kids that are just trying to have fun before they decide they want to take the sport to a more advanced level, and they prematurely walk away from the game.
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