Keep It Regional!
In various corners of the US, there are regional adult soccer leagues.
- Western Washington Premier League
- Evergreen Premier League
- Gulf Coast Premier League
- Cosmopolitan Soccer League (established 1923!)
- San Francisco Soccer Football League (established 1902!)
The tri-state region of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio needed one to call its own. The OVPL is the premier U23 amateur soccer league serving the area starting in 2020.
Ohio Valley Region High school participation:
- Indiana - 308 schools, 9,216 boys; 276 schools, 7,420 girls
- Kentucky - 196 schools, 6,603 boys; 194 schools, 5,847 girls
- Ohio - 581 schools, 17,255 boys; 549 schools, 16,578 girls
By the time those athletes turn 18 there is fewer than 10% will go on to play in college. In total, there are less than 80,000 total soccer players playing at the collegiate level across the whole United States. That also means there are 20,000 players each year that could possibly graduate from college with almost no place to continue playing soccer. In the OVPL region, there are nearly 8300 boys and 7400 girls that finish their high school soccer careers each year and nowhere to continue playing soccer.
Why not give these players a continued option through the creation of a men's and a women's team for the continued competition? Community pride should not stop at 18 when they graduate high school or leave their club. Your community could form a team and give players the ability to compete and enjoy the beautiful game for many years. What happens when a player graduates college or age out of their club? Most likely they believe their career is done. Through the OVPL, the ability to compete continues.
There are nearly 100 men's college programs and 110 women's college programs in the OVPL region. If each program graduates eight players a year, that is 800 men and 880 women who have no place to continue playing. Imagine combining high school and college players now. That gives the Ohio Valley region a men's pool of 9100 players and a women's pool of 8200 players.
If each OVPL team had an average roster of 25 players, then there could be 364 men's teams and 328 women's teams! This is only done with a single graduation year -- so in 2020 there will be nearly 17,300 players in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio that will no longer play competitive soccer. Add each year up consecutively and that is a lot of soccer players no longer in the game.
Are you willing to give opportunities to keep players playing soccer? Will you or your club give your community a team to support? The Ohio Valley Premier League is here to remedy this problem. You can help #growthegame.