Hope doesn't do a very good job of explaining but she is correct. It may not be a rich white kid sport but if you are not middle class or above or live in a non-urban area it is extremely difficult to get noticed. US Soccer doesn't have the resources to scout every single talented kid playing soccer across the US. So what US Soccer does is it goes to major tournaments where only a few teams attend. So about 10 years ago US Soccer decided to start a "development academy" system whereby the "best talent" in a region get selected to play for a local development academy member club. This is how they mostly identify talent now. The problem is that the annual fees to play for these development academy teams are $3000+ when you account for fees, uniforms, travel, etc. And don't even mention the cost of training 3-4 days a week. Some kids consider driving 1 hour or more each way to play for one of these development academy teams that many days a week. But many very talented kids choose not to do that or cannot afford to. That is where US soccer is failing. It's in their method of recruiting. With the country being as large as it is and as many players as there are to evaluate, the US has come up with an efficient but flawed method of seeking out the "best of the best." The vast majority of kids on the national teams come from the DA system. So if you can't afford to play for DA or don't live near DA clubs then it is likely you will never get noticed. Yes anyone can play soccer as the entry barriers are very low. The real trick and I believe what Hope was trying to say is how do you get noticed if you don't play for one of the teams that plays in the prohibitively costly DA system.
