How a Soccer Star is Made

I found the very subjective attitude to selecting talent interesting. I imagine this is because soccer is a sport that doesn't really lend itself to collecting metrics. Nor is it a sport where physical attributes are decisive.

The case of the 5-year-old was also interesting. It makes me wonder: how young is too young to meaningfully identify ability?

This awesome article highlights a problem I studied in college economics called the "inappropriability of labor".

The problem is that because slavery is illegal, investments in training will be significantly reduced. For example, if I was your slave, you might invest $50k in training me because you'd be sure that a better-trained-me would make you more money. But if I was your employee, you wouldn't invest $50k in me because I could leave at any time.

This is also why your cheap employer doesn't send you to that professional development conference you want to attend.

This Dutch club got around this problem by selling soccer contracts. One thing the article did not mention is that to adopt this model in the US, a US training organization would have to have some method of making money by selling contracts or the like.

Fascinating. I can't help but think of Ender's Game.

You should watch the video. A great way to illustrate an article like that.