The following was written June 24, 2008. LINK HERE:
“FC Indiana coach Shek Borkowski has been outspoken about the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) in the past, and now he is calling for improved investment in women’s soccer at the grass root level.
Borkowski is very adamant that the U.S. is losing ground to other countries, especially to Germany, and the federation needs to tackle some of the serious problems surrounding the women’s game if the U.S. wants to remain in the position of a global leader in the sport.
“The money, I am told, is there and it should mean better facilities for women’s clubs and investment in the sport in general,” said Borkowski. “But it isn¹t so, financial resources are very simply misallocated. The USSF President Sunil Gulati must reexamine how we are allocating money.
It would be really unfortunate but the way things are going, the rest of the world is catching up to the U.S. in terms of player development and even bypassing us in terms of investment in the game, Borkowski said.
Borkowski believes that some sweeping changes are in order.
Unless concrete steps are taken to boost women’s soccer at all levels, the game will stagnate. The new pro league will have spots for maybe 80 non-national team players, it won’t be enough.
But the truth is that the investment in the game is revolving around just the national players. Following Germany’s example, it needs to be broader a lot of work needs to be done to lift the infrastructure and there are too many promising post college players who walk away from the game because they see no future in it.
Borkowski also offered his support to United Soccer Leagues (USL) Executive Vice President Tim Holt efforts to establish a federation operated US Open Women’s Cup. This, according to Borkowski, would be of benefit to all clubs, pro and amateur alike, and bring added attention to women’s soccer in the country.”
