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Message
Rumor: US Soccer Development Academy will be permanently disbanded
Posted on 4/10/20 at 6:24 pm
Posted on 4/10/20 at 6:24 pm
3
Posted on 4/10/20 at 7:30 pm to GeorgeTheGreek
I see this as a positive
Kids should be at clubs for development not a national academy
Kids should be at clubs for development not a national academy
Posted on 4/10/20 at 7:33 pm to StraightCashHomey21
Yup. Localize soccer development efforts. Get the USSF hands out of the development pockets.
I wish we could do schools/academies that specifically develop for an individual sport from k-12 and beyond.
I wish we could do schools/academies that specifically develop for an individual sport from k-12 and beyond.
Posted on 4/10/20 at 7:41 pm to DByrd2
Yup it will force MLS and USL clubs to step up
Posted on 4/10/20 at 11:02 pm to StraightCashHomey21
Makes me wonder what the landscape will look like honestly. SKC has a medium sized youth setup but you have to go to the city to access it.
Teams without huge followings are gonna have to foot a bill, and the impacts could reach all the way to whether or not expansion continues on schedule or at all.
Garber has his work cut out for him.
Teams without huge followings are gonna have to foot a bill, and the impacts could reach all the way to whether or not expansion continues on schedule or at all.
Garber has his work cut out for him.
This post was edited on 4/10/20 at 11:03 pm
Posted on 4/11/20 at 12:41 am to GeorgeTheGreek
Not surprised. Things had been trending this way for a while, the virus just made for a sudden end instead of a slow one. There had been rumors the last year or so that MLS academies were looking to leave the program, since most of them had far surpassed the standard of the other teams in their regions and they weren't getting as much meaningful competition anymore that would improve their players. Particularly teams like Seattle and Dallas that regularly crushed opponents.
It seems like some of y'all are misunderstanding what the USDA actually does. Understandable, since the name is a confusing misnomer. It's not an academy program where the USSF directly develops players, despite the name. The 200 member clubs develop the players, while the USSF just provides guidance, standards, coaching licenses, etc. It's only called the US Soccer Development Academy because it theoretically leads to the development of national team players, but the USSF isn't directly doing the development. The USSF may give some funds to the clubs to kickstart the programs, in some cases, but that's about the extent of the direct involvement.
The idea behind the Development Academy is simply to facilitate a national "league" of the best academies (theoretically, at least, not always in reality) in the country, so that the most promising academy players can improve by playing each other and developing in a more professional environment than what we had pre-2007. Even Canadian teams got involved towards the end, so it was just a way to get the best young players playing each other, not a USSF directly developing players sort of thing. In fact, that's exactly what this program was designed to replace.
The idea is to encourage the growth of the type of academy structure we'd been missing and make it easier for our youth national team coaches to identify the best players. Before the DA, the only proper development structure we had in this country was the Bradenton residency program in Florida, and after the 2006 World Cup flop, the USSF wanted to phase out the residency program and use the DA program to facilitate the same quality of development at local clubs around the country.
It served its purpose in helping to establish proper academies in this country and grew tremendously from the start of the program in 2007. It took many years for the progress of the DA to bear its fruit, but the progress is certainly apparent in our recent youth teams in the last 5 years or so. Now it's run its course, and something else will take its place. I really don't think much will change besides semantics and new league alignments for the academies. The girls DA teams will probably just join the already established ENCL. It'll be a bit more complicated for the boys teams, but I'd expect MLS academies to form their own system (perhaps along with USL academies), and the other current DA teams will find or create a new system.
I see this as a sign of our tremendous growth in the last 20 years. We've gone from:
- No formal development structure whatsoever pre-1999
- Bradenton Residency Program designed by Carlos Queiroz (1999-2017)
- Development Academy Program (2007-2020)
From no academies to a few hundred, some of which are now producing some excellent players. We're not where we need to be yet, of course, but let's take a step back and see how far we've come in 20 years. I think the best is yet to come. Our academies will continue to grow and mature, and more will be established around the country.
quote:
Kids should be at clubs for development not a national academy
quote:
Yup. Localize soccer development efforts. Get the USSF hands out of the development pockets.
It seems like some of y'all are misunderstanding what the USDA actually does. Understandable, since the name is a confusing misnomer. It's not an academy program where the USSF directly develops players, despite the name. The 200 member clubs develop the players, while the USSF just provides guidance, standards, coaching licenses, etc. It's only called the US Soccer Development Academy because it theoretically leads to the development of national team players, but the USSF isn't directly doing the development. The USSF may give some funds to the clubs to kickstart the programs, in some cases, but that's about the extent of the direct involvement.
The idea behind the Development Academy is simply to facilitate a national "league" of the best academies (theoretically, at least, not always in reality) in the country, so that the most promising academy players can improve by playing each other and developing in a more professional environment than what we had pre-2007. Even Canadian teams got involved towards the end, so it was just a way to get the best young players playing each other, not a USSF directly developing players sort of thing. In fact, that's exactly what this program was designed to replace.
The idea is to encourage the growth of the type of academy structure we'd been missing and make it easier for our youth national team coaches to identify the best players. Before the DA, the only proper development structure we had in this country was the Bradenton residency program in Florida, and after the 2006 World Cup flop, the USSF wanted to phase out the residency program and use the DA program to facilitate the same quality of development at local clubs around the country.
It served its purpose in helping to establish proper academies in this country and grew tremendously from the start of the program in 2007. It took many years for the progress of the DA to bear its fruit, but the progress is certainly apparent in our recent youth teams in the last 5 years or so. Now it's run its course, and something else will take its place. I really don't think much will change besides semantics and new league alignments for the academies. The girls DA teams will probably just join the already established ENCL. It'll be a bit more complicated for the boys teams, but I'd expect MLS academies to form their own system (perhaps along with USL academies), and the other current DA teams will find or create a new system.
I see this as a sign of our tremendous growth in the last 20 years. We've gone from:
- No formal development structure whatsoever pre-1999
- Bradenton Residency Program designed by Carlos Queiroz (1999-2017)
- Development Academy Program (2007-2020)
From no academies to a few hundred, some of which are now producing some excellent players. We're not where we need to be yet, of course, but let's take a step back and see how far we've come in 20 years. I think the best is yet to come. Our academies will continue to grow and mature, and more will be established around the country.
This post was edited on 4/11/20 at 12:55 am
Posted on 4/11/20 at 2:27 am to DByrd2
quote:
Makes me wonder what the landscape will look like honestly. SKC has a medium sized youth setup but you have to go to the city to access it.
Teams without huge followings are gonna have to foot a bill, and the impacts could reach all the way to whether or not expansion continues on schedule or at all.
Garber has his work cut out for him.
It'll be interesting for sure. But there have been rumors for a while now that the MLS teams were planning on leaving the DA soon, along with the USL teams that already have programs. With or without a virus, I don't think the USSF would suddenly announce the DA being folded without there at least being some closed door discussions about what may replace it. This has probably been in the works for at least a few years.
MLS and the USL already have a partnership at the pro level. I wouldn't be shocked if they form one at the academy development level, too.
It'll take a while for the dust to settle after the DA is gone, but I think you'll see the teams with pro affiliations consolidate together, and the other teams branch off into regional leagues.
I don't think this change to the DA will ultimately even crack the top 10 most difficult problems Don Garber has had to deal with as commissioner.
I'm more worried about the affects the virus will have on the lower leagues. MLS has enough billionaire owners involved now to where it can shrug off a disastrous financial year like the 2020 season will almost certainly be. But it'll kill alot of lower division teams/leagues, and undo alot of the growth we've made there in recent years.
Posted on 4/11/20 at 12:22 pm to Michael Stein
It would be sweet if they could make a tiered system with some form of promotion and relegation for the academies.
Posted on 4/11/20 at 1:30 pm to cwil177
quote:
It would be sweet if they could make a tiered system with some form of promotion and relegation for the academies.
Focus should be on development and free-play/creativity/love of the game and not on wins and losses.
I’d like to see more avenues for disadvantaged youth as well. So many kids can’t reach high levels because they can’t afford $2000 per year club fees and $2000+ in travel fees. I’m as capitalist as they come but youth sports is too much about money/coaching.
Posted on 4/11/20 at 2:02 pm to Robin Masters
I think the majority of MLS academies are free or mostly free.
But the fact of the matter is that it’s expensive to heavily subsidize an elite team. Coaching is expensive, and travel is expensive as there are very few “elite” teams in any given age group in the US. I doubt very seriously that truly disadvantaged players who are good are paying full price, or at all, anywhere in the country (at least they didn’t when I was playing in the early 2000s), but you have to get good first, and being disadvantaged doesn’t lend itself well to galavanting around the country playing soccer: free or not.
But the fact of the matter is that it’s expensive to heavily subsidize an elite team. Coaching is expensive, and travel is expensive as there are very few “elite” teams in any given age group in the US. I doubt very seriously that truly disadvantaged players who are good are paying full price, or at all, anywhere in the country (at least they didn’t when I was playing in the early 2000s), but you have to get good first, and being disadvantaged doesn’t lend itself well to galavanting around the country playing soccer: free or not.
Posted on 4/11/20 at 2:11 pm to joey barton
quote:
playing in the early 2000s), but you have to get good first, and being disadvantaged doesn’t lend itself well to galavanting around the country playing soccer: free or not.
This is the issue. Potential will only take you so far and if you haven’t gotten enough time on the pitch (or even futsal court) then by the time you are 12/13 you won’t be able to compete with those kids that grew up playing on top teams year round and get private lessons.
We have a gifted kid on my sons team that pays nothing for club or team fees but his parents can rarely get him to practices and games.
Posted on 4/11/20 at 4:28 pm to GeorgeTheGreek
#Quarantine
Posted on 4/11/20 at 5:30 pm to McCaigBro69
pole smoker
Posted on 4/13/20 at 8:11 am to Robin Masters
I found the selection process terrible, and that was just at state and regional levels.
No standardization of skill analysis at all. I bring my kid to a regional tryout and you never make them sprint, never see a shot, and you don’t process them through at their position of choice.
Two black boys up front, kid you want to promote at center mid, tall kids in the back.
The state level was ODP is strange as well, you go to regionals with your state team to compete. MS didn’t have a full squad because Rush didn’t want to send any kids...it was mostly all just jacked up.
No standardization of skill analysis at all. I bring my kid to a regional tryout and you never make them sprint, never see a shot, and you don’t process them through at their position of choice.
Two black boys up front, kid you want to promote at center mid, tall kids in the back.
The state level was ODP is strange as well, you go to regionals with your state team to compete. MS didn’t have a full squad because Rush didn’t want to send any kids...it was mostly all just jacked up.
This post was edited on 4/13/20 at 12:12 pm
Posted on 4/14/20 at 11:17 pm to Gaston
Posted on 4/15/20 at 7:08 pm to Gaston
quote:
The state level was ODP is strange as well, you go to regionals with your state team to compete. MS didn’t have a full squad because Rush didn’t want to send any kids...it was mostly all just jacked up.
I think we all agree the ODP program nationwide has significant issues. A lot of talented players don't even bother with it anymore, especially if they can make a Development Academy team in their area.
Unfortunately, there are no DA teams at all in the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee combined. So for most kids in the Deep South, playing for the ODP team is your best chance to get noticed by pro scouts and college coaches.
My really good high school teammate hated ODP, but he went through with it, because it helped him get a college scholarship.
Posted on 4/15/20 at 9:02 pm to Robin Masters
quote:
Focus should be on development and free-play/creativity/love of the game and not on wins and losses.
Having coached in the Houston Dynamo academy i both agree and disagree with this.
No doubt free play and creativity should be a part of development .... but winning needs to be a component of that as well. You want soft players?... then tell them winning doesn't matter.
Posted on 4/15/20 at 9:12 pm to GeorgeTheGreek
Will be interesting to see what happens with non MLS academies. One example, Solar SC in Dallas is arguably the best program in the nation on the girls and boys side. There are others around the country up there as well.
Seems the plan for girls right now is to go back to ECNL, which isn’t a bad thing, since ECNL has been pretty successful for the girls.
But this may also be a move to consolidate to MLS academies. FC Dallas sometimes finds their best competition is from Solar. Why fight them when you can wrap them into your program because you’re the only game in town at the ‘top’ level.
Seems the plan for girls right now is to go back to ECNL, which isn’t a bad thing, since ECNL has been pretty successful for the girls.
But this may also be a move to consolidate to MLS academies. FC Dallas sometimes finds their best competition is from Solar. Why fight them when you can wrap them into your program because you’re the only game in town at the ‘top’ level.
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