DC United's New Youth Plan

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So according to the diagram the funnel is supposed to feed into DC's Academy starting at U15.

It will be interesting to see if players from these partner clubs get preference over players from other clubs who are also trying out at that age, or for that matter, whether players from the partner clubs get preference over existing DC players coming into U15.

I sort of doubt it, but then again if that doesn't happen - if there aren't significant numbers of players from these partner clubs joining DC's academy starting at U15, that would kind of show that none of this really means anything. Their current practice is to try to recruit the best players they can get, no matter where they come from, as soon as they can get them. That includes taking players from Arlington and VDA younger than U14. Is that going to change? I highly doubt it.

Also, Pipeline? With a move to Leesburg coming in the Fall of 2019, that makes no sense at all.

I agree that it's unlikely there will be preference for kids from these partner clubs when it comes to the formal rosters for the year. All DA clubs want the best players they can get, which is how it should work. I can still see some benefits to the set-up though, mainly from the opportunity for a group of kids to train with DCU's academy regularly over the course of a year. It will probably lead to some kids who might have thought DA wasn't for them getting hooked on the idea of playing more seriously. It is also a good reminder for those in the system that they have to continue to work if they want to maintain their spots since there will be a bigger pool of practice players gunning to take their place.

Hmm. I've never given 'da' or other stuff any credence with my U14 and below kids. I want the best training possible and currently what I've found is not in the DA in the area, Club DA or MLS DA. I would not move my kids just to think I was aligning them to be scouted. They want to be the best players they can be, not necessarily the most 'heavily scouted'. They love the game. The USDAUSMNT style is not one they want to replicate.

In other words, my kid couldn't get into a DA, and I'm trying really hard to rationalize why it's a good thing.

I'm going to start giving awards for Most Pointless Chest-Beating on an Anonymous Message Board.

It's not unusual to question pre-U14 DAs.

DP, but I'm wondering how a comment questioning the value of pre-U14 DAs is relevant to the discussion on this thread? There are several posters who like to come onto any/every soccer thread and talk about how DA sucks, or how US soccer sucks, or how they are too smart to be taken in by the BS that all the clubs are trying to sell. Those kind of comments--even if the posters have a point--just serve to derail the threads they are posted to.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds interesting, but certain things should be answered.
Are they going to charge ODP-style of ODP like call ups? Will the DCU DA continue to be pay to play? How would these short terms sessions enable players to compete with the players, who train 4 time per week at DCU academy? It seems like their pathway to pros lies through USL. The question is who goes to USL? DCU academy very top players? All or almost all DCU academy players? All of the above, plus players from local clubs?

I had to write a blog post to answer this one:

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/2018/09/11/who-goes-from-academy-to-usl/

Short answer:
- Very top players from Academy
- Likely players not just from local clubs but any D.C. United draftees who aren't ready for MLS yet, along with signees from anywhere and everywhere. It's pro soccer.

Arlington, Loudoun, Pipeline, Virginia Development Academy, Bethesda, LMVSC, Baltimore should all be allowed to have professional teams with an opportunity to move up to the top division through promotion. This would be a real path to the pros for hundreds of local kids and youth academies would have a real incentive to develop pro players for the clubs in all tiers of professional soccer. Trying to channel all local youth talent to one club is not a good path to the pros.

[Anonymous]

LMVSC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds interesting, but certain things should be answered.
Are they going to charge ODP-style of ODP like call ups? Will the DCU DA continue to be pay to play? How would these short terms sessions enable players to compete with the players, who train 4 time per week at DCU academy? It seems like their pathway to pros lies through USL. The question is who goes to USL? DCU academy very top players? All or almost all DCU academy players? All of the above, plus players from local clubs?

I had to write a blog post to answer this one:

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/2018/09/11/who-goes-from-academy-to-usl/

Short answer:
- Very top players from Academy
- Likely players not just from local clubs but any D.C. United draftees who aren't ready for MLS yet, along with signees from anywhere and everywhere. It's pro soccer.

Arlington, Loudoun, Pipeline, Virginia Development Academy, Bethesda, LMVSC, Baltimore should all be allowed to have professional teams with an opportunity to move up to the top division through promotion. This would be a real path to the pros for hundreds of local kids and youth academies would have a real incentive to develop pro players for the clubs in all tiers of professional soccer. Trying to channel all local youth talent to one club is not a good path to the pros.

That would be awesome, but where would the funding come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds interesting, but certain things should be answered.
Are they going to charge ODP-style of ODP like call ups? Will the DCU DA continue to be pay to play? How would these short terms sessions enable players to compete with the players, who train 4 time per week at DCU academy? It seems like their pathway to pros lies through USL. The question is who goes to USL? DCU academy very top players? All or almost all DCU academy players? All of the above, plus players from local clubs?

I had to write a blog post to answer this one:

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/2018/09/11/who-goes-from-academy-to-usl/

Short answer:
- Very top players from Academy
- Likely players not just from local clubs but any D.C. United draftees who aren't ready for MLS yet, along with signees from anywhere and everywhere. It's pro soccer.

Arlington, Loudoun, Pipeline, Virginia Development Academy, Bethesda, LMVSC, Baltimore should all be allowed to have professional teams with an opportunity to move up to the top division through promotion. This would be a real path to the pros for hundreds of local kids and youth academies would have a real incentive to develop pro players for the clubs in all tiers of professional soccer. Trying to channel all local youth talent to one club is not a good path to the pros.

That would be awesome, but where would the funding come from?

There is no incentive now to invest into lower division soccer because of a closed system. However, if the system opens up and any club has an opportunity to earn a promotion to the top division of professional soccer, there will be plenty of investors. It works in the rest of the world and not just in rich countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds interesting, but certain things should be answered.
Are they going to charge ODP-style of ODP like call ups? Will the DCU DA continue to be pay to play? How would these short terms sessions enable players to compete with the players, who train 4 time per week at DCU academy? It seems like their pathway to pros lies through USL. The question is who goes to USL? DCU academy very top players? All or almost all DCU academy players? All of the above, plus players from local clubs?

I had to write a blog post to answer this one:

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/2018/09/11/who-goes-from-academy-to-usl/

Short answer:
- Very top players from Academy
- Likely players not just from local clubs but any D.C. United draftees who aren't ready for MLS yet, along with signees from anywhere and everywhere. It's pro soccer.

Arlington, Loudoun, Pipeline, Virginia Development Academy, Bethesda, LMVSC, Baltimore should all be allowed to have professional teams with an opportunity to move up to the top division through promotion. This would be a real path to the pros for hundreds of local kids and youth academies would have a real incentive to develop pro players for the clubs in all tiers of professional soccer. Trying to channel all local youth talent to one club is not a good path to the pros.

That would be awesome, but where would the funding come from?

There is no incentive now to invest into lower division soccer because of a closed system. However, if the system opens up and any club has an opportunity to earn a promotion to the top division of professional soccer, there will be plenty of investors. It works in the rest of the world and not just in rich countries.

Japan's top league was founded a couple years before MLS in a country with virtually no soccer history. Japan now has an open system with four divisions that have promotion/relegation and its soccer team looked great against Belgium at the last World Cup. It has been done before.

[Anonymous]

Other than the opportunity to play in the ICC tournament (for those who enjoy Florida in July), there is not much new here.
Any good DA player can go and try out for DC United. Not sure how many of them are excited by the prospect of practicing in Loudoun, even if given the opportunity to play for DCU DA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other than the opportunity to play in the ICC tournament (for those who enjoy Florida in July), there is not much new here.
Any good DA player can go and try out for DC United. Not sure how many of them are excited by the prospect of practicing in Loudoun, even if given the opportunity to play for DCU DA.

The Generation Adidas Cup is actually a big deal for the kids that get invited. It has 3 legs and if you make the playoffs, the competition and scouting are very high level. You are not going to get an invite to go unless you are among the better players in DCU for the age group though. Not sure how likely that would be for kids coming in through this program.

[Anonymous]

Big deal for a U17, but not for the kids targeted by this « new » initiative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LMVSC?

Why not? Their older teams are doing really well and have some really talented players that should probably be getting more attention. The younger teams also have lots of potential and they seem to have coaches that really care about developing the individual players while trying to play quality soccer instead of kick and run. The diversity in the community that feeds LMVSC is passionate about soccer and could possibly support a lower division team if clubs were given the opportunity to enter an open system of promotion/relegation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So according to the diagram the funnel is supposed to feed into DC's Academy starting at U15.

It will be interesting to see if players from these partner clubs get preference over players from other clubs who are also trying out at that age, or for that matter, whether players from the partner clubs get preference over existing DC players coming into U15.

I sort of doubt it, but then again if that doesn't happen - if there aren't significant numbers of players from these partner clubs joining DC's academy starting at U15, that would kind of show that none of this really means anything. Their current practice is to try to recruit the best players they can get, no matter where they come from, as soon as they can get them. That includes taking players from Arlington and VDA younger than U14. Is that going to change? I highly doubt it.

Also, Pipeline? With a move to Leesburg coming in the Fall of 2019, that makes no sense at all.

I agree that it's unlikely there will be preference for kids from these partner clubs when it comes to the formal rosters for the year. All DA clubs want the best players they can get, which is how it should work. I can still see some benefits to the set-up though, mainly from the opportunity for a group of kids to train with DCU's academy regularly over the course of a year. It will probably lead to some kids who might have thought DA wasn't for them getting hooked on the idea of playing more seriously. It is also a good reminder for those in the system that they have to continue to work if they want to maintain their spots since there will be a bigger pool of practice players gunning to take their place.

Hmm. I've never given 'da' or other stuff any credence with my U14 and below kids. I want the best training possible and currently what I've found is not in the DA in the area, Club DA or MLS DA. I would not move my kids just to think I was aligning them to be scouted. They want to be the best players they can be, not necessarily the most 'heavily scouted'. They love the game. The USDAUSMNT style is not one they want to replicate.

Where do your kids play?

From what I've seen, I think the DAs mostly get it right, both in terms of training and in style of play - which I don't think looks anything like the way the usmnt plays, thank God.

I also know there are plenty of other good coaches out there who also, in my opinion, get it right, but I haven't seen anything that I would say is dramatically different and better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other than the opportunity to play in the ICC tournament (for those who enjoy Florida in July), there is not much new here.
Any good DA player can go and try out for DC United. Not sure how many of them are excited by the prospect of practicing in Loudoun, even if given the opportunity to play for DCU DA.

Agreed as far as the partnerships go. DC has been announcing partnerships like these for years. I'm pretty sure all of the listed clubs were already considered "partners", and there were also a few more. Wasn't Gunston supposed to be one of them? Guess they didn't make the cut?

Anyway, the partnerships are just a way to make "the local soccer community" feel better when DC goes after their best players. In reality DC takes players from anywhere, and that includes trips like GA cup and ICC. They use those as recruiting tools to try and get players to jump ship. That goes for players from partner clubs or outside clubs. If a player is good enough, DC tries to convince them to join, and the player's home club tries to convince them to stay. It is the same no matter where the player comes from.

The bigger news here is the USL team. With the academy --> USL --> MLS teams all training at the same facility, it creates an opportunity for academy players to train with the USL team, and USL players to train with the 1st team. That is about as close to a true pathway to pro we are going to get in this country right now.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LMVSC?

Why not? Their older teams are doing really well and have some really talented players that should probably be getting more attention. The younger teams also have lots of potential and they seem to have coaches that really care about developing the individual players while trying to play quality soccer instead of kick and run. The diversity in the community that feeds LMVSC is passionate about soccer and could possibly support a lower division team if clubs were given the opportunity to enter an open system of promotion/relegation.

Here you go ...

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/all-about-promotion-relegation/

Thanks, but main point was why the poster had an issue with LMVSC being listed as a club and not the others. Why is that club inferior to the others listed. Yes it doesn't have DA, large $ resources, or as many "high profile" coaches but is doing more with less. 2 of the clubs listed play kick ball most of the time and rely mostly on player's size and physicality.

[Anonymous]

https://www.dcunited.com/post/2018/09/11/dc-united-academy-announce-dmv-pathway-2-pro-program?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter

Soooo, if you're not one of their designated "elite" 5 soccer clubs or you are not a partner club, you're just rec. Some of their partner clubs suck and are completely disorganized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LMVSC?

Why not? Their older teams are doing really well and have some really talented players that should probably be getting more attention. The younger teams also have lots of potential and they seem to have coaches that really care about developing the individual players while trying to play quality soccer instead of kick and run. The diversity in the community that feeds LMVSC is passionate about soccer and could possibly support a lower division team if clubs were given the opportunity to enter an open system of promotion/relegation.

Here you go ...

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/all-about-promotion-relegation/

Thanks, but main point was why the poster had an issue with LMVSC being listed as a club and not the others. Why is that club inferior to the others listed. Yes it doesn't have DA, large $ resources, or as many "high profile" coaches but is doing more with less. 2 of the clubs listed play kick ball most of the time and rely mostly on player's size and physicality.

I don't think that it is appropriate to single out LMVSC as an inferior club. They have some strong teams. Last year, for example, LMVSC 03 team won the state cup. They beat Loudoun Red 8-1 in that competition.