DC United Academy - aa strong academy or not

[Anonymous]

My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Do you post just to hear yourself. This line of "argument" was called out five or so messages prior. If you don't want to engage on the topic of the conversation, just sit it out. "strong academy or not" If you think it's strong, say why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Do you post just to hear yourself. This line of "argument" was called out five or so messages prior. If you don't want to engage on the topic of the conversation, just sit it out. "strong academy or not" If you think it's strong, say why.

Do you post just to hear yourself?
You said this already

You're here to bash the academy because of personal feelings

I'm here to point out the lack of material facts and truths behind your biased narratives using objective logic

The answer is yes, DCU (and every) academy is a strong academy, or not, depending on the goals, needs and wants of each individual family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Do you post just to hear yourself. This line of "argument" was called out five or so messages prior. If you don't want to engage on the topic of the conversation, just sit it out. "strong academy or not" If you think it's strong, say why.

Do you post just to hear yourself?
You said this already

You're here to bash the academy because of personal feelings

I'm here to point out the lack of material facts and truths behind your biased narratives using objective logic

The answer is yes, DCU (and every) academy is a strong academy, or not, depending on the goals, needs and wants of each individual family

Sorry but not the prior poster. No personal feelings toward the academy. Just recognizing the lack of substance in your position, if there is one. As an attorney, and a logical person, your posts annoy me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Do you post just to hear yourself. This line of "argument" was called out five or so messages prior. If you don't want to engage on the topic of the conversation, just sit it out. "strong academy or not" If you think it's strong, say why.

Do you post just to hear yourself?
You said this already

You're here to bash the academy because of personal feelings

I'm here to point out the lack of material facts and truths behind your biased narratives using objective logic

The answer is yes, DCU (and every) academy is a strong academy, or not, depending on the goals, needs and wants of each individual family

Sorry but not the prior poster. No personal feelings toward the academy. Just recognizing the lack of substance in your position, if there is one. As an attorney, and a logical person, your posts annoy me.

Whats my position?

You're disappointed I choose not to engage in a pointless sports bar debate in the traditional mouth-breather fashion?

May as well argue religion or politics.

Next up: God is real, no he's not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

I do have an academy level kid thus why I am speaking

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Personally, I am not saying they are failing. I have 4 kids. All play. Only one is academy level which brought me to these forums to learn about my options. The common refrain is that anybody who criticizes DCU is a reject. Read the history in this string. By ANY independent measure, the owners are fleecing the fans and the parents with how they run DCU and the academy. THE ONLY reason I care is because ONE of my kids has the actual talent equivalent to academy level and from researching my options and talking to parents of academy prospects, it was repeatedly told to him avoid DCU if you can.

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

There are no guarantees anywhere. We all know the odds. What I do know is that my kid is equivalent to academy level players and international academy level players. I am interested in the environment that can help him maintain the same level versus the drop off that most American’s have between ages 12-16.

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

No. DCU produces successful individuals but it is more a result of Hunger Game style of survival than actually development of talent in the hotbed that is the DMV.

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Personally, I think you should be able to read from my response that it is very calm and non-ego based. I am frustrated because I don’t want to send my kid away this young. If DCU would allow me to choose to pay the training cost and agree to relinquish my homegrown rights if I choose not to train with them but tryout, you would not hear a peep from me personally. From the coaches I have experienced from DCU, I don’t see the benefit that I can’t manufacture outside of the academy and maintain my homegrown rights or my ability to move to Europe. We don’t have a dual passport but people on this page have not done the research and claim it is impossible when there are DMV families in Europe WITHOUT dual passports and we have a pathway.

These measures I am taking are because I am an informed parent who prepares diligently for all of my kids. Admittedly, soccer is the hardest. It is okay if DCU is your only option. It is okay if you can’t afford private training and DCU is the best option. It is NOT okay for DCU parents to have ego’s and say a kid is not good enough if they stay in P2P until they move to Europe or wait to move to another academy which is the common refrain. IF I send my kid to DCU, I would be okay with saying, yeah, we are here. This was my “safety school”. Not the option I wanted but the best I have available and making the best of it. The ego’s are coming from the parents who can’t admit that or worse. They actually think it is not a “safety school” and they think it is Harvard.

See response above in bold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

I do have an academy level kid thus why I am speaking

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Personally, I am not saying they are failing. I have 4 kids. All play. Only one is academy level which brought me to these forums to learn about my options. The common refrain is that anybody who criticizes DCU is a reject. Read the history in this string. By ANY independent measure, the owners are fleecing the fans and the parents with how they run DCU and the academy. THE ONLY reason I care is because ONE of my kids has the actual talent equivalent to academy level and from researching my options and talking to parents of academy prospects, it was repeatedly told to him avoid DCU if you can.

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

There are no guarantees anywhere. We all know the odds. What I do know is that my kid is equivalent to academy level players and international academy level players. I am interested in the environment that can help him maintain the same level versus the drop off that most American’s have between ages 12-16.

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

No. DCU produces successful individuals but it is more a result of Hunger Game style of survival than actually development of talent in the hotbed that is the DMV.

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Personally, I think you should be able to read from my response that it is very calm and non-ego based. I am frustrated because I don’t want to send my kid away this young. If DCU would allow me to choose to pay the training cost and agree to relinquish my homegrown rights if I choose not to train with them but tryout, you would not hear a peep from me personally. From the coaches I have experienced from DCU, I don’t see the benefit that I can’t manufacture outside of the academy and maintain my homegrown rights or my ability to move to Europe. We don’t have a dual passport but people on this page have not done the research and claim it is impossible when there are DMV families in Europe WITHOUT dual passports and we have a pathway.

These measures I am taking are because I am an informed parent who prepares diligently for all of my kids. Admittedly, soccer is the hardest. It is okay if DCU is your only option. It is okay if you can’t afford private training and DCU is the best option. It is NOT okay for DCU parents to have ego’s and say a kid is not good enough if they stay in P2P until they move to Europe or wait to move to another academy which is the common refrain. IF I send my kid to DCU, I would be okay with saying, yeah, we are here. This was my “safety school”. Not the option I wanted but the best I have available and making the best of it. The ego’s are coming from the parents who can’t admit that or worse. They actually think it is not a “safety school” and they think it is Harvard.

See response above in bold.

Can't take you really seriously that you have an international level quality academy kid and you'd consider the rantings on a dcum thread from people who are emotionally invested, biased and some admittedly upset their kids were rejected by DC as a source of objective quality information for you to make decisions on your kid's future

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

I do have an academy level kid thus why I am speaking

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Personally, I am not saying they are failing. I have 4 kids. All play. Only one is academy level which brought me to these forums to learn about my options. The common refrain is that anybody who criticizes DCU is a reject. Read the history in this string. By ANY independent measure, the owners are fleecing the fans and the parents with how they run DCU and the academy. THE ONLY reason I care is because ONE of my kids has the actual talent equivalent to academy level and from researching my options and talking to parents of academy prospects, it was repeatedly told to him avoid DCU if you can.

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

There are no guarantees anywhere. We all know the odds. What I do know is that my kid is equivalent to academy level players and international academy level players. I am interested in the environment that can help him maintain the same level versus the drop off that most American’s have between ages 12-16.

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

No. DCU produces successful individuals but it is more a result of Hunger Game style of survival than actually development of talent in the hotbed that is the DMV.

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Personally, I think you should be able to read from my response that it is very calm and non-ego based. I am frustrated because I don’t want to send my kid away this young. If DCU would allow me to choose to pay the training cost and agree to relinquish my homegrown rights if I choose not to train with them but tryout, you would not hear a peep from me personally. From the coaches I have experienced from DCU, I don’t see the benefit that I can’t manufacture outside of the academy and maintain my homegrown rights or my ability to move to Europe. We don’t have a dual passport but people on this page have not done the research and claim it is impossible when there are DMV families in Europe WITHOUT dual passports and we have a pathway.

These measures I am taking are because I am an informed parent who prepares diligently for all of my kids. Admittedly, soccer is the hardest. It is okay if DCU is your only option. It is okay if you can’t afford private training and DCU is the best option. It is NOT okay for DCU parents to have ego’s and say a kid is not good enough if they stay in P2P until they move to Europe or wait to move to another academy which is the common refrain. IF I send my kid to DCU, I would be okay with saying, yeah, we are here. This was my “safety school”. Not the option I wanted but the best I have available and making the best of it. The ego’s are coming from the parents who can’t admit that or worse. They actually think it is not a “safety school” and they think it is Harvard.

See response above in bold.

Can't take you really seriously that you have an international level quality academy kid and you'd consider the rantings on a dcum thread from people who are emotionally invested, biased and some admittedly upset their kids were rejected by DC as a source of objective quality information for you to make decisions on your kid's future

I think this is where you have a fundamental problem in your thinking. The ponts that have been raised highlightng the massive shortcomings in DCUs academy system are pretty much ALL valid. People use this info and verify it with other sources. And the problems with DCU can be verified elsewhere. You just have to know the problems to verify them. The problems weren't widely known before this thread and this threads info being indexed by google and also used by large language models (LLMs) to feed AI gpts like chat gpt. Mostly because people like you promulgate the fallacy that DCU wants you to buy into and that is it is this amazing stepping stone in youth soccer - but the reality is that it is far from that.

Your problem is that you chose to ignore the truth about how bad DCU is. Once you accept that DCU is just not up things will go better for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS and the vast majority of people on dcum don't have sons who are at the talent levels of the kids at DCU

I do have an academy level kid thus why I am speaking

If you're saying the parents with kids at the professional academy are failing their kids in soccer, then what about all of us?

Personally, I am not saying they are failing. I have 4 kids. All play. Only one is academy level which brought me to these forums to learn about my options. The common refrain is that anybody who criticizes DCU is a reject. Read the history in this string. By ANY independent measure, the owners are fleecing the fans and the parents with how they run DCU and the academy. THE ONLY reason I care is because ONE of my kids has the actual talent equivalent to academy level and from researching my options and talking to parents of academy prospects, it was repeatedly told to him avoid DCU if you can.

Also, in the grand realistic scheme of things, so what if Philadelphia Union is a "better" academy than DC?
Are there guarantees of professional success if you go to Philly?

There are no guarantees anywhere. We all know the odds. What I do know is that my kid is equivalent to academy level players and international academy level players. I am interested in the environment that can help him maintain the same level versus the drop off that most American’s have between ages 12-16.

If some say Austin academy is better than Houston, does that mean Houston can't produce successful individuals?

No. DCU produces successful individuals but it is more a result of Hunger Game style of survival than actually development of talent in the hotbed that is the DMV.

F students go to good schools and A students go to bad schools.
You folks are more stuck on perception and labels than real world life outcomes for your egos

Personally, I think you should be able to read from my response that it is very calm and non-ego based. I am frustrated because I don’t want to send my kid away this young. If DCU would allow me to choose to pay the training cost and agree to relinquish my homegrown rights if I choose not to train with them but tryout, you would not hear a peep from me personally. From the coaches I have experienced from DCU, I don’t see the benefit that I can’t manufacture outside of the academy and maintain my homegrown rights or my ability to move to Europe. We don’t have a dual passport but people on this page have not done the research and claim it is impossible when there are DMV families in Europe WITHOUT dual passports and we have a pathway.

These measures I am taking are because I am an informed parent who prepares diligently for all of my kids. Admittedly, soccer is the hardest. It is okay if DCU is your only option. It is okay if you can’t afford private training and DCU is the best option. It is NOT okay for DCU parents to have ego’s and say a kid is not good enough if they stay in P2P until they move to Europe or wait to move to another academy which is the common refrain. IF I send my kid to DCU, I would be okay with saying, yeah, we are here. This was my “safety school”. Not the option I wanted but the best I have available and making the best of it. The ego’s are coming from the parents who can’t admit that or worse. They actually think it is not a “safety school” and they think it is Harvard.

See response above in bold.

Can't take you really seriously that you have an international level quality academy kid and you'd consider the rantings on a dcum thread from people who are emotionally invested, biased and some admittedly upset their kids were rejected by DC as a source of objective quality information for you to make decisions on your kid's future

You discount the power of information provided in these pages and how quickly a kid can develop if you lose the ego, ask questions and pay attention. The most beneficial things we have found are the things people make fun of on DCUM. This is my lunchtime fix.

With all of the internationals that come here from college, you discount the ones who stay here and have connections to academies in Europe. Also discussed here on DCUM.

You discount the ages variances of people in this chat. We will be in Europe by the time my son is probably your kids age. We are not eligible for the DCU academy yet.

Admittedly, I somehow found this forum as I knew very little about soccer until my son showed potential and I was doing Google searches. This forum led me to a great private trainer who is cheap and the best invite-only group training my son has experienced in the DMV.

So yeah, I have an international academy level son now. The key is keeping him there which is difficult in the US, especially when we only have 1 academy which only starts at U14 and is subpar to the rest of the academies who also struggle to produce international level talent.

See, no ego to that ego-laced response. You are aware that your musing are just a reflection of who you are so you kind of just labeled yourself. You don’t have to trust me. If your process is working for you, trust your process. Lunchtime over. Time to punch the clock again.

[Anonymous]

Interesting article (interview with owners):

https://t.co/qzVMfUme8B

and Twitter rebuttal:

https://x.com/ProspectsUsmnt/status/1968353058385002578

Seems to me that anyone with an Academy level talented son should be doing all they can to avoid DCU, unfortunately.