Best MLS Youth Academy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France.

Seriously, and this is a long-discussed topic. "Success" in the American youth system is team-based. Clubs don't do well creating great players, they do well by becoming a winning program that draws in more parents to the lower sides paying fees every year. The bonuses for having a player go pro are minuscule and nothing compared to Europe.

If you have a chance to move to Europe, take it.

If a player has a chance to move to Europe, where should they go? Are there countries or clubs more inviting to players coming from the US? Wouldn’t you have to be coming from an MLS Academy to be marketable?

Oops, you wrote France. Why France and not Spain or Germany?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France.

Seriously, and this is a long-discussed topic. "Success" in the American youth system is team-based. Clubs don't do well creating great players, they do well by becoming a winning program that draws in more parents to the lower sides paying fees every year. The bonuses for having a player go pro are minuscule and nothing compared to Europe.

If you have a chance to move to Europe, take it.

If a player has a chance to move to Europe, where should they go? Are there countries or clubs more inviting to players coming from the US? Wouldn’t you have to be coming from an MLS Academy to be marketable?

Oops, you wrote France. Why France and not Spain or Germany?

DP. This will depend on a player’s family and passport situation, but Germany has been the easiest path for kids we know without EU passports. Can’t be officially signed until you are 18 in that situation.

Also? It’s not something to do without serious consideration about the cons. There are kids from the US killing or sort of making it in Europe. There are many more who chased the dream only to end up in a much worse position than they would have been in had they parlayed their soccer talent into a great college situation, with or without the thought that there could be a college to pro pathway down the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France.

Seriously, and this is a long-discussed topic. "Success" in the American youth system is team-based. Clubs don't do well creating great players, they do well by becoming a winning program that draws in more parents to the lower sides paying fees every year. The bonuses for having a player go pro are minuscule and nothing compared to Europe.

If you have a chance to move to Europe, take it.

If a player has a chance to move to Europe, where should they go? Are there countries or clubs more inviting to players coming from the US? Wouldn’t you have to be coming from an MLS Academy to be marketable?

Oops, you wrote France. Why France and not Spain or Germany?

DP. This will depend on a player’s family and passport situation, but Germany has been the easiest path for kids we know without EU passports. Can’t be officially signed until you are 18 in that situation.

Also? It’s not something to do without serious consideration about the cons. There are kids from the US killing or sort of making it in Europe. There are many more who chased the dream only to end up in a much worse position than they would have been in had they parlayed their soccer talent into a great college situation, with or without the thought that there could be a college to pro pathway down the line.

I’m assuming worse position would be having played some level of pro in Europe and losing eligibility to play in college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France.

Seriously, and this is a long-discussed topic. "Success" in the American youth system is team-based. Clubs don't do well creating great players, they do well by becoming a winning program that draws in more parents to the lower sides paying fees every year. The bonuses for having a player go pro are minuscule and nothing compared to Europe.

If you have a chance to move to Europe, take it.

If a player has a chance to move to Europe, where should they go? Are there countries or clubs more inviting to players coming from the US? Wouldn’t you have to be coming from an MLS Academy to be marketable?

Oops, you wrote France. Why France and not Spain or Germany?

DP. This will depend on a player’s family and passport situation, but Germany has been the easiest path for kids we know without EU passports. Can’t be officially signed until you are 18 in that situation.

Also? It’s not something to do without serious consideration about the cons. There are kids from the US killing or sort of making it in Europe. There are many more who chased the dream only to end up in a much worse position than they would have been in had they parlayed their soccer talent into a great college situation, with or without the thought that there could be a college to pro pathway down the line.

I’m assuming worse position would be having played some level of pro in Europe and losing eligibility to play in college?

Partly. You lose out on the chance of an admissions boost to a top school if you won’t be able to play there. Also, you’ll hear talk on here and other forums about how hard/impossible it is for US boys to get any significant athletic scholarship money for soccer. But many kids do every year, including most of the former college players playing in MLS now.

You also need to consider financial factors, the potential hardships and unfairness for siblings with any move focused on one kid, and the isolation that players can feel away from their home country surrounded by competitors. Moving to Europe to pursue the dream always sounds a lot more glamorous than it is in reality.

[Anonymous]

The latter. The coaching is very poor. They pick the best kids, and fail to develop them. This becomes increasdingly obvious as the kids get older and the gap between the non-developing DCU kids and the developing kids from other MLS academies grows each year.

Actually, they pick the biggest kids and fail to develop them because, in part, the kids are all early bloomers and are done growing. Many of the kids they select have questionable skills and soccer IQ - they are just bigger than the kids they are playing against. Not all, but many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The latter. The coaching is very poor. They pick the best kids, and fail to develop them. This becomes increasdingly obvious as the kids get older and the gap between the non-developing DCU kids and the developing kids from other MLS academies grows each year.

Actually, they pick the biggest kids and fail to develop them because, in part, the kids are all early bloomers and are done growing. Many of the kids they select have questionable skills and soccer IQ - they are just bigger than the kids they are playing against. Not all, but many.


+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a DCU scout at many of my son's U13 MLS Next matches last season, especially during the fall. Because DCU Academy doesn't start until U14, this is an easy way for them to scout many of the region's best players. I also heard they have invited a fair number of 2011s into the academy. I know of two, at least.

So they only scout little kid mlsnext matches? Quite a waste. A lot of those doors are political and early growers/puberty.

There is a huge region of players and they miss out on serious future talent with their stupid limitations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a DCU scout at many of my son's U13 MLS Next matches last season, especially during the fall. Because DCU Academy doesn't start until U14, this is an easy way for them to scout many of the region's best players. I also heard they have invited a fair number of 2011s into the academy. I know of two, at least.

So they only scout little kid mlsnext matches? Quite a waste. A lot of those doors are political and early growers/puberty.

There is a huge region of players and they miss out on serious future talent with their stupid limitations.

They scout ECNL clubs too and there are a few clubs that have relationship/programs with them like PPA. You can often see what clubs DCU kids are coming from - BSC, Alexandria, Arlington, Pipeline, Achilles, PPA, etc.

Those clubs will like already have close relationship with DCU scouts. But occasionally they’ll get someone from a smaller less known club like Cerritos. I think it would be more work to get scouted if you are not at a major club but if the club and coach go to bat for your kid, I think it can be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The latter. The coaching is very poor. They pick the best kids, and fail to develop them. This becomes increasdingly obvious as the kids get older and the gap between the non-developing DCU kids and the developing kids from other MLS academies grows each year.

Actually, they pick the biggest kids and fail to develop them because, in part, the kids are all early bloomers and are done growing. Many of the kids they select have questionable skills and soccer IQ - they are just bigger than the kids they are playing against. Not all, but many.

+100



I don’t know…some of the kids look pretty small to me. So perhaps they favor bigger kids overall but there are def a few small kids. And those kids are not only skilled, they are fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a DCU scout at many of my son's U13 MLS Next matches last season, especially during the fall. Because DCU Academy doesn't start until U14, this is an easy way for them to scout many of the region's best players. I also heard they have invited a fair number of 2011s into the academy. I know of two, at least.

So they only scout little kid mlsnext matches? Quite a waste. A lot of those doors are political and early growers/puberty.

There is a huge region of players and they miss out on serious future talent with their stupid limitations.

They scout ECNL clubs too and there are a few clubs that have relationship/programs with them like PPA. You can often see what clubs DCU kids are coming from - BSC, Alexandria, Arlington, Pipeline, Achilles, PPA, etc.

Those clubs will like already have close relationship with DCU scouts. But occasionally they’ll get someone from a smaller less known club like Cerritos. I think it would be more work to get scouted if you are not at a major club but if the club and coach go to bat for your kid, I think it can be done.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a DCU scout at many of my son's U13 MLS Next matches last season, especially during the fall. Because DCU Academy doesn't start until U14, this is an easy way for them to scout many of the region's best players. I also heard they have invited a fair number of 2011s into the academy. I know of two, at least.

So they only scout little kid mlsnext matches? Quite a waste. A lot of those doors are political and early growers/puberty.

There is a huge region of players and they miss out on serious future talent with their stupid limitations.

They scout ECNL clubs too and there are a few clubs that have relationship/programs with them like PPA. You can often see what clubs DCU kids are coming from - BSC, Alexandria, Arlington, Pipeline, Achilles, PPA, etc.

Those clubs will like already have close relationship with DCU scouts. But occasionally they’ll get someone from a smaller less known club like Cerritos. I think it would be more work to get scouted if you are not at a major club but if the club and coach go to bat for your kid, I think it can be done.

+1

FWIW, it doesn’t mean that a kid has to be at those clubs early on. It’s debatable that these clubs provide the best development or are the only clubs that can develop players. The reality is that there are also kids who come into those clubs at later ages, get on the top teams and get scouted.

It happens more often then not that those big clubs take outside players over players on their second team.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know…some of the kids look pretty small to me. So perhaps they favor bigger kids overall but there are def a few small kids. And those kids are not only skilled, they are fast.


You're right...there are a few small to average sized kids, and 9 times out of 10 - those are the kids who have a legit shot at going pro. The kid who is 6'0" at age 13 has usually excelled because they are basically 16 year olds in maturity playing with 12 year olds. They'll continue to have success for a year or two...and them most....not all....will fizzle out because they haven't been pushed to play against superior athletes. The small, fast, technical players usually continue to develop and excel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Found a helpful article.

https://www.ussoccercollective.com/mls/mls-academy-rankings

Not looking good for DC United.

Their old director is at Gunston. That's a pretty big fall

If you talk to the director he didn't think it was a fall at all. He quit because he was fed up trying to make progress with no resources and no cash to pay coaches. He got a huge pay raise when he moved, and has the facilities he needs to run a program he's happy with.

What facilities? He as an unlighted home field and has to fight for space at high schools for practice

And you think things were any better when DCU was practicing oppposite RFK at the turf field with the big holes in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The latter. The coaching is very poor. They pick the best kids, and fail to develop them. This becomes increasdingly obvious as the kids get older and the gap between the non-developing DCU kids and the developing kids from other MLS academies grows each year.

Actually, they pick the biggest kids and fail to develop them because, in part, the kids are all early bloomers and are done growing. Many of the kids they select have questionable skills and soccer IQ - they are just bigger than the kids they are playing against. Not all, but many.

+100



There is some truth to this. I don't think their scouting is as good as it should be, and they do pick a few kids on the basis of speed and size who they probably shouldn't have picked because there were better options out there. But they still get the really technically talented kids too. Then they fail to develop any of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The small, fast, technical players usually continue to develop and excel.

Not at DCU they don't.