DC United Academy - aa strong academy or not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's blame culture, even this article supports what is being said here.

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

Allowing MLS clubs to have territorial rights when the club doesn't have high aspirations themselves just flat out sucks.

I believe we can find opinion piece articles to support any argument

Still trying to find weapons of mass destruction after multiple articles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's blame culture, even this article supports what is being said here.

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

Allowing MLS clubs to have territorial rights when the club doesn't have high aspirations themselves just flat out sucks.

I believe we can find opinion piece articles to support any argument

Still trying to find weapons of mass destruction after multiple articles.

Can you share any?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's blame culture, even this article supports what is being said here.

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

Allowing MLS clubs to have territorial rights when the club doesn't have high aspirations themselves just flat out sucks.

Highlighting Griffin Yow is a great example of what's going on at DCU.

Kristian Fletcher as well.

[Anonymous]

I’m really finding this thread productive and insightful. Can we all just ignore the poster who doesn’t post anything constructive please? Or just report. I do think it’s a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, are we all now so sad, pitiful and jaded drowning in insecurities and low self-esteem we're trying to form a group to collectively hate and disparage the local academy because our kids weren't qualified or exceptional to be selected by them?

Sad shameful and despicable

Here's your option.
Don't accept an invitation from DCU if offered and or just take your kid to Philly or NEW York if they'll have him.

Seems much simpler than this pitiful display

I mean that is what players are doing, trying to not be scouted by DCU and focusing on getting into an academy somewhere else.

Still won't stop DCU from swooping in and interfering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, are we all now so sad, pitiful and jaded drowning in insecurities and low self-esteem we're trying to form a group to collectively hate and disparage the local academy because our kids weren't qualified or exceptional to be selected by them?

Sad shameful and despicable

Here's your option.
Don't accept an invitation from DCU if offered and or just take your kid to Philly or NEW York if they'll have him.

Seems much simpler than this pitiful display

I mean that is what players are doing, trying to not be scouted by DCU and focusing on getting into an academy somewhere else.

Yes, we should believe you that all the good players and their families in the DMV area that are MLS academy level talent are seeking avenues outside the area.

You're so focused on this crap you can't even hear how ridiculous you sound.

When local kids are offered spots by outside academies, including DCU, guess which ones they go for?

If they can, they are going to places other than DCU for sure.

The ones I know have gone to Red Bulls and Philly Union. I do know one kid that had offers in other states for other academies, but ultimately went to DCU because his family didn't want to relocate and the other offers didn't offer residential so to take the offers the family would have had to move.

Sad to hear. MLS didn't do anybody any favors really allowing these territorial rights. Def agree with previous posts that there are better MLS academy options than DCU. There needs to be better in this area and what DCU provides pales in comparison to other clubs, but it starts at the top and until changes come there, nothing will change at the bottom. Look what's happening with the local football team...

Are the Division 1 leagues in South America and Europe rosters filled with only players from the best academy?

Of the 26 mls academies in our country, you are saying if a kid isn't at one that in our opinion is in the top 5 they have no chance and 21 academies are a waste of time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting a new discussion so that the DCU topics doesn't hijack other threads like the Bethesda one. Post all evidence and arguments about DCU here.

DC United's academy is the only option to play in an MLS academy in the DMV area. That is worth stating and gives them power in our area because the power structure within youth soccer in our country has shifted to the MLS Academies. MLS Academies are now the top tier of soccer in this country. Does that mean they have all the best players? No. But it does mean that when scouts are looking for talent, whether that is national team, European, college, they are starting (and often times ending) at MLS academy events. That makes DCU attractive because your kid will just get more exposure. But honestly, that (and maybe the fact that DCU is free) is where the benefits of DCU probably end.

A prior poster asked a salient question and that is - how do you define a strong academy? Because the reality is that we could measure that in a lot of different ways. However, in my view, strong youth academies do have some foundational commonality:

Facilities: They have their own facilities to train their talents and those facilities have multiple fields, fitness areas, classrooms for video study, locker rooms etc.

Scouting network: to constantly identify talents to keep the academy vibrant and reloading year after year. The more scouts you have the better you can do this. The less scouts you have, the more likely talents will fall under the radar.

Development philosophy and style of play: a clear articulation and implementation of a manner by which the academy will develop its players and how the academy will hold itself accountable to this philosophy and the development of the players. Also, the academy should have a defined and known way of playing (and mentality) and usually this mirrors the first team.

Strong coaches: Coaches are on the front lines. They are developing the talents and are one of the most important cogs in the academy engine. Without good coaches, the talents have a harder time developing. The academy needs to show a commitment to hiring and retaining top notch coaches. Plus, they need to be investing in training the coaches to be better coaches.

Commitment from leadership: Financial and structural. Does the academy get enough funding to be the best it can be and structurally, is the academy truly seen as a breeding grounds for the first team?

In my opinion, DCU has fundamental issues in all of these areas:

Facilities: They don't have an academy facility. Period.

Scouting network: They have one full time scout for the DMV. ONE. To be fair, this scouting issue is common in the US overall not just DCU. Scouting is generally weak all over the country because our country is so vast and we don't have much investment in scouting talents like the rest of the world.

Development philosophy and style of play: DCU doesn't have a real development philosophy and there is absolutely ZERO accountability for the development of the kids (this is common elsewhere too). Of course, if you are in the academy, the brass will have some PPT or document that articulates something that sounds like a philosophy because they have to have that to not look ridiculous, but end of day, you can't see any consistency in the way the teams play or in the coaching methodology across the academy. Players are generally treated the same, but they all have very different developmental needs. Style of play is weak, rudimentary football and very far from possession based football leading to low touch rates for the players.

Strong coaches: This is where DCU has been suffering for years. They have never wanted to pay a competitive salary to the coaches so they get coaches that are willing to take the low pay and that normally results in a weaker coaching slate with coaches that lack experience or, on the flip side, were good players in their time but weaker as coaches.

Commitment from leadership: Similar to coaches, this is also an area where DCU has a serious problem. The leadership has never believed that the academy could be a money maker for them so they didn't invest in it and are still doing the bare minimum. Why the academy was pay to play for so many years. Leadership wanted to be sure they weren't losing money on it so they operated it like every other club in our area which undercut its efficacy, put them in the same category as every other club in our area and also let competitors get a head start in building proper academies (now DCU is trying to catch up on academies that have a decade or more head start)

DCU does have a decent track record of putting players from the academy on the first team and that is notable and also a factor by which an academy is also judged. But I would argue that DCU didn't really develop the majority of those players, they were the beneficiaries of someone else's work and/or being the only pro/MLS game in town.

But, all of those things aside, and to the first point made here, DCU is the only MLS academy in our area, and that has weight. You just have to take it for what it is and know what you're getting into. You will have to make it work at DCU (for whatever you player's goals are), they aren't going to make it work for you. If becoming a pro soccer player is the ambition, the DCU pro pathway is a much harder one (of course not impossible) because there are so many issues with the organization. If you just want to play high level soccer as a foundation for college or something else, then it could be good for that. Its just sad that the only MLS academy in our area, an area that has traditionally been so rich in soccer talent, is just not on the level of most of the other MLS academies in the country (or even in our region see Philly Union and Red Bulls). Our kids deserve better.

The "our kids deserve better" at the end is what sold it for me

What happens now?
Where do we go from here?

Good questions. With respect to DCU, what happens in the short term is probably nothing. DCU will continue to be a mediocre/subpar offering because they can get away with it as the only MLS academy in town and they don't really care to be better because the management doesn't want to invest in the program.

Where we need to go is having more parents demand a level of accountability and standards for our children and that starts with - education. We need to better educate the soccer population in the DMV about the realities of these clubs and how those realities impact their children. So many parents don't understand the development pathway of a footballer and all of the cubs prey on this ignorance. Especially the pay to play clubs, but also DCU as they try to tout that they are a pro academy but the experience isn't really much different than any other club. Just the level is higher.

DCU just like most other clubs, doesn't want an educated public. Why the DCU troll on here always tries to deflect from the legitimate issues that have been raised. But an educated public will start to demand more for their kids. They can hold all of the clubs more accountable. Until there is more accountability in the system, there will continue to be subpar offerings and our children won't get to realize their true potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame culture turned up

My kid failed to achieve his road to professional soccer dreams because the dc academy rejected him

Never mind there are many top professionals who faced multiple rejections and adversities.

Instead of obsessing over what you think dcu owed you, go do what you need to do to move forward.

If dc academy is the worst of the 26 academies in the country (based on opinion since there doesn't exist enough measurable elements) then they're the worst.
If your kid is exceptional and you make good decisions as you should as a responsible parent, your kid will be fine. In or out of dcu.

The rest of this stuff is glorified whining and griping and tantrums and grudges.

The lead prosecutor here obviously has a personal beef and agenda and is desperately seeking a following.

Once again. nothing positive. Is your child there? Why? Why was DCU a good fit for your son? What do they do well? Rather than trying to tear posters down, some of whom have provided detailed and well reasoned thoughts, talk up DCU.

I thought nothing positive was the theme of the thread

You don't have to have a kid at dcu (I'm sure hardly any of us do) to comment on a thread or to point out the pettiness of the hyperbole in biased personal opinions and griping.
The herd mentality for piling on is hilarious once like minds get together to vent emotionally because they feel they too were wronged by little Johnny not getting into DCU.
Continue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame culture turned up

My kid failed to achieve his road to professional soccer dreams because the dc academy rejected him

Never mind there are many top professionals who faced multiple rejections and adversities.

Instead of obsessing over what you think dcu owed you, go do what you need to do to move forward.

If dc academy is the worst of the 26 academies in the country (based on opinion since there doesn't exist enough measurable elements) then they're the worst.
If your kid is exceptional and you make good decisions as you should as a responsible parent, your kid will be fine. In or out of dcu.

The rest of this stuff is glorified whining and griping and tantrums and grudges.

The lead prosecutor here obviously has a personal beef and agenda and is desperately seeking a following.

Once again. nothing positive. Is your child there? Why? Why was DCU a good fit for your son? What do they do well? Rather than trying to tear posters down, some of whom have provided detailed and well reasoned thoughts, talk up DCU.

I thought nothing positive was the theme of the thread

You don't have to have a kid at dcu (I'm sure hardly any of us do) to comment on a thread or to point out the pettiness of the hyperbole in biased personal opinions and griping.
The herd mentality for piling on is hilarious once like minds get together to vent emotionally because they feel they too were wronged by little Johnny not getting into DCU.
Continue

I think this poster may actually be the worst indictment of DCU. Their biggest supporter can't say anything positive. I honestly would like to know what they do well. My son is an MLS Next player and I've seen the regional academies, albeit at one age group. I'm definitely not bitter about my son not being scouted by DC United. the local professional academy could and should have a positive effect on all of the local clubs through partnerships and providing resources or even just setting an example for what a training program and system of play should look like. And, if they had such things, they should start earlier with multiple squads at younger ages. Depending on local clubs to find and develop talent through U13, with no DCU involvement, then "poaching" the top players doesn't feel like a great model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting a new discussion so that the DCU topics doesn't hijack other threads like the Bethesda one. Post all evidence and arguments about DCU here.

DC United's academy is the only option to play in an MLS academy in the DMV area. That is worth stating and gives them power in our area because the power structure within youth soccer in our country has shifted to the MLS Academies. MLS Academies are now the top tier of soccer in this country. Does that mean they have all the best players? No. But it does mean that when scouts are looking for talent, whether that is national team, European, college, they are starting (and often times ending) at MLS academy events. That makes DCU attractive because your kid will just get more exposure. But honestly, that (and maybe the fact that DCU is free) is where the benefits of DCU probably end.

A prior poster asked a salient question and that is - how do you define a strong academy? Because the reality is that we could measure that in a lot of different ways. However, in my view, strong youth academies do have some foundational commonality:

Facilities: They have their own facilities to train their talents and those facilities have multiple fields, fitness areas, classrooms for video study, locker rooms etc.

Scouting network: to constantly identify talents to keep the academy vibrant and reloading year after year. The more scouts you have the better you can do this. The less scouts you have, the more likely talents will fall under the radar.

Development philosophy and style of play: a clear articulation and implementation of a manner by which the academy will develop its players and how the academy will hold itself accountable to this philosophy and the development of the players. Also, the academy should have a defined and known way of playing (and mentality) and usually this mirrors the first team.

Strong coaches: Coaches are on the front lines. They are developing the talents and are one of the most important cogs in the academy engine. Without good coaches, the talents have a harder time developing. The academy needs to show a commitment to hiring and retaining top notch coaches. Plus, they need to be investing in training the coaches to be better coaches.

Commitment from leadership: Financial and structural. Does the academy get enough funding to be the best it can be and structurally, is the academy truly seen as a breeding grounds for the first team?

In my opinion, DCU has fundamental issues in all of these areas:

Facilities: They don't have an academy facility. Period.

Scouting network: They have one full time scout for the DMV. ONE. To be fair, this scouting issue is common in the US overall not just DCU. Scouting is generally weak all over the country because our country is so vast and we don't have much investment in scouting talents like the rest of the world.

Development philosophy and style of play: DCU doesn't have a real development philosophy and there is absolutely ZERO accountability for the development of the kids (this is common elsewhere too). Of course, if you are in the academy, the brass will have some PPT or document that articulates something that sounds like a philosophy because they have to have that to not look ridiculous, but end of day, you can't see any consistency in the way the teams play or in the coaching methodology across the academy. Players are generally treated the same, but they all have very different developmental needs. Style of play is weak, rudimentary football and very far from possession based football leading to low touch rates for the players.

Strong coaches: This is where DCU has been suffering for years. They have never wanted to pay a competitive salary to the coaches so they get coaches that are willing to take the low pay and that normally results in a weaker coaching slate with coaches that lack experience or, on the flip side, were good players in their time but weaker as coaches.

Commitment from leadership: Similar to coaches, this is also an area where DCU has a serious problem. The leadership has never believed that the academy could be a money maker for them so they didn't invest in it and are still doing the bare minimum. Why the academy was pay to play for so many years. Leadership wanted to be sure they weren't losing money on it so they operated it like every other club in our area which undercut its efficacy, put them in the same category as every other club in our area and also let competitors get a head start in building proper academies (now DCU is trying to catch up on academies that have a decade or more head start)

DCU does have a decent track record of putting players from the academy on the first team and that is notable and also a factor by which an academy is also judged. But I would argue that DCU didn't really develop the majority of those players, they were the beneficiaries of someone else's work and/or being the only pro/MLS game in town.

But, all of those things aside, and to the first point made here, DCU is the only MLS academy in our area, and that has weight. You just have to take it for what it is and know what you're getting into. You will have to make it work at DCU (for whatever you player's goals are), they aren't going to make it work for you. If becoming a pro soccer player is the ambition, the DCU pro pathway is a much harder one (of course not impossible) because there are so many issues with the organization. If you just want to play high level soccer as a foundation for college or something else, then it could be good for that. Its just sad that the only MLS academy in our area, an area that has traditionally been so rich in soccer talent, is just not on the level of most of the other MLS academies in the country (or even in our region see Philly Union and Red Bulls). Our kids deserve better.

The "our kids deserve better" at the end is what sold it for me

What happens now?
Where do we go from here?

Good questions. With respect to DCU, what happens in the short term is probably nothing. DCU will continue to be a mediocre/subpar offering because they can get away with it as the only MLS academy in town and they don't really care to be better because the management doesn't want to invest in the program.

Where we need to go is having more parents demand a level of accountability and standards for our children and that starts with - education. We need to better educate the soccer population in the DMV about the realities of these clubs and how those realities impact their children. So many parents don't understand the development pathway of a footballer and all of the cubs prey on this ignorance. Especially the pay to play clubs, but also DCU as they try to tout that they are a pro academy but the experience isn't really much different than any other club. Just the level is higher.

DCU just like most other clubs, doesn't want an educated public. Why the DCU troll on here always tries to deflect from the legitimate issues that have been raised. But an educated public will start to demand more for their kids. They can hold all of the clubs more accountable. Until there is more accountability in the system, there will continue to be subpar offerings and our children won't get to realize their true potential.

You want DCU to be the vessel to educate parents about soccer in the landscape that lacks a true soccer culture?

Shouldn't parents educate themselves if they want to?
Or just continue to focus on writing big checks, get medals and trophies and be happy the kid's jersey has a badge.

[Anonymous]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_list_of_the_most_valuable_MLS_clubs

Pretty high on the list, but no desire to be better as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame culture turned up

My kid failed to achieve his road to professional soccer dreams because the dc academy rejected him

Never mind there are many top professionals who faced multiple rejections and adversities.

Instead of obsessing over what you think dcu owed you, go do what you need to do to move forward.

If dc academy is the worst of the 26 academies in the country (based on opinion since there doesn't exist enough measurable elements) then they're the worst.
If your kid is exceptional and you make good decisions as you should as a responsible parent, your kid will be fine. In or out of dcu.

The rest of this stuff is glorified whining and griping and tantrums and grudges.

The lead prosecutor here obviously has a personal beef and agenda and is desperately seeking a following.

Once again. nothing positive. Is your child there? Why? Why was DCU a good fit for your son? What do they do well? Rather than trying to tear posters down, some of whom have provided detailed and well reasoned thoughts, talk up DCU.

I thought nothing positive was the theme of the thread

You don't have to have a kid at dcu (I'm sure hardly any of us do) to comment on a thread or to point out the pettiness of the hyperbole in biased personal opinions and griping.
The herd mentality for piling on is hilarious once like minds get together to vent emotionally because they feel they too were wronged by little Johnny not getting into DCU.
Continue

CANCEL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame culture turned up

My kid failed to achieve his road to professional soccer dreams because the dc academy rejected him

Never mind there are many top professionals who faced multiple rejections and adversities.

Instead of obsessing over what you think dcu owed you, go do what you need to do to move forward.

If dc academy is the worst of the 26 academies in the country (based on opinion since there doesn't exist enough measurable elements) then they're the worst.
If your kid is exceptional and you make good decisions as you should as a responsible parent, your kid will be fine. In or out of dcu.

The rest of this stuff is glorified whining and griping and tantrums and grudges.

The lead prosecutor here obviously has a personal beef and agenda and is desperately seeking a following.

Once again. nothing positive. Is your child there? Why? Why was DCU a good fit for your son? What do they do well? Rather than trying to tear posters down, some of whom have provided detailed and well reasoned thoughts, talk up DCU.

I thought nothing positive was the theme of the thread

You don't have to have a kid at dcu (I'm sure hardly any of us do) to comment on a thread or to point out the pettiness of the hyperbole in biased personal opinions and griping.
The herd mentality for piling on is hilarious once like minds get together to vent emotionally because they feel they too were wronged by little Johnny not getting into DCU.
Continue

I think this poster may actually be the worst indictment of DCU. Their biggest supporter can't say anything positive. I honestly would like to know what they do well. My son is an MLS Next player and I've seen the regional academies, albeit at one age group. I'm definitely not bitter about my son not being scouted by DC United. the local professional academy could and should have a positive effect on all of the local clubs through partnerships and providing resources or even just setting an example for what a training program and system of play should look like. And, if they had such things, they should start earlier with multiple squads at younger ages. Depending on local clubs to find and develop talent through U13, with no DCU involvement, then "poaching" the top players doesn't feel like a great model.

Being against the pettiness and griping doesn't make one a big dcu supporter.

You're just against the whining which adds no value

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_list_of_the_most_valuable_MLS_clubs

Pretty high on the list, but no desire to be better as a whole.

If they’re so valuable, why don’t they invest in their youth academy? It’s crazy.

[Anonymous]

New to all this. My kid is a rec player.

The dc academy doesn't elevate players to good college soccer programs or to professional levels?