YNT Pathway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the OP wants to know about YNT not ODP anyway....Let's get back to that.

Right, the pathway is this, your club coach reaches out to US Soccer, they send a scout to a game, and they either like what they see and get back to the club or they move on.

Literally any coach at any club can do this if they feel they have a special player worth being looked at.

White this is theoretically true, the reality is that the women’s national squad picks most players up after/during college. Very few will go from club to national team

True. Women's college soccer is a legitimate farm system for women's talent. Many foreign, female players have come to America for college then go back and play on their national teams. Men's college not so much.

That is changing, like on the men's side the only women coming over are those that washed out of their Professional Academies in Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what age doe this YNT stuff start? Also can someone explain what the odd year/even year difference is?

Boys or girls? US Soccer had just started at u14 pre-pandemic for both sexes. Everything got thrown out after COVID.

For girls, odd year players are usually picked with an eye to the u17 World Cup and even players are picked with an eye to the u20 World Cup. Those events are held every two years. So at younger ages the most attention goes to girls born in odd years that will be eligible to play at a u17 cup. After the u17 phase, the attention shifts to women who will be eligible to play in the u20 cup. So often you’ll see a lot odd year girls being identified when parents are in the thick of youth soccer. Strong even year girls will be IDed but the difference between 16 and17 is still a big jump those girls have a better shot at the u20 cup. Not many people see the shift to even year players because that gets sorted mostly in the college years. So there are NTs at almost every age group through u23. Most of those that are not World Cup teams usually just play some tournaments. The teams fielded also tend to come and go if money is an issue.

The boys side is much easier. This is all sorted out with professional soccer clubs. Only the U23 team matters in an Olympic year. Most countries with professional men’s soccer do not spend a whole lot of time on youth boys national teams. They get to get her every now and than.

So if you think your kid is NT material (as has been said), your coach will send his/her name to the local scouts. They will either watch him/her or if they have a relationship with your coach they may just take his/her word. The kid will end up at one of the NTCs and enter the scouting database. NTCs usually turn into youth national camps once the kids hit u16/17. Again the primary focus is only about the teams that will compete in the u17/u20 cup games for the girls and u23 Olympic game for the boys. As such, there is a lot of room in the process for the scouts and coaches to maintain their relationships.

US Soccer has been trying to figure out scouting and real talent ID for a long time. They’re still working on it.

[Anonymous]

Apparently there is a YNT ID Center being held in Texas this week or weekend. First I've heard about ID Centers being back in session. Anyone heard about anything going on elsewhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently there is a YNT ID Center being held in Texas this week or weekend. First I've heard about ID Centers being back in session. Anyone heard about anything going on elsewhere?

When the calendar used to be up local NTC's were generally held twice a year say locally. Each training center would focus on one or two age groups with usually only one age group getting two NTC dates per year.

They are fairly sporadic and not overtly cyclical or predictable from first glance.

[Anonymous]

The pathway is being a kick ass soccer player. Yes your league, geographical location, and people you know help, but mostly you have to be good. Real good.

[Anonymous]

you know the player you see in a high level game that people talk about afterwards? did you see how #24 did THAT... you have to be at least at that level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you know the player you see in a high level game that people talk about afterwards? did you see how #24 did THAT... you have to be at least at that level.

LOL, that's right though. Win or lose, there's always that one kid who is just better than his teammates or other team..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age doe this YNT stuff start? Also can someone explain what the odd year/even year difference is?

Boys or girls? US Soccer had just started at u14 pre-pandemic for both sexes. Everything got thrown out after COVID.

For girls, odd year players are usually picked with an eye to the u17 World Cup and even players are picked with an eye to the u20 World Cup. Those events are held every two years. So at younger ages the most attention goes to girls born in odd years that will be eligible to play at a u17 cup. After the u17 phase, the attention shifts to women who will be eligible to play in the u20 cup. So often you’ll see a lot odd year girls being identified when parents are in the thick of youth soccer. Strong even year girls will be IDed but the difference between 16 and17 is still a big jump those girls have a better shot at the u20 cup. Not many people see the shift to even year players because that gets sorted mostly in the college years. So there are NTs at almost every age group through u23. Most of those that are not World Cup teams usually just play some tournaments. The teams fielded also tend to come and go if money is an issue.

The boys side is much easier. This is all sorted out with professional soccer clubs. Only the U23 team matters in an Olympic year. Most countries with professional men’s soccer do not spend a whole lot of time on youth boys national teams. They get to get her every now and than.

So if you think your kid is NT material (as has been said), your coach will send his/her name to the local scouts. They will either watch him/her or if they have a relationship with your coach they may just take his/her word. The kid will end up at one of the NTCs and enter the scouting database. NTCs usually turn into youth national camps once the kids hit u16/17. Again the primary focus is only about the teams that will compete in the u17/u20 cup games for the girls and u23 Olympic game for the boys. As such, there is a lot of room in the process for the scouts and coaches to maintain their relationships.

US Soccer has been trying to figure out scouting and real talent ID for a long time. They’re still working on it.

it should rely less on the coach and more on scouting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age doe this YNT stuff start? Also can someone explain what the odd year/even year difference is?

Boys or girls? US Soccer had just started at u14 pre-pandemic for both sexes. Everything got thrown out after COVID.

For girls, odd year players are usually picked with an eye to the u17 World Cup and even players are picked with an eye to the u20 World Cup. Those events are held every two years. So at younger ages the most attention goes to girls born in odd years that will be eligible to play at a u17 cup. After the u17 phase, the attention shifts to women who will be eligible to play in the u20 cup. So often you’ll see a lot odd year girls being identified when parents are in the thick of youth soccer. Strong even year girls will be IDed but the difference between 16 and17 is still a big jump those girls have a better shot at the u20 cup. Not many people see the shift to even year players because that gets sorted mostly in the college years. So there are NTs at almost every age group through u23. Most of those that are not World Cup teams usually just play some tournaments. The teams fielded also tend to come and go if money is an issue.

The boys side is much easier. This is all sorted out with professional soccer clubs. Only the U23 team matters in an Olympic year. Most countries with professional men’s soccer do not spend a whole lot of time on youth boys national teams. They get to get her every now and than.

So if you think your kid is NT material (as has been said), your coach will send his/her name to the local scouts. They will either watch him/her or if they have a relationship with your coach they may just take his/her word. The kid will end up at one of the NTCs and enter the scouting database. NTCs usually turn into youth national camps once the kids hit u16/17. Again the primary focus is only about the teams that will compete in the u17/u20 cup games for the girls and u23 Olympic game for the boys. As such, there is a lot of room in the process for the scouts and coaches to maintain their relationships.

US Soccer has been trying to figure out scouting and real talent ID for a long time. They’re still working on it.

it should rely less on the coach and more on scouting.

Its about 75% favors for coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age doe this YNT stuff start? Also can someone explain what the odd year/even year difference is?

Boys or girls? US Soccer had just started at u14 pre-pandemic for both sexes. Everything got thrown out after COVID.

For girls, odd year players are usually picked with an eye to the u17 World Cup and even players are picked with an eye to the u20 World Cup. Those events are held every two years. So at younger ages the most attention goes to girls born in odd years that will be eligible to play at a u17 cup. After the u17 phase, the attention shifts to women who will be eligible to play in the u20 cup. So often you’ll see a lot odd year girls being identified when parents are in the thick of youth soccer. Strong even year girls will be IDed but the difference between 16 and17 is still a big jump those girls have a better shot at the u20 cup. Not many people see the shift to even year players because that gets sorted mostly in the college years. So there are NTs at almost every age group through u23. Most of those that are not World Cup teams usually just play some tournaments. The teams fielded also tend to come and go if money is an issue.

The boys side is much easier. This is all sorted out with professional soccer clubs. Only the U23 team matters in an Olympic year. Most countries with professional men’s soccer do not spend a whole lot of time on youth boys national teams. They get to get her every now and than.

So if you think your kid is NT material (as has been said), your coach will send his/her name to the local scouts. They will either watch him/her or if they have a relationship with your coach they may just take his/her word. The kid will end up at one of the NTCs and enter the scouting database. NTCs usually turn into youth national camps once the kids hit u16/17. Again the primary focus is only about the teams that will compete in the u17/u20 cup games for the girls and u23 Olympic game for the boys. As such, there is a lot of room in the process for the scouts and coaches to maintain their relationships.

US Soccer has been trying to figure out scouting and real talent ID for a long time. They’re still working on it.

it should rely less on the coach and more on scouting.

Its about 75% favors for coaches.

You are right after seeing a group of girls from same travel team doing summer camp for well known college in VA. At the end of the camp MVP players were selected by college coaches, none of the the players that are often selected by club coach to attend YNT center were picked by the college coaches . IMO the college coaches didn’t know about the big donation daddy made to their team club.

[Anonymous]

Seems like the US could invest some money in training/developing its players that it thinks are potentially national team caliber?

At what age do they actually train athletes for more than 90 minutes a few times a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age doe this YNT stuff start? Also can someone explain what the odd year/even year difference is?

Boys or girls? US Soccer had just started at u14 pre-pandemic for both sexes. Everything got thrown out after COVID.

For girls, odd year players are usually picked with an eye to the u17 World Cup and even players are picked with an eye to the u20 World Cup. Those events are held every two years. So at younger ages the most attention goes to girls born in odd years that will be eligible to play at a u17 cup. After the u17 phase, the attention shifts to women who will be eligible to play in the u20 cup. So often you’ll see a lot odd year girls being identified when parents are in the thick of youth soccer. Strong even year girls will be IDed but the difference between 16 and17 is still a big jump those girls have a better shot at the u20 cup. Not many people see the shift to even year players because that gets sorted mostly in the college years. So there are NTs at almost every age group through u23. Most of those that are not World Cup teams usually just play some tournaments. The teams fielded also tend to come and go if money is an issue.

The boys side is much easier. This is all sorted out with professional soccer clubs. Only the U23 team matters in an Olympic year. Most countries with professional men’s soccer do not spend a whole lot of time on youth boys national teams. They get to get her every now and than.

So if you think your kid is NT material (as has been said), your coach will send his/her name to the local scouts. They will either watch him/her or if they have a relationship with your coach they may just take his/her word. The kid will end up at one of the NTCs and enter the scouting database. NTCs usually turn into youth national camps once the kids hit u16/17. Again the primary focus is only about the teams that will compete in the u17/u20 cup games for the girls and u23 Olympic game for the boys. As such, there is a lot of room in the process for the scouts and coaches to maintain their relationships.

US Soccer has been trying to figure out scouting and real talent ID for a long time. They’re still working on it.

it should rely less on the coach and more on scouting.

Its about 75% favors for coaches.

You are right after seeing a group of girls from same travel team doing summer camp for well known college in VA. At the end of the camp MVP players were selected by college coaches, none of the the players that are often selected by club coach to attend YNT center were picked by the college coaches . IMO the college coaches didn’t know about the big donation daddy made to their team club.

And another good example is the same one or two YNT kids sent to the center over and over - and now they sit the bench on their college teams. I love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age doe this YNT stuff start? Also can someone explain what the odd year/even year difference is?

Boys or girls? US Soccer had just started at u14 pre-pandemic for both sexes. Everything got thrown out after COVID.

For girls, odd year players are usually picked with an eye to the u17 World Cup and even players are picked with an eye to the u20 World Cup. Those events are held every two years. So at younger ages the most attention goes to girls born in odd years that will be eligible to play at a u17 cup. After the u17 phase, the attention shifts to women who will be eligible to play in the u20 cup. So often you’ll see a lot odd year girls being identified when parents are in the thick of youth soccer. Strong even year girls will be IDed but the difference between 16 and17 is still a big jump those girls have a better shot at the u20 cup. Not many people see the shift to even year players because that gets sorted mostly in the college years. So there are NTs at almost every age group through u23. Most of those that are not World Cup teams usually just play some tournaments. The teams fielded also tend to come and go if money is an issue.

The boys side is much easier. This is all sorted out with professional soccer clubs. Only the U23 team matters in an Olympic year. Most countries with professional men’s soccer do not spend a whole lot of time on youth boys national teams. They get to get her every now and than.

So if you think your kid is NT material (as has been said), your coach will send his/her name to the local scouts. They will either watch him/her or if they have a relationship with your coach they may just take his/her word. The kid will end up at one of the NTCs and enter the scouting database. NTCs usually turn into youth national camps once the kids hit u16/17. Again the primary focus is only about the teams that will compete in the u17/u20 cup games for the girls and u23 Olympic game for the boys. As such, there is a lot of room in the process for the scouts and coaches to maintain their relationships.

US Soccer has been trying to figure out scouting and real talent ID for a long time. They’re still working on it.

it should rely less on the coach and more on scouting.

That would take a much greater number of scouts who would probably need to be a great deal better at spotting talent than some of them actually are. Relying on coaches - at least for recommendations as to who to look at - is much more efficient.

The weakest part of the program I think is the regional camps where they have to to try and id the best 50% out of sixty kids who are all very good and they get to watch them for a couple of hours in total. In some cases a kid may only get a few touches on the ball on which he will be judged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like the US could invest some money in training/developing its players that it thinks are potentially national team caliber?

At what age do they actually train athletes for more than 90 minutes a few times a year?

Why would they put money into it when they have all the parents sinking tens of thousands of dollars into it for them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like the US could invest some money in training/developing its players that it thinks are potentially national team caliber?

At what age do they actually train athletes for more than 90 minutes a few times a year?

Why would they put money into it when they have all the parents sinking tens of thousands of dollars into it for them?

They tried to, it was called the DA. It cost too much. It worked well on the boys side the girls side didn’t have enough time to get off the ground.