DC United Academy - aa strong academy or not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the biased anti-dcu hater made dozens of posts on this and other threads about dcua not signing homegrown players from the academy

Then as soon as dcua signs a kid to a homegrown contract, the said clearly biased with axe to grind individual tears into the kid, his family and dcua with repeated toxic posts

As someone who knows quite a few players at DCU but is somewhat outside looking in, I find the arguments made compelling. As I have watched, I have found DCU to be lukewarm impressively at best. These posts have helped give me perspective and data I don’t have but have confirmed what I was beginning to realize.

This is not saying no local players should go to DCU. Just that it’s not really the same as going to Philly or somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the biased anti-dcu hater made dozens of posts on this and other threads about dcua not signing homegrown players from the academy

Then as soon as dcua signs a kid to a homegrown contract, the said clearly biased with axe to grind individual tears into the kid, his family and dcua with repeated toxic posts

As someone who knows quite a few players at DCU but is somewhat outside looking in, I find the arguments made compelling. As I have watched, I have found DCU to be lukewarm impressively at best. These posts have helped give me perspective and data I don’t have but have confirmed what I was beginning to realize.

This is not saying no local players should go to DCU. Just that it’s not really the same as going to Philly or somewhere else.

Give me the short version of the objective verifiable "data" you have read that has tangible application to the decision making process to not have your kid go to the DCU Academy?

Saying going to a different academy is different is beyond stating the obvious.
Going to a different university is different.

The facts are that it is all personal choice for the very limited few who qualify (which eliminates over 99% of us)
In addition, if the goal is top level professional career, going to any MLS club academy until 18 years old stacks the odds against you.

There is no data showing kids from the DMV who had an opportunity to go to dcu but chose another MLS club and then had top tier success after U18 professionally or internationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The percentage of male soccer players in the DC Metropolitan area that are ever going to be a part of a professional soccer club academy is less than 1% and the percentage of players from all the MLS clubs academies that have or will become a real professional soccer player is around 0.066%

If a family and player are doing what they want where they want, how they want for the short time before temporary youthful exploits are over, that's the personal win

Your success or happiness isn't measured, determined or dependent on others opinions

Over 99% of players at academies globally won't become successful professionals on paper by common definition.
Most wouldn't have traded in the ride though, because all motivations and experiences are personal to each individual.
Love of the game

We know the stats. You are the ideal candidate for ECNL not MLS Next. Lots of travel, enjoyable experiences and a great life. Trying to become a pro is not easy, especially from the US. It starts from the mind and my friend, you have so work to do on your belief system.

If I were running MLS Next, I would definitely add family interviews and psych profiles. Yes, a kid may have an advantage at U14 if they have had weekly $200/hour private training for 7 years but if another kid is hungry, they can actually become the Next player in MLS between U15-U23. If DCU really only practices 1x a day, your kids are living a country club lifestyle. I thought the only purpose to virtual learning was to remain flexible with timing so that a kid would essentially play for 4-5 hours a day, go to school for 4-5 hours and then do homework for 3-4 hours.

Yes, this is difficult and not glamorous but that is the price to pay for well-do-to Americans who are trying to thread the needle of going pro and master academics because our kids will have options if they don't go pro. This thread went silent when the old man called ya'll rich and I now I see why. Honest to God, if you really think you are the best this area has to offer with this mindset, DCU is really, really broken and soccer is our area really isn't as prolific as I imagined.

Completely with you and this post. Especially the point regarding psychological profile of the families. You have to have a grinding mindset for this to work. As you pointed out in your post, most of the families don't and you can see, just by some of these posts the posters have a weak mindset which in turns means their kids also have this weak mindset. Which is what foods the talent pool in this area. Another reason why DCU has a harder time producing pros.

Soccer isn't as prolific in the DMV as it used to be. This was outlined in a PP about the DMVs heyday. The goal is to get your kid to the level by any means necessary. Following the Jones' and doing what everyone else is doing, including blindly believing DCU is a great option is the fastest way to failure.

Impressive that you have not only personal financial information on all the families in the dmv but also their psychological profiles lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's discuss how horrible their new "residency" program is...

Not much to discuss. It's an absolute joke. No housing options available which makes calling it a residency program very questionable at best, at worst it is massively misleading to the footballing community in this country, barebones infrastructure with no real facilities, they don't even consistently feed the kids because they are so cheap, it is honestly a complete embarrassment.

The ONLY benefit of the program is the increased training workload and frequency. But, given that you're at DCU, the training is subpar and the methodology is weak in terms of development. So that isn't even a plus. You have to be in either their online school or an online school that allows for the player to train in the mornings which is a big decision for families. Many opt not to do that and you've seen this trend over the last year. Mainly because the ROI on DCU is just not that high for what your Iin up. Inis the same situation for this lt homegrown player. The ROI for him just isn't strong enough for the deal DCU gave him and it was lopsided. Same with the residency. DCU gives you a really bad residency program.but you're giving them your player rights AND trusting them with your kids schooling???? No way.

The schooling is SIA which is run by many academies and programs on the east coast. They can't screw that up, right?

So, they don't have a homestay program? That is what we were offered at another academy but we are not ready for our kid to leave the next yet. It would seem like an easy solution to provide.

I believe they are trying to set one up, not positive however. If your son was offered a homestay, they must have offered your son guest a play spot at the bigger events since you turned it down. I would just do that and stick with club soccer.

DCU calling it a residency program is laughable. The only thing they did was move training to the mornings and forced kids to do online schooling (10k!!!). There is no extra training, just the 1.5hr session in the morning and then they are completely hands off. Meaning your kid can stay and do his schoolwork (no physical instructor present) or go home and do whatever they want. Provides lunch only twice out of the week and not enough food for everyone to eat. Shuttle? Sure, it only costs a couple hundred a month. If the coaching was spectacular, maybe the other stuff could be forgiven. But it isn't.

Even worse. One training a day. Most credible residency programs train two or more times a day because they have so much time with the kids. Morning training, school/independent study, evening training/individual session. This is how a normal program runs. Training only in the mornings for DCU is a ridiculously low standard and also because no one is demanding that they train their kids more like other academies do they get away with it. They just do whatever DCU throws them. Like scraps. DCU kids can't keep up with true residency programs just on touch rate and rigor of training regimen alone. It is honestly an embarrassment and the fact that parents put up with it is what I'm shocked by.

The one thing that parents need to remember when they have a truly talented player is that you are in control of the situation. Not the other way around. DCU wants you to believe it's your privilege to be with them and in their program but the reality is that it is THEIR privilege to have your son and the more you demand from them the better your experience will be. Because they KNOW what they are doing is garbage. Even the MLS knows its garbage.

Where can we find a link to the training schedules of all the MLS academies that details the multi-session training program daily?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if this kid will now receive the baseline MLS pro Salary of 80k per year? All while finishing online High School and practicing with the 1st team, i.e. way better development and coaching over the academy...it seems like this is a no brainer for this family.

The problem is that he needs game time against men, but there is no way he is going to get minutes with the first team. So I assume he'll get loaned out to USL teams like that other kid, and have the USL team develop him.

This part doesn't seem that bad. I'm with the posts questioning/condemning the quality of DCU, but if this is the result for this kid, then good for him. No?

The smarter move would have been to turn down the 4 year homegrown contract and try out for USL teams for a 2 year contract. At the end of the 2 years when he's 17, tryout overseas with no one owning your rights. But now, DCU has him for 4 years and will charge stupid money if any euro club wants him, essentially blocking his move to play overseas.

The problem with this is no USL club will want him. He's only 15 and he is not ready technically, mentally or developmentally for professional football. This is obvious to anyone. You don't need any football knowledge or experience to see this. If he was physically ready and not technically ready I could maybe get on board. But this isn't the case. He is a bit behind physically, Even at u19. At the USL level they are still professionals and they are trying to win, not give a 15 year old some minutes just because DCU wants to up their homegrown numbers. Now this kid will be at DCU until he is 19. So for the next four years DCU has to figure out what to do with him without a second team which is an impossible task. They will take the easiest route and leave him in the academy which costs them nothing and also requires absolutely no effort on their part to get him development opportunities. Like has been said before, this homegrown signing is very questionable and a bad deal for the kid if you're just talking about maximizing football and life opportunities. If you're just talking.abkut making a bit of money and that is the only goal, maybe the deal is somewhat ok. But at this age, you can't be blinded by 80k if your ceiling is in the millions if you're in a better development environment that exceeds DCUs. But you need people around you that know what they are doing and talking about. My guess is this kid didn't have that. And DCU used this to their advantage. A weak organization with no integrity or desire to actually help players. Only push their own agendas which are short sighted and empty.

At least you're honest here saying "my guess"

If all these other academies except dcu are sincere about helping their kids get to the mountain top, why aren't we seeing actual results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the biased anti-dcu hater made dozens of posts on this and other threads about dcua not signing homegrown players from the academy

Then as soon as dcua signs a kid to a homegrown contract, the said clearly biased with axe to grind individual tears into the kid, his family and dcua with repeated toxic posts

The reality is that DCU does all of the bashing to itself. I just have enough knowledge and experience to put all of their actions and inaction into the proper context.

It would be like saying to Toyota you need to make a new model car. They put a new model out hastily and it isn't up to snuff. NO ONE would give them credit for the new car. In fact they would criticize them for not putting out a proper car that is up to a certain standard. Just because DCU signs a homegrown player doesn't mean they immediately get credit for it especially given the circumstances of the homegrown and their history as a club. Try again. When DCU does something genuinely noteworthy, I will always give them credit. But they never do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the biased anti-dcu hater made dozens of posts on this and other threads about dcua not signing homegrown players from the academy

Then as soon as dcua signs a kid to a homegrown contract, the said clearly biased with axe to grind individual tears into the kid, his family and dcua with repeated toxic posts

The reality is that DCU does all of the bashing to itself. I just have enough knowledge and experience to put all of their actions and inaction into the proper context.

It would be like saying to Toyota you need to make a new model car. They put a new model out hastily and it isn't up to snuff. NO ONE would give them credit for the new car. In fact they would criticize them for not putting out a proper car that is up to a certain standard. Just because DCU signs a homegrown player doesn't mean they immediately get credit for it especially given the circumstances of the homegrown and their history as a club. Try again. When DCU does something genuinely noteworthy, I will always give them credit. But they never do that.

In other words, no matter what dcu does you have a counter opinionated argument that satisfies your biased bitter anti-dcu narrative agenda crusade

You: DCU bad because they not signing kids to homegrown contracts

Also You: DCU is bad because they signed kid to homegrown contract

You're a bit pitiful and transparent whilst being severely hypocritical

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if this kid will now receive the baseline MLS pro Salary of 80k per year? All while finishing online High School and practicing with the 1st team, i.e. way better development and coaching over the academy...it seems like this is a no brainer for this family.

The problem is that he needs game time against men, but there is no way he is going to get minutes with the first team. So I assume he'll get loaned out to USL teams like that other kid, and have the USL team develop him.

This part doesn't seem that bad. I'm with the posts questioning/condemning the quality of DCU, but if this is the result for this kid, then good for him. No?

The smarter move would have been to turn down the 4 year homegrown contract and try out for USL teams for a 2 year contract. At the end of the 2 years when he's 17, tryout overseas with no one owning your rights. But now, DCU has him for 4 years and will charge stupid money if any euro club wants him, essentially blocking his move to play overseas.

The problem with this is no USL club will want him. He's only 15 and he is not ready technically, mentally or developmentally for professional football. This is obvious to anyone. You don't need any football knowledge or experience to see this. If he was physically ready and not technically ready I could maybe get on board. But this isn't the case. He is a bit behind physically, Even at u19. At the USL level they are still professionals and they are trying to win, not give a 15 year old some minutes just because DCU wants to up their homegrown numbers. Now this kid will be at DCU until he is 19. So for the next four years DCU has to figure out what to do with him without a second team which is an impossible task. They will take the easiest route and leave him in the academy which costs them nothing and also requires absolutely no effort on their part to get him development opportunities. Like has been said before, this homegrown signing is very questionable and a bad deal for the kid if you're just talking about maximizing football and life opportunities. If you're just talking.abkut making a bit of money and that is the only goal, maybe the deal is somewhat ok. But at this age, you can't be blinded by 80k if your ceiling is in the millions if you're in a better development environment that exceeds DCUs. But you need people around you that know what they are doing and talking about. My guess is this kid didn't have that. And DCU used this to their advantage. A weak organization with no integrity or desire to actually help players. Only push their own agendas which are short sighted and empty.

At least you're honest here saying "my guess"

If all these other academies except dcu are sincere about helping their kids get to the mountain top, why aren't we seeing actual results?

Because it is a difficult path and to YOUR previous post, not a lot of kids can make it. But if you have 9 homegrown signings (all of which are close to the pro level) in 12 months as opposed to 1 (which is the delta between Philly Union and DCU in terms of homegrown) you're just increasing your chances of success. Couple that with a second team and a superior development system at Philly and those chances increase even more. It's all a game of margins and increasing those margins. DCU doesn't improve those chances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no data showing kids from the DMV who had an opportunity to go to dcu but chose another MLS club and then had top tier success after U18 professionally or internationally.

Nice try, but no.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Missing-Data-Fallacy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the biased anti-dcu hater made dozens of posts on this and other threads about dcua not signing homegrown players from the academy

Then as soon as dcua signs a kid to a homegrown contract, the said clearly biased with axe to grind individual tears into the kid, his family and dcua with repeated toxic posts

The reality is that DCU does all of the bashing to itself. I just have enough knowledge and experience to put all of their actions and inaction into the proper context.

It would be like saying to Toyota you need to make a new model car. They put a new model out hastily and it isn't up to snuff. NO ONE would give them credit for the new car. In fact they would criticize them for not putting out a proper car that is up to a certain standard. Just because DCU signs a homegrown player doesn't mean they immediately get credit for it especially given the circumstances of the homegrown and their history as a club. Try again. When DCU does something genuinely noteworthy, I will always give them credit. But they never do that.

In other words, no matter what dcu does you have a counter opinionated argument that satisfies your biased bitter anti-dcu narrative agenda crusade

You: DCU bad because they not signing kids to homegrown contracts

Also You: DCU is bad because they signed kid to homegrown contract

You're a bit pitiful and transparent whilst being severely hypocritical

You're not listening to what is being said.

DCU could be good. But they chose not to be. When they do something that legitimately deserves praise, I will give it to them. Until then, I will absolutely criticize them. In fact I wrote a very long post at the beginning of this thread talking about the pros of DCU. Much better than you could ever produce. Please read that and educate yourself...about at page 4.

There are no strong points to hold onto about DCU. That is your problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no data showing kids from the DMV who had an opportunity to go to dcu but chose another MLS club and then had top tier success after U18 professionally or internationally.

Nice try, but no.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Missing-Data-Fallacy

Aaron Heard
Stiven Jimenez

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no data showing kids from the DMV who had an opportunity to go to dcu but chose another MLS club and then had top tier success after U18 professionally or internationally.

Nice try, but no.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Missing-Data-Fallacy

Aaron Heard
Stiven Jimenez

One at Leverkusen and the other on FC Cincinnati first team. There are others, I just don't have time to dig them all up. I know these two personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no data showing kids from the DMV who had an opportunity to go to dcu but chose another MLS club and then had top tier success after U18 professionally or internationally.

Nice try, but no.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Missing-Data-Fallacy

Aaron Heard
Stiven Jimenez

One at Leverkusen and the other on FC Cincinnati first team. There are others, I just don't have time to dig them all up. I know these two personally.

FC Cincinnati is MLS

I hope you have more than one-offs to prove a pattern

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if this kid will now receive the baseline MLS pro Salary of 80k per year? All while finishing online High School and practicing with the 1st team, i.e. way better development and coaching over the academy...it seems like this is a no brainer for this family.

The problem is that he needs game time against men, but there is no way he is going to get minutes with the first team. So I assume he'll get loaned out to USL teams like that other kid, and have the USL team develop him.

This part doesn't seem that bad. I'm with the posts questioning/condemning the quality of DCU, but if this is the result for this kid, then good for him. No?

The smarter move would have been to turn down the 4 year homegrown contract and try out for USL teams for a 2 year contract. At the end of the 2 years when he's 17, tryout overseas with no one owning your rights. But now, DCU has him for 4 years and will charge stupid money if any euro club wants him, essentially blocking his move to play overseas.

The problem with this is no USL club will want him. He's only 15 and he is not ready technically, mentally or developmentally for professional football. This is obvious to anyone. You don't need any football knowledge or experience to see this. If he was physically ready and not technically ready I could maybe get on board. But this isn't the case. He is a bit behind physically, Even at u19. At the USL level they are still professionals and they are trying to win, not give a 15 year old some minutes just because DCU wants to up their homegrown numbers. Now this kid will be at DCU until he is 19. So for the next four years DCU has to figure out what to do with him without a second team which is an impossible task. They will take the easiest route and leave him in the academy which costs them nothing and also requires absolutely no effort on their part to get him development opportunities. Like has been said before, this homegrown signing is very questionable and a bad deal for the kid if you're just talking about maximizing football and life opportunities. If you're just talking.abkut making a bit of money and that is the only goal, maybe the deal is somewhat ok. But at this age, you can't be blinded by 80k if your ceiling is in the millions if you're in a better development environment that exceeds DCUs. But you need people around you that know what they are doing and talking about. My guess is this kid didn't have that. And DCU used this to their advantage. A weak organization with no integrity or desire to actually help players. Only push their own agendas which are short sighted and empty.

At least you're honest here saying "my guess"

If all these other academies except dcu are sincere about helping their kids get to the mountain top, why aren't we seeing actual results?

Because it is a difficult path and to YOUR previous post, not a lot of kids can make it. But if you have 9 homegrown signings (all of which are close to the pro level) in 12 months as opposed to 1 (which is the delta between Philly Union and DCU in terms of homegrown) you're just increasing your chances of success. Couple that with a second team and a superior development system at Philly and those chances increase even more. It's all a game of margins and increasing those margins. DCU doesn't improve those chances.

Somewhat related: I was just googling a player from our area I'm somewhat familiar with that went to Philly. He's 2009 birth year. He's playing with Philadelphia Union III, a UPSL team. Does anyone know how Philly incorporates that team into their development strategy? For a 16 yr. old playing in UPSL are they also playing with the academy teams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the biased anti-dcu hater made dozens of posts on this and other threads about dcua not signing homegrown players from the academy

Then as soon as dcua signs a kid to a homegrown contract, the said clearly biased with axe to grind individual tears into the kid, his family and dcua with repeated toxic posts

The reality is that DCU does all of the bashing to itself. I just have enough knowledge and experience to put all of their actions and inaction into the proper context.

It would be like saying to Toyota you need to make a new model car. They put a new model out hastily and it isn't up to snuff. NO ONE would give them credit for the new car. In fact they would criticize them for not putting out a proper car that is up to a certain standard. Just because DCU signs a homegrown player doesn't mean they immediately get credit for it especially given the circumstances of the homegrown and their history as a club. Try again. When DCU does something genuinely noteworthy, I will always give them credit. But they never do that.

In other words, no matter what dcu does you have a counter opinionated argument that satisfies your biased bitter anti-dcu narrative agenda crusade

You: DCU bad because they not signing kids to homegrown contracts

Also You: DCU is bad because they signed kid to homegrown contract

You're a bit pitiful and transparent whilst being severely hypocritical

You're not listening to what is being said.

DCU could be good. But they chose not to be. When they do something that legitimately deserves praise, I will give it to them. Until then, I will absolutely criticize them. In fact I wrote a very long post at the beginning of this thread talking about the pros of DCU. Much better than you could ever produce. Please read that and educate yourself...about at page 4.

There are no strong points to hold onto about DCU. That is your problem.

Okay oh great one
Maybe one day dcu shall please thee and you can bestow your blessings 🙏

Let's all kneel before you