DC United's New Youth Plan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.dcunited.com/post/2018/09/11/dc-united-academy-announce-dmv-pathway-2-pro-program?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter

Soooo, if you're not one of their designated "elite" 5 soccer clubs or you are not a partner club, you're just rec. Some of their partner clubs suck and are completely disorganized.

I hadn't focused on that bottom tier. It does say "rec & feeder teams," but the idea that Potomac or Bethesda are going to feel kids through PPA, or Alexandria is going to feed kids through Arlington, is pretty funny.

I'm in DC and not familiar with the whole dynamic. But I have seen PPA teams and I haven't been impressed with any of them. They don't play in competitive leagues and don't appear to get the best players in the area. Did money change hands? What's the point of this? Because I simply don't see how an honest arrangement looking to find the best players would go to a club that's definitely not producing the highest level of players in the area. It seems debatable with a lot of clubs, but not with PPA.

PPA is basically rec+ to low level travel. In MoCo, most kids start out in MSI rec, which is cheap and parent coached. If they are somewhat more serious but don't want to do travel, they can move up to MSI Classic starting in 4th grade. Those teams may have parent or professional coaches, but are still pretty affordable and you have to travel around the county for games. The guys who run PPA saw that there was a huge market for parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a rah-rah sports experience for their kid at convenient locations that requires no parent volunteering. The soccer level is not high, but it's easy and they have fun uniforms and events.

The guys who started it are incredibly good at marketing (both very good coaches too, though though many of the coaches in the PPA program are so so). I assume that they either knew some DCU guys or reached out to them to get the affiliation agreement. Yet another example of people who want to be able to tell gullible parents that they are offering an "elite" product to entice them to sign up. Unlike all the other are clubs that do this, PPA is for-profit, so they are actually making tons and tons of money from their program.

[Anonymous]

Pipeline announced today boys from 2005 to 2007 who will be participating in this program. Sounds like it is starting immediately.

[Anonymous]

Do you know how many Pipeline players will participate in each age group? Could be an indication of what to expect elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pipeline announced today boys from 2005 to 2007 who will be participating in this program. Sounds like it is starting immediately.

Is there a link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pipeline announced today boys from 2005 to 2007 who will be participating in this program. Sounds like it is starting immediately.

Is there a link?

The main DA-related info on their website is "Baltimore Armour/Washington Spirit is Pipeline’s USSDA Program."
Pipeline may more interested in DCU's plan as they are already sending their best players to a DA team, so there is not much downside in that respect. Not sure the DA teams will put much effort in ensuring that DCU knows who are their best players and tries to poach them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pipeline announced today boys from 2005 to 2007 who will be participating in this program. Sounds like it is starting immediately.

Is there a link?

My son plays for them, but not the top team. It is on their Instagram.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pipeline announced today boys from 2005 to 2007 who will be participating in this program. Sounds like it is starting immediately.

Is there a link?

The main DA-related info on their website is "Baltimore Armour/Washington Spirit is Pipeline’s USSDA Program."
Pipeline may more interested in DCU's plan as they are already sending their best players to a DA team, so there is not much downside in that respect. Not sure the DA teams will put much effort in ensuring that DCU knows who are their best players and tries to poach them.

These players play for Pipeline, not Baltimore Armour.

[Anonymous]

Well, they cancelled the training sessions for their regular academy teams tonight so they could run a P2P ID session instead, so I guess they are serious about this.

Yes, you read that right. "Sorry guys, you can't practice tonight. We are holding a tryout for players trying to replace you instead."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know how many Pipeline players will participate in each age group? Could be an indication of what to expect elsewhere.

15 total for those three age groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, they cancelled the training sessions for their regular academy teams tonight so they could run a P2P ID session instead, so I guess they are serious about this.

Yes, you read that right. "Sorry guys, you can't practice tonight. We are holding a tryout for players trying to replace you instead."

This is one positive I see from the program. It helps ensure that players already in the system at DCU will not get complacent given the regular reminder that their spots are at risk if they don't keep working. It gives the players who participate more motivation to work hard and try shine at the sessions, and it gives the players who weren't called up for their sessions an incentive to work hard to try to make it the next time. If DCU keeps on this path and expands the base of participating clubs, it could actually cause some good changes down the road.

[Anonymous]

DC United academy Twitted a few pictures from the sessions. Looked like about 20-25 per age group.

[Anonymous]

How has the training been for the P2P players?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, they cancelled the training sessions for their regular academy teams tonight so they could run a P2P ID session instead, so I guess they are serious about this.

Yes, you read that right. "Sorry guys, you can't practice tonight. We are holding a tryout for players trying to replace you instead."

This is one positive I see from the program. It helps ensure that players already in the system at DCU will not get complacent given the regular reminder that their spots are at risk if they don't keep working. It gives the players who participate more motivation to work hard and try shine at the sessions, and it gives the players who weren't called up for their sessions an incentive to work hard to try to make it the next time. If DCU keeps on this path and expands the base of participating clubs, it could actually cause some good changes down the road.

That being said, they shouldn't CANCEL a practice. That's harming the development of the players they are trying to keep anxious about holding their spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, they cancelled the training sessions for their regular academy teams tonight so they could run a P2P ID session instead, so I guess they are serious about this.

Yes, you read that right. "Sorry guys, you can't practice tonight. We are holding a tryout for players trying to replace you instead."

This is one positive I see from the program. It helps ensure that players already in the system at DCU will not get complacent given the regular reminder that their spots are at risk if they don't keep working. It gives the players who participate more motivation to work hard and try shine at the sessions, and it gives the players who weren't called up for their sessions an incentive to work hard to try to make it the next time. If DCU keeps on this path and expands the base of participating clubs, it could actually cause some good changes down the road.

That being said, they shouldn't CANCEL a practice. That's harming the development of the players they are trying to keep anxious about holding their spot.

I don't think DCU really cares about the development of their players prior to U15. Their U13s & U14s are the only DAs that only practice 3x week. Everyone else does 4. They don't even get started until mid-August, and I heard from an 05 parent last weekend that they've mostly had only 2 practices per week this season, because of cancellations including the P2P sessions but also for other reasons. It seems like their plan is just to get the top talent in by U15, regardless of where they came from. That's when they get serious. The U15s do go 4X/week, and also pay a lot less. At the younger ages, there are a few players they care about (the ones invited to the P2P sessions), but the rest are pretty much expendable, and they know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At the younger ages, there are a few players they care about (the ones invited to the P2P sessions), but the rest are pretty much expendable, and they know it.

That's how pretty much every academy ever is. They bring in as many kids as possible, a few rise to the top, the rest are expendable.
If you don't like that, you should stay away from academies.