Reply to DC United Academy - aa strong academy or not

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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.

[/quote]

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

What happens now? 
Where do we go from here?[/quote]

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.

[/quote]

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.[/quote]

No no, DCU can't be the education vessel.  Like it is was said by the PP, DCU actually doesn't want an educated parent group.  It has to be bigger than DCU. Its more of a US soccer issue on the education front because I agree, we lack a true soccer culture.  The soccer culture is driven by capitalism, to your point.  And yes, I agree parents stroke checks and have no idea about the sport.  That has to change. [/quote]

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