RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, that you are attributing a tournament result to the training.

Here is the results of their U17
http://home.gotsoccer.com/rankings/team.aspx?TeamID=1172614&History=yes&compact=

Now I await you moving the goalposts and say the competition was bad.

That's very good. YouthSoccerRankings has them rated even higher. (Ratings should always be taken with a grain of salt, but these seem like legitimate good results. Even a 2-1 loss, to LA Galaxy San Diego, isn't bad at all.)

You'll have -- as you have with almost every good team in the area -- the question of whether that's just good talent that was developed elsewhere or good coaching.

But yes, those are very good results, and in that case, they probably paid less than some of the teams getting similar results.

And the coach's credentials are outstanding.

If you are going to play the talent card then and attribute success based on inheriting talent then can't failure be attributed to a lack of talent, at least in a relative sense? Doesn't it stand to reason that a club that is a startup is not going to draw top talent away from top clubs and successful teams in its first year? It is the rare parent who is going to walk away from a good situation for a unproven startup in the first year. Many people who went certainly dipped their toes in the water first but their retention has proven that FCB have satisfied their first class of customers.

Based on tryouts and some of the club gear and known kids I can attest that more "top talent" from bigger clubs are in fact trickling in this spring. There are many on the fence and finding ways to test the waters but sincere interest is growing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My BS meter goes completely through the roof when I see these threads on FCBEscola. Post after post of how completely wonderful it is. It is the best at developing kids while parents all sing Kumbaya together in perfect harmony. Several people would join in a heartbeat if they lived closer. I don't know how you can say that unless you have seen them several times at practices and games. If you don't live close by, why are you watching so many of their games and practices??? They don't play against other clubs in league play and do very few tournaments (most teams have only done one), so people aren't seeing them that way. I think I have seen only one honest post in all these threads that gave both pros and cons. All the rest I'm guessing are either someone on the payroll or parents that burned their bridges at their old club and/or want to justify putting their kid in one of the most expensive programs in the area.

I don't understand why you would play a kid up an age group in a tournament if they are playing against other clubs C or D teams. I would rather my kid play their age group against A teams, then play up against C and D teams. Doesn't make sense. The tournaments they have won are low brackets and/or rec tournaments (Va beach). They really should be having their players play with their age group until they are versing other A teams. Then if a player is that great, have him play up an age group against other A teams.

And that works for you. Nobody is trying to convince you to come. I know I don't care. Stay where you are happy.

There are only two ways people react to threads about clubs on forums:

People praise the club
Immediate reaction: Posted by coaches at the club.

People bash the club:
Immediate reaction: Posted by bitter ex coaches or parents.

The enthusiasm on all threads FCB takes it to another level. 9 pages in two days of unquestionable praise and bashing of anyone with doubts is not typical, even for this website. To me, this enthusiasm makes me skeptical. I’m wondering how many different people are posting. Seems hard to believe that a club with 300 kids (according to a previous poster) and has been in existence for only a year would have more than a couple people posting on this website.

I think perhaps what causes this is FCB parents may be be a jaded bunch, scarred by poor training, poor communication, fair or unfair cuts, or any one of a dozen other ills inflicted by local area clubs. They are looking for the golden solution which has eluded them so far. When they find it... the hallelujah's rain down here.

Anonymous wrote:Again, that you are attributing a tournament result to the training.

Here is the results of their U17
http://home.gotsoccer.com/rankings/team.aspx?TeamID=1172614&History=yes&compact=

Now I await you moving the goalposts and say the competition was bad.

Yes, they have done well and are ranked 15th. It will be interesting to see if they rise in rankings next year compared to other local teams. They did much better than other FCB teams. All teams had the same training, so what makes them different? Do they have a better pool of kids?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My BS meter goes completely through the roof when I see these threads on FCBEscola. Post after post of how completely wonderful it is. It is the best at developing kids while parents all sing Kumbaya together in perfect harmony. Several people would join in a heartbeat if they lived closer. I don't know how you can say that unless you have seen them several times at practices and games. If you don't live close by, why are you watching so many of their games and practices??? They don't play against other clubs in league play and do very few tournaments (most teams have only done one), so people aren't seeing them that way. I think I have seen only one honest post in all these threads that gave both pros and cons. All the rest I'm guessing are either someone on the payroll or parents that burned their bridges at their old club and/or want to justify putting their kid in one of the most expensive programs in the area.

I don't understand why you would play a kid up an age group in a tournament if they are playing against other clubs C or D teams. I would rather my kid play their age group against A teams, then play up against C and D teams. Doesn't make sense. The tournaments they have won are low brackets and/or rec tournaments (Va beach). They really should be having their players play with their age group until they are versing other A teams. Then if a player is that great, have him play up an age group against other A teams.

And that works for you. Nobody is trying to convince you to come. I know I don't care. Stay where you are happy.

There are only two ways people react to threads about clubs on forums:

People praise the club
Immediate reaction: Posted by coaches at the club.

People bash the club:
Immediate reaction: Posted by bitter ex coaches or parents.

The enthusiasm on all threads FCB takes it to another level. 9 pages in two days of unquestionable praise and bashing of anyone with doubts is not typical, even for this website. To me, this enthusiasm makes me skeptical. I’m wondering how many different people are posting. Seems hard to believe that a club with 300 kids (according to a previous poster) and has been in existence for only a year would have more than a couple people posting on this website.

What do you suppose is FCB's motivation for bringing their programs to the US? Is it to expand their horizons to find the next Pulisic.. or is it entirely revenue based ?

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate rantingsoccerdads posts on this thread. I always think it's valuable when people try to go beneath the surface on a topic and engage in a rational discussion about it, even if I don't agree with all their conclusions. I wish everyone on here could engage in an articulate back and forth without fear of personal attacks.

Back to the topic, it's not clear to me why there is a suggestion that it's not worth paying FCBEscola fees to play in NCSL division 8. Where else would a new team from a new-to-this-area club if they want to stay local? You can't play in CCL if you are not a CCL club, and you can't just skip to the top of NCSL. You have to work your way up the NCSL divisions season by season.

Thanks -- I appreciate that.

To clarify -- I'm not suggesting merely being in NCSL Division 8 is an issue. You're right that teams have to work their way up. I'd rather see NCSL make more of an effort to "seed" a new team at its competitive level rather than defaulting new teams to Division 9, where they may not get a competitive game.

I don't think they do default all new teams to Division 9, especially at the younger age groups.

Again, that you are attributing a tournament result to the training.

Here is the results of their U17
http://home.gotsoccer.com/rankings/team.aspx?TeamID=1172614&History=yes&compact=

Now I await you moving the goalposts and say the competition was bad.

Anonymous wrote:Y'all are rippin on rantingsoccerdad, but you're not really addressing the question he raises... how do you measure the success of an academy like FCB? With all due respect, a group of parents saying it is great, go look at it, doesn't do it. Collectively, parents are just about the worst evaluators of talent and training there is. Even if you can say that these teams are not playing to win specifically, the skills do eventually get indicated by game results. It is too soon to use them as your only evaluation, but at some point, results have got to show. I think that is all he is saying. So the most effective argument of FCB's training is continuously improving performance. Why not just talk about that?

How about how long is the waiting list? What’s the demand like? Let see what happens to the two other clubs(louden and DC United) in the area?

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So a rec Coach is bashing the methods of professional coaches at FCB? Ummm...

Nope. I have no opinion on their methods. I haven't seen their training, nor would I have the expertise to tell you how good it is.

All I'm saying is that if you spend $3,000 on training and end up, after one year, playing at an NCSL Division 8 level, you need to ask yourself whether your child is making the progress to justify that price tag. (I frankly think every parent on an NCSL Division 8 level at U12 should ask the same question, no matter the club or the price tag. It's not good soccer.)

I'm not saying I have the answer. I don't.

I'm suggesting a question you should ask. That's it.

The fact that people resort to ad hominem arguments rather than even entertain the question, well, that might be the answer you need.

I agree with you about the ad hominem arguments so I'll try to steer clear. Since you're a journalist though, I humbly and respectfully suggest that you do some actual journalism here. Get in your car, drive out to Evergreen, and watch a session. From the top level you can see all the fields and really get a sense of how their training sessions are conducted. You might even want to introduce yourself to some of the parents and ask for their feedback about the program. Enjoy a barbecue sandwich from the snack bar while you're there. The brisket is especially mouth watering.

It would also be well worth your while to sit down and have a 15-20 minute conversation with their CEO John Nash. I think you would like him. The emphasis on values education along with soccer education is refreshing, maybe even inspiring.

I get your point about the price tag. At $3000/yr it's not cheap. On the other hand, I don't think it's fair to judge them on their tournament results. Their sales pitch is not - "we're going to create winning teams" or "we're going to develop professional players," or even "we're going to get you scouted to play in college." Their sales pitch is all about providing a good soccer education. As with any other type of education (academic, music) the performance level of the student doesn't always tell you everything about the quality of the teacher.

The one thing I disagree with that you wrote above is your assertion that you don't have the expertise to assess the quality of training. Yes, it's good to recognize your own limitations (and you've always been open about the fact you've never played/coached at a high level), but you've been around the game long enough, seen enough of it played at every level, have some experience trying to teach it yourself, ... I think you are more than qualified to give a general assessment as to whether a training session is productive and teaching kids the skills they need to improve in the game, and a training session that is either (1) a complete waste of time, or even (2) not significantly different from anything they could get at an NCSL D8 level team, for a whole lot less $$.

Last point - I too am skeptical of the Euro-branding in US Youth Soccer. I remember when Team America 1st affiliated with Barca - complete with official looking FCB stuff on their web site, FCB uniforms, ... the works. They had the same old coachs and and still played kick-ball for the most part. I suspect the same with the Annandale ---> Villarreal re-branding, the Sporting CP club that started up last year in Fairfax (without a Portugese coach anywhere to be seen - let alone one from Sporting), and the vast majority of the other Euro (or SA) branded clubs that seem to be proliferating everywhere. It would be an interesting and valuable piece of investigative journalism to learn whether the FCBEscolas that are cropping up all over the country now are more of the same, or are really something different.

This thread is very entertaining and matches every other thread that mentions FCBEscola. Seems that there is/are one or two very vociferous parent(s) who sings the praises, with no negatives, and then trashes everyone who disagrees (called lemmings, idiots, unknowledgeable about soccer, etc...). If I didn't know any better, it almost seems like a media campaign, on the positive side, and/or something from a political operation, especially when going negative. It does make level-headed people doubt the source(s). If this is a parent/set of parents, it also makes me wonder why on earth I'd want to spend any time on a sideline watching my kid play soccer with someone like this. If it is someone affiliated with the club, I'd hope that they would take the "hint" that this isn't the best way to market your relatively expensive operation.

I appreciate rantingsoccerdads posts on this thread. I always think it's valuable when people try to go beneath the surface on a topic and engage in a rational discussion about it, even if I don't agree with all their conclusions. I wish everyone on here could engage in an articulate back and forth without fear of personal attacks.

Back to the topic, it's not clear to me why there is a suggestion that it's not worth paying FCBEscola fees to play in NCSL division 8. Where else would a new team from a new-to-this-area club if they want to stay local? You can't play in CCL if you are not a CCL club, and you can't just skip to the top of NCSL. You have to work your way up the NCSL divisions season by season.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A certain training program may be overrated just because it has produced several great players in the past. It's the player not the program! Barcelona has been struggling to develop another Messi or Iniesta and kept acquiring players developed from other programs.

Well what are my options in this country—US Youth Soccer with it’s proven track record for developing talent or Barca? Hmmm....

I thought FCBEscola is different to FC Barcelona.

FCBescola is affiliated with them. Their coaches come from them and the TD works and reports directly with FCB every Monday. FCB also comes to watch to make sure everything is implemented to plan. Every kid in any FCBEscola around the World is getting the same methodology/programming/implementation.

Again, this is for training. Nobody in the program is under the illusion they are being scouted—but that they are getting the quality of coaching and training.

FCBescolas will all be renamed Barca Academy next year. A lot of clubs use their name, but this is the only official one (and has schools around the US and World).

Thank you for clarifying.

Look at older age age groups, not U12s.

Anonymous wrote:To quote the late George Carlin: “Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

That’s fantastic! And a good way to end this thread.

To quote the late George Carlin: “Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”