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.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I find it hard to believe they are only training 1x a day. That seems like a bridge too far. What do the kids do to supplement if this is true?

Believe it. A lot train with personal trainers outside DCU.

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.

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

And what is your point as it relates to DCU?? I don't think anyone is arguing with these points or statistics?

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

This is where you're wrong. The poster is saying that this homegrown signing is not what it seems and leaves a lot to be desired. And provided the rationale for this opinion. Nothing was said in a disparaging way about the kid or his family. Just that in the PPs opinion the kid wasn't ready to be a pro and that maybe DCU didn't lay out all the pros and cons of a homegrown for this player and his family. Entirely possible. But also possible DCU did do these things. Not toxic. Just an opinion that is grounded in the fact that the PP saying him play. Opinions are offered everyday on this forum. Positions are offered everyday on this forum. Pundits write articles for a living rating teams players clubs etc etc. it is part of life. Just deal with it.

DCU is STILL woefully behind in homegrown signings. This ONE signing doesn't change that.

No axes to grind just truth told. Something that you can't seem to get a handle on.

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

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

No one doubts the family and player are doing what’s best for them or that the journey is hard and holds no guarantees for anyone.

Do you have anything to add about the DCUA experience? If not, I will be reporting posts with zero value add.

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

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.

I find it hard to believe they are only training 1x a day. That seems like a bridge too far. What do the kids do to supplement if this is true?

And if you really want to know what happened with the homegrown player here you go...

The new DCU coach and GM sat down as they settled into their new jobs and said what is going on in our academy to get a true look at their talent pool. Smart actually. They had a look at all of the academy players that have potential and they also looked at the homegrown statistics of DCU versus their competitors because the league is demanding that the clubs sign homegrowns from their academies. It is how the league makes money (on the sales of these players). That is what the academies are there for. Once they had a look at the current talent pool, they were like, oh boy, we've got nothing. No player is ready for the first team. So then they said, ok we definitely can't sign a player directly to the first team on a non homegrown deal, but can we credibly homegrown any players so at least we look like we are doing our jobs in the academy?

In assessing this here is what they found: Most of the u19s are heading to college (or trying to), and if they aren't thinking about going to going to college, they probably don't want to homegrown at DCU to keep their college options open and they want to keep their options open generally because they are older and have more at stake. Tougher sell for that age group. The U17s genuinely aren't ready and don't have anyone close to the level. No national team call ups in that age group and no elite level talents making signing a homegrown from this group very difficult to do because the credibility isn't there. So, they looked to the u16s. The one player that had a national team call up recently, they signed to a homegrown deal because they believed it was credible and they also had an easier time selling the prospect of a homegrown deal to a younger player, where the realites of the business of football are still somewhat unknown just due to lack of exposure and experience.

They wanted to get a PR moment out of the signing, which they got, to at least give the brand and the club some visibility for work they are doing in the youth and to give them some time and take some heat off them for an academy that they now realize is totally useless for the goals as a club.

PR is not why you make a homegrown deal. But here we are. New front office people are in DCU now and realizing the state of play and recognize it isn't good. Just a matter of time before they bump up against Levien when they want to make drastic changes and they requires real money which the owner never wants to spend. Overall, still a very sad state of affairs at DCU. .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.