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?

^ my answers : no.

We are happy. I don’t give a shit what you think. No need to argue the point. I’m not selling the product.

Is this for your next mom blog or something?

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).

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.

It’s about the philosophy and the style being played... the best academies in the world at producing talent are Benfica, Anderlecht, Atalanta, etc. not exactly clubs known for being world beaters (at least not for decades in Benfica’s case).

To a certain degree...The philosophy and the style are more depend on what the coach prefer and what kind of players you have.

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.

They share the same philosophy. Omg

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.

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.

It’s about the philosophy and the style being played... the best academies in the world at producing talent are Benfica, Anderlecht, Atalanta, etc. not exactly clubs known for being world beaters (at least not for decades in Benfica’s case).

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....

His assumption that all of us that joined were hood-winked and failed to ask any questions before joining is funny to me. None of us could have possibly have had any prior experience with them or their programs. Not true.

I have to say, the parent base at FCB is about the most educated in soccer than any sideline I’ve ever been on. They also were willing to try something different when everyone was telling them their kid was now doomed for leaving their elite Club. Like at 8, 10, 12, you are doomed by a choice you make about a child’s soccer training/team. There are many whack jobs out there.

It’s all about choice. Any smart consumer has done their homework. But, thank god we have RantingSoccerDad to steer those that haven’t —lol.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rondos are a great, simple, passing activation warm-up. Any coach that doesn’t see their value is just antiquated.

Barca has about 101+ versions on a rondo and add different challenges to them as players develop. In fact, they use a different type of rondo with different rules/scenarios different days of the week and along the development process.

And, yes, if first touch is not good the rondo fails. The drills performed improve the first touch and sheer number of touches a player will get on the ball in any one of their training sessions.

They are incredible and like you said there’s just so many ways to adjust them

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.

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

He sounds like just the man to coach the next USMNT!

Anonymous wrote:Rondos are a great, simple, passing activation warm-up. Any coach that doesn’t see their value is just antiquated.

Barca has about 101+ versions on a rondo and add different challenges to them as players develop. In fact, they use a different type of rondo with different rules/scenarios different days of the week and along the development process.

And, yes, if first touch is not good the rondo fails. The drills performed improve the first touch and sheer number of touches a player will get on the ball in any one of their training sessions.

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 played and coached well-beyond Rec level so I will use my own experience as a guide. I just think it’s unfortunate that you continually are coming on to equate what this Academy is about to a Club playing bottom-level NCSL. They didn’t even join leagues this year. Jury is still out about that. League rules are restrictive to the way they develop players.

You aren’t just saying people should ask—you are attacking a product you know nothing about and haven’t experienced.

It’s not a travel Club. Your insistence of trying to put it in that box demonstrates your ignorance.

I’ve been with travel for over 40 years in this area. This is different.

Is it the answer? That depends on the family.

But you really shouldn’t sell yourself as an authority when you lack the credentials as a dad and rec soccer coach.

In fact, your arguments are living proof about the lack of understanding about youth soccer development in this country. It has nothing to do with leagues/games/wins at these young ages. All that’s wrong with youth soccer in America, found in your responses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is what I was wondering, whether they actually said No to anyone willing to pay. We went to one of their open tryouts, our kid is still a baby (in my eyes) so our internal debate is whether the time (distance for us) and money (definitely more expensive than our local club) is worth it at such a young age. But it also makes sense that if you buy into FCB philosophy then the younger the start maybe the easier it becomes to be ingrained in that method/style of play.

They don’t want to have the quality of training take a hit so they have a cap on the number of players in the program. That is why there is a waitlist to get in. The number reflects the player-coach ratio and the room. They also had a cap on the number of players in a tryout session when they first opened to get a decent look and avoid the cattle call tryout, I think 30 at a time, and they kept adding sessions to accommodate numbers. They also didn’t just scrimmage like every other tryout we’ve attended. However, from what I understand, they will not increase the size of the Academy in a single location. They invest in development so they don’t discard players. But, if somebody knows more, please correct me if I understood wrong. I do know a few players on the waitlist.

Thanks PP. when we attended one of the last tryouts i figured they just added additional tryouts because they hadn't gotten enough interest, so this insight is helpful
The fact the tryouts were so drastically different (drills vs just scrimmaging) was interesting to us as well. When we stood on the sideline of our U9 tryouts it was really hard to tell how the coaches were going to differentiate these players and whether they were actually looking for players to keep or players to cut.

What were the drills?