Saturday, December 22, 2007

Academy Programs

The new US Soccer Academy program is the first youth league ever organized by US Soccer and not US Youth Soccer. That, in essence, is why it is so different. All other youth soccer leagues and events (including ODP) is under the umbrella of US Youth Soccer. Decisions on the rules and regulations for those are made by the Regional Director’s and State Presidents. Rules and regs for the Academy league are made by US Soccer (significant input coming from our national youth team coaches). The Academy program is actually just another league with specific rules that the organizers feel will be better for the development of the players.

The Academy program will have identification events to select players for opportunities with the National teams. Some national camps have already occurred with players from a Thanksgiving event. (We are very happy that 6 guys who played for MD ODP were selected out of those events to be on US teams in the NIKE Friendlies. At the same time that event was going on there was an “inter regional” with the ODP programs in Disney. Likewise players were selected from that event to join various national team events.

So what I believe we have are 2 programs that both have the ability to present players for the next level. The Academy program does it through club events while the ODP does it through state and regional events. Both have merit. I certainly hope that the Academy Program reaches it goal of providing a top developmental environment for the players involved. Important to keep in mind is that each club will be different based on coaching staff, facilities, finances, etc. That is not different than it has ever been. In many ways the Academy teams that really have the most on the line are the MLS youth teams. They probably have the most vested interest as they hope to directly benefit from the development of the players in their program.

Having said all that I do believe that the most important indicator of whether the Academy program is successful is if it does attract the college coaches. That is the main by-product for 99.9% of the players that are on top club teams. One thing I know for sure – college coaches will go to all tournaments and events that have good players regardless of whether they are “Academy”, US Youth Soccer/ODP or anything else. As there are not enough Academy teams to cover all the top players in the country (or even in any one area), all programs will continue to play an important role in the game’s development.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what would you recommend to a player who has to decide between an academy and no ODP or non-academy which could include ODP?

Anonymous said...

I agree that it is good to see the US Soccer have 2 venues now for visibility at the national level and selection. I disagree a bit with your comment that the Academy is just another league. The acedemy league is comprised of the best club teams in te country which offer a great venue for college coaches to come and watch throughout the year. Athough in year one, the academy league teams have attracted some of the best talent in the nation and it is great to see them compete against one another throughout the year. The academy if for a select class of club teams as ODP is for those chosing not to play on an academy team. It is a major change in american soccer, but I believe a good change as this is more reflective of how other countries operate. After 3 years, it was a tough choice for my son to leave Maryland ODP for the academy team and league, but in such a short time the benefits have been obvious and the college coaches are very engaged in coming to the games. This is huge for american soccer

ktsoccerworld said...

Re: Which way to go: That is certainly the question a lot of people have been trying to answer. The question in my mind comes down first to the club and the coaching offered (overall environment) then it does to anything else. Regardless of academy or non-academy, the daily interaction is with the coach and, therefor, the most important part of the decision process. As the last poster stated - college coaches are going to academy events so far. They are also going to the "normal" club tournaments and the ODP events. There are some excellent teams in the academy and there are some that might not be put into that category.
Naturally the test of time will answer the questions. I do not believe that club system that existed has been bad. I just think that the drive to be the best and,therefore, have to be in seemingly EVERY tournament and competition ended u hurting the players. Playing multiple games in a day (and often 5 in a weekend) is really detrimental to development. The academy rules help that a lot. However, coaches always had the choice what to enter their teams in. When we take our ODP teams to Scotland and Argentina I opt for 4 "friendlies" against the best competition we can get and with usually a day in between games. I feel this gives both an opportunity to really evaluate the prior game and also give appropriate physical rest. There are times due to opposition schedules that we play back to back days, but we try to avoid that...
I am off subject a bit.
Academy or not - just be sure that overall picture for your son is one where he is getting consistent training with quality coaches and have the opportunity to display his talents in high level games. (it wouldn't surprise me to see the Academy rules on roster size be tightened over the years to help this).

Anonymous said...

Future soccer.

Academy or not academy?
Who are on the top of the game? USS or USYS?
The academy will take all the serious soccer players from the clubs and ODP program to the higher level and the remaining player will stay with their club teams and possible ODP.
This year why aren’t many older U16/17/18 ODP players from last year coming back to the tryout? I believe that most of them are already committed to their academy teams and they can’t be with another program.
Three academies in the DC/metro area are collecting most of the premier players… How many talented players are left in the pool after U16?
The current program for the academy is for U16 and U18 only but it will be changed in a few years. They are talking now that the program will start as younger as U10/12.
Here are the future leagues and they are ranked in the order:
1. Academy league
2. Premier league
3. Club league (NCSL, BBSL, ODSL…)
Questions that remain to be answered:
1. Who will fund the academy?
2. R & D needs to be in more detail for instance about recruiting?
3. Why are players allowed to play HS? The fact is the players are ruined by the HS program.
….

Anonymous said...

MANY of the strongest players in the MD/DC area are not doing the Academy...three of the four top team finishers at last year's U16 State Cup - Baltimore Bays, SAC, Freestate - are not in the Academy and won't be next year. The MSC Dragons are not doing U18 Academy either. So far the college coaches have been out in force watching those teams so they haven't missed a thing...

applesauce said...

If the Academy League has a 13/14 age group, will there be a need for Maryland ODP since we have several Academy teams in close proximity, and such a small state; compared to other states. It seems to me that ODP in Maryland would become tier II or III level soccer as we are seeing in the 15/16 and 17/18 ages.

ktsoccerworld said...

Posting this on ODP bog as well...

Everyone - we are all trying to do the same thing. Help the progress of development in this country. The vehicles are numerous and give plenty of options - academy, ODP, super Y, US Club, US Youth, etc... If it was clear-cut that any of them was THE way, then the others wouldn't be around.
ODP's ;landscape will change under the current Academy rules. The decision to not allow Academy players to participate in ODP was not a philosophical opposition to ODP. It was a practical decision based on what would be conflicting events. (During most of ODP's international trips are some of the mandatory Academy events).
The Academy players are not registered with US Youth soccer - just with US Soccer. ODP is run by US Youth Soccer and, therefore, only allows players registered with them to be a part of their programs.
Maryland ODP (and other smaller states with Academy teams) will be affected more than some for sure. Fortunately, there are a lot of extremely talented players around. Anyone who saw the 95 and 94 tryouts can see the depth of talent.
As I have said before- I hope that both the Academy and ODP programs can be an important part of identifying players for the "next level". Clearly, as always, the clubs take on the most important role of developing players as they have them all the time. This has always been the case and always will be.

ktsoccerworld said...

PS - Yes - college coaches will be all the events they usually have been at and also the main academy events. Not to worry there regardless of whatteam your son is on.

Happy holidays to all.

Anonymous said...

At what age do the Academy teams form? Are there tryouts or do high level club teams enter as a team? If tryouts, is there a web site to find out about the tryouts or the Academy league?

Thanks for initiating this forum about ODP and tryouts. Very informative.

ktsoccerworld said...

Here is the origonal link from US Soccer announcing the Academy Program. There are other links in this article that give more information. Some things have changed slighty since inception as US Soccer smooths out kinks in the program -- that will certainly continue over the next few years.
There are no plans announced yet for taking this to the Under 14 level, but I would imagine that a program for that age will come sooner or later.

I imagine that these articles should answer most any question you have about academy teams. Clubs apply to join... players tryout/are redruited, etc for clubs just as they have been in the past.

Hope this helps

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_557057.html

Anonymous said...

Coach:

Can you give a serious soccer player an honest answer, why are the academy players allowed to play HS?

You know well that the good soccer players are ruined by the HS program.

Will the US Soccer Federation step up to say no more HS ball?

ktsoccerworld said...

Can you give a serious soccer player an honest answer, why are the academy players allowed to play HS?

You know well that the good soccer players are ruined by the HS program.

Will the US Soccer Federation step up to say no more HS ball?
---------------------------------
That has certainly been a tough question to answer. From a soccer standpoint there are obviously few HS programs that provide the top players the challenge needed. Having said that, there are some valuable elements to HS soccer that correlate directly to playing in college: One needs to maintain a certain GPA and make progress towards their HS degree to be eligible to play... just as in college.

I think the reasoning for the Academy had to do with the initial timing of when they were going to start and that there many areas of the country whose main soccer in the Fall was indeed HS. Since they were not going to be ready to get things going that early they decided that HS soccer was ok - for now.

I would not be surprised to see the federation change that. Without doubt the Academy rules will change a lot over the first year or so as they find out the issues that may not be forecasted in a paper plan. Things such as roster size, outside soccer events, etc will all be looked at.

I seem to think there was another reason for allowing HS ball right now, but honestly can't remember it... its Christmas Eve - maybe I will remember after Christmas! Happy Holidays to everyone.

Anonymous said...

In wathcing the Florida Disney Soccer Showcase, I witnessed exceptional talent at the National League games and the Super Goup play brackets and not so much at the ODP games. Additionally, I noticed, minimally, twice as many college and international scouts at these games.

My son previously played Maryland ODP and now plays on an Academy team that was in also in Florida. His games also drew a lot of college coaches and international scouts. In speaking with a some of the college coaches, they are now mentioned they ate investing more time in attending Academy games and the short National League season and not as much at ODP games, Rider tournament, or Kirkwood. One D1 coach actually said that ODP has become (in his view) a part time training program that tends to be very inconsistent between states. He stated the Academy and short National League season provide players with a competitive environment to what they will experience at the next college level. I have to agree with this assessment so far as the acedemy environemnt, training, quality of players, and match play has been superior. The attention it is getting from colleges is remarkable.

What is ODP at the state and national level going to do to remain attractive for the top players to participate or is the evelution in US soccer to move away from ODP to Academy. Do you think ODP will remain in existance if the Academy league adds one additional younger age group.

ktsoccerworld said...

I was at Disney as well coaching the Region 1 teams. I also got out to see some of our Maryland youth teams play. I am not sure who had the time to count college coaches at each game as there were over 300 colleges signed up. I do know that the amount of college coaches at the regional games was the same us usual - a lot.

I also want to reiterate that the issues here are not a competition between academy and ODP. ODP is not a club and ODP - like clubs - differ greatly from organization to organization.
The statement: " ODP has become (in his view) a part time training program that tends to be very inconsistent between states." has always been true. ODP teams train at the most 1 time per week in order for the coaches to help smooth out edges that will help the players perform at the highest levels... as well as prepare for competitions. Clubs are the training ground for any player - always has been and always will be. ODP provides - in most states - an opportunity to elevate one's level of play and experiences.

The competition in Disney was still very good. Region 1 did not allow any Academy players to play in the Inter-regional (other 3 regional did - as the Academy/federation did allow it). Region 1 still finished in group play (90s - tied for 1st - losing out on 1 goal difference and the 91s finishing 2nd by 1 point). They did very well although were not as deep as needed in a tournament played in 84 degrees required.

The club games I saw ranged from average to excellent.

I also want to ask that comments avoid the "I talked to so and so and he said..." type of comments - unless you want to actually put a name to whom you talked to. I think you can understand that we could all say something like that to try and make a point. (Not saying that is what the previous poster did, but I don't want to open that door.

Regarding the future... The academy league is young and evolving. Certainly if they add a younger age group (and DO NOT change the rules on participating in ODP - this could happen), then it will affect ODP teams. However, there are simply not enough Academy teams around to cover all the ODP level players. So ODP will remain a viable program to help in the development of the game in this country.

The Academy program was created to improve the day to day environment of the game (i.e. the Club system). I don't see it as a competitor with ODP - I see it as a competitor with US Youth club soccer... albeit with an effect on ODP.

Anonymous said...

How did the Maryland ODP players do at the regional play at Disney the week of Christmas?

ktsoccerworld said...

Disney Region 1 Teams

In the 91 age group Ethan White and Chris Hegnini were invited but could not play due to region 1 not allowing the academy players to participate at Disney (they would not be avaiable for the international trip later in the Spring, so the Region decided not to have them at the Regional event).

In the 90 age group, JJ Raley, Christian Barreiro, Micahel Hocker were to be invited but are also Academy players. Prince Lapnet and Kamal Briscoe were invited but could not attend. (Do not know the reason). They will be under consideration for the international trip the region takes in the Spring.

So none of the 7 Maryland players invited were able to be with the 90 or 91 teams on the Disney Rosters.