Make sure your son is aware of the precious opportunity he is receiving. I played at the top levels in this state just 5 years ago and this kind of thing was completely unheard of. If you were going to make it from Utah then, you had better have had a connection(s) and some incredible skill. Not that it is getting any easier (quite the opposite, in fact), but there are many more opportunities for kids now from Utah and other previously underrepresented regions. Hope to see your son suit up with the first team one day. That'd be something special to say "yeah, that kid went to Viewmont High School and is a product of our local youth programs and academy"
Ran across this of Gabby Okito. Not exactly RSL-AZ Academy related, but I thought it would be good to bring up here. Last I knew he was with Ogden Outlaws. Before the academy started some of the main prospects in the RSL youth system were James Rogers, Donny Toia, the Saldana kid (can't remember his first name), and Gabby was right in the mix as well. The academy has taken things to the next level, so I'm not sure how Gabby would fit in. Regardless, I hope we see more of Gabby. This is an awesome video, and it's an awesome story. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BEcbYX0Pb8&feature=related"]Real Salt Lake Youth: Gabby Okito - YouTube[/ame]
Gabby is an incredible human being. I had the privilege of playing with him for a year. He and his brother (I think?) were not only tremendous players but tremendous people that taught those around them life lessons day in and day out. I really hope he can rise up through the system. The kid has some pretty quick feet and a hell of a shot. Mike Nielsen is currently a member of UP. I think this last season was his last and not sure if he is going to do anything soccer-wise thereafter. The kid was a hell of a player but was tiny and got pushed off the ball far too easily. Nikola Mijic helped me survive my senior year at Westminster. He chose not to play collegiality (something I teased him about constantly) but has talked about possibly playing in college while getting a graduate degree. Not sure how that'll work, but I'd imagine you can rule him out of making it to the first team. He is well aware of this but still is quite the player when he suits up for the men's league team we play on. kir: do you have any idea of what is happening with Jake Hustedt? I remember awhile back a discussion of him possibly going to train/tryout for the Fire. Did anything come of this?
I agree, a great video. Is Gabby at AZ State or UCSB? Also, are Van Wagenen & Isaac Halasim still making videos for RSL? Those old ones from 2008 etc were awesome.
After doing some research (okay so all I really did was a couple of google searches), it seems that Okito is at Yavapai College in Arizona. A pretty good Juco program - it's where Donny Toia spent a year or so before joining RSL.
It looks like you are correct. I didn't realize he was a senior. Man, how time flies. Unfortunately it doesn't look like he played much.
Yeah what 15 said. I saw different websites claiming he was at both colleges. Does he have a clone or is he attending 2 colleges at once?
Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona Fact: Nick DeLeon and Tony Cascio were a part of RSL Arizona four years ago during the first year of the partnership. Back then, the rule was that RSL could "tag" a kid if he played/trained for a minimum 100 hours for the team. Neither of them CAME CLOSE to this and therefore could not be tagged. It is that simple! RSL Arizona was nothing then like it is now, not even close. Back then, it was an experiment. Obviously it went well and now some of the best players in the country are involved! Rip Cascio for now being a cRapid, rightfully so, but please lay-off these two fine young men... RSL didn't lose these players, they were never "tagged" per the policy at that time and those were the rules. Thanks!
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona gilmoreaz, I am curious how you know that they didn't play 100 hours for the academy/dev team? Considering how many HGs are being announced and how small most MLS teams academies are, especially compared to RSL's, seems that they should have easily qualified for the 100 hours. Also, I believe that most RSL fans beef with the Deleon and Cascio situation, isn't that we hate them, not at all. Its that RSL tried to claim them based on the past relationship, we were told no, and then LA, with even a smaller claim on a player, signed one the next week. Smacks of double standards.
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona no kidding, 100 hours is NOTHING. If he was in the Academy even for 60 days he would have EASILY hit 100 hours. Hell, as an Academy player you should 100 hours in 30-45 days max. the question is what qualifies as hours, is it training? is it just official game time? is it total time spent in the actual academy? the ONLY qualifier that I could see that would prevent them from hitting 100 hours if it was official game time. otherwise there is just no way they didnt hit 100 hours.
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona Part of me can understand the 100 hours (if thats actually true, never read that any where else). The big thing is that for all that RSL has done in the last 4 years, it only has 1 HG where even teams like Cowlumbus have more in the last month then we do. How? I guess if a older MLS team sends a asst asst coach to a local youth club since 2006 they have a heads up on RSL.
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona Real Salt Lake actually has 3 HG signings: Donny Toia, Nico Muniz, and Lalo Fernandez.
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona You are so right. I was just "going off". Still RSL seems to be way behind in HG signings compared to others. Lalo was just signed and Toia and Nico signed during the season.
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona a common theme among those that are signed to HG as opposed to those that get denied it: talent level. DeLeon and Cascio were regarded as top prospects. The other kids that have signed HG contracts haven't created anywhere near as much buzz. So, yeah. MLS doesn't want you to create too good of a product
Re: Cascio DeLeon & RSL Arizona My understanding is that each team sends in a list each quarter of the ten boys of each calendar year that they have as HG players. The MLS is now starting to make this a much more organized program that will have a very good paper trail. These rulings should become more consistent over the next few years. It will also lead to a situation where almost all the talent needs of a club are meet through its academies and foreign signing and an occasional late bloomer that comes through the draft. Also do not forget that the MLS still has to compete with foreign leagues and this could lead to some occasions where a player might dictate where they want to play or they could choose to sign with a foreign club. That is why you stilll might see some of these weird HG rulings. For example a player is HG for Seattle Sounders but wants to play for New York Red Bulls. He is 18 and has an offer from America of the Mexican league. What would the MLS prefer that he play for New York or America? We all know the answer.
Playing devil's advocate, here are a number of things that make the Cascio/DeLeon situations difficult: 1) RSL's program (and many others at the time) were not nearly as evolved as they are now. The training may not have been as robust or as frequent as it is now. 2) The homegrown concept had just started when those two were with RSL. 3) As I understand, MLS does not evaluate homegrown claims until the club requests that they sign a player. As Toddsoccerdad mentioned each team submits their lists, but these lists are not evaluated by the league. So in Cascio/DeLeon's case these claims are evaluated 4 years after the fact. The homegrown rules/standards have changed dramatically. The quality of youth developed has improved dramatically. What standards are the league using to evaluate? 4) You have two kids who have gone through college for 4 years. Their development has occurred as much or more there than with RSL 4 years ago. In addition, they are willing to sign a deal with the league and enter the draft. They are much more of a finished product than an 18 yo homegrown signing. From the league's perspective, the usefulness of the homegrown program is severely diminished. Having said that, if RSL met the requirements then the HG signing should be allowed. If it's not black and white, then the claim should be looked at from a perspective of fairness to the club relative to the other recent signings (Villareal, Richards, etc). I don't have enough facts to make a conclusion, but I think an explanation is warranted.
Well said . Its seems that the HG is becoming more and more defined than it was a few years ago. I would expect that this will become easier to understand and a lot of the question marks should go away. RSL has some very good players in college right now that spend a good solid year in Arizona playing for the Academy and as such their should be no confusion on these signings should they happen. I beleive that for a small market team like RSL it is important that the rules become very specific about time spend training with the club as we dont want LA and Dallas and Houston to be able to claim every good soccer player born in their city as homegrown if that player did not go through their system.
According to this list, RSL has two of the top25 players in the Top 50 "Class of 2013" list. It looks like FC Dallas has two in the Top 10. LA Galaxy also have two in the Top 25. RSL-AZ has Jordan Allen (#4), and Ive Burnett at #24 (although they don't list him with RSL-AZ).
Yeah, although he's kind of got a point. The kid already has a college scholarship lined up. On one hand, $40K-$80K is alot of money for a 17 or 18 year old, but if it causes you to skip college, what's that worth? I have a friend who's son was drafted by the Chicago Cubs, and they wanted to sign him right away. However, he was going to be losing out on his scholarship to the U. In MLB, they give signing bonuses to entice players, and he calculated that he'd need $750K+ in order to make the leap. <he didn't get it>
Well sorry to report that Seattle was unable to come down and play our boys. However there were several college coaches that had arrived so RSL went ahead and played to full Intrasquad games with what appeared to be the first team against the second team of each age group. I will not single out any player as playing bad but there were a few that did shine. In the u-18 game Jordan Allen made a beautiful outside shot for a goal and Cole Nagy was making a lot of nice runs. I watched only the second half of that game and those two stood out the most. In the u-16 game it was full court press for the white team of starters from the get go. The starters were highlighted by some great runs by Andrew Brody down the left and Lucas down the right, Both of them were at high gear. I was especially impressed by Isiahs Juarez and Lucas play on the right side. Lucas ended up with two goals with one being a beautiful outside shot and the other an almost half of the field run. Trevor Hyman looked solid in the middle as well. Both were wel played games ! I will try to get down there again in February and hopefully the other team will show up
Todd - I'm going down in late Feb for the Tucson tourney. The RSL academy has games on March 3rd against Crossfire that I'm hoping to attend. Let me know if you happen to be there at the same time.
if you haven't already, rep this man! Thanks Todd. I might sense a bit of favoritism for your son. Though, with 2 goals, can't really say I blame ya just kidding. thanks again