Our team was there for the first time. Well run tournament and we'll be back again. Was nice to play with teams from St.Louis, Michigan, IL and Wisconsin. And could you beat the weather? Awesome weekend.
Quick comment here to say thank you to the many U13 & U14 Chicago Magic Boys and their parents who came to the GIRLS Semi Final game at SYL Nationals in Tampa. The boys finished their semi game and drove 30 minutes to the other fields to watch the U16 girls in a very tough and heartbreaking semi game. Those parents will never know how much it meant to the girls that the boys (most of whom do not know anyone on the team) came to cheer for them. My daughter trains with some of them and even though we logged a loss, they are still talking about how great it was to hear all the cheering and support from the boys and their parents. While both the boys U14 & U13 teams went on to win the championships, it was really nice to see that sort of club support from the parents, players and coaches - who were also there (and none of them coach the girls on this team.) Just thought I would post something in the hope that some Magic parents see it and pass it on. It meant a lot!
But of course you are not asking about players switching clubs because you didn't know the answer already. You just can't seem to help but attempt yet another dig. It increasingly seems that if one wanted his son to make a Fire Acad roster he might have been best off to have him play and develop at the Magic, Wind or Eclipse and not make the switch to the Fire Acad until his son was older. Now I have no problem with the Fire courting the best possible players they can find - even those developed and nutured by other clubs. Other clubs can take that as a form of flattery that their club must be doing something so well with their young players that the Fire are willing to pass over thier own Fire kids to offer spots instead to boys developed at other clubs. Maybe the Fire Jr development pipeline might become so full that they one day won't need to stock their Acad team with kids from other clubs, maybe not. There are some good people at the Fire and they should be thanked because they have raised the youth development bar. I believe thare are 3 good Chicago area Acads and good people at each. Beyond that there are non Acad clubs which do a heck of a good job developing players too. The more choice the better. Now you had previously prattled on about a fantastic Fire Acad coach. Any insight as to why he was relieved of his Fire Acad coaching duties? Seems he was caught off guard by the news.
Always nice to read stories like these. I remember being at an out of State tourney and the 2 rival Chicago area clubs at the tourney cheered for one another. Two teams who who were NISL rivals cheered for each other. It was good to see.
Definitely. CFA is off to a 6W-1L-1T start and SFC is at 2W-0L-2T. CMA is off to a somewhat slower start at 1W-5L-2T. Don't think it's a concern yet since CMA seems to be loaded with new Latino players that no doubt will gel into great teams like the 93/94 Wind and 94/95 Lemont. As far as CFA's reputation of not "home grown", someone told me that this year's squads actually have the most "home grown" (CFJ, CFJ-N, & pre-DA) players in recent years. So I guess they must have turned the corner.
Sometimes it appears that the Fire is courting coaches who drag a group of players with them to follow to the new club. But that is nothing new, as it was happening before the academies came up, and it is happening now with other non-academy clubs. Other times it takes just one parent to say "let's go there" or "I'm taking my kid to that club" and the rest will follow like sheep. Magic recruited as the Fire does now for years, Eclipse has done it on the girls side too, as well as their National Championship title winning boys team. I don't think there has been a club that has reached "the top" of the youth soccer competition level without poaching players from other clubs. But like you said, that should be flattering to those clubs and coaches which develop players who move on to better competitive levels. Yes, there might be 3 good Chicago Academy clubs with good people in each of them, but there are also some bad apples in each of them, no? Which fantastic Fire Acad coach did I prattle about? If it's the same one I have some recent info on, then you are badly misinformed, I'm afraid. It seems like "someone" from your Magic club would like to believe this rumor was true. Is that what "big money" boss is busy with these days? Instead of worrying about "fired" Fire Acad coaches, he should worry about his own coaches doing their job.
Since you bring up statistics to measure how good each of the 3 Academies are, I would say that CMA's record of 1W-5L-2T is worst than a "slower start", especially when compared to 6W-1L-1T. But if you say it's because the CMA has many new players, that's not surprising. It takes time to gel as a team. It also takes a coach too......... "Someone" might've told you the correct info regarding the Fire rosters. Either they have turned the corner or people have gone back to where they came from realizing it all the same.
Great show of effort! We had some players who went to another club this year come out and support their old team (my players team) this fall. Regardless of their move, it was a cool thing to do - the players in general were happy to see each other again - even if some were in different colors.
That's YONKO being classic YONKO !!! So what's your opinion on CMA's coaching staff? IMO, teams can go 0-14 before division play and still win it all, so I guess there are plenty of time left. RDA seems to have impressive resume to get the job done. As for the players, I have no first hand knowledge on the CMA squads, but from USSF's page, it appears that they are leaning kind of heavy towards Latino players and most of the U16 players seem to be fresh-faces. Does any one know how the talent base compares with that of CFA & SFC at both age groups?
You can always count on me being....me. To tell you honestly, resumes don't tell me the whole picture. All I have to do is see a few training sessions and couple of games to judge a coach on his ability. The organization, the progressions, the body language speak more than the words on some resume. When I said "it takes a coach too" I meant that the coach has to use good team building methods to gel the players into a solid team. I haven't seen enough communication between RDA and the players to say he can execute this aspect well. I also haven't seen the CMA practice yet, so I will have make conclusion after I do so. About the players on the rosters being filled with a lot of latino kids is not surprising to me. And it's not only the CMA rosters. A lot of academy clubs are rostering latinos, not that there is anything wrong with that. In this diverse US society we need to have some diverse soccer participants. I just wish there were more african-american kids playing on academy teams and soccer in general. But unfortunately they will always tend to dream about being the next LeBron or whatever big american football star is popular now. BTW, I have noticed that there are no good black QBs in football. They are always running backs or whatever else. How come?
The ignorance of yonko strikes again...Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, Doug Williams, Steve McNair and Chicagos own (Mount Carmel High School) Donovan Mcnabb to name a few. DUH!!!!!!
Ignorance? More like lack of knowledge for american football. The only one I had heard of was Macnabb, but I didn't know he was a QB. When I don't know about something, I'm not afraid to admit it, unlike some of you here. Anyway, do you think soccer will be able to attract more african-american kids one day? I don't see that many of them play in the academy teams. By that age they have switched over to basketball or football, no? If I'm not mistaken, Sockers DA had couple of good black kids, as well as Fire DA, but I don't think Magic did.
Isn't one of the top players on the Sockers Academy an African American? The US national team and its youth teams have many talented African American players.
I thought I heard that both African American kids from Sockers DA went to college. I guess it was just one of them then. Speaking of the US youth national teams, FSC is showing the Nike Friendlies for the U17s. Tonight at 6pm US is playing vs South Korea. I will look out for the talented African American kids we have.
In your early posts you chastize others for focusing on game results. Hello kettle meet pot. Personally, my priorities for my kid are different. Happy, develop as a person and player and attend a good college are all way before winning soccer games. Don't get me wrong, all things being equal, I'd rather see my kid win every game but it is way down the priority list.
1) 100% agree that there are some bad apples at every club I've seen. 2) You posted that you'd "100%" send your kid to the Fire acad and cited they have the best coaches to develop kids into pro players. Well one of the two Fire Acad head coaches is now gone. So is Larry Sunderland, the 100% reason you'd send your kid to Fire Acad? I know almost nothing about Larry 1st hand and am not implying anything about the man. 3) No idea the "rumor" to which you refer. I don't care much for rumors and have not heard anyone spreading rumors about the Fire or any other club. 4) I barely know the owners of the Magic but I'd guess they spend precious little time thinking about what coaches the Fire hire, let go or reassign. You seem obsessed with one of the owners of the Magic and somehow hold a grudge. Almost nothing but negativity from you. I come from a very modest background. To me, the fact someone has made a great success of themselves in life is something to be praised and not criticized or envied. I think what the Fire, Sockers and Magic have been doing recently has done much to help youth soccer move forward. I think they will continue to help youth soccer advance. If nothing else, the owners of the Magic deserve plaudits for turning a ruined golf bubble into a fantastic indoor soccer center used by several area clubs. They have turned the Magic into a not for profit and are putting scholarship programs in place to help deserving kids go to college. Some people remind me of the balcony hecklers on the muppet show, hurling abuse no matter what. Sign of a weak person, if you ask me. Now, time to go out and enjoy life.
Did you read how I started my response on that post? The poster I was responding to brought up the statistics, and I was just making a correction on what I thought was incorrect conclusion regarding the early season stats. Just because I don't use statistics doesn't mean I can't comment on judgments and conclusions made by other posters who post about them. I wasn't talking about Larry and he definitely wasn't the reason I took my son to the Fire. I didn't even know he was fired. That's news to me, a good news in fact. I have nothing against the actual owner of the Magic. But there is certain someone else there, who acts as "big boss" and he was the one who started the rumor about the Fire Acad coach being "fired". I'm not sure how much that "someone else" is involved with Magic, but I've heard that he might be a "silent partner", without being too silent. Yes, I agree, it is very good how the actual Magic owner has invested a lot into the club and youth soccer, like turning a golf bubble into an excellent soccer facility. But I would like to see him invest in coaches who teach soccer, rather then prepare kids for track & field in the Summer Olympics. Granted, there are coaches of this type in every club including the Fire. All I know is that if my sons get one of them coaches, I'm moving again. Seeing a coach spend 1/3 of practice on speed & agility training for U12s is a deal breaker for me personally.
Why is that good news? Larry started Fire Jrs. from the ground up and has built it to the level it is at as an organization. Yes other trainers have come in and brought talented players with them but Larry is the one that was there from day 1. Without him, the Fire is not what they are today.
Funny how JD is hired and SA is gone. JD "retired" from wind couple years ago, what is the true story behind his retirement and his unretirement?... any connections to SA being gone from CFA? I want to learn... Youth soccer soap opera continues... ..Larry Sunderland and soccer? ... bwahahahah. Too funny!!
You say you would 100% have your boys play for the Fire Acad because they have the best coaches to develop kids. You claim to know many coaches. Then you post you have no idea who Caddy might be. Now you post that it is good news if Larry was fired as Fire Acad coach. Actually, it seems you know very very little about what goes on at the Fire Acad. As someone posted earlier, anyone who does not know Caddy knows very little about the Fire youth system. Larry has not been fired. He is coaching the Fire Acad. Make sure and tell him you think it is good news if he is fired, maybe it will help your boys at tryouts. The other (now former) Fire Acad HC, Sole, is in Europe with a couple Fire guys scouting players. Sole was recently told he will not be coaching with the Fire Acad. (Personally, I think he'd do well with the college age group). At present he has a few Fire North teams left. So you 100% would have your boys play for the Fire because their Acad coaches best develop kids. Yet one of the 2 Acad coaches has not been brought back and you say it is good news if the other was fired.