San Jose Earthquakes Academy is on its way!

I'm surprised I have yet to see any talk about this anywhere (maybe its somewhere, but I havent looked). I wasnt able to find this online, but my dad told me about this when he got home yesterday and finally brought the paper to me today

AMEN!!!

Great to finally see some progress in developing local talent.

Nice to finally see some progress on this front. Also surprised no one had mentioned it before now considering how many people have been calling for this for quite some time. Bravo to the FO for making the Quakes academy a reality at last.

Now how bout that stadium

Forgot to mention it was from the Merc and it was one of those BS subheadings

Superb news! This seems like a proper academy in the making. I really hope the Quakes make the effort to reach out to low-income communities and youth who don't usually have the chance to be part of expensive club teams and academies. There is a lot of untapped talent out there in this country.

Wow!!

And it's Free?! It ought to be, but still WOW!!!

This is EXCELLENT news!

Go Quakes!!
Train Like Pros!

- Mark

This is great news. If I have a kid, I would definitely put him through this.

I just hope they can reach out and find the best players, regardless of there socioeconomic background.

No doubt. My point, however, is that kids who are already on high-profile academy/club teams will be the most likely to be noticed and the most likely to try out for a Quakes academy. Therefore, any good academy system worth its mustard will make the extra effort to reach those potential players who aren't plugged into the most obvious networks, often due to socioeconomic reasons.

Additionally, Amway Global will provide two full scholarships for low income, Hispanic players to join the academy.

That's good.

why not just low income kids? why Hispanic low income?

From the original post of this thread:

So when Doyle said that players selected for the Academy will participate free of charge, he was only referring to two low-income Hispanic players selected for scholarships by Amway Global? Everyone else has to pay?

Or it could mean that Amway is picking up the tab for two of them and the team for the rest.

Bravo. This really brightens my day, assuming that participation is free. I hope we start producing future stars in no time and expand the age groups to include some younger prospects as well.

As athletics68 said, this program is free to everybody. Amway Global is providing a pair of scholarships as part of its outreach program while the Quakes will foot the bill on the rest of the team. The Earthquakes are picking up the entire tab and Amway is providing an additional two players opportunities to get on the field. Part of Amway's mission in Northern California is to invest in the Hispanic community and this is one way to achieve their goals.

Cheers!

that's great, and the academy is most certainly good news. But why the Hispanic community as opposed to any other community...why not just open it up to all youth equally?

I think it is open to everyone. But Amway is focusing their two spots on the Hispanic community in particular which I suppose is their choice. It's their money.

you mean like the Hispanic team vs Caucasian team, that sort of thing?

I think it's lame to single out any one particular ethnic or cultural group for this academy.

But because Amway is now running SJEQ operations, I guess we all just go along...

Try reading the preceding posts before posting crap like this...

I read all the posts...and sure, it's a great idea, but why start out saying we're going to target one group or another? That's all I'm saying. Bring in the most deserving, most promising kids...and leave it at that. There is no good reason for saying we're going to start with the Hispanic kids...no need to get so bent out of shape.

The Quakes are. They're bringing in 36 of the most deserving kids. Amway separately is paying for 2 additional Hispanic kids. What's the problem? The Hispanic population, like it or not, has the largest group of disadvantaged kids in the south bay. Seems like a good fit to me.