Union Youth Development Thread [R]

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

In the long run, the Union are better off starting from scratch and developing their own free program, even if it takes a while to surpass DelCo in terms of reputation. Even programs like the above-mentioned Chicago Fire Juniors started out as fairly humble youth clubs.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

Can someone dig up the official rules with regard to home-grown players to see if the current Union program qualifies?

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

This thread has some excellent conversation on the matter:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1080337

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would love it if someone could explain -- in simple terms -- what Union is doing in terms of youth development and what other MLS teams are doing (since it sounds like Union isn't doing all the same stuff). And what exactly do teams like FC Delco do. Because all this stuff is strange to me and I don't really even follow the conversations about it.

I mean, if Union entered a team in the SUM Cup, aren't those "academy" players? But I thought Union doesn't have an academy. So, where are they getting players from? What is their connection to them? And can they count as homegrown? And if they can't count as homegrown, then why not? What do other MLS teams do to deserve being able to sign homegrown players?

Also, what does "club neutral" mean?

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

I'll take a swing at this.

1) What matters for MLS purposes is "homegrown" players. Homegrown players are important because you can sign them directly without going through the draft or some other MLS process (and no other team can poach them).

The problem is that MLS doesn't publish its requirements for what makes a player "homegrown," so most of your questions can't be answered--do the SUM Cup team count, for instance. We know that the team has to sign them up before they sign with a college or with Bradenton, but it's not clear just what they have to do to get them on their "homegrown" list.

So the short answer is, whatever the Union are doing, we don't know if it's good enough for MLS.

2) "Club neutral" is easier. Basically, instead of the Union either taking over an existing youth team or building its own, the Union have built a system where players on the existing youth teams in the area come to the YSC facility for regular training with the Union youth coaching staff, but still play games with their regular teams.

Right now, the Union have a club-neutral system for kids from around 8 through around 15, IIRC. Above that, there isn't a year-round Union youth team, although they've said they'll be implementing them sometime in the next year.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

I guess what I don't understand is why can't Union go to FC Delco or Supernova or whomever and help to sponsor them -- offer some funding, some sponsorship, have Union coaches involved in training, spend some time with the MLS squad, whatnot. And why can't that be the Union academy? Why would it have to be an independent and fully Union run team? Seems to me that working with the existing teams and their infrastructure would be easier and potentially more beneficial (but I'm ignorant in these things, so I could be far off). It could be somewhat similar to the agreements with Harrisburg and Reading.

Maybe FC Delco wouldn't want Union involved and that's the stumbling block, but I would think an association with a profession team would look good for them and would be better than having that professional -- with large finacial backing -- team creating a academy team that would rival you and compete for talent.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

well anyone who's ever been involved in youth soccer knows that there are A LOT of politics involved. The Union will no doubt want to do things their own way, and an established organization like DelCo will be very reluctant to cede control to another organization.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

There are a couple of reasons.

1. FC Delco makes money; parents charge an arm and a leg to play with Delco. If the Union took over, they'd either have to make do with kids whose parents can afford that and leave the rest out in the cold, or they'd have to set up scholarships for the kids they wanted, which would make the rest of the parents much less likely to put down money for kids to play on the "B" team. And if the Union is paying the bill, it makes sense not to have Delco and its bureacracy as middlemen.

2. Delco is one good club, but it's not the only good club in the area. Right now, clubs from all over the tri-state area are bringing kids in to audition for the Union Juniors, because it looks good for them if they have a Union youth player on their roster. If they know that that kid is going to get yanked off their roster at a certain age and sent to Delco to play against them instead, they're going to be a lot less cooperative at the youth level.

3. Frankly, the way Delco and most of the other youth teams are run are a terrible way to develop players. These are teams that sometimes play three or more games on a weekend and spend almost no time on actual player development. Signing up Delco would let the Union grab some of their players, but wouldn't do much to actually improving the quality of those players.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

well one correction here... Any teams in the Dev academy are now only allowed so many games per weekend (I believe no more than 1 or 2) and can't play multiple games/day tournaments per Dev Academy rules. Also the academy strictly requires that teams have so many hours of practice per hours of game time. (this would of course apply to only Delco's academy team, but you get the idea)

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

At this point the club's existence, it is amazing that we even have a Youth Dev. program set up.

While Delco has a lot of credibility, they were never known as a club that develops their own talent. They don't have teams younger than U12 I believe...and there are many out there who dislike Delco, or Spirit, or Coppa, etc. Club neutral is the only way to break connections. As of yet, players don't have to make a huge decision to leave their friends and can have the best of both worlds.

The USSF Dev. Academy helps b/c it removes the state and regional teams. Though the rules attempt to assure that each player plays a certain amount of games, clubs like Delco are still result based. There is no accountability for the development of individual talent.

I am extremely happy w/ the start of our youth Dev. Players will now have a place to LEARN and be proud to be a part of it, as opposed to being affraid. Imagine if Freddy Adu had played for an academy...
I don't believe our current set up allows for us to promote from Academy to First Team, but as mentioned above, it's in the plans for the next year.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

My sone plays for Amity AC and LVU. He also attends all YSC camps in Malvern.

Age 4 in Oct 2010! See you in U17 in 13-14 years!

First selection age for Union JRs is U7! They select players across all particpating club teams. Numbers appear to be coming from Lower Merion and LVU.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

PLEASE tell me their nickname is "The Brodys"

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

Theoretically, this article outlines a few parts of our really complicated and multi-part plan with regard to player development. In particular, it gives some background on the Union's affiliation with Harrisburg and Reading and how that plays in to the current strategy.

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/ussoccerplayers/2010/08/philadelphia-builds-a-development-system.html

I would not be at all shocked for several of the Union's draft picks to be used on players who were on the Reading team this year. Players came to Reading to get a look and some time with the Union head coaches and it gives the coaches a chance to look at skills, attitude, and potential fit on the next level. If Reading trains like the Union, plays like the Union, and thinks like the Union, its a great way to see if players are going to fit. Harrisburg then becomes the place where draft picks go who don't make the first team and can continue to develop for two years while Philadelphia retains their MLS rights. Brings a higher grade of talent to Harrisburg and provides a cohesive experience for fans who can follow 'The Union' throughout the region.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

and 3 other clubs (Dallas, NY, and somebody else soon to follow) + Vancouver (which is neither MLS yet, nor in U.S., but still...)

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

It's also worth noting that Real Salt Lake (as in Salt Lake City Utah) has located their residential academy program is in effing Casa Grande ARIZONA.
This is not like a Philly to South Jersey sort of distance. Fans of Google Maps will quickly realize that their residency program will be 700 miles away from the senior team. So that's roughly equivilent to the Philadelphia Union tossing some money at a boarding school in Montreal or Savannah, Georgia and claiming that the kids we train there are 'home grown'.

That article also fails to note that New York's residency program will not be for youth development, but rather an assisted living facility where their rapidly aging roster can retire.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

IIRC, MLS teams are prevented from fishing within a 75 mile radius of another MLS team. So, some other team couldnt come set up shop in South Jersey or Northern Delaware but I guess RSL is as close to Arizona as anybody else. I didnt realize you could essentially set up out posts like this. Wonder if that academy gets them another 75 mile exemption or if players in that area are still up for grabs. Also, wonder what happens if a team moves into Arizona since Phoenix is about 53 miles from Casa Grande.

 

Re: Union Youth Development Thread

I believe the rules are that you're allowed to have one academy team in your area and one other academy program in another location to fish the talent in these large united states. But you can't go within a certain perimeter of another team's established area (for example, not knowing Arizona geography, we probably couldn't set up our second academy program in Flagstaff).

 

Wow. That story and this one
http://www.examiner.com/soccer-in-n...eg-vanney-on-breaking-developments-u-s-soccer

really break down and explain the MLS youth development system better than anything else I've read. It looks like things are happening quickly! I thought it'd be years before MLS teams started investing so much $ in youth programs. Thanks for sharing!

I guess that's reason to believe that the Union's current "club-neutral" program will not remain so for long.