There has been a lot of marketing on behalf of Roland Hahn and Larry Sunderland such as ..... Quote from the Chicago Fire website....Chicagoland's premier youth soccer club offering recreational to elite play for boys and girls. Quote from the CFJr's site....creating a true player development "pyramid" from the beginning recreational player to the professional level. Heaven knows that Sunderland and especially Hahn need this marketing as they couldn't coach or outwork their Fire U23 team past the Fire PDL premier team. And as far as youh goes, I have not seen an elite player in their ranks. Here's the questions... Can they develop youth players to reach the next level? Can they attract top talent?
As people have heard me say, one arm bleeds Magic blue and the other Fire red. Marketing is part of the world, now and in biblical times. I believe the best thing is to have choices in life. For my kids it playing with the Magic, for watchinng a pro team in the US its the Fire.
Just as I expected. No comments. Listen for the unspoken word as that will give you direction of the program.
Thought Forever Red would have responded to this thread...... Look there's good and bad in all clubs,same goes for Fire Jnrs, We were there a few years ago had a good coach and saw some bad ones too.To be fair the bad coaches that I saw are now gone. The field quality in Wheaton was pretty bad,little kids playing in grass that was over their ankles,that was infuriating.The training facility at Seven gables never had nets and the fields were badly rutted there.Don't know if thing have improved in that regard or not. An elite club yet? Probably not but the Fire Jnr's Wheaton branch is improving slowly and steadily. If a true Fire Academy starts up I hope they headquarter it in a more central location and have absolutely ZERO parent involvment at any level.
Yes and yes, but only if their current system is changed into a true 'Academy' system. Supposedly the Fire will have a true 'Academy' U15 and U18 team next year. The rest of the Fire youth teams will remain 2nd tier. Granted, some of those teams (U13boys) have improved over the past couple of years.
A fully funded (no cost to the player) all year round program that attracts the top 1-2% of talent. A program that is run out of Toyota Park A program that allows the players to have access to all the trappings of a pro-team. -Fitness trainers -Best soccer facilities in the mid-west (training pitches, weight room, hydro therapy room) -Masseuse -Coaching staff (ALL A licensed) -Nutritionist and Doctor to travel with team -NCAA eligibility not affected And so much more.
If that means, where the training occurs, a direct attack on Magic and the western suburb teams. Not sure how many players from the northern half of Chicago area will make that trek, though. It would be a multiple-hour round trip at rush hour.
I think a true Academy is a wonderful step Forever Red....but what are the implications for the Fire Jnrs with the creation of the new academy? It sounds as though the Academy level will be a separate and distinct entity and as a result wouldn't it place the Fire Jnrs a step lower in the Fire Jnr's advertised pyramid from youth to pro?
CFJ will continue to provide a developmental structure for the majority of players in the West Suburbs and will only continue to get better at what it does and who it reaches (see developments in next 6 months), and will compete with all the other local progarms. CFJ has and is improving it's staff and it is also embarking on developing facilities and programs. Rome was not built in a day and 5-10 yrs down the line is when people should be making final statements about the CFJ. The program is about development which takes time to come through and once it is there success should follow. More and more of the teams are based with players from outside Wheaton and this is showing at the younger age levels The new FIRE program is for the elite player and won't compete aginst any program in Illinois as they can't offer what this one will. CFJ outside of illinois will develop seprately under MLS's new guidelines.
For the foreseeable future, it most certainly will. If you think that the 4 Regional ODP players on my son's U14 team (in theory, 4 of the top 18 players in the entire Midwest at their age group, thus the Fire's dream material) will just head on over to Fire Academy's new U15 squad next year, you'd better rethink that matter. Given where those players live, their strong relationship with their current club, the resources that the current club can offer, and other factors, I'd be quite surprised if the Fire got any of them. Indeed, I would be surprised if the Fire attracted more than 1 of the dozen or so players in Illinois at that age group who were invited to the Regional Pool. Not unless there's something I don't know about the Fire Academy offer, for example that it is being made with the cooperation and support of the leading existing youth clubs.
I think there's a couple things the Fire Academy could do to succeed: Try and create a new pool of players who currently aren't being developed. The kids in the city (regardless of race) have a tough go of it because the older and older the kids get, the further and further the gap grows in training between the suburban clubs and what's available city wide. 14 year old city kids can't compete (for the most part) with 14 year old suburban kids, but I think 8 year old city kids can compete with their age counterparts. I remember from a few years ago I counted up the number of youth and senior pool players from the Chicago area and 1 out of 34 were actually from the city (Johanes Maliza). There's an opportunity for success if the Fire could provide this group of kids with the training the suburban kids get. Of course they immediately start three steps behind on that score by being located in Bridgeview away from an El stop. And considering a large portion of the city kids will be Hispanic and be somewhat wary of leaving their Hispanic leagues (despite the instruction level there being notoriously uneven), there are other obstacles to overcome. But to me it seems like the most obvious area in which to make early inroads since the city is pretty grossly underserved by the big suburban clubs (both for economic and geographic reasons). After that the Fire have to concentrate on the makeup of the coaching staff. "'A' licensed coaches" only means so much since this country is filled with "'A' licensed coaches" who are inferior to what you can get overseas. I think it's important, as time passes, to stock the training staff with former (current?) high level professional players. "Former star striker for Triton Community College" is a resume line that frankly doesn't help much when it comes to the ultimate ambitions the club has.
Voros - Forever Red briefly posted details about the Fire Academy program, then retracted his post. Probably not supposed to spill the beans. I will respect that. I will say, if his description is accurate, the Fire Academy will be an ambitious and serious effort, worthy of national attention.
I saw the one on the previous page and that certainly sounds better, but I'm still wondering, as you seem to be, where the players will come from.
Isn't the key question whether they are going to have a residency program? If so, then you are looking at a Bradenton kind of situation that is local and free and that does offer something unique, even to the suburban kids who have good clubs available today. Not sure they have the budget or facilities for that, but I think that is what will be required to make the MLS club system succeed in a way that does much more than the existing elite clubs. If no residency, then the ambition should be to create a city club that tries to replicate the quality of soccers/magic.
Good ambition, but I don't see the Magic and Sockers just rolling over. I think the Magic will again be named the number one boys club in the nation for the third year in a row. So the CFJ will have a long way to go as I have seen these two clubs go to war in Chicago and they came up winners and will probably come up on top again.
And here are my points...... -The Magic and Sockers do have a full year program that attracts top talent. And if it comes to it, I can see them also funding it for whatever ages the CFJs come up with. -Toyota Park, oh boy. Let's get the sod fixed there first. -Great carrot? When the VAST majority of players go to College not the Pro's. -Fitness Trainers yup that's what is missing is fitness. -Yea, I saw the best facilities during the high school playoffs. My back yard was better. But then again, my hot tub is nothing compared to the hydro therapy room, so you win on this one. -Massage yea that will get kids to go. -Coaching staff of A licenses, isn't that Hahn and Sunderland? And they did a great job to date didn't they. I know give them another 5 years. -Yes a doctor and nutrionist to go with the team to where? -NCAA not affected. Well at least we got the road to pro out of the way with that remark. -and so much more...........meet the player events, backstage tours, popcorn, ball boys.....oh just so much more.
Strikes me that the Fire program should be for the kids who are thinking pro first, college secondarily or not at all. The Fire program can be 6 days per week ... homework is not the issue. It's for the kids who are soccer, soccer, soccer. Then the existing youth clubs can be for the kids who wish for more of a balance. Soccer and school. More like 4 days per week (3 practice, 1 weekend game). It's not as if every future pro would go the Fire route. Jonathan Spector was accepted at Princeton. Some of the talented players will opt for the traditional club route. That's good. Choice is good.
Without the facetiousness, Lad's point is correct. As an informed parent (which most parents are with kids at the top club level in the ages they will be recruiting), I have three questions: 1) Who's coaching? - unless they bring a whole cadre of geniuses over from somewhere, it doesn't get better than what he already has. 2) Who are they playing? - ??? Who is there to play, other than the current youth clubs??? Overseas and invitational friendlies would push me over the top as long as I know the answer to... 3) Who pays? - Fees are the easy part. It's the other stuff that is tricky. Travel. Lodging. Meals. A whole lot of travel must weigh in if you are going to be playing the right games. A lot more than clubs are doing now. Who pays?