Rapids Home Grown/ Youth updates

Isn't that Bravo's baby? I can see Pareja making suggestions, and helping with some coaching and evaluation.

 

Forgive me in advance if this has been covered somewhere else but whats up with Cabrera? I was just wondering if he's been named officially and if he was will the setup be similar to the FC Dallas setup, with Pareja coaching the first team and Cabrera coaching the reserves and running the academy. Anyone know?

 

Good question, I don't think anything has been announced.

Switching gears a little, what's the idea behind MLS academies? They have a little bit of an "underpants gnome" feel to me. But then I don't really know any more about youth soccer club culture than I do about the stolen underpants market.

Now that the rules are in place, I can see why clubs would want to exploit the opportunity, esp. if they're in an area that produces a lot of youth talent--you're competing against the other MLS clubs to register/get claims in on area kids.

However, I don't quite see the ROI for the league overall. The MLS clubs are paying for their academies, and not Adidas, right? Aren't they basically going to poach players from other area youth clubs, and who's to say the MLS academies' coaching will be any better?

 

The ROI is in reduced costs to get players (don't need to scout the draft as much if you're getting youth players from your academy, etc.) and selling those players on. I'm not sure its enough to balance the cost but then I don't know much about the finances at that level.

 

Bravo would be a moron to not use Pareja's experience in Dallas to improve our academy. I bet Oscar's influence will be much larger than "suggestions".

 

South American press is saying Cabrera will join the Rapids in February. Cabrera is still coaching the Nats U17 team through the end of January, and is taking them on an international trip to Europe somewhere (Turkey).

 

Background: the Development Academy structure was set up by the USSF. The main goal was to better develop the best talent in the US. What you had in the traditional set up was 2-3 teams in each state dominating the others. So the best teams only played 1-2 really tough games/year, with the exception of tournaments, regionals and nationals.

Also, the USSF believed that teams were playing too many games and not having enough training sessions.

So, the Development Academy was created. There are something like 60+ teams across the country. Essentially the best club teams in the nation. They do not play games outside of the Academy, and only play a few games each month. This results in a higher level of competition in each game, and more training sessions.

Every US-Based MLS team is represented in the Academy structure (plus Vancouver). The value these teams bring to players is the opportunity to move up to the 1st team and play professionally in the MLS.

You're right, the academy teams are recruiting players from non-academy clubs. However, the best clubs have great coaching (they're good clubs for a reason). In addition, the teams receive support from the USSF on coaching techniques. Additionally, the opportunity to play against top competition will make these kids even better. The creme de la creme, if you will.

I think the ultimate structure will be a 100% residential academy structure (at least for MLS clubs), so MLS teams can recruit players beyond a 50-75 mile radius. Essentially, consolidating the very best talent with even fewer teams. There are only a couple MLS teams that have a residential academy, but I'm betting we'll see more developed over the next 10 years.

 

Well, I didn't only write "suggestions" and I didn't put it in scare quotes to minimize it's importance. Presumably Pareja's primary responsibility will be coaching the senior team and that will take some time, and presumably since the academy has been one of Bravo's primary responsibilities, he'll continue to take the lead there. (The post I responded to was asking whether Pareja will be "talking about his plans.")

Pareja can still contribute plenty w/Bravo remaining in charge on a day to day basis. (Unless, as you note, Bravo is a moron.)

 

Thanks for the answers, everyone.

I used it because MLS clubs are businesses. I understand why individual clubs have an incentive to form academies given the home grown signing rules--if there's a way to bypass the draft, you do it lest you reach the day when other clubs have their best local talent locked up but the top Colorado talent is entering MLS via the draft.

I just wasn't sure how this helps MLS as a whole given the amount of investment required. I'm sure the idea is that the combo of improved reach (making high end coaching available to a wider pool of players), better/more comprehensive coaching/development will produce *more* star players...if the numbers of US pro players produced doesn't take a marked uptick as a result, you're not getting your money's worth.

I suppose it's very forward-looking, which is why it seemed at least somewhat ???profit-ish to me. But then, I guess in a way the entire league is very forward-looking, in that pro soccer leagues had such a high failure rate.

What clubs along the front range would be seen as competing w/ the Rapids academy for players? Clubs like Real Colorado, I assume.

 

The Rapids Academy needs to focus very narrowly on running the organization well, and providing good coaching. In time they'll supplant the entrenched clubs, but if they get in too big a hurry they're gonna make the kind of mistakes that'll drive families back to the clubs.

 

The whole world thinks nothing of placing 16 year olds in career tracks. This is a huge cultural hurdle for the US.

 

If you're referring to the post of mine you quoted, we're talking past each other. I have no idea what in my post implies Pareja will have no input, BUT I AM NOT TRYING TO SAY THAT.

 

Ugh, Trecker.

 

I think I know what he's getting at but that quote is all over the place, and perhaps that highlights the challenge with youth soccer. He contrasts soccer with classical music, but then it turns out he's not really talking about "practice" in the context of learning an instrument (which is probably good as few things seem more tedius than training children for classical music recitals). Instead, he's hinting at something that is neither "practice" as we tend to think of it, nor formal games.

I wonder what age is he thinking of when he says "young children."