Do the academy teams practice in Foxboro, and if so, do they get to use the indoor field there all winter? (though I'mnot sure if it's actually "indoor", as in fully heated and such, or just covered) Just curious how much they would have been playing on a full field before going to this tournament, and thinking back to coaching in the days before plow-able artificial turf fields, when we could take a team to a pre-season tournament in the south in late March after we might have only gotten to practice outdoors once or twice, or perhaps even not at all, and we'd be playing against southern teams that had no such issues. With the snow we've had lately, not to mention the extreme cold, have all the local turf fields that normally get plowed in the winter been getting cleared? I can't imagine what the snow banks would be like in Lancaster right now if they've all been getting plowed, as in a normal year at this time, there's often barely any room on the sides of the fields for the teams or the spectators.
Revs U16s are in second place in their division to start 2015 with quite a young squad. These three aren't the only '99s that have been starting. They've also started some '00s as well.
A few questions about the Rochester teams: Revolution Empire is listed as a Revs affiliate. I'm guessing this means players there can be signed to homegrown contracts just as Academy players can. Why doesn't Revolution Empire news get equal billing with Revolution Academy news on Revs-oriented media, say revolutionsoccer.net? If New England's USL affiliate Rochester Rhinos signs a Revolution or Empire academy player, will the Revs still be able to sign them to homegrown contracts later? Has New England ever made use of the Rhinos to give their homegrown players a chance to develop, the way say LA has been doing with Galaxy II? I haven't paid close attention, but my impression is New England only loans out a few older depth players who don't really have a chance to become Revs starters.
1. Good question. 2. TBD. No player has yet gone the academy/affiliate --> USL contract --> MLS contract yet, not even at LA where they've had a USL team for a season. It's not clear how the HGP rules will work in these scenarios. 3. If the Revs were to sign an academy prospect like Zach Herivaux it would make sense to loan him out. However, they don't have any HGPs who aren't first-team contributors. As for unsigned U18 players, I'm not sure that it's very feasible to ship them out to western NY, or to USL road games, while they are still local amateurs with HS education obligations. Plus, the Rhinos' aim is to win and bringing along raw 17 year olds won't help them much, and they won't see the payoff if the 17 year old develops and quickly moves to the Revs. Testing U18 amateurs is a privilege that will be reserved for teams with local USL reserve franchises, I'm afraid, like LAG, NYRB, SEA, POR, RSL, and the Canadian clubs.
The homegrown path through USL may not have been tested yet. But LA II just signed two LA academy players, and ielag in another post was certain that LA would eventually be able to sign them as homegrowns. (I don't know how he knows that.) I was thinking of the USL option more for the post-high-school players as an alternative to college, which some kids may be open to. But I don't see why high school is completely incompatible with playing pro sports (cough Fagundez cough), especially for kids who are already in Rochester. As for the Rhinos goal of winning, LA II did pretty well in that department last year using major contributions from current and former academy players. In fact, didn't they knock the Rhinos out of the playoffs, with several homegrown players on the field?
I think players going from MLS academy -- > USL reserve team -- > MLS HGP is a pretty safe bet. So Adonis Amaya and Elijah Martin, who just signed with Los Dos, are probably still designated as LAG property under the HGP rule in MLS' web of mechanisms governing the "MLS rights" to players. But that's the simplest case. What's less is clear is how affiliates come into play. First, there seem to be different levels of affiliates. Some clubs that are "affliates" with MLS teams are basically just a branding exercise. In other cases, there seems to be a real flow of players from the affiliate to the MLS club and collaboration and resource-sharing among coaches. Recent Dallas HGPs Alejandro Zendejas and Coy Craft came from El Paso and the Tri-Cities area of NE Tennessee respectively. (Craft is from just across the TN border in SW Virginia). But, they moved to Dallas for a time and played with FCD's youth teams before signing. The question is whether the Revs can sign Revolution Empire players directly or whether they need to transplant to Boston. If they are full affiliates, you'd think they could sign them directly. It would be innovative to work with the Rochester Rhinos to sign Rev Empire players to USL deals, checking with the league to make sure they maintain their HGP eligibility, but honestly that sounds more proactive than what I'd expect from the Revs. So anyway, while I like your idea I'm not sure the Revs are up to it. I just don't get the sense that their relationship with the Rhinos runs very deep. And while the Revs were among the initial quartet of MLS teams to establish a USL affiliate in 2013, that looks deceptively progressive....the cynic might suggest that they did it simply to be able to eliminate the costs of running a reserve team. Certainly, none of their loanees have ever emerged from Rochester to do anything. I think every single one has been cut, actually, although they re-signed Donnie Smith this spring. And lastly, here's another downer: from what I can tell one of the most prominent Revolution Empire players is Nikkye de Point, who has spent time with the US U17 residency program in Bradenton. Here's a recent update from him: 577604861635784704 is not a valid tweet id
Thanks for the response. MLS should really clarify the rules on these affiliates. The Revs do things in a half-assed way in a lot of areas. Even their much-touted academy hasn't produced much of note, really; the Diego case seems more like lucking into an unusual player than really developing anybody. Sometimes they see the light, as with signing a "real" DP out of the blue. I'm hoping other teams will demonstrate enough competitive advantage to youth development that the Revs will be forced to follow. On your last point - I saw people posting about the de Point kid, but wonder how much anybody should read into a single tweet. I mean, I have no idea how good he is, why he's moving if he's indeed moving, or if so why he's still playing for Empire as of March 15.
another Rochester product that coulda/shoulda been snapped up by Rochester/Revs is Jordan Allen, now playing for RSL as a left back/left winger.
And winning games for them. I'm not sure New England created the Rochester affiliation in time for them to get his homegrown rights, but if he had stayed longer they certainly could have. "A native of Rochester, NY, Allen took a circuitous route to become RSL’s sixth Homegrown signing. With limited options to develop his skills close to home, Allen first attended the famed Bradenton, Fla., sports academy. Then his search to find a more intensive soccer environment pointed toward RSL’s Arizona Academy in Casa Grande." That's one hell of an indictment of Revolution Empire's quality.
It seemed like the only time Allen played for Empire after the affiliation was when he was home from RSL(no idea how that worked). Empire has been a pretty average program in the DA, but they're nowhere near the level RSL(not many US academies are).
Rochester (and Syracuse) are big soccer regions, but I think climate probably played a big role. That is prime in the middle of the snow belt (I went to school not too far from there and I saw it snow in June one year!), so the outdoor season is particularly short.
Four called to a camp of 01s and late 00s. Tyler Freitas Amos Shapiro-Thompson Kevin Wang Jonathan Ferreira
U-15/16s Academy Playoffs Group A pic.twitter.com/dG8Iq8vi1f— Development Academy (@ussoccer_da) June 10, 2015 The 17/18s didn't make the playoffs.
15 MLS clubs win end-of-season Development Academy awards from US Soccer July 25, 2015 MLSsoccer staff MLSsoccer.com
Revs announce rosters for 2015-16 Academy teams http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/aca...8/revolution-announce-2015-16-academy-rosters
Calvin Aroh, Daniel Jones, and Justin Rennicks recently participated in a U18 national team camp. Jonathan Ferreira was selected to the most recent U14 camp. According to this, Christian Schifano is now with Philadelphia's academy and Revolution Empire's Nikkye de Point has joined DCU's academy. De Point seemed to be one of the better prospects on the affiliate.