Quoting a previous post... U13 CFJ State Cup Final U15 CFJ N State Cup Runner Up U16 CFJ beat CFJ North in final CFJ U17 lost on PKs in State Cup final first ever loss for this team in State Cup U12, U13, U14.U15, U16 Champs CFJ U18 State Champs CFJ U19 State Champs It's all about developing players my friend... Despite everyone generally thinking soccer is great in Texas, for the size of population the have (MM) they produce precious few players who have made it to the national level. And you can win all you want but Illinois hasn't put as many players on the national rosters as SIGNIFICANTLY SMALER states such as VA; MD; MA. While New York and Michigan's numbers are skewed by the U14s, but other than that, the state distributions among age groups are pretty even. Plenty of sarcasm on this thread about it being "all about development." But when you have three prominent teams who consistently rank among the best boys teams in the USA top 20 (by Soccer America) one might guess a more heavily loaded national team presence. As stated earlier, IMHO, they are improving and trying to move in a good direction, which is good for all the boys and young men in their program. But improve we must as a state. Figures taken 6-18-2010 from http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/Youth.aspx Code: ST U14 U15 U17 U18 U20 TOT MM PER MD 7 1 1 1 3 13 5.7 2.28 CA 16 8 11 20 16 71 37.0 1.92 SC 4 2 1 1 0 8 4.6 1.74 VA 7 1 0 3 2 13 7.9 1.65 NJ 4 1 3 3 3 14 8.7 1.61 OR 6 0 0 0 0 6 3.8 1.58 MA 4 1 0 6 1 12 7.9 1.52 MI 11 1 2 1 0 15 10.0 1.50 ID 1 0 0 1 0 2 1.5 1.33 FL 7 1 4 7 4 23 18.5 1.24 CO 1 0 0 3 2 6 5.0 1.20 NV 0 2 1 0 0 3 2.6 1.15 GA 4 1 1 2 3 11 9.8 1.12 NY 10 3 0 6 2 21 19.5 1.08 WA 4 1 0 0 2 7 6.7 1.04 OH 2 1 2 3 4 12 11.5 1.04 RI 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.1 0.91 PA 2 1 2 3 3 11 12.6 0.87 [B][U]IL 5 2 1 2 1 11 12.9 0.85[/U][/B] TX 4 4 4 3 6 21 24.8 0.85 NC 5 0 0 1 1 7 9.4 0.74 WI 3 1 0 0 0 4 5.7 0.70 MS 0 0 2 0 0 2 3.0 0.67 IN 1 1 0 0 2 4 6.4 0.63
Dutch, that is very interesting statistic indeed. However, I have to question the selection criteria for each of these age groups. Are the IL players really technically/tactically behind the players from other states, such as CA, FL, TX,etc? You know very well that in our state players have the benefit of playing/practicing indoors which should help develop technique (mainly the touch on the ball) and tactical awareness in small spaces. I'll be interested to know who selects these players, what is the background of these selectors and what is their criteria? I'll bet each of these selectors/coaches have their own personal preferences/criteria that might benefit certain type of players while hurting the chances of others. But the info provided by you is greatly appreciated.
I saw the u15 eclipse team play 2 mrl games and state and it would be a shame for them not to stay together. Several have been together a long time and it's starting to show. They are playing very well together. Don't know, don't care the details of the turmoil at the eclipse, but did hear that RD will be coaching the team next year and he'll take them far.
What do you mean by "he'll take them far"? How far? RD is making promises he can't keep just to prevent the mass exodus I guess.
Just a little nit on your Magic 16 Academy team from last year. This team took a great striker from Ohio and combined with a core 92 team from the Magic and created what was one goal way from a National Championship. Two or three of the players from the Wind were major contributors to this team, but the core was a 92 Magic group that was put together by John Hannan and was the equal to any single age group that the Magic ever had. The great contribution to this team was Sole from the Wind, who knew exactly how to keep this team moving in the right direction. My son was part of this team, and loved every moment of the time he spent with this group.
If you don't know the answer, then you don't need to know. Stop trying to cause trouble with the kids and stick to your shoe talk.
If your question was innocent then yes it would be aggressive, but it wasn't. All the bantering back and forth and slamming other clubs is getting old. Learned today that FC United 14 boys are going to regionals. I watched them play Sockers in State, a good team. Good luck to them.
Why would you assume it wasn't? That was my first post in this section of the forum therefore I haven't been "slamming other clubs" or even bantering for that matter. I was just curious because my team played them, and, frankly, we were way out of our league. They seemed pretty cohesive at the time.
RD has his hands full with the girls teams. The 13s, 14s, 15s and 16s didn't even make the finals of State Cup this year! They lost the Libertyville fields and are moving temporary to Grayslake I hear. He's also busy with id2, unless he gives that up. How much can one coach take on? I don't think they can upgrade the team with more better players either. The DA is attractive alternative to some of these players also. Does that explain it for you?
not at all! da is not ac only another club. you live in a small world if you think that there is no up grade!
You must be living on the moon then if you think any players from Fire, Sockers, Magic or Lemont are going to Eclipse.
where do you think magic lemont get these players from! The surburb! You live on the moon! Dont need any players from the clubs you mention! I was right bout you small mind don't know anything about inner city do you? Do you know anything about hispano or clasa? Guess not. Eclipse will be alright, you keep thinking your small world is the thing!
HALF OF ALL PLAYERS YOU TALKED ABOUT COME FROM HISPANO AND CLASA! CLUBS GRAB THEM FROM THERE OPEN YOUR EYES
Isn't your world big enough to edit your own post, so you wouldn't have to reply to yourself? I'm fully aware where the good players get recruited from by all these teams. The question is what does Eclipse have to offer to them that it's better than the rest of the clubs/DAs? Can you with the wide open eyes living in the big world explain that?!
the same all clubs do! these kids are 14 untill they are 16 no club is different. i reply to my post because i left something out that i want to get a cross! you brought up the clubs not me, so it tells me you have no clue about whats out there! so if you aware don't comment on fire sockers magic lemont kids going to eclipse!!!!!! ACADEMY IS ACADEMY AND ANYTHING ELSE IS BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess your wide open eyes can't see that you can edit posts and add whatever you want to get across. Academy is academy and anything else is BS?! You do know that Eclipse is not part of the academies, right? Therefore, based on your own statement they (Eclipse) are also BS. Wait, are you Eclipse fanboy or academies fanboy? Hard to tell when someone is writing confused like you.
OK, OK, let's try a bit of a settled discussion here... Do you think that by age 14 there are really CLASA, Hispano, or Windy City league players that haven't been identified? There are people scouting those leagues all the time. There isn't a single top level player in any of those leagues that isn't already known, you can be assured of that. If a kid moves into the city, yeah, maybe if he is a money player he won't get noticed for a few months, but then ID time, believe me. There are no secrets and no players running about who are new finds. All three leagues are great too, sometimes the matches are close, sometimes they are blow-outs; but there is a lot of playing and passion. Will some kid who was playing for xyz suburban club develop strong over the summer, to be sure, but by this time and this age, those kids are all known too. Eclipse can stay together through U18 if there is enough glue. And with quality training and quality players, that will be a good recipe. But on any team, in any city in the USA, when one quality player peels off, others follow. NOT THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN, but if/when, anywhere any club, there is a domino effect. In the meantime, three cheers for good futbol eh?
CFJ got 3 titles last spring U15, U16 and U19 so reading is a skill my friend and they got 3 titles this spring U16 U18 and U19 so they did match what they did last year but bettered it as they had a girls team win state cup so 4 titles from Illinois in 2010. Development Development Development dont we need to develop winners in this country? is learning how to win and mangae a game not development. Ask Bob Bradley this question? Ask our youth National teams this questions when they visit South America and Europe pleaswe tell me what defines a succesful development program? Dutch you keep posting US Youth team findings on where players come from? Are we relying on US Soccer to develop? If so we are in trouble? The pro game around the world drives development that is why every major country in the world has 17, 18, 19 20 yr old players playing at top teams ours are at college? We are so far behind it is scary so please dont quote US Soccer stats.
Youth players need to develop the right attributes first before developing into winners. Winners don't just come with physical and mental attributes, you know. No one is saying winning is bad. It shouldn't be the priority in youth though, it should be a result of correct development. Nor should coaches be judged on their work by how much their teams win.
Until the system in this country can reward club teams with transfer fees for a YOUTH (i.e. APPROX. sub 18 yrs old) player whose contract can be sold, little will change, IMHO.