Premier Soccer Academies Ending Residency

Discussion in 'Youth & HS Soccer' started by Peretz48, Dec 25, 2008.

  1. Peretz48

    Peretz48 Member+

    Nov 9, 2003
    Los Angeles
  2. sostoked

    sostoked Member

    Jul 7, 2008
    Denver
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To be honest, I couldn't really understand how that was sustainable. Paying for everyone's soccer expenses through sponsorship could maybe work, but adding housing and education? Not unless you are looking to sell the players...
     
  3. truthandlife

    truthandlife Member

    Jul 28, 2003
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    When this thing came to fruition I said this business model made no sense as far as breaking even or making money. Friedel was definitely the "good samaritan" on this one but there is no way you could drain millions of dollars every year without a return. I know Friedel wants to contribute to where he grew up and I give him kudos for that. It doesn't make any sense to put this academy in a very cold place. I know they have an indoor facility but this should have been put in a warmer place.

    I hope Friedel and his business partners figures out ways to at least break even with this.
     
  4. NUSOCCER

    NUSOCCER New Member

    Jan 10, 2008
    Evanston
    Very good point. The cost of the indoor facility was something that could have been avoided had they put the academy in California or Florida.


     
  5. Dalglish

    Dalglish Member

    Sep 26, 2005
    Friedel is to be applauded but he should have partnered with an established school and facility - like SSM or something similar. He can help kids without recreating the wheel.
     
  6. jeremys_dad

    jeremys_dad Member

    NYC Football Club
    Apr 29, 2007
    The Big Easy
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    :cool: Wow .... an entirely new kind of "ism" .... Climateism... where some folks think entitlement to an academy comes down to climate and weather. Might not an academy located in California risk falling into the ocean in the next big quake? Other than George Bush most folks recognize rising ocean levels will occur from the warming on it's way. Know the average elevation of the Sunshine State? It aint much. Which brings to mind altitude training.

    I noticed in last weeks Preston Liverpool event you could see the players breath and all the folks in the stands had winter coats and hats. Does anyone honestly think we are that better served from developing a crop of fair weather athletes....."Mommy...It's to cold to play. I don't like this. Whaaaaa"

    What we need are more halfway decent inside facilities, like http://www.fieldhousevt.com/ All our geographic areas deserve good facilities and the opportunity to develop players who are role models for America's youth. Especially deserving of assistance for sports are any areas that are disadvantaged economically. I bet that part of Ohio qualifies.

    This supporting of sports is about more than soccer. This is about society and improving it. We need to focus on soccer as a way of keeping kids out of jail, developing athlete scholars, and getting Americans into Barclays. There are many other equally important aspects to this game, but geographical entitlement certainly shouldn't be considered one of them.

    ..."Should have been in a warm place" ..... Balderdash. "It's too sunny ... I cant see the ball in this glare..." :cool:
     
  7. NUSOCCER

    NUSOCCER New Member

    Jan 10, 2008
    Evanston
    The cost of indoor training is always a major problem for any program. Fieldhouses are great but at 12-20mil a pop they are expensive. Without that expense they would have had a better chance to continue. The major advantage that California has is that you can train 365 days a year outside.

     
  8. Dalglish

    Dalglish Member

    Sep 26, 2005
    England has a temperate climate. Their winters are far warmer than those in the Midwest. The average high temp during the winter months in London is in the high 40's and average lows at night are above freezing. It doesn't snow very often in London and it rarely sticks to the ground.

    Training in 48 degree December weather in London isn't nearly like a December in Chicago. December in London is about the same as March in Chicago. Kids in our area can't train outside for months because of the winter weather and teams scramble to find any indoor space.

    If you were to build a US soccer Academy it would only make sense to pick a warmer climate that wouldn't require a multi million dollar indoor facility. It would cost far less to operate and stay afloat.

    That said, the demise of PSA might be an opportunity for schools like SSM who already have a huge indoor soccer facility. Maybe Brad should have partnered with someone like SSM in the first place or have chosen a warmer location that didn't require maintaining an indoor facility.
     
  9. Virginian

    Virginian Member

    Sep 23, 1999
    Denver, Co
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Unless it is raining. Or there are wildfires. Or the air quality sucks. Or you can't get there due to traffic.

    It a whole lot less expensive to build iand operate in Ohio than it is in California, too.
     
  10. NUSOCCER

    NUSOCCER New Member

    Jan 10, 2008
    Evanston
    I would disagree. Club fees in California are considerably less then Ohio for similar programs. Once you take the cost of indoor training out it really brings the fees down. Rain is something they could use in California.
     
  11. Lensois

    Lensois Member

    May 19, 2004
    Indeed. It's 30 degrees today in London and a friend of mine claims the temperature is inhuman. Of course, I point out to him the regularity of such temperatures in many parts of the US and he can't fathom dealing with such temps on a regular basis.

    In any case, a proper professional development set up would likely include an indoor facility in the overwhelming majority of geographic locales. There are certainly a handful that would not require such a facility but most places would because of some type of extreme weather.

    In the end, it wasn't the facility that brought the residency program to an end, it was the business modeled that was naive in its concept.
     
  12. Dalglish

    Dalglish Member

    Sep 26, 2005
    Lensois - surely you don't think the winter weather in the Midwest is anything like that in London. A youth soccer academy in London can train outside virtually year round while an academy team in the Midwest is forced to move into an expensive indoor facility for several months over the winter.

    If it was 30 today in London then is was far colder than normal. The BBC says that the temp reached 50 degrees F in London today and 50 yesterday as well. My cousin told me today that it was 53 today where she lives just north of London. The weather forecast in London calls for a high of 53 and a low of 48 tomorrow.

    There is more than a foot on snow on the ground in Chicago with more snow expected this week. The high temp in Chcago over the next week is expected to be 30. The rest of the Midwest os much the same.

    The point made earlier is valid. Maybe the PSA model was ultimately doomed to fail, however, if you build a soccer academy in a warmer climate (and do not have to spend $10 million on an indoor facility) then you would stand a much better chance of keeping your nose above water.

    Sure there are a few days here and there when you can't train in London because it is too cold. In the Midwest there are months on end where you can't train outside because of the weather.
     
  13. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    All true, although also true that if PSA actually had a plan, nobody ever saw it.
     
  14. Lensois

    Lensois Member

    May 19, 2004
    Surely you misread what I wrote.

    Indeed, 30 is much colder than normal, thus my friend's claim of such cold temperatures being inhuman.

    Having lived in the Midwest my entire life and driving from a couple of hours east of Chicago to St. Louis on Wednesday I'm pretty familiar with winters here.

    My original point was merely to back up the fact that English winters were generally milder than US Midwest winters.

    So all of those indoor facilities I've visited at professional clubs in Europe are figments of my imagination? Surely not. Why are they so prevalent? Because they are seen as a necessity to properly run a premier youth development academy. Focusing on the the necessity of the indoor facility at PSA completely misses the point. Indoor building or not, the business model lacked substance and sustainability.
     
  15. Dalglish

    Dalglish Member

    Sep 26, 2005
    Apples (professional Euro Clubs) let me intoduce you to oranges (PDA in Ohio).

    An indoor facility for a youth team in London is nice to have but with winter temps of 50 degrees it is not a requirement. An indoor facility for PDA in Ohio is a must have.

    No debating that the public never saw a long term business plan for PDA.

    No debating that a US youth academy start up in a warm weather state (rather than Ohio) would not have needed to waste money building an indoor facility.

    I guess that is all I have to say on the matter.

    Slainte
     

Share This Page