Vancouver will have the first residential European-style academy in MLS

Except the Fire have already done that.

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/usso...-player-development-chicago-pushes-south.html

 

Is the Fire's academy actually residential, as in the players live there in dorms?

 

"But the path of bringing them up here and putting them in a boarding school, realistically, you’re not going to be able to do that with players unless you have a built-in program....There are flashes of it here with the academy setting, although no MLS team has been able to do that yet because it’s costly."

Looks like it's in the planning/idea stage right now.

 

So no, the Fire have not done it yet.

My question is, if the Whitecaps develop these players shouldn't they be able to sign them fully. The draft process is absolute shit.

 

And there is the rub. Under the curent MLS rules, the Whitecaps won't be able to sign or sell those kids in their academy system. I guess its possible that between now and 2011 the rules could change, but the way things are now, they won't be able to have a "true Academy system" in MLS.

 

Under MLS Rules you can sign 2 players a season right?

Highly highly unlikely that there would be 2 players a year that would make an MLS roster at age 18 from Development teams.

 

how is the whitecaps academy different from the rest of the mls teams

 

The Whitecap academy players are signed to professional contracts, so cannot play NCAA. The players cannot sign with any other team in the world unlike MLS academy players who can be signed by any team in the world (except another MLS team) with no compensation to the MLS team.

Vancouver has already sold one of these academy players (Adam Straith) to a German team and several others are on loan this winter to German teams and they are playing Division 3 in Germany.

A huge difference to the MLS academy amateur set-up

 

The current draft setup needs to be changed. It's garbage.

 

I really like Vancouver's setup. They can indeed sign 2 players a year from their youth team.....just like DC signed Bill Hamid, and FCD signed Bryan Leyva. So if they feel 1 or 2 of their players are good enough, they can do that. Which under a salary cap, you'd actually want to do. You'd want the end of your bench to be young promising players that you aren't paying a lot.

Of course, they couldn't sign 10 players from their youth team........but you wouldn't do that anyway.

 

I think there are some cons to Vancouver's setup. Losing NCAA eligibility is a big deal for most american kids. I think it will be a tough sell this side of the border. The MLS system has its weaknesses obviously but it is fair to the kids. What are all of these Whitecap kids going to do when they don't make the team? Are their U-17 contracts big enough to put them through school? besides it sint very good for 19 year old players to be sitting out for several seasons while they wait for first team minutes, much better for them to get college experience and come back for the PDL season then to be stuck with only 16 PDL games a year and watching the first team from the bench. Just because they live in dorms doesn't make it a better system.

 

I think that's the biggest issue is NCAA compliance issues. It is a lot to expect them to say no to college on a possibility of getting first team callups or furthering their careers. An ideal world would have the colleges being affiliated, but that will never happen. Perhaps paid scholarships, but the NFL, NBA, MLB will all want the same treatment. Unfortunately, those leagues are all the top in the world at their respective sports. Honestly, an Argentine from humble beginnings would relish the oppurtunity at a LA development oppurtunity, a kid from LA with a college offering him a scholarship to UCLA wouldn't...
It's a difficult situation.

 

But the kids understand that they lose their NCAA eligibility when they sign on with Vancouver. It's part of the deal. Vancouver's academy isn't interested in being a feeder for the NCAA's. This is professionals aiming to develop professionals.

 

That's right. If MLS wants to get to a higher quality of play then they need to start training kids for that level from a younger age. If they can't hack it in the youth academy, then maybe they just aren't cut out for professional soccer. And if they are cut out for pro soccer, but not MLS, then they'll be able to find a lower level where they can cut it and maybe develop into an MLS quality player or maybe not. And if they can't find a lower level, then they can go to college and not play soccer for the school but at a high non-professional level. That's just the reality of it all. Kids in other countries don't have the college option, and that's surely the way they have to approach it.

 

The Canadian university system is much more flexible. For example several of the Whitecap
academy players are attending University this fall and playing for the University soccer team. Still getting a good education without hindering their pro aspirations.

Even MLS developmental players are eligible to play University soccer in Canada.

 

I believe Vancouver has a deal set up with one of the area universities (I want to say Simon Fraser) where kids are set up with paid scholarships if their soccer careers don't pan out.

 

In other news for the Whitecaps Residency...

Residency off to Spain

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency, an elite youth player program, will embark on a trip to Madrid, Spain, from November 1 to November 15. The two-week trip will include five friendly matches against the U-18 teams from some of Spanish and European soccer's top professional clubs.

In the first two games, they tied both [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Atletico Madrid and Getafe U-18 squads 2-2.
[/FONT]

 

Whitecaps Residency defeat Real Madrid U-18 in Spain 2 - 0

They also defeated Torrelodones Club de Fútbol 4-3 earlier in the week. Very nice trip so far.

 

In the final game of their tour Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency earned a 1-1 draw with the U-18 side of Rayo Vallecano de Madrid in the final match of their two-week trip to Spain.

The result ensured Thomas Neindorf's side completed their five-match tour with an undefeated record of two wins and three draws.

 

The thread title may now be incorrect.

The Whitecaps may already be the first club to have a residential academy in the US and Canada, but it seems Toronto FC will be the first of its kind in MLS, with plans to go residential in 2010.

Either way, both are great for soccer development in Canada. Hopefully some of the American teams follow suit soon.

 

where did you hear this? residency and billets are different

 

I heard it from a conversation I had with someone in the know over a year ago, but Paul Beirne actually mentioned it himself in a thread at the RPB board.