I like the move a lot. Based on what I read, it looks like 11-14 year olds will get access to high level coaching and will be subject to more robust scouting. It sounds like the rapids will enforce a specific style which again is excellent. I think they are making an effort to establish the foundation for home grown players. And I really like that they picked 3 clubs in the area rather than just focusing on one. Should foster some high level competition at the young ages. I hope this leads to a few players going the route of Colin Clark and becoming a real mainstay for the Rapids.
I like it too - things like this are good for the longterm health of the Rapids, MLS and US Soccer in general. I'd like to see more of these types of moves from the Rapids and other MLS clubs.
as long as crookham is still holding a spot in the youth system. save your money and go to disneyland instead. the kids will remeber that much more than a session with brian.
Let's hope these newly formed alliances can help raise the young Rapids game... Looking at the the results from the US Soccer Development Academy, both our DA teams need some help... The U15/U16 C.Rapids squad is currently holding down last place in the Frontier Division... The U17/U18 C.Rapids squad is also in dead last in the Frontier Division Interestingly, the Rush & Real squads for the U17/U18 USDA are two of the better teams in the national table... The talent is (has always been) within the state. The question is, after several years of the DA....will the Rapids be able to tap into this talent pool and lure some of the better players into their program? What are your thoughts? Also, I noticed that Rush is now going by Colorado Rush AS Monaco on the USDA site....Does anyone know if they have an affiliation with AS Monaco?
Bingo! In Colorado there are ONLY 2 clubs: Real Colorado & Colorado Rush AS Monaco, the rest are table scraps. Creating an affiliation with 2 of the also rans currently does not provide a meal. The Rapids only hopes are: 1) a free program bringing players out of the woodwork or changes in their club affiliations, 2) The new coaches can make silk purses out of sows tails (usual thought of as sows ears but in this case?)! Certainly, Brian Crookham had nothing to offer of any value. However, team results are meaningless. US Soccer does not care who are the DA championship teams or which players get college scholarships. They only care if a player can advance through the system to the USMNT. That is the DA mission. The DA is about the individual player and his skills development, tactical understanding, field vision, etc. A magical player may emerge from any of the DA clubs or elsewhere. Moreover, the bushes are being beaten like never before! Yes! AS Monaco has an affiliation with 4 teams in the DA. They are: Chicago Magic AS Monaco, Colorado Rush AS Monaco, Taxas Rush AS Monaco & Virginia Rush AS Monaco.
This isn't rhetorical. What clubs in Colorado have produced eventual MLS starters? Colin Clark - Fort Collins Nat Borchers - Pueblo Soccer Brian Mullan - ? Conor Casey - ?
Brian Mullan - Dynamo page says he played for Aurora Sting ( I believe they are a different club name now ). As far as the Alliance goes, at least players in the northern metro area have an official pipeline into the DA team. Real and Rush are both south metro. Although the Rapids DA should be scouting out other clubs anyway. Think the are? To me the real success will be if this net can catch players who don't have the hyper-committed-drive-3hrs-a-day type parent. Kids with those resources will make be seen, its the kid who plays for the club down the street, but who has potential, that you want to get.
those kids (the one without the overbearing parents) are so far and few in between. you would have to pray that they "live down the street" especially here in the united states. especially here in colorado where almost every boy above the age of 6 would rather be caught with thier pants down in front of the assembly instead of having a football errrrrrrr soccer ball in thier hands. the parents may drive 3 hours but the "boys" get beat up in 9 minutes.
You bring up a good point that is the other side of the coin, but there has to be some talent in those urban schools, right? Few and far between, but none the less if a kid has a passion for it I hope they get noticed. And you allude to another thing... How can school districts "Sexy" up soccer so that more want to play?
I agree with this statement in regards to the "Alliance with youth teams" that was established. Having more clubs affiliated with the Rapids "combing" through the talent in CO is positive, very positive... However, in regards to the Rapids DA....they need to somehow create an atmosphere that attracts the top talent from around the state in their respective age group to play on the DA team. This is specifically important as we look long term and try to develop that special player that can make the jump from the youth squad to the senior team as a "home grown player". If the top players in the state are consistently playing for Rush or Real, the Rapids do not have anymore "rights" to this special player than any other MLS team. In an ideal system....the Rapids DA team would have all the state-wide "D1" level talent on there teams. Maybe a special player comes through the system every few seasons making the jump to the first team. The other "committed" soccer players/parents state-wide should then be playing on the top level club teams (Real & Rush) gaining national exposure and earning a collegiate scholarship to some school (D1-D3 or NAIA).
you will be given a yellow card for noticing that. stop. talent in the urban schools? yes. the poor boys that show such talent are ridiculed and ostracized and will never be allowed to show said talent. these boys would rather go and get cut from the american football and baseball team before they show their true promise to their country and club. that is the true misery of this sport.
this is a good argument. the only downfall is that this country could give two sh!ts about this sport.
I think this alliance is a good start. Now they need to pull in a team from Fort Collins and maybe branch into Wyoming, Nebraska (unless Kansas City beats us there), and Arizona. More kids + better coaching = maybe they'll get some movement into the first team.
Interesting. So Chicago gets to field teams in Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Michigan. Any idea how big Colorado's region is?
The one thing that gets overlooked when talking about the Rapids DA teams, is that they are only a couple years old. Rush and Real have been recruiting the best players for a long time. They have kids in their DA programs who were recruited when they were much younger, and have some loyalty to their clubs. Storm was arguably the 3rd best club in the state prior to the advent of the DA. Many of their top players defected to Real and/or Rush when Storm was left out. However, they are still very competitive in the U12-15 brackets. The club in Boulder has put together some good talent as well. The link with the Rapids will help encourage their best players to stick with their home clubs since they have an opportunity to move up to the Rapids DA squad in a few years. I think this is a win-win for those clubs, their players and the Rapids. I'm betting the Rapids DA squads will make improvements over the coming years because of it. Also, there IS talent in the inner-city schools, it IS being found by the clubs, and many of them play for their schools. Remember, Ballouchy and Casey both played at Denver South. Lots of city kids play for Rush and Real. The issue with getting them on a DA team isn't scouting, its generally economics.
Check your facts. DPS schools have won more state championships in soccer since 1990 (2 - both by East) than they have in football (0 since 1990). I bet the same can be said if you compare soccer to baseball. Going back in my memory banks, East has had fairly competitive teams going back to the mid-80s. Kennedy was top-5 team in the state from the late 80s to mid-90s. South was great in the late 90s. East again in the 00's. Don't sell the city kids short. Plenty of them are playing, and apparently ignoring the peer pressure to play american football and baseball.
Quote: Originally Posted by problem child talent in the urban schools? yes. the poor boys that show such talent are ridiculed and ostracized and will never be allowed to show said talent. these boys would rather go and get cut from the american football and baseball team before they show their true promise to their country and club. that is the true misery of this sport. if you want to read my original post again and pay attention to the bold. then you may get what i was saying (typing) i don't need to check facts 30something. i know them. i never did sell the city kids short. all i said was that the 'kid' would rather be more popular running the hallways as an american football player before being a soccer player. plus. if the 'kid' eventually goes back to playing soccer and winning championships, there is no proof behind the 'kid' not giving into peer pressure. just put me on your ignore list. it is obvious that you don't get it and perhaps there is still some built up animosity to my posts here on this site. so instead of trying to put letters on my keyboard. just call me an f-tard or a retard or just flat out tell me to piss off before you try to challenge my posts.
Great point. And if kids even begin to think there might be a better path to a pro (or even college) career by playing for the Rapids DA team over the other two, it won't take long for the program to rise. But I am not even hoping for that. I could care less about the pro's and con's of Rush, Real, or Rapids. I am just happy to see that MORE kids will be reached as a result of this alliance. You would have to think that if there are thousands of kids getting quality coaching every year it will lead to better competition, tactical skills, and depth for soccer in this nation. I have said it before - when I played soccer as a kid 15 years ago our head coach was a parent who got involved. And we were in what was then referred to as the "Premier Division". Now these kids are being tutored by pro coaches. The evolution is slow and steady!! The future is bright.
Storm is the biggest club in the area without an USSF Developmental academy team and they are trying to minimize attrition of their players at younger levels to the three existing clubs that have academy teams. MLS has mandated that every MLS team have an academy program. It's an expense they must carry. Rapids are trying to tap into a larger talent pool for their academy program without investing millions of dollars (and multiple years) to build levels and levels of youth teams themself. My bet is that Storm is paying for part of the DA coaches salary and the Rapids are paying for a portion. In exchange for paying for a portion of the DA coaches' salaries, Storm gets access to the Rapids players and coaching staff for clincs and the like. They hope to make up the difference by increasing enrollment in the youth programs using their new ties to the Rapids and their DA program. As far as the Rapids' Academy results go, I understand there was a lot of movement of players this year. A number of the best Rapids academy players moved to Real or Rush for different reasons. The location of DSGP is also a detriment to their program- too far to drive for training three days a week.
So here's the big question... Does having a winning youth club, tournaments, etc... translate into producing pros? I know it would seem obvious that it does, but are the US best players coming out of these programs?