N For boys top end of NISL always at Olympic Park or was prior to COVID. I think same for non academy girls too but not 100%. The bottom line is youth sports is a journey with loads of ups and downs and all sorts of X factors. One day you could be loving where you are...the next day not so much. This could be coaching, child’s teammates - the list is long. But when it comes to a true development philosophy that list is extremely short. But the fact that you’re educating yourself is great and I’d recommend “educating” yourself from the opinions of this board and just learn more about the game and how it is played at the highest levels. If you demand a lot from your kid then make sure you demand a lot from yourself in this context. For after all when you go looking at other clubs you’ll notice it right away. No one will need to tell you anything. You won’t need a year to wait and see if it’s a good place. You won’t have to depend on the win/loss column as so many do when picking a club. ultimately if I can give you one thought to really mull over it is to educate yourself on the game and let your child lead the way while you guide him/her. And even if you played in college and even if you watch the premier league religiously there is so much to learn and experience that can just make you more effective when making the (sometimes) agonizing decisions of which club should I go to....
I keep seeing Sockers kids on the National team and getting drafted in the MLS. I wonder why. But great list though...if I had a dollar for every time those lists were WAY off on players and clubs I’d be able to pay club fees for many on this board. Bottom line is Fire is a joke for a MLS academy in a market like Chicago. Ask any of the guys on USMNT Twitter. They’ll tell you the same... let’s hope they turn it around...would be good for you everyone
please tell that to Sockers ‘06 - a team that lost one of their best players to Fire (for this season anyway - so many come back to Sockers) and from what I hear is soundly better than Fire ‘06.
Not to throw gas on the fire (see what I did there lol) but how many "homegrown" players have really made it at Fire? That'd be the best indication of how good the academy is. I could be wrong but one of the two who were actually playing was traded away and the one that stayed played 4 years of college ball.
Is there a turning tide or is this just typical run off from Sockers - when you have a large (boys) pool of good players, you tend to end up with multiple solid players who play the same position - so one is off to Fire or FCU. I know many parents of boys who did this.
At some point Fire should build a true academy that draws from across the nation and they are housed (u16/17/18) at the facility. The best academies are doing this and the ridiculous homegrown rights (ridiculous not the word -absolutely positively offensive) are rumored to be going away. Once that happens and Fire continues its dismal development record all the best talent won’t go to Fire or Sockees they’ll go to Philly’s academy or FC Dallas, etc... Fire will turn it around eventually and the guy heading the academy now is apparently good and the new owner seems to get it (the optics anyway). if anything it sounds like Sockers and Fire are working together with MLS next which is great for the sport in the area and for both clubs. There’s more than enough talent in this market for those two... Again that’s why it’s so embarrassing for a free MLS club to so underperform.
I heard this week that there will be no ECNL Spring season. Anyone else hear the same? I understand that tourneys are still on but the season - as far as games (I guess) is not going to happen. Not sure if this is local (Eclipse) or Regional or what - but word is, it came out from the Eclipse camp.
Confirmed from 2 parents Conflrimed that this is only for IWSL - not ECNL. So no Eclipse teams in IWSL. Apparently they will only do 2-3 tourneys.
That makes much more sense, as there were ECNL games in the fall when conditions were much worse. I expect a lot of soccer to be played with tournaments popping up everywhere. The one question I have is whether IL (and individual clubs) will require masks to be worn outdoors, especially in games. Our situation is much better than it was in the fall when scrimmages and out of state matches didn't require masks but I can see clubs not wanting to shake the boat at this time. I know my kids are looking forward to playing without one after a winter orf 100% mask wearing..
Ryan How does Sockers live up to the "true development philosophy" you mention? My development thread never got traction, interesting here as we are in a fire vs. Sockers discussion. My bottom line assessing clubs, with only having been part of three programs, u15 to u18 is CRITICAL, and these players (mine is a boy) need one on one attention from coaches...or an external resource(ex player or coach) to really maximize their potential, and all we're getting is cookie cutter treatment and generic preparation for college recruitment with my address and email being sold!
Hold on. Let me see if I understand: 1. your development thread? Didn’t see it but have been inactive for awhile 2. Any elite club in pay to play has to exist as it does now to keep costs down. Man City academy would cost 15k/yr for just the soccer piece alone at least! 3. the best individual skills development model hands down is a wall and ones kid with a ball. 100% free. 100% the best. 4. Sockers by and large ,imo and experience, has a philosophy of developing the kids in a system that is based on world class benchmarks and methodologies. They don’t focus on wins and are not remotely obsessed with finding / keeping the best players. They follow their model and know if they do that well great players will come from it as will results. I firmly believe they believe this and it’s difficult to argue with their results. FIRE should decimate sockers in every game and every age group because they are a pro club with a 100% FREE academy. But they don’t. In fact it wasn’t that long ago that Sockers 2nd teams could beat up on Fire’s first teams. That has changed obviously but notable nonetheless. 5. An example of this is there are academy teams that could have more part time players on the roster which cynically would mean there’s more money for the club (a bit more expensive bc more practices etc). But they don’t do that. There are cases that I know of where a kid is on the bubble and they could easily bring him up but don’t because they believe (right or wrong) that wouldn’t be best for the kid. 6. For those of you rolling your eyes find people who know TK or BH (just to name two) and see if they think those two believe deeply in educating their kids in a world class style of play above everything else. 7. Selling email addresses? No evidence of that on my end nor never heard someone complain about that...sounds like a stretch. Too small a data set to be worth it and a huge loss of reputation of ever they were caught doing it. But who knows... 8. I’ve follows you for awhile and it constantly sounds like your son isn’t getting enough - in however you define that. One thing I can tell you about elite players I’ve been around and know personally where there is a will there is a way. And there’s always a ball and a wall somewhere not to mention making calls to rent unused racquetball courts to playing in men’s leagues and on and on. It’s mind blowing what these kids find who simply cannot get enough soccer in their lives...
So there’s no confusion re: # 4 this IS NOT to say sockers doesn’t recruit. They’re constantly on the look out and have very good relationships with many clubs that they throw out from time to time )hey we’re in need of a keeper - know if anyone?). what I’m saying is that they can have the best talent in the world and if that kid is a clown they’ll be happy to see them go. They don’t care imo and experience because they are deeply commited to a process that yields results.
Dude they don't care because they don't want to babysit and more importantly - they have so many good boys that they could lose a handfull and it would have zero impact. They don't have to care essentially.
Those two could work wherever they wanted in the country. it’s not about the quality of the individual players. That’s my point. It’s the system. The process.
you might see Sockers kids at Fire tryouts but are they the starters from the DA team or most likely 2nd team or DA bench & trying to latch onto another Academy team. And like someone else said it’s FREE you are correct Fire develop only select certain players the rest are just filler . Ask the 10 Fire kids from the 2005 team that got cut last fall because there was no room for them on the combined 2004/2005 team.
I am not familiar with the roster makeup of any of these teams at all but I know a SFC kid from a neighboring town was in the national team and then the next year he went to the Fire. I doubt he was a bench player.
A lot of kids get released by Fire since they do not have u16 and u18 teams. Roughly half of u15 and u18 kids will be on their way out every season. I've seen many of them being cut at u15 as well which I do not agree with. A lot of kids are going thru growing process which affects their mobility. Well, Fire, by nature, is focused on making players, not teams. Sockers, on the other hand, develop teams so they can charge happy parents big $$$ to be part of that organization. How successful is Fire at making great players? Not so good in the past. It looks to me that is better lately, I know some of those kids that have signed homegrown contracts and there are some good prospects. Would you let your kid sign 320,000 for 4 years contract? I know that by signing this they can not get college scholarship but, I wonder, is that including academic scholarships as well? I also have to say that Fire, in my opinion, has the best goalie program, Damian signed by Fulham, Gaga as a homegrown player at age of 14 and, my favorite, Brady also as a homegrown player. At 07 group we have two fantastic goalies, I hope they will go far.
I don't have a dog in this fight but in my limited knowledge and experience being a homegrown player at Fire isn't really a great thing. They don't seem to care about youth. Really only homegrown left at the moment with any first team significance is Pineda and he left Fire to play college ball for 4 years. The rest have either been traded or disappear. If you were a homegrown at FCD or Philly that's different.
you are correct Fire have excellent goalies, the 2006 starter & 2007 starter are really good. Rumor has it that a local 2004 or 2005 goalie moved to Philly Union Academy because Fire already had excellent keepers & he wanted to be in MLS Academy
Heard second hand that one of the clubs my kid tried out at is no longer hosting a team this spring and they're encouraged to play high school soccer. Problem is my kid is in 8th grade. It's amazing how complicated youth soccer can be. Maybe we'll try tennis? Ha.
Is it confirmed that all soccer played within IL will now require a mask to be worn by players? I thought we were going to what we had in the summer/fall with masks on the sideline but not while players were on the field, guess not.