I was talking with someone about it and he thinks MLS academies hold themselves back by not offering more avenues for kids who come from poorer backgrounds to get into their academies. 1. Is this true? I have no data on the subject. 2. How can this be remedied?
Each club is different. It must be said that there are few residential academies in the country. Therefore the act of simply being able to drive or travel the distance in order to get to training at an MLS academy is difficult for some lower income kids. Some clubs do something about it. Others don't. Most MLS academies provide financial assistance (if required) for their lower income high-level prospects. I'd note that I recently heard an interesting interview about the German national team. These days a large percentage of the German national team is made up of players who grew up in upper middle class families. In fact, the research indicated that many of these guys would have been accepted at elite universities if they hadn't been footballers. They're very intelligent, which the author suggested is required to a large degree in their system.
As far as I know, every MLS academy with the exception of DC United (who I believe charge $1K a year) is free.
DC United: The U-14s pay $2,500 and the U-16 and U-18s pay $1,500. Real Salt Lake is $59,500 for their residential academy
Apparently a lot of people. The RSL academy recently had Brooks Lennon move to Liverpool and Josh Doughty move to Manchester United. They've also recently had US youth internationals sign homegrown contracts (Justen Glad for instance) and two kids recently called up by Mexico youth teams (Suacedo and Herrera). RSL's U18 academy squad was fantastic last season with a 32-3-4 record. Their goal difference was something like +130. I think they made they final of the DA playoffs and lost to the Chicago Fire. They're not having a problem attracting talent. I bet they have a couple of scholarships each season for kids from low-income backgrounds. The pay-for-play model is certainly still an issue for US youth soccer. However, with each passing year progress is made. There are now non-MLS academy teams that have substantially reduced fees. The Dallas Texans were recently one of them. http://www.dallastexans.com/news_article/show/502304 Note the Dallas Texans training facility is amazing for a non-MLS academy. [Of course Omar Gonzalez, Clint Dempsey, Greg Garza, Lee Nguyen, Chris Klute, and countless other pros trained with the Texans. Its no accident.]
Yes, RSL does offer some scholarships. This is take from an informational email: There are limited scholarships available each school year and it's a very competitive selection process based on a number of factors: quality of the player, financial needs of the family, academic standing, playing position and the needs on our current roster, age, etc.
What percentage of the player pool has parents willing to pay 60K? Less than 1 percent I'd imagine. So you are ruling out nearly the entire soccer playing population. This is beyond dumb--I don't care about their wood garnished trophy room. And there is nothing special about the soccer fields above.
Well, those pictures are from the Dallas Texans. What's special about them is the players they've developed. On the last provisional Gold Cup squad (not the final one), there were four former Texans alumni listed (Garza, Gonzalez, Nguyen, Dempsey). More than any other club. And that doesn't count Brek Shea who played for the Houston affiliate of the Dallas Texans. Other than USMNT players there's a whole host of pros like Shea Salinas, Chris Klute, Connor Doyle, Jared Jeffrey, and on and on from that youth club. There are more Texans alumni in MLS than the much balleyhooed FC Dallas academy. I think we're focusing too much on the one club that charges fees here. The RSL academy is at the Casa Grande sports complex. Its kinda like the IMG academy in Florida. Its like a boarding school where you happen to play soccer. So the families are paying for the dorms, and the academics, and food/dining, and on and on. All that stuff is expensive. Kids that can't afford it, get scholarships. Yes, you can say that in the case of that one club.............................some low-income kids are going to be excluded. On the other hand, that academy has been one of the most successful since the inception of the development academy. So they must be doing something right in terms of player selection. Off the top of my head: 2012-13 USSDA U-15/16 Champions 2013-14 USSDA U-15/16 Runners Up 2014-15 USSDA U-17/18 Runners Up 2010-11 USSDA U-15/16 Third Place 2014 Generation adidas Cup Runners Up
Any link for RSL's academy. No body pays 60K even if its really 60K. I can post on ebay any price. Doesn't mean I get that.
No--that was just from an email from them as an interested parent. I was told there were "limited scholarships" based on positional need etc. Of course once they have their new facility they will not be dependent on Grande Sports, which is where the costs come in.
If you would have the choice between RSL for 60k, or the Feyenoord/Ajax/PSV academy for half that price, what would you choose?
Well I would not pay $60k for RSL, period. I'd hope that they would need my son's position if we look more seriously at moving. The Netherlands academies sound amazing. But I don't know about the logistics of moving there--I would lose my job for sure. So the cost to me and my family would be more than any up front cost.
And you pay nothing in fees (the 25k/30k I mentioned is just a wet dream for me to finance the academy), maybe not even membership fees if he's extremely good. By the way, the Netherlands is a very international oriented place, so with good skills you probably wouldnot have much of a problem finding a job, and our health insurance system is ridicilous cheap compared to the USA.