Real Salt Lake Academy blossoming in Arizona http://soccer.altweet.com/2011/01/real-salt-lake-academy-blossoming-in.html
Excellent question. Especially since Vanney's main partner in recruitment for RSL was Robin Fraser. RSL is supposed to announce their replacements soon. We'll see I guess.
The article says RSL was granted the right to have an academy in Arizona. What does a MLS club need to do to be granted a different area of the country for an academy?
Not exactly sure, but no MLS city on the state and SLC being such a small market I am sure factors in. I read once that Mississippi was Chicago Fire area.
Truth. Chicago has an academy in suburban Jackson. Pretty sure that Justin Mapp was a product or vice versa.
Fire have an affiliate club in Mississippi and New Orleans, however, to be classified as a Home Grown player Chicago must invite a player from said clubs to play for an affiliate club within 75 miles of chicago for at least 1 year before going to college. A player like U17 striker Kellen Gulley who plays with the Chicago Fire Miss. team would have to spend a year in Chicago (for example) for a year before he hits college to be a Fire HG player. Fire are working on developing a financially acceptable system that involves paying for living and schooling expenses for kids such as Gulley. Hopefully Fire can get him in for a year after the U17's play
RSL commits so far: Andy Chiu F-Akron Tanner Clay-College of Charleston Brian Hoyt MF-Denver Matt Bersano GK-Oregon State hmm, only guys I see on the USSDA roster are Hoyt and Bersano, not sure why the first two are listed under RSL. http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer...list/2011-Boys-Soccer-Verbal-Commitments.aspx
Thats interesting. I've been wondering about Kellen for quite some time now and wondered if they'd bring him in to be a home grown player or at least an academy player to start off with. Hopefully they can get him in soon enough.
Once he's out of U17's (since he wasnt with the academy team prior to callup), Fire will have to get him into Chicago ASAP. Would be a shame to miss out on Gulley (strictly from what ive read).
Munoz named interim director http://trivalleycentral.com/article...dispatch/sports/doc4d404200c45ac197508527.txt
Maybe close to a homegrown signing? http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2617...real-salt-lake-arizona-the-jewel-of-the-youth
I wonder if MLS will put rules in place to prevent kids from moving from one MLS academy to another. It wouldn't surprise me if they do.
I hope they don't because of one situation that was family related. Right now it's unlikely that youth players will move to another youth academy in any numbers. We just don't have a residential context where players will play then pick another then move for no other reason than soccer. I also hope we realize that some may move for other reasons such as my brother now lives near DC and I can live with him or I have an Uncle's family I can live in Dallas. I'd like to encourage players to get into professional environments that work for them. Only then will we make it easier for them to get professional training. I do understand your point but only if we ever see a time where teams are stealing players. Right now no. I don't want to have a league saying I know you're family is moving from DC to Chicago but you can't join the Fire.
So far this has happened twice to RSL. RSL had a great prospect who was from a immigrant family in SLC. When the sponsor of this kid (who happened to be his minister) moved to Denver, the young man followed him and now plays in the Rapids academy. Then this one, where Vanney's nephew leaves RSL to play in the CUSA Academy. Its getting old and its barely begun. But life happens.
The real salt lake residency is the future. The 1st of its kind in the USA. Hopefully within the next 10 years we will se all Mls acadmies have fully funded residency acadamies down to 10 years old.
Martin Vasquez Named Director of Operations at RSL-AZ: http://www.realsaltlake.com/news/20...named-director-operations-rsl-arizona-academy
So much Chivas-RSL intermingling.....also found this tidbit interesting. "The high-profile opportunities will continue for the program, as several members of the RSL-Arizona teams are gearing up to join forces with their RSL-Utah and RSL-Florida brethren for next week’s Generation adidas Cup (formerly the SUM U-17 Cup), taking place at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, from July 25-31"
Article on the RSL-AZ facility: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/aze...sports-academy-american-soccer-community.html Martin Vasquez would like to stay: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/aze...n-vasquez-real-salt-lake-arizona-academy.html
This will be of interest to some here - an interview with Haedan Turner, a 17-year-old Canadian currently with the RSL academy. http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2452-Q-A-with-Haedan-Turner
New article on the RSL academy on MLSsoccer.com http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/02/rsl-residency-program-grows-size-and-stature One item of interest is that RSL now says they have 43 players in residency. That seems like a ton to be actually living there. Are the other MLS teams academies that large as well? I assume residency means living away from parents at the academy and going to school there.
Two in-depth stories on the RSL Academy. Real Salt Lake launch landmark MLS residential academy, break open U.S. market A chat with Real Salt Lake's academy director Greg Vanney on changes in U.S. soccer development