Real Salt Lake Academy blossoming in Arizona

Soccerprime, a lot of the questions that were answered in these stories are still being asked by people who haven't read them.

I'm surprised that there isn't more talk about developmental territories and youth development fees (per FIFA) from Academy teams to youth development teams.

 

Soccerprime, yes. When Vancouver entered MLS in 2011, their residential academy had been up and running for three years at $1 million per year (besides the team youth academy) and had already sold a player abroad to German club FC Energie Cottbus.

MLS may have been inspired to launch RSL Academy before a lower division team could claim the honors.

Lenarduzzi At Work In Vancouver

 

FC Dallas and Chicago Fire are planning residential academies. It's a huge undertaking, also involving responsibility for academic oversight and general adolescent well-being.

 

It doesn't seem like a huge number consider the residency program fields a U18 and a U16 team. That's just over 20 players per squad. Could that be trimmed? Yes, but not a whole lot.

 

I think there are a couple of teams that are about as close to residency as you can get..........without technically being residential programs.

What you have to consider for say.............Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Chivas, RBNY, etc. is that they have a MUUUUUUUUUUUCH bigger talent pool in their backyard than the smaller market MLS clubs like RSL. I mean there's enough talent in DFW for there to be four stacked development academy teams. We were a couple seconds away from an FC Dallas-Dallas Texans Development Academy final........before Pateadores pulled off a miracle to oust the Texans in the semis. Dallas and Chicago might be contemplating residency but it's not really an urgent need. They seem to be bringing in lots of talent without it.

RSL needed a residential program somewhere because the talent base in Salt Lake City would have put them at a disadvantage in the homegrown signing game compared to the big market clubs. They astutely got a jump start in this area........and have actually pulled in some talented players from Texas. I don't know if they're still there but there were a couple kids from El Paso like Lalo Fernandez and David Flores.

 

I have a son at RSL Arizona on the u-16 team. He loves it and the training and facility is top notch. I did notice that last year quite of few of the U16 players that were Juniors in High School and Old 94s left the Academy. I think partly because although they were good enough for playing time as a 94 born junior they would struggle their senior year competing against their own school year. My son is a 95 with a November birthday so he is a sophmore. One thing I do notice is that he is one of the only sophomores that starts all the rest are Juniors. My question is why dont the academies use the School year of August to August like the clubs do? Even though it has worked out well for my son to me it seems like all the best u-16 teams are full of Juniors and the u-18 teams full of seniors. I would rather see the Juniors and Seniors competing at u-18 and sophomores and freshman at u16. Thoughts?

 

I would assume they are using the FIFA age dates. That is what is important in professional and national team level soccer.

I believe it was the book Soccernomics that covered this topic as well, regarding the effect of when an athlete was born within their age group. Interesting read if you haven't read it yet.

 

Thanks for the book recommend. I have not read it but having watched my son I am sure I know what it will say. Those born at the end of the year struggle to make national teams. Lucas was able to compete with the older boys his calendar age so I think for him it has been a blessing in discuss forcing his level of play up. His birthday is in November so he has always been one of the youngest on the ODP teams but was able to be a starter on the ODP 95 team. Having said that he does miss out on National Team call ups almost exclusevely based on this fact. The two boys that were called up from RSL to the U-18 national team camp are both Juniors and most of the boys down in Bradenton Florida on the u-17 National Team are at most a few months younger than Lucas. I have seen him play against quite a few of them and felt he was just as good if not better. Time will tell if being a younger 95 will ultimately have made him better by forcing him to play against bigger stonger competetion.

 

Here's a thread from a few years ago that we had on this topic, sparked by Malcolm Gladwell's ESPN interview on his book "Outliers."
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=875966

 

Thanks for the Read. It was great to see everyones ideas on the subject. I strongly feel that the Academies have helped a lot with the Situation. Before academies if your son did not get selected to the Bradenton Residency because of birth month disadvantage then you basically were left with club soccer and ODP region and in the case of ODP it is more of a showcase item then an actual traianing system. Now my son is down at RSL in full Residency playing on a team loaded with some of the best players in the country many of whom are old 95s. I would argue that the talent level is equal too if not better than the 96s down in Florida. What my son does miss out on is the exposure that the National Team gives. And even some of the Europe Clubs that have spoken with him have told him that he needs to be playing on the Naional Team his age for them to be able to bring him over to europe or have a relative from Europe. Hopefully as Lucas reaches adulthood all of this will become moot as he will not be disadvantaged anymore by that November birthdate. I think the only way around this for the national team is to have two groups for each age one called A would be the first six months and the B would be the second six months. But as has been brought up before the US Residency program is more built to form a team for the u-17 world cup then to identify and train the best of each calendar year.

 

That was the book I remembering reading that topic in.

Been awhile since I read either hence why I was confused

I might have to read Outliers again.

 

madisonroad,
Do you know how soon FC Dallas and Chicago Fire may be starting their residential academies?

 

No information on that. They were projects in the works, but that's a lot of work. RSL got theirs done in incredibly short order, but the site was already set up, there was a partner and the site is also an MLS preseason destination and has a revenue stream from tournaments. The education was public at the time, but anticipated to be handled by a chain private school set-up.

If Dallas and Chicago go forward, their projects will likely look very different.

 

Thank you for the reply. Sounds like RSL residential was very well planned from the beginning.

 

Greg Vanney did an outstanding job, deservedly was rewarded with Chivas USA assistant coach position.

 

There were some built in advantages to RSL's academy. I believe that Vanney had the relationship (with the owners of the facility) and helped develop the concept, although RSL was already interested in a residential setup. It makes sense with the territory that they draw from. With the population density nearby, I wonder if it's as much of a necessity in other parts of the country.

Note: Casa Grande did not become much of an MLS preseason destination until after the academy opened. There were a couple of teams from cold weather environs that would find their way there before, but it seems to have exploded, partly as a result of GSW's business development initiative.

I talked to Greg Vanney about it about a year after it first started. Sounds like just the opposite. They were making it up as it went along, since the opportunity presented itself somewhat unexpectedly.

 

Chicago has been planning this for a couple years now. Planning it to where the endeavor is financially acceptable is the tricky part. The main reason why Chicago is eager to set up the residency is so they can start to invite players from their partner clubs in Louisiana, Missouri, Florida and Indiana (i also think Michigan, but not sure).

Toronto apparently is setting up an academy program where the players still get their education by afternoon classes, but it may end up taking them 6 years to accomplish what usually takes 4. But they would be in an enriched soccer environment developing their game.

 

interesting
https://twitter.com/#!/jayalllen/status/160488275763658752

 

Some spoiled kid talking out of his ass...meh.

 

Yeah, he's good, and definitely a candidate for a HG contract. Thought it was interesting that he spoke about it.