Doesn’t say if he is or isn’t playing in the Peninsula League. Many former college and pro players play and played in that league through the years.
Pelosi is not playing anywhere to my knowledge. Last I heard, he had retained an attorney and sued Liverpool FC because of a cheap shot by his own teammate in academy practice that ruined his career. When he came to San Jose he was damaged goods.
Before Quincy left, he was going to open a club in downtown San Jose, and Marc was his partner. I have vague memories of a video with the two of them leading a tour of the place. Marc always seemed like a nice guy, sorry to hear it has not worked out for him. .
I’m not sure if the Quakes will end up putting out a press release on this, but I heard that the ownership has finally approved “significant investment” in youth academy housing. I think they having been hosting players similar to a foreign exchange student program. The new initiative will be a “soccer house” facility with a full time paid manager on site. There is an online private school component that is paid for by the team as well, so players will have a flexible schedule for traveling and training. This is obviously important for several reasons. MLS rules dictate that academy players must live in a certain radius of the club's facilities. Two of the areas the Quakes are trying hard to recruit from are on the edge (or just outside) their territory in Salinas Valley and Napa Valley. The Quakes have maintained compliance with this rule by using the host family system, but as they expand the player pool that is going to be a problem. I have no idea how many will be housed there and what the age ranges will be. I also wonder if this will allow the Quakes to recruit out of state players as well. Many academies are searching far and wide for players so this may help in that competition for talent. This is a big deal as the Quakes move forward with a professional academy.
I don’t think it’s a big deal to get private school housing. Matthew Hoppe, that San Diego area kid who ended up at Schalke (now relegated from the Bundesliga), attended the Barca academy in Texas for 1-2 years. The academy had an arrangement where a local private school provided education and housing. Given that local private schools with dorms probably have a shortage of students right now, I would bet the Quakes have found a similar deal.
Dallas just signed homegrown number 32. That is by far the most of any team. The Quakes last homegrown signing was over a year and a half ago (Casey Walls). We seem to lead the league in green cards. Is that strategy sustainable?
And TT (who gets double billing in your list) was not really a product of our academy. I remember there was some question whether the league was going to allow TT to be a Quakes homegrown because of lack of time with the academy. He was more a product of his dad's coaching and camps and stuff, and his own drive to develop ball skills.
Well Jesse is going to get a red card from me if he's telling reporters that the Quakes are going to build through the academy but he isn't signing or developing them. He's about a third of the way through his contract extension and he hasn't sign a player since he got it. Who has he developed? Cade Cowell and????? JT, Lima and Thompson went to college. Fuentes? Akanyinge? Walls? Ochoa? If academy players are choosing college or leaving to play elsewhere instead of signing homegrown deals then there is a problem.
Our boys are finally back and officially playing matches in the new @MLSNext academy league! https://t.co/AlGihRNO2u— Quakes Academy (@QuakesAcademy) May 4, 2021
Congrats to Diego Otoya on being called up to the U-17 Peru National team! 🇵🇪 pic.twitter.com/Hi9TeRdhj3— Quakes Academy (@QuakesAcademy) May 10, 2021
San Jose Earthquakes (@QuakesAcademy) 08 team, coached by Erin Ridley, has been playing some great soccer this season. Here's a recent goal against SF Glens in MLS Next action 🔥(📹 via https://t.co/081HFKM8xJ RZ64) pic.twitter.com/nfoXofFKen— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) May 18, 2021
"ACADEMY UPDATE: Academy continues winning streak after defeating SF Elite" (SJEarthquakes.com - Monday, 5/24/21) (ISIPhotos.com) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
FYI, I have spoken to the Quakes academy director of operations about the academy teams - asking if there are any other potential Cade Cowells out there - and he indicated that beyond Cade, the pickings are pretty slim in terms of players with sufficient talent to be elevated to the first team...
But aren’t kids like Cade 1 in 1,000? And if he makes it big, then 1 in 10,000? I’m thinking amongst all kids still playing soccer at 16…
I would respectfully disagree. I've seen many of the Quake players going head to head with the top national team players from rival academies and several of them are better. What hurts their development is lack of individual training and player evaluation. The Quakes seem to be looking for wholly formed players or uber athletic kids. We tend to forget that Cade showed up to play on the U17 team. The Quakes have used U20 coach Alex Covelo to work one on one with Cade, but I haven't heard of anyone else being mentored that way. As a matter of fact, I know several players that had to hire personal coaches (like former Quake Victor Bernardez) to teach them about the nuances of their position. The Quakes training is often just repetitions of team play and parents that have asked coaches "what improvements does my son need to make?" are given noncommittal answers.
Fisher is not very popular around here but I do feel like his money spent on the academy is not put to good use. The team seems to treat it as a brand. They want to simply sit back and have the best and brightest show up and beg to play for them. Once you join them, teach yourself how to play.
I thought people on here said that Chris Leitch as tech director was doing an amazing job running the academies? They seem to have a lot of academy staff, according to this page, which I assume is completely outdated, because the DA is gone, right?… http://sjeq.ussoccerda.com/club-staff
MLS aiming to launch new U.S. lower-division league in 2022, sources say This is what Jesse mentioned in the last town hall meeting. Over half of MLS clubs will participate next year and pretty sure the Quakes will be one of them.
I heard that Jesse was a Co-Chairman of upcoming reserve league initiative. Much of this is his idea. I think Chris Leitch is on a lower committee as well.
Interesting. S**t floats to the top. Such exposure could be Jesse’s path to a job in the MLS office. Imagine that.