Not really a new concept, especially in the mid-West. I suspect that Tim Carter may have gotten some ideas in Des Moines during one of his recruiting trips for the PDL Head Coach job. http://menacesoccer.com/youth/academy/
YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Hey guys, this is like the THIRD "academy" headed up by Tim Carter. He was a failure at the Chicago Fire, Pittsburgh Riverhounds and soon to be at Minnesota. It seems the fashionable way to pay an assistant coach, have him start an academy for your club.
My club played one of the menace academy teamsour third game of the season. We got our arses handed to us.But hey it was at 8am
What age group was it? The Menace Academy has some pretty good teams on the Boys side. They have pretty much owned the U14,U15,16,17 State Cups in Iowa for the past couple years. The girls sides are coming along nicely, but still need lots of work. The Academy idea really does work, there are many PDL players who go on to get thier licenses and begin coaching in the Academy. It gives the PDL guys something to work for in the future, and helps out the youth at the same time. Really builds a bonding with the community in my opinion. But, it also hurts in many ways in the community. There are other local clubs who really don't like the competition, and therefore talk lots of trash about the Academy and our athletes.