More and more youth clubs in my area are affiliating with pro teams: West Ham Celtic Arsenal Sporting KC With a few others rumored to be in the works We have no pro teams of our own here and obviously it helps with marketing and recruiting (and personally I don't see anything wrong with that) but how beneficial are these partnerships for the players and coaches?
From a parent's view, it makes the fee's higher and the uniforms prettier. Other than that, I haven't found it to be beneficial at all. Then again, I am a sideline parent and I don't know about how it all plans out as far as running the programs.
Agreed. It's just a way to draw in players and uneducated parents. I'm sure there are some clubs that actually follow through on their promises. However, I know of three clubs that have these affiliations and do absolutely nothing (don't send players to train with them, don't bring in coaches to train, etc.). If I were you, I would specifically ask what their partnership with the club entails and have they actually followed through with the agreement.
I agree prettier uniforms and more money grabs because of mandatory camps that are touted as being conducted by professional trainers but really aren't.
I am not as jaded as some of those above me. For one, it doesn't affect the costs at the club at all really. Now, it is used as a "draw" to parents. That being said, at least in some cases it actually does have benefits. Two local examples: a high school teamate of my son played with a club affiliated with Auxere in France, and he was an outstanding young player. He was taken on trial by Auxere for a period. More at home for me, my own sons' club is affiliated with Manchester United ... several of our top staff members have been taken over to Manchester where they spent a couple of weeks working with the Man U academy/youth squad staff, and seeing how things are done there, sharing ideas, and being shown around the inside of the club. Moreover, we have sent youth teams over there a couple of times to train with and compete against the Man U academy/youth players. Now that was a very small percentage of the players from our club, so it is not a benefit felt or derived by all of the boys at the club, but there are benefits.
Here is a connection that is becoming very beneficial- Barcelona USA. http://www.barcelonausa.com/ They now have other locations in the U.S. trying to emulate the Barca style. Here is a glimpse of the Barcelona USA's U12 team at Surf Cup: http://blog.3four3.com/2012/08/14/u12-possession-soccer-development-barcelona-usa-fc-dallas/
Oh Lord, another person pimping this club ... there are plenty of vastly more successful clubs out there are turning out talent at the moment.
I know that our local Celtic affiliated club has had coaches come to train their coaches and players as well as had a chance to go to Glasgow to learn from the managers and trainers there. Don't know the cost involved but seems like they're getting something for it. Some affiliations are nothing but marketing tools, and that's ok I guess but if done right they can be a mutually beneficial relationship.
The purpose of Barca USA is to develop professional soccer players. So I asked how many they have developed as pro's. Well BUSA has only been around a few years and as such have developed none b/c the kids aren't old enough yet. So I asked "well, what about before you were at BUSA?" The answer again was none. I am not certain how long these guys have been coaching. And yes, this team plays some exceptional soccer for their age - but for being so touted and "it" right now, how come these coaches have never developed professional players before? I'd be very interested to see a detailed timeline of who, what, where, when they were coaching (specific teams, age groups, locations of teams etc). These u12's (and their younger BUSA teams) all play wonderful soccer. So surely they were using the same training methods before? FWIW they have apparently had plenty of players go to NCAA.