MNT's 2021

[upstater]

How many are fully funded? You think there are enough?

This is a sport for affluent white families of privelege.

The whole entire youth club of MLS academies is fully funded. All of them.

 

[ZooCougar]

The whole entire youth club of MLS academies is fully funded. All of them.

There aren’t that many of them though. 30 funded academies for a 350 Million person country?

If you want to enjoy the sport at a high level you basically need thousands and thousands of dollars. It’s stupid and unnecessary. You don’t need trips to distant cities and UEFA licensed coaches.

 

[upstater]

There aren’t that many of them though. 30 funded academies for a 350 Million person country?

If you want to enjoy the sport at a high level you basically need thousands and thousands of dollars. It’s stupid and unnecessary. You don’t need trips to distant cities and UEFA licensed coaches.

Oh my god, this is the USA, not Brazil. And kids move to play in the academies all the time, just like other countries. This is normal. And the only decently populated place that doesn't have a team within a few hours seems to be Michigan.

By the way, I just read tonight that there is controversy in US Soccer over the dissolution of the Development Academy with a lot of people pushing to bring it back. If that happens, you will see a lot more than 30 clubs funded as US Soccer moves back in to youth soccer.

 

[ZooCougar]

Oh my god, this is the USA, not Brazil. And kids move to play in the academies all the time, just like other countries. This is normal. And the only decently populated place that doesn't have a team within a few hours seems to be Michigan.

By the way, I just read tonight that there is controversy in US Soccer over the dissolution of the Development Academy with a lot of people pushing to bring it back. If that happens, you will see a lot more than 30 clubs funded as US Soccer moves back in to youth soccer.

I doubt it. US Soccer exists to make money. Not improve the game. You are a sucker.

 

[upstater]

I doubt it. US Soccer exists to make money. Not improve the game. You are a sucker.

So the DA that was around for 10+ years was a figment of imagination.

You're spiraling with more lunacy in every post.

 

[Waquoit]

My quick take is that the US doesn't have enough decent coaching at the youth level. I can't see it improving because American soccer coaching is like California pizza; both think they are doing it right and they're really not.

 

[upstater]

My quick take is that the US doesn't have enough decent coaching at the youth level. I can't see it improving because American soccer coaching is like California pizza; both think they are doing it right and they're really not.

It's a money thing more than it is a coaching thing. Plenty of people are willing to step in for low money. The good ones aren't going to coach for peanuts. But I've already seen this happen at one of the independent academies. Back when USSF subsidized the DA, the youth clubs were hiring coaches (local people who were already in the US working, many of them in non-soccer positions) who had UEFA Pro licenses. As soon as the USSF cratered the DA, those coaches were no longer working for the clubs. So, what kind of $$ am I talking about? A top youth coach at a top club can make $15k-20k, but with the subsidies the clubs were paying the UEFA Pro guys $40k+. That money is gone, and the UEFA Pros won't work for $20k.

The system that Tyler Adams, McKennie, Pulisic, etc., came up on is no longer there, no longer supported, and this is why there is currently a big fight brewing inside the USSF.