WaPo article on major changes to NCAA soccer

[junglehusky]

They want to space out the season over spring and fall to allow more time in between games, and have more attention for the College Cup in May. In theory it would help with player development though I'm sure MLS will continue to sign top prospects in their academies.

Is men’s college soccer about to undergo big changes? Many hope so.

 

[ZooCougar]

They want to space out the season over spring and fall to allow more time in between games, and have more attention for the College Cup in May. In theory it would help with player development though I'm sure MLS will continue to sign top prospects in their academies.

Is men’s college soccer about to undergo big changes? Many hope so.

They need to do something if they want to remain more relevant. It's decent at best development but the problem now is that they play in the fall, and then the best players go play USL PDL teams so they are playing for two different sets of coaches.

But here is the biggest underlying flaw.

When a NCAA player graduates he is at the age when most of the best players are starting to hit their peak. Even if a college guy goes straight to an MLS team and starts, he is already 26-27 after three or four seasons and he will be long in the tooth.

For 99% of players who won't get pro contracts it's a good outlet I guess.

 

[SAMCRO]

hadn't seen that, thanks for sharing. I've always thought college soccer should be a spring sport, in line with baseball, lacrosse, etc... hopefully they do something to change it up. I don't know if it will make it any more competitive (hopefully it will), but at the very least it gets it a little more exposure when not competing against football and the beginning of college hoops season and the holiday tournaments.

What they are proposing also mirrors the european seasons (start in August, culminate in May).

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm not sure how I feel about it, to be honest.

I like that they want to get more games in and more training in. But somehow, just like college baseball, I feel like this will create a clear advantage for the southern schools. Connecticut in late February isn't exactly soccer weather (I suppose that one could argue that it isn't great soccer weather in early November either, but...). In my opinion, this might be good for USA soccer development, but it won't necessarily be good for UConn. If the first "Spring" game is past the mid-March line, and if we can train indoors (Shenkman?) in February, then I suppose we could work with it...

 

[ZooCougar]

I thought it was interesting that Oliver Luck was so heavily involved.

 

[UCFBfan]

Couldn't MLS teams use college as a way to draft a kid and have their rights while they are in college? Isn't hockey like that or am I not thinking right? Don't kids get their draft rights owned while they are still allowed to play in college for a set period of time? I think if college soccer wants to remain relevant and US Soccer wants it to be a contributor, they need to make it almost like an academy system in colleges for MLS teams. I dunno how to implement this seeing how many schools play soccer in college and there are only 22 (soon to be 24) MLS teams. Just a thought....

 

[ZooCougar]

Couldn't MLS teams use college as a way to draft a kid and have their rights while they are in college? Isn't hockey like that or am I not thinking right? Don't kids get their draft rights owned while they are still allowed to play in college for a set period of time? I think if college soccer wants to remain relevant and US Soccer wants it to be a contributor, they need to make it almost like an academy system in colleges for MLS teams. I dunno how to implement this seeing how many schools play soccer in college and there are only 22 (soon to be 24) MLS teams. Just a thought....

I would rather see MLS go full bore with their youth academies and do more of what the LA Galaxy is doing with their second team. They have the LA Galaxy II playing in a USL (third division) league.

The players that aren't good enough or are late bloomers could still do college, but has our pro system gets more and more developed, most of the best talent will not be playing college soccer.

Unlike football and maybe basketball, the very best talent is always better off (soccer wise) playing at the most elite level possible as early as possible.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Field use may be of issue, too. A lot of colleges use the same game and practice fields that soccer uses in the fall for lacrosse the spring. I think a ‘full-year’ sports may run against the supposed academic focus of the NCAA. Overall, I say leave college soccer alone. For ‘world class’ players that come out of the US, they should not be looking at the NCAA anyway and instead head-off to Europe and sign with one of the premier development programs. They can go back to school later.

 

[ZooCougar]

Field use may be of issue, too. A lot of colleges use the same game and practice fields that soccer uses in the fall for lacrosse the spring. I think a ‘full-year’ sports may run against the supposed academic focus of the NCAA. Overall, I say leave college soccer alone. For ‘world class’ players that come out of the US, they should not be looking at the NCAA anyway and instead head-off to Europe and sign with one of the premier development programs. They can go back to school later.

From what I have heard in the past few days, this proposal will help academics. Right now they are playing 3 games a week, with a split season they will still play the same amount of games.

 

[upstater]

The youth academies are still charging $2k a year. So forget about immigrants or inner city talent. It's still a rich kid's suburban game. Soccer in the USA needs money more than anything else. There are a few academies that bring in kids who otherwise can't afford it, but the MLS/US Development academies are still run as businesses (meaning the coaches need to run setups that bring in lots of revenue). Plus, the MLS/USD emphasize game play over everything else. In contrast, there is one outfit out of Boston with regional franchises, the coaches are all European/British, and they have 8 games total a YEAR. They emphasize one thing: touches.

 

[ZooCougar]

The youth academies are still charging $2k a year. So forget about immigrants or inner city talent. It's still a rich kid's suburban game. Soccer in the USA needs money more than anything else. There are a few academies that bring in kids who otherwise can't afford it, but the MLS/US Development academies are still run as businesses (meaning the coaches need to run setups that bring in lots of revenue). Plus, the MLS/USD emphasize game play over everything else. In contrast, there is one outfit out of Boston with regional franchises, the coaches are all European/British, and they have 8 games total a YEAR. They emphasize one thing: touches.

Your information is wrong. And each academy doesn't have the same training philosophy. In any event the worst academy is going to be better than most if not all college programs.

Not all academies are charging. The best ones funded by the pro clubs are free, but you have to be good enough to be selected.

 

[upstater]

Your information is wrong. And each academy doesn't have the same training philosophy. In any event the worst academy is going to be better than most if not all college programs.

Not all academies are charging. The best ones funded by the pro clubs are free, but you have to be good enough to be selected.

Which ones are free? The two I know are not. The Revolution's clubs, for instance, are not free, and the clubs are directly linked to the Revolution Academy.

As for the training philosophy, the coaches running the MLS academies all go to the same place, US Soccer Development Academy, for training. They follow strict training methods, as per their contract. As I watched training this week for 4 hours a day from 9 am to 1 pm, I saw how remarkably similar the training was for two different premier clubs playing with support from 2 MLS teams. There are 64 such clubs nationally feeding into US Soccer DA.

The training at such clubs is totally different than say the training at an outfit like Global Premier, which uses a lot of ex-Euro pros to train.

 

[ZooCougar]

Which ones are free? The two I know are not. The Revolution's clubs, for instance, are not free, and the clubs are directly linked to the Revolution Academy.

As for the training philosophy, the coaches running the MLS academies all go to the same place, US Soccer Development Academy, for training. They follow strict training methods, as per their contract. As I watched training this week for 4 hours a day from 9 am to 1 pm, I saw how remarkably similar the training was for two different premier clubs playing with support from 2 MLS teams. There are 64 such clubs nationally feeding into US Soccer DA.

The training at such clubs is totally different than say the training at an outfit like Global Premier, which uses a lot of ex-Euro pros to train.

Okay. This is something a lot of people get confused about. There is a big difference between an Academy and an affiliate. Sporting KC has about a gazillion affiliates in the area, basically every major city/town and into Oklahoma and Nebraska even have SKC affiliates. Those are definitely not free and are probably expensive.

The Academy that has U-12s, U-17s and so on that plays and practices at the Swope Park facility is very selective and is a part of the club. For all intensive purposes, the kids on those squads are Pros, they go to their normal schools but then play for the club every day. Sporting has 17 year old Erik Palmer-Brown starting on the back line tonight that is a product of the academy.


It wouldn't surprise me if the Revs charge, that franchise is so f-ed up right now the league should get Kraft to sell it and move it to a better place.

Check out this article. MLS Academies are free of charge, but players don't receive financial compensation in order to retain NCAA eligibility.

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6520002/mls-academies-kill-college-game-soccer

 

[upstater]

Okay. This is something a lot of people get confused about. There is a big difference between an Academy and an affiliate. Sporting KC has about a gazillion affiliates in the area, basically every major city/town and into Oklahoma and Nebraska even have SKC affiliates. Those are definitely not free and are probably expensive.

The Academy that has U-12s, U-17s and so on that plays and practices at the Swope Park facility is very selective and is a part of the club. For all intensive purposes, the kids on those squads are Pros, they go to their normal schools but then play for the club every day. Sporting has 17 year old Erik Palmer-Brown starting on the back line tonight that is a product of the academy.


It wouldn't surprise me if the Revs charge, that franchise is so f-ed up right now the league should get Kraft to sell it and move it to a better place.

Check out this article. MLS Academies are free of charge, but players don't receive financial compensation in order to retain NCAA eligibility.

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6520002/mls-academies-kill-college-game-soccer

The affiliates were expressly created to funnel kids into the academies. So where are the academy kids being discovered?

If you look at any of the affiliate clubs, or go to the Revs page, you'll see that the reason for affiliations is to bring kids into the academies.

I know US Soccer has 10-15 scouts going around the country, but it's not enough. I still see lots of talented kids playing for ragamuffin clubs in my area, while the MLS affiliates (supposed to be a pipeline into MLS academies) are drawing from suburbia.

 

[ZooCougar]

The affiliates were expressly created to funnel kids into the academies. So where are the academy kids being discovered?

If you look at any of the affiliate clubs, or go to the Revs page, you'll see that the reason for affiliations is to bring kids into the academies.

I know US Soccer has 10-15 scouts going around the country, but it's not enough. I still see lots of talented kids playing for ragamuffin clubs in my area, while the MLS affiliates (supposed to be a pipeline into MLS academies) are drawing from suburbia.

Probably true to some degree. The affiliates are more branding and community relations from what I have seen locally. They can also be pipelines. US Soccer might have 10-15 scouts, but the MLS, NASL and USL have scouts as well and the old IMG Academy has probably outlived its usefulness.

If I were king for about 10 years... I would love to see the biggest MLS clubs in the biggest markets each have academies exactly like what the Dutch Club Ajax does. Ajax pretty much revolutionized the game in their country through their academy, bring kids in starting at around the age of 6, play very few games, work on posture, running, passing, touch etc.

Belgium also brings the sport into the most destitute parts of their country searching for talent, they do the same thing for cycling.

The US Academy system is still kind of young to totally assess. They have had success in getting good players into MLS and it produced Deandre Yedlin.

 

[ZooCougar]

Here is info on Sporting's Academy.. It's fully funded.

http://www.sportingkc.com/academy

Also, what's interesting is that they have built a bunch of futsal courts around the city. Which is pretty smart.