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In 2007
U.S. Soccer began an initiative called “Development
Academy,” it was put in place to turn powerful youth
clubs into advanced tools for developing players. The
idea seemed to be a step in the right direction. An
outlined plan that would have the best youth teams
playing against each other and U.S. Soccer would afford
the teams the availability to the most advanced
technology in training. In the ideal world, it sounded
like the change every youth soccer fan dreams of:
professional environment for our youth, highly
competitive games, and a new idea for how youth soccer
should be innovated in this country.
However, the whole process started off on the wrong
foot. U.S. Soccer began an admission process into the
elitist fraternity. They selected the most highly
regarded clubs in the major metropolitan areas across
the country. The Academy took clubs based on
championship pedigree not on player development. There
was (and still is) too much emphasis on results in club
matches. The league structure, for some unspeakable
reason, put in place a highly prized championship game
every year that is aired on television. Obviously, the
increased exposure and the championship trophy is the
goal for every club. This makes the oxymoronic title of
“Development Academy” that much more humorous with
development actually playing second fiddle to results.
During
the U-20 camp in December, U.S. Soccer brought in two
select teams from the Academy. Both of the teams were
from the West region, and were embarrassed against the
U-20s to the tune of eleven goals to one. The day before
the games, Thomas Rongen told Goal.com that he was
expecting some good competition in the games and was
looking forward to seeing his players in a game
environment. By the time the second half kicked off,
Rongen was schmoozing with MLS scouts in the crowd and
hardly even glancing towards the field. The result was
more indicative of the players abilities than their
limited practice time together. The fundamentals still
are not there. Rongen should have known this well before
kick off considering none of the technically gifted
players on his team come from the Academy.
Politics are one of the major components holding youth
soccer back. It has been a major problem since day one
in club sports and the disease just carried over with
the Academy. Soccer moms butter up the coaches to get
their kids more playing time. Coaches kiss up to club
directors so their team can have better practice times.
Etcera and so forth, this goes all the way to the top.
The tight knit soccer community did not get that way
overnight. The Academy changed nothing on this front. It
is the same system from three years ago and many years
prior to that.
The only thing that seems to have changed is the
monotony of developing players and the umbrella term
“Development Academy.” U.S. Soccer now has an
all-encompassing control of the clubs that are supposed
to develop the best players in this country. Yes, this
is why most of our players are compared to robots by
European journalists. When you have all of your major
clubs learning from the same manual, the players are
going to come out in a cookie cutter form.
U.S. Soccer should take no shame in the fact that their
experiment failed. It was never bound to work. These
high-profile clubs are very competitive with their
results, and there is a financial benefit to winning
these games and championships. In comparison, player
development seems minuscule for club success. It is easy
to access last year’s champion but hard to find out
which clubs are producing the most talent for the next
level.
Plus the massive egos of club directors are only fueled
by the titles in their offices. This leads to the other
problem with this program, “Development Academy” puts
all these clubs on the same level. There is no
recognition or reason for a youth club to succumb a
player to a professional youth team when they are in the
same league. It is backwards thinking to every other
successful youth system in the world. All other clubs
take pride in the success of their players advancing
their careers by climbing the ladder. In the U.S., clubs
grab and hold onto talented youngsters to boost their
win totals even when opportunity arrives to advance up
the ladder.
In the end, the power struggle will ruin more players
than it helps. There is no winner in this battle, only
losers. Just have some sympathy for the players that are
prevented from reaching their potential because the
“Development Academy” is not working.
J.R.
Eskilson is the youth soccer editor for Goal.com
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