# US Developmental Academy/College



## gkmom (Dec 11, 2016)

My son is a 2006 birth year,10 years old. Now that US Dev Academy is starting at U12, and switching to birth year, he would start next season. He is a pretty talented goalkeeper and I already have 3 clubs asking for him to try out for their academy programs, and I know his current club will take him for sure. I have some concerns about balancing school as he will be starting middle school next year and is a very good student. He will be doing advanced/seminar classes. I don't want to put to much pressure on him. Also, it sounds crazy because he's only ten (but that's how early competition starts now), but I guess for the bigger picture the ideal situation would be for him to play for college. So, is it vital for him to do the developmental academy program to play for college? Is that where they recruit from? I'm afraid if we don't take the opportunity of academy now, it will be to hard to get in at an older age. Thank you for any advice! I have no idea about any of this!


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## sbay (Dec 11, 2016)

My son has independent PE in middle school.  This allows him to leave early and start homework ahead.  Our school has first or sixth period independent PE.


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## younothat (Dec 11, 2016)

Not vital at his age yet.  Once he gets into high school could be depending on what school or club/team(s) he plays at that time.

The bigger picture... 10 yr playing keeper full time is way to young to specialize IMO.   From now until college going to grow and change a lot so pays to develop his overall skills; try to have him learn and play another position 50% time or someting until he gets to high school.   DA teams not likely to encourage this because they want to do well now.

Have to ask your son how dedicated he is? 3-4x week practices and a 10 month season is demanding,  some kids can handle that but maturity comes into play;  my players managed to stay on MS honor role playing DA or ENCL but they didn't have much free time to do much else, so some sacrifices will be needed.

Our middle school had the independent PE also but both kids still did school PE because they enjoyed participating with mates and friends that don't normally get to play with much.


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## gkmom (Dec 11, 2016)

younothat said:


> Not vital at his age yet.  Once he gets into high school could be depending on what school or club/team(s) he plays at that time.
> 
> The bigger picture... 10 yr playing keeper full time is way to young to specialize IMO.   From now until college going to grow and change a lot so pays to develop his overall skills; try to have him learn and play another position 50% time or someting until he gets to high school.   DA teams not likely to encourage this because they want to do well now.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your response. I agree with everything you have said . I really wish they had kept Academy starting at an older age. I feel that 10 is very young for all of this. Will it be difficult to get on Academy team if we wait? That is my main concern and why I am even considering it now. That, and is that where the level players he is with now (flight 1) will go. Will his level of play go down if we don't do Academy ?


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## Eagle33 (Dec 12, 2016)

gkmom said:


> Thank you for your response. I agree with everything you have said . I really wish they had kept Academy starting at an older age. I feel that 10 is very young for all of this. Will it be difficult to get on Academy team if we wait? That is my main concern and why I am even considering it now. That, and is that where the level players he is with now (flight 1) will go. Will his level of play go down if we don't do Academy ?


As a goalkeeper, your kid needs to get a good goalkeeper training. The level of the team he is on is not that important, but flight 1 or 2 will work just fine.


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