# Reserve Academy (RA) team or Flight 1 team



## Win (Dec 6, 2017)

Anyone know what are the differences between a RA and a Flight 1 team? In terms of development and training is it better to be in a RA team? I believe both teams will be playing in SCDSL Flight 1 and we will need to pay more to join the RA team, but is it worth it?


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## True love (Dec 7, 2017)

Win said:


> Anyone know what are the differences between a RA and a Flight 1 team? In terms of development and training is it better to be in a RA team? I believe both teams will be playing in SCDSL Flight 1 and we will need to pay more to join the RA team, but is it worth it?



There isn't much a great difference between the two. Reserve Academy And flight 1 players actually about the same, the only difference with flight 1, the better players move up to reserves academy, and the Reserve Academy better player move up to USSDA. That the only easy way to break it down IMO.


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## GKDad65 (Dec 7, 2017)

No difference.  Unless, of course, your on the Elite, Navy, PDA, NPL, Pre-Pre Reserve Academy team playing Flight I, now that's a team!


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## mirage (Dec 7, 2017)

Win said:


> Anyone know what are the differences between a RA and a Flight 1 team? ....... and we will need to pay more to join the RA team, but is it worth it?


There's your difference.

Each club has a different definition so the question to ask is where do DA team get their DP players?

Does it come ONLY from the reserve team (not likely because they want whomever is most likely to succeed, all things being equal) or anyone within the club.

Also is the reserve team coached by one of the DA coaches or one of the club's regular coaches?

Just get the facts and you'll know.


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## JJP (Dec 20, 2017)

It’s rare a kid gets moved up from the reserve team to the academy team.  Most academy players are recruited by poaching from other academy teams, not promoting from within.


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## dadenska (Mar 1, 2018)

JJP said:


> It’s rare a kid gets moved up from the reserve team to the academy team.  Most academy players are recruited by poaching from other academy teams, not promoting from within.


So, if they only get to the academy team by being on another academy team, how do they get on the first academy team?


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## JJP (Mar 1, 2018)

Before academy most of the best kids are on pre-academy teams, or they are well known to coaches following the age group.  You also have to remember that academy teams run 4-3-3 which requires the most speed by far of the popular formations run.  So basically the academy teams are all going for skilled, fast players with high soccer IQ and physical and aggressive enough to win balls.

Do you know how rare those players are?  Most single year academy teams really only have 4-6 legit academy players and the rest are decent flight 1 players.  Of those 4-6 a lot of them need work on soccer IQ but that’s what the coaching is for.

As the players age up, the number of academy teams drop and they combine age groups to concentrate the talent, so by u17-18 just about all the kids were picked up from academy teams.


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