I’ve been doing DA rankings for last 2 months and have gotten several private messages asking me how I think the non-Academy teams compare with the Academy teams. There have also been a lot of posts talking about the failed Academy program given the US Men’s debacle.
First, I am biased toward Academy because my DD is on an Academy team, so everything probably has a pro academy bias. Also, my brother is a tier D1 assistant coach, so I have gotten his perspective on things as well. I think the Academy program has the best players and if your DD is a regular starter on a good team, Academy is definitely the right choice.
If your DD is not a regular starter or not on a good team, I would strongly consider looking elsewhere.
This is for 2 reasons, first, I think the biggest probably with the Academy system is the kids do not play enough games. US soccer says this is what other countries do, but US soccer does not understand we are different. US kids are not playing hours of pick up soccer and not watching hours of professional games on their own. Thus, US kids do not understand the game as well as their international piers. The way they catch up is by playing games. The US woman’s team has done so well because we have top athletes and because our youth girls programs have played tons of game. I fear Academy is really going to hurt the future of US soccer because of the games. Thus, if your DD is not playing the majority of the few games Academy is playing, you need to move them.
Also, playing for a bad Academy team is not a great idea. Scouts at the Academy events are going to focus on the top teams. According to my brother, his team looks for kids from winning teams, because he wants winners. If a player is not good enough to turn a team into a winning team that is one strike. The fact that the player is okay being on a losing team is another strike. He wants kids that know how to win and won’t accept losing. He says there is enough talent that every kid he takes has ability. They look for other things, and winning is one of them.
Anyway, below is my opinion of the top 25 teams in So. Cal right now (including the one non So Cal Academy team, but not including the non so Cal ECNL teams). Hopefully this starts some conversation of how wrong I am or who I left out.
There are 13 Academy teams, 6 ECNL teams, 3 CSL teams and 3 SDSL teams in my top 25. Most of the talent is in Academy and, then, ECNL. There are however a few outsiders, including SD Navy, who is #4. They won Surf Cup (beating Arsenal 3-0), and are tearing up the 2002 division of SCDSL. I even have a few teams from lower brackets because the brackets in SCDSL and Coast are a mess this year because of the Academy changes. Teams in the top bracket don’t belong to be there as many of their top players left for Academy. Most of the non Academy/non ECNL teams have several kids with interest from several colleges, so if you are a top player on one of these teams, you will get noticed.
I did not include any DPL teams because these teams are generally B or C teams and did not do well against any of the teams on this list in the games played. Also, the top DPL team is Eagles and they were the only Academy team not to make the list.
First, I am biased toward Academy because my DD is on an Academy team, so everything probably has a pro academy bias. Also, my brother is a tier D1 assistant coach, so I have gotten his perspective on things as well. I think the Academy program has the best players and if your DD is a regular starter on a good team, Academy is definitely the right choice.
If your DD is not a regular starter or not on a good team, I would strongly consider looking elsewhere.
This is for 2 reasons, first, I think the biggest probably with the Academy system is the kids do not play enough games. US soccer says this is what other countries do, but US soccer does not understand we are different. US kids are not playing hours of pick up soccer and not watching hours of professional games on their own. Thus, US kids do not understand the game as well as their international piers. The way they catch up is by playing games. The US woman’s team has done so well because we have top athletes and because our youth girls programs have played tons of game. I fear Academy is really going to hurt the future of US soccer because of the games. Thus, if your DD is not playing the majority of the few games Academy is playing, you need to move them.
Also, playing for a bad Academy team is not a great idea. Scouts at the Academy events are going to focus on the top teams. According to my brother, his team looks for kids from winning teams, because he wants winners. If a player is not good enough to turn a team into a winning team that is one strike. The fact that the player is okay being on a losing team is another strike. He wants kids that know how to win and won’t accept losing. He says there is enough talent that every kid he takes has ability. They look for other things, and winning is one of them.
Anyway, below is my opinion of the top 25 teams in So. Cal right now (including the one non So Cal Academy team, but not including the non so Cal ECNL teams). Hopefully this starts some conversation of how wrong I am or who I left out.
There are 13 Academy teams, 6 ECNL teams, 3 CSL teams and 3 SDSL teams in my top 25. Most of the talent is in Academy and, then, ECNL. There are however a few outsiders, including SD Navy, who is #4. They won Surf Cup (beating Arsenal 3-0), and are tearing up the 2002 division of SCDSL. I even have a few teams from lower brackets because the brackets in SCDSL and Coast are a mess this year because of the Academy changes. Teams in the top bracket don’t belong to be there as many of their top players left for Academy. Most of the non Academy/non ECNL teams have several kids with interest from several colleges, so if you are a top player on one of these teams, you will get noticed.
I did not include any DPL teams because these teams are generally B or C teams and did not do well against any of the teams on this list in the games played. Also, the top DPL team is Eagles and they were the only Academy team not to make the list.