State Cup

Dargle, that sounds like a good argument for training player compensation
 
Dargle said:
All MLS clubs are given automatic full academies in the DA because they have the financial incentive to fully finance their programs and to pick the kids who can lead to profits for the first team. That was the deal when the system began. Pretty much all new full academies are pro teams now. The exceptions are where there are no pro teams or not enough pro teams in an area, which is the main reason US Soccer puts up with letting pay for play clubs run Development Academies.

If you think LA Galaxy keeps players together as teams from U12 up, you haven't been following the rosters very closely year after year. LOTS of turnover, even in HS, although it's less then because that's the narrow part of the funnel or pyramid when they've already winnowed down the players who don't develop. Also, lots of recruiting occurs in HS since the pro teams' Academies can skim the best players off the top from other clubs.

Bottom line, check the numbers. For 2017-2018, 150 clubs have U12 teams, 115 have U13 teams. By U16, only 77 clubs have teams. A lot of kids won't have seats when the music stops as they go up the pyramid. All those kids from teams with no U13 academy team are going to be trying out and competing with kids from clubs with U13 academy teams who played on that club's U12 teams. Turnover is built-in to the system.
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I won't argue numbers and I get the pyramid, my concern is why punish a successful younger DA club and not promote at least an additional year or 2 rather than adding more U12 DA teams. 150 clubs thins out the pool a bit especially having to go against some established teams.
 
Legit_play said:
I won't argue numbers and I get the pyramid, my concern is why punish a successful younger DA club and not promote at least an additional year or 2 rather than adding more U12 DA teams. 150 clubs thins out the pool a bit especially having to go against some established teams.
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I'm not really sure they think of it as punishing the successful DA club. It's just about providing enough entry points with clubs that do a good job identifying and developing talent to weed them out and pass them on to the next level. No Socal DA club that was awarded a U12-only spot last year received a U13 slot except for pro clubs like LAFC and LA Galaxy San Diego (which counts as a separate Academy b/c it's more than 50 miles from LA Galaxy Carson), so it's not like they singled out TFA for punishment.
 
Dargle said:
I'm not really sure they think of it as punishing the successful DA club. It's just about providing enough entry points with clubs that do a good job identifying and developing talent to weed them out and pass them on to the next level. No Socal DA club that was awarded a U12-only spot last year received a U13 slot except for pro clubs like LAFC and LA Galaxy San Diego (which counts as a separate Academy b/c it's more than 50 miles from LA Galaxy Carson), so it's not like they singled out TFA for punishment.
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Dargle,all your info is spot on and extremely useful I'm just a bitter parent whose son's playing future is in question, TFA was my son's personal choice and it was right at the limit we were okay to travel to anything further may be too much to handle especially when considering your information about weeding out players and funneling towards the top of the pyramid. We are witnessing something extremely rare at this age bracket with this team, for such a young age, their knowledge of the game, team defense, their play off the ball is really something to enjoy. I personally would like to see how far it can go that's all.
 
Legit_play said:
Dargle,all your info is spot on and extremely useful I'm just a bitter parent whose son's playing future is in question, TFA was my son's personal choice and it was right at the limit we were okay to travel to anything further may be too much to handle especially when considering your information about weeding out players and funneling towards the top of the pyramid. We are witnessing something extremely rare at this age bracket with this team, for such a young age, their knowledge of the game, team defense, their play off the ball is really something to enjoy. I personally would like to see how far it can go that's all.
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I totally get that. At least you have U12 Academy next year. In theory, the team could stay together and just not play Academy after that. Realistically, though, if all of these parents were willing to drive pretty far away to go to TFA this year, they (and their boys) probably are pretty motivated. Plus, other Academies will start recruiting these kids during Academy League play knowing that they may be free agents after the season. It's hard to imagine it won't break-up as a result. Even if some Academy decided to offer everyone a spot as a team, a few of them will get recruited by LA Galaxy or LAFC and it's hard to compete with that if you have pro ambitions. It's just the way it's set-up. Develop kids, not teams.

The only possible change could be the fact that Klinsmann is no longer technical director and expanding the Academy program to U12 was one of his projects. This pyramid fits with his philosophy and that of European Academies. So, they could alter direction now that he's out. Still, I doubt that they really would start approving full Academies all over Socal (or even more core Academy programs) because it would just end up being another league. Plus, US Soccer denied TFA and other club's applications to expand from U12 to U13 after Klinsmann was fired, so nothing appears to have changed thus far.
 
Legit_play said:
We are witnessing something extremely rare at this age bracket with this team, for such a young age, their knowledge of the game, team defense, their play off the ball is really something to enjoy. I personally would like to see how far it can go that's all.
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It's a fantastic u11 team. It's worth noting, however, that the federation is trying to create systems that yield the best possible players at adulthood rather than at 10 years-old. Sometimes those two goals overlap, and sometimes they don't.
 
MostlyDisappointed said:
It's a fantastic u11 team. It's worth noting, however, that the federation is trying to create systems that yield the best possible players at adulthood rather than at 10 years-old. Sometimes those two goals overlap, and sometimes they don't.
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what TFA shows is that people don't trust the DA system and still rely on the brand of the clubs. If DA clubs were all coached equally well, those TFA kids, which we've heard come from far and wide, would be at DA clubs closer to home. The talent would be distributed. Instead, TFA has managed to concentrate a lot of talent at 05 and younger through its reputation for training possession soccer.

Since that's the case, it seems a little unfortunate that TFA isn't one of the clubs with more DA teams, especially when it appears that other non-mls DA clubs aren't developing intelligence in their players.
 
I agree TFA is a great team but are the players individually as great (i'm sure they are!!!). Being a great team is not what they are looking for, DA is not about developing the team but rather the individual. I have three kids in club soccer (DA & league).
Sometimes you can take a player from a great team put them in a different environment and they don't excel as much.
 
I think you have to look at the TFA juggernaut as both players, coaching and the system. Kids and parents who are ok with rigorous training, long drives (in some cases), dedication over and above most clubs, and kids who have the skill and parents with the dedication to nurture it at a young age. These factors are nearly impossible to harness consistently because parents have jobs, kids are unpredictable, etc. Yes, maybe for a short period of time, like a season, but to keep it going to where everyone is speaking the same language over a long period of time is quite amazing. All great teams are made of all these things. With really good teams like that, a player could be injured and someone else could step in and it might not really matter. To me, that's what a true academy is about. Solid players who are in shape and can just do the job. If academies are building players like that, I'd say the US system is in good shape. If a great team comes out of this, then that's positive, but I agree that the long term is systems that fit those players and then players who are becoming great all around as a result.
 
This state cup tread last weekend for this age group anything on those teams or a just a walk in the park for TFA
 
Ricardo Torres said:
The games have to be played....
The only team TFA hasn't faced is Laufa....
So hopefully we could win tomorrow and face LAUFA
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All Coast Soccer League finals (TFA v. UIFC Laguna Academy), for those who still try to compare leagues. Might be even more revealing to note that three out of the four semifinalists are basically downtown LA or near downtown clubs.
 
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