Again, I agree...an academy like IMG is very similar to sending a child to boarding school.

SF, agreed. However, sending a kid away to a school merely to get better at soccer seems...a little dramatic. I guess my topic is debating: Why send a kid 10 hours away from family and childhood friends when all that they need is within one hour?

I'd compare the social skills in a largely scaled down model to that of a home schooled child. Nothing wrong with home schooling whatsoever. They excel in academics and other areas requiring above average IQ's. I just don't think they could hold a conversation with my neighbor's public school kid as well as other "mainstream" children. What do you talk about when you're around normal kids at church or in your neighborhood when all you do is eat, sleep, and breathe soccer?

True, a quality club with a quality trainer are prime ingredients to becoming successful. A kid who wants to excel must take it a step further; individual soccer training coupled with individual physical training in addition to club training gives a kid an opportunity to become exceptional and separate themselves from mediocrity. High school or club ball alone "won't get it".

And, really it all starts with a kid's desire - if a kid wants to do it, there won't be any "sacrifices" as they become an exceptional soccer player...

im sure there are kids who's parents pay the money just to say their kid goes to a place like that and the kid does not have the skill that you may think he or she has with that IMG tag beside their name.
i also think that an athletic and skilled soccer player can get better faster at a IMG type place because instead of getting 3 hrs a week of soccer you are getting atleast 4 hrs a day.you also get the soccer classroom time going over the different aspects of the game that most kids at any club will not get.a kid at IMG may still not be better skill wise than a player at a club but their knowlege of the game and how to play the game will be better. im sure there is a lot of chalkboard time on positioning at a place like IMG.

I agree with Sweet Feet on this issue. I have toured IMG (the soccer portion, anyway)and it is very much like a boarding school, with half day school and the afternoons for training. I also think what the player gets out of IMG will depend on what they put into it, and what their motives are for wanting to go there. If a player is absolutely obsessed about soccer playing/training then that player will be given the opportunity to thrive in that type of environment. My daughter has wanted to attend IMG every since she found out last summer at ODP camp that they also train girls. She will attend IMG next Fall, her Senior year, and believes that she is sacrificing nothing on the social level and has everything to gain by making the change. That is not to say that she won't miss her club and Wando High school teammates, because she will, but her drive to work on her game is so strong that she is sure she is making the right choice. She has already verbally committed to a D1 SEC school, so her focus is more on working on her individual weak areas than on exposure to colleges, etc., There is also something to be said for the mental training (especially for the GK position) and the fact that all training is contained in one area instead of running up and down the road several hours weekly, as we have done year after year for club training. Last fall she spent an average of 5-6 hours of week driving to and from club training, which she felt was "dead time". Again, I am not advocating that IMG would be a good "fit" for every soccer player - in fact, that is why you have to pass an interview before you are accepted - but for some it may be the best environment.

Hey Chass, do I smell a Bond-like script coming? Maybe you could re-wirte the new Indiana Jones movie to incorporate the saving of this little girl (I imagine her at six years old), eliminate the alien factor and make it worth the nine dollars I spent going to see it. Not soccer-related, but still . . .

Hmm...maybe even blend in a little Harry Potter, where she gets shipped off to a Stalin-esque military version of Hogwart's to learn mad magic soccer skills...only it's a plot by the aliens to feed off their gladitorial-style matches for their own energy consumption needs and vicarious experience.

She's rescued by a fedora-sporting local high school/club coach who teaches her that the team-building, sportsmanship, and work ethic lessons she can learn in sports will translate into more areas of life than just winning on the field for the glory of their alien masters.

Deprived of their vicarious energy source, the aliens...well, I don't want to give away the ending before I get your nine bucks.

I saw the trailer and this is going to be bigger than "The Incredible Hulk".

This falls in to the "if you cannot say anything nice, don't say anything" category.

If you read the BIO's of the UNC girls team, ODP comes up a bunch, and good solid clubs. That is about it.

If a kids wants to get to be MLS quality, those 4 hours a day would obviously help.

IMG has no real magic, the only difference is the quality of facilities and the amount of time the players train. Each player has a specific diet to follow, weight lifting and mental conditioning are all part of the system. The school teachers allow students to make up any work that was missed or late due to any soccer activity. My daughter starts school at 8:00 am and is finished by 10:30. It's amazing how much the teacher can cover without all of the distractions of a normal school. Also not all the typical bs drama of a normal HS, parents don't lay awake waiting for their kids to come home, if they make it home at all. Drug screening is mandatory, that's right no pot, that alone would cripple the local HS soccer scene.