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It was just too much to quote!!!

I agree with you....that the average soccer player in this country doesn't work as hard as the average soccer player in a "soccer" country.

Thats why.....I believe the 10 month Academy is a good thing for the top player. Kids will develop better when they are training with and against kids who work just as hard as they do. And you are right...the average player here doesn't work hard enough at improving his game.

Also agree that many of our best athletes never seriously consider soccer. But thats not a reason not to try and focus on what we do have.

firsttouch ...

Good question. The current SC United staff includes a mix of folks, including (heaven forbid!!!) a high school coach. Each of the fellows is a capable trainer. The larger benefit though, comes through training with/against high-level players.

Many of the current Mount Pleasant crop were developed as "prospects" by Kian Brownlee, CESA, or a combination of both. Those at Wando have benefited from exposure to Shilo Tisdale and the environment he creates.

Big Daddy:

We actually agree on a lot of this. I would say this, though. If mine spent as much time on the game as he does in a car or bus, he'd be an even better player.

Coach - it is fallacious to say that something that didn't happen had (or didn't have) any level of impact. It's unknowable. One can't say how much better those players might have been.

Which is why we are only making observations on things that DID happen. Those players DID have high-level club training, they DID also play at their respective high schools, and they DID become elite international players. Observing this, it's perfectly logical to conclude that what DID happen, while it may or may not have been universally beneficial, was not sufficiently detrimental to prevent them from reaching their current well-respected level of development.

Nobody ever said they might not have been even better players in another environment; that, as you say, is unknowable. Therefore, the argument that playing high school did not prevent them from reaching their goals is more logically sound than the argument that playing in the DA would have helped them more. The former is based entirely on the observable; the latter, despite being entirely plausible, is based on the theoretical.

Back to you.

Academy changes are all about training - TopDrawerSoccer.com

Taking that step could alienate some, as the ten-month requirement means no high school soccer for some of the best of the best.

But, as Reyna points out, that stipulation may only impact one percent of those playing boys high school soccer, and the decision was made with a majority of Development Academy clubs advocating it.

"The support of our clubs was huge throughout this process of going ten months and following it," he said. "It was a lot to do with them and what we heard in terms of an overwhelming amount of [clubs] having the players with them more often and going to a ten-month season."

What is the estimated cost for a player to participate in Academy for one ten-month season, including fees, estimated travel expenses, equipment and uniform costs, etc.?

And for South Carolina players who can not afford these fees, how many scholarship spots are available to be on the South Carolina teams?

Fan 8--Calculators still burning up trying to answer your post. Meanwhile, I have been watching this thread develope and I know most people will say that I am being unneedlessly critical,but I just don't get it.
The birth of DA seems to almost perfectly coincide with the highwater mark for our MNT. The Confederations Cup saw us dismantle World #1 and now defending World Cup champs, Spain and lose a heartbreaker to 5 time champ Brasil, and this is the model we choose to move forward?
The entire model is full of contradiction as Klinsman screams for inner city involvement, yet is edorsing something that virtually guarantees that can't happen.
Our own local DA tells us it fought hard against the 10 month plan, yet the National DA states the vote was overwelmingly unanimous. I myself posted on this board last May that an email was already in the works for DA players regarding HS.
By the admission of several DA supporters in this thread ,they anticipate a decrease in DA players and clubs when decisions have to be made in September--so the few will be fewer and the pool will get smaller.
A strong smell of $ and profit is in the air and it has the oder of exclusion.
Look at the early lives of Georgie Best and Pele. As you see, they did not come from privledged backgrounds and thankfully,someone saw potential and phone calls were made.
The posters here that have addressed inner city kids(just like Klinsman) are right on target, which this model is not.
No, I don't have all of the answers, but it seems to me that the old club systems that produced the vast majority of that C.C. team wasn't a total flop.
I hope I am wrong, but I think this train wreck is now on fire.