SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums United Soccer Coaches & National Awards NSCAA comments about U.S. Soccer's Development Academy

Coaches please find below the link to the announcement for the DA to go forward with their plan to remove players from High school soccer. Ironically the heading at the top of the page is "RESPECT CAMPAIGN". Clearly they are struggling with the definition of respect.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Development-Academy/2012/02/Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx

This plan is about killing high school soccer and we need to respond. The NSCAA will very shortly have a position clearly articulated and appropriate for the organization. We as high school coaches will need to work nationwide to combat this problem. Please work diligently to sell your programs benefits to the parents and become more aggressive in retaining your players. Please look for follow up emails as we piece together a nationwide response to this affront.

Greg Mauch
Kevin Sims

You can argue all you want about how to improve soccer in the US, the reality has nothing to do with High school, DA, College etc.. Soccer here will only get better when we can attract a majority of the countries best athletes to the sport instead of the few who play now. Soccer is and always will be the top sport in Europe in terms of pay and prestige, in the US it is barely a break even venture. In my time i have seen some tremendous athletes start in soccer but leave for the more "glamorous" sports once they reach high school.

DA will NOT kill HS soccer. That's just not true. If we had 1000 DA players in the state, maybe it might be different. We don't have enough to make a dent in HS soccer.

DA is for the elite players. It's not an extension of a classic team. It is about what is best for the players.

I propose a simple compromise, which would not really require doing anything that has not, in some way, already been done.

I propose that the DA could offer two levels of membership. For those players for whom playing in high school (or in other local options) is important, the previous one-season model would be an option, which would still allow those players to benefit from training at the advertised highest level, expose those athletes to the selection system, and probably attract a certain number of athletes into the program who are qualified and have great potential, but may not be ready to give up all of their other options at this point and might select themselves out of the DA system entirely rather than buy into the all-or-nothing model.

For those players who know that they are dedicated to shaping themselves into the next generation of professional/international players and are willing to totally commit to that goal, the 10-month season would be their option. These groups of players would be able to train year-round at the highest level knowing that they are all challenging each other toward the same goals, unconflicted by second guesses over forced choices.

High school coaches, in turn, should take this offer of choice by the DA in good faith and encourage their elite players to at least participate in the one-season option. They should also respect the PLAYER'S INFORMED CHOICE OF OPTIONS...if at any point a player says "Coach, I've worked in the DA and I believe, to meet my goals, that going full-time with them is MY BEST CHOICE"--then accept that this is not any kind of forced decision or rivalry ploy by the DA or anyone else, but the player's free will choice, given all options. Respect it, encourage it, and tell him how proud of him you are for earning the opportunity and how much you hope to be watching him on the big screen.

That's my humble idea for an ideal model...if the "all the way from the start or we're not going to train you at all/it's either us or them" model still makes more sense, I will bow to wisdom beyond my understanding.

Really? Less than 1% of the kids who play HS soccer in SC not playing....will "kill" the game? Are we engaging in election year hyperbole, or what?

"Coaches please find below the link to the announcement for the DA to go forward with their plan to remove players from High school soccer. Ironically the heading at the top of the page is "RESPECT CAMPAIGN". Clearly they are struggling with the definition of respect.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Development-Academy/2012/02/Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx

This plan is about killing high school soccer and we need to respond. The NSCAA will very shortly have a position clearly articulated and appropriate for the organization. We as high school coaches will need to work nationwide to combat this problem. Please work diligently to sell your programs benefits to the parents and become more aggressive in retaining your players. Please look for follow up emails as we piece together a nationwide response to this affront.

Greg Mauch
Kevin Sims "

The loss of these kids will not hurt HS soccer at all. Heck a good deal of the best players in SC dont even play DA.

USSF: The move to a 10-month season is being driven by our membership, the majority of which has been overwhelmingly supportive of the initiative because they recognize the value of player development. A number of clubs have already switched to the 10-month season and have seen substantial improvement (Western Conference, Texas Division).

TR: What is the standard of improvement - how is it measured, what does it look like?

USSF: We are competing in a global marketplace. We are not just trying to prepare elite players for college and the pro ranks in the United States; we are trying to prepare players to compete against the best clubs and international teams from around the world. Therefore, our standard has to be higher.

BUT THEY ALSO SAY

We are talking about a group of players that want to continue at the next level, whether that is professional or college, which is still the destination for a majority of our graduates.
AND

The elite players who choose to commit to the Development Academy will be around like-minded individuals in pursuit of a similar goal and will experience many of the same benefits. Players will have the chance to compete with and in front of their family, friends and club members, along with college and pro scouts, and most important, our Men’s National Team scouting network on a weekly basis.

TR: The facts are there are over 60,000 college soccer players in this country, with slightly more girls than boys. So one does not need to play DA to play in college.

The realities of US professional soccer can be found here (a bit dated but still fairly accurate):
http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/22...season-preview/

and here:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/11/09/climbing-ladder-role-us-players-mls

My problem with the FAQs is that US Soccer asks appropriate questions but in a manner that makes high school soccer sound like a picnic where everyone has juice boxes and sings songs. I know I don't have juice boxes at my training sessions.

I wonder how many US Soccer representatives have been to a high quality high school training session or do they just buy into the myth that all high school soccer is crap and all club soccer is great.

What US Soccer fails to realize is that a 10-month DA schedule is not the ultimate solution to improving the quality of our national team. I do believe that this could be a step in the right direction, but soccer in the US needs to have one governing body. I believe that US Soccer and USSF must merge. Does England have two governing bodies for soccer? For that matter, we actually have four when you factor in NCAA and NFHS. You now have US Soccer promoting it's DA product as the ultimate way for players to improve but USSF making all the coaching decisions?! I would be interested to hear what USSF has to say about this. Do they support this move or do they still champion their methods as the best?

I do not think that this single move will kill high school soccer as long as other leagues do not follow suit.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the top level. Years ago ODP was supposed to be the solution... then State League... then Super Y... then Region 3 Premier League... then ECNL... now a 10-month DA schedule.

By the way, how much does US Soccer charge for this privilege? If you want to really mirror what the rest of the world is doing perhaps you should start there.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the top level. Years ago ODP was supposed to be the solution... then State League... then Super Y... then Region 3 Premier League... then ECNL... now a 10-month DA schedule.

By the way, how much does US Soccer charge for this privilege? If you want to really mirror what the rest of the world is doing perhaps you should start there.

Ding, ding, ding ... we have a winner!

I agree with this statement. 5-10 years from now, we'll have a 'new solution' to this issue. I still believe the best way to achieve quality soccer growth is for the MLS teams (which still are not totally solvent on their own terms in some cases) to anchor residential programs that recruit/attract the top 1% of players to train in a professional development free of cost to the player.

As for what the S.C. United Battery (DA team) will charge, who knows, but I would be very surprised if it was fully funded. If you end up charging $2,000-$4,000 per player to be involved for a 10-month season, will you truly attract the top 1% or just those that think they're in the top 1% because their parents can write the check. What are the advantages for a #15-20 player on a DA roster? Are they "guaranteed" at least a DI college scholarship? If so, are they full-ride players, or are they only going to garner $2,000-$4,000 per year in scholarship money?

Those are the questions that need to be asked of DA and what it means to all the players involved -- not just the top 2-3 ringers on each squad that would be able to play DI soccer regardless of involvement with DA.