[quote} Of course there are benefits to Academy kids playing HS. You used several valid areas as examples. But there are also downsides to it...speed of play being one, consistently playing under pressure being another one.
Just saying that while there are benefits to HS....there would be more benefits by spending those 3 1/2 months in the Academy environment. Thats my opinion.
In terms of where Academy is headed.....IMO, it is more of a fish or cut bait environment. I won't debate the pros/cons of that. This is meant to be a winnowing process. Which kids have the God given ability and the desire and the work rate and personality....to thrive in that environment?
Here is my problem, I completely agree that more work makes players better. And I agree the Academy system provides that. But, my concern is, first you are limiting the player pool by default. We are trying to develop our youth soccer programs to compete, we need to keep as many kids playing for as long as we can and if that means High School, then do not take that away. My second concern has been stated in this thread previously, you can look around and find kids that should be on the academy teams and are not. Why, politics, school affiliations, bubba has been on the team for 4 years so we are not going to replace him even though Sam is better, whatever reason. I know there is not an answer to that but elimintating a fallback option for those kids does not make sense.
