Sorry, I just don't buy it. I'm sure the coach is highly regarded and intelligent and well meaning. And wrong.
The premise of Academy is two fold: player identification and player development. The two go hand in hand.
Player ID in the past has been run thru ODP for the most part. Um, flip over to any thread on ODP on this forum...and see that it ain't working. It absolutely DID NOT work for my son. And when USSF looked at it as a whole, they came to the conclusion there was a better way.
Player development best happens when you combine talented and motivated players with creative teachers, mixed in with repetition and better than the norm facilities and training tools.
When you have these 80 odd Academies scattered about the country with 18-20 talented and motivated kids per team and great coaches...what you find is that the intensity of training is just different, from what most people experience outside of Academy. And from an ID perspective, its a lot easier for a national team coach or a college coach to evaluate talent when the level of play and intensity of practice is not only high, but fairly uniform.
To his points:
1. I agree. A kid on the bottom quarter of the roster may be better suited outside of Academy. Certainly if playing time and a leadership role are important and for a lot of kids they are. Still......I know of MANY kids who know all of that, but still choose to stay up, simply becasue they know they are competing with the best and thats what they want. But fair enough.....touche', a kid at the bottom of the roster may be better off somewhere else.
2. I disagree strongly. I know there are OUTSTANDING high school coaches out there who don't have anything to do with Academy. So if you are lucky enough to have your son play for one of those coaches.....awesome. But from what I have witnessed? For every ONE of those coaches, there are 10 who relatively speaking...don't have a clue. The u16 coaches in the 4 NC Academies last year also either head coached or associate headcoached at Davidson, UNC, Charlotte, and Elon. Please...give me a break on quality of coaching comparisons. And while the SCU Academy coaches aren't college coaches they are highly regarded and USC has their fingers in the technical aspects of Academy there.
3. Again, really? Maybe when Irmo plays Wando or Northwestern back in the day. Yeah, maybe those schools each get a handful (and I'm being generous) of games per year that match the intensity and overall level of play of Academy. Coach Barr.....simply knows not, what he knows not.
4. Competitive soccer and teammate relationships was what my son enjoyed more than anything, period. For him that was a SC R3 team in the fall and a NC Academy team in the winter and spring. He was never interested in being a rock star and having all the kids at school know who he was. What he wanted....was to play with and against guys who cared and loved the game as much as him. Thats what mattered to him. To him....more was better.
5. See definition of development above. I"m sure there are 2-5 high schools in this state that can run high level competitve training sessions. Again, I'm being generous. Most simply don't have the horses...and again, the level of play between a jr/sr Academy player and a freshmen average player......is enormous on many levels. Development is maximized when players are pushed. I absolutely see how a kid 1 rung below an Academy player would benefit by training with them. But 2-3 years and 2-3 rungs lower....is crazy to think that benefits anyone. The very good player or the very average player. You are fooling yourself.
5. Again, really? How many participants of HS soccer in this state haven't gone thru periods of 5-6 games in an 8 day period or soemthing like that. Every year!!! HS soccer substitutes quantity for quality. Most Academy teams if they are playing on an upcoming weekend only train 3 times per week. You only train 4x per week with no games. So 3 training sessions and 1-2 games, or 3-4 training sessions with no games.....versus the high school schedule of practices and a million games?
Travel is an issue for some kids. My son had a 35 minute drive to Academy practice. Almost all of the kids on his team...were in that 20-35 minute time frame. However, there were a couple of kids that did have serious commutes. What we didn't have as a routine....were mid week games and 90 minute bus rides on school nites.
Oh btw.....CESA has a bunch of kids travleing long distances to go to Greenville multiple times per week. Not unique to Academy. Kids go where they see value.
It hit me the other day.......that this whole Academy/HS topic is an almost perfect replay on what we all went thru a few years ago when small sided games were introduced.
Hey...I was sick and tired of 8 v 8 and was really looking forward to seeing my 10 year old, 90 pound son on a full field playing 11 v 11. I argued as strenuosly as anyone against small sided. You know what. I was wrong. Small sided is ABSOLUTELY the right direction to take with kids and I find it ironic how many high level teams (college/pro/national) still train small sided. Same thing with MLS concept? C'mon. The closest MLS franchise to here is DC. That works if your pro system has teams within 2 hours. Like Germany or England. Limiting Academy to MLS cities is crazy.
It took a year or two for most of us to move past the emotion and see the benefits of SSG and I think the same thing will happen here. People over personalize this topic. When year round Academy happens and it will happen......hopefully this year, everyone will adapt and it will be ok.
My son had to choose after 7th grade between club soccer and school basketball. Both coaches busted his chops for missed practices, even though both said it was ok at the beginning of the season. But my son experienced and learned..and made a choice. He really really liked bball. But he loved soccer.
The outstanding players who love soccer....will benefit by 10 month Academy. Outstanding players who like soccer, will have to make a choice. Its life....weigh it out, make your choice and move on.
