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Hurst: Agreed on your basic statement of Academy being a "pro" prep. Then again, there's practical reality. Look at the 2011-12 SCUBDA U17-18 roster, and see how many are going pro out of high school vs. attending college.
While I don't endorse Academy as a cost-effective vehicle for pursuing a college grant-in-aid, it does effectively showcase kids (to college coaches) in high-quality training and competitive environments.



Backscreen,
I agree with you 100%. A kid has to play at the highest level in order to catch the eye of a coach of a competitive D1 program (and earn scholarship money). My point is that the highest level used to be Region 3 Premier League, and all the colleges were fine with it (except maybe Wake Forest). Why did we need another level when the college coaches were able to identify players under the "old system"? When R3PL was the top of the mountain, your son was being challenged in that environment. If playing in college is "the end" for 90% of players/parents, why did we need another level that sacraficed the high school experience?



Hurst, how does a player "earn" the right to play on a R3 team?

The old system rewarded team success. The new system is about players, not teams.

I'd also go back....R3 boys play in the Fall. NC plays HS in the fall. So NC teams playing in R3 aren't training or playing any other competiion as a team. While its nice to say the old R3 had CASL or Greensboro or a top CHarlotte team....what they had were shells of top teams. Those teams didn't really come together until mid Nov.

Having done both, its really no comparison.