[DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY] The U.S. Soccer Development Academy will add three teams in the 2013-14 season: Olney-Bethesda (Md.), the Philadelphia Union and PhoenixFC. The Maryland club is a partnership of Olney Soccer and Bethesda Soccer Club. The other two are professional academy teams.
“Over the past several years, the Union has dedicateda lot of time and resources to carefully research, build and implement a comprehensive youth player development system while working closely with their surrounding clubs,” said U.S. Soccer Director ofScouting Tony Lepore. “Both Bethesda SC and Olney BGC have a strong history of youth national team player development and high quality of trainingenvironment and age appropriate philosophy expected from a Development Academy club. The addition of Phoenix FC as the second team from Arizona brings in a club with a strong commitment to resources,funding and technical leadership in an area that has seen early success from Real Salt Lake AZ over the past three seasons.”
Philadelphia becomes the 18th MLS organization to be apart of the Development Academy system. Only Toronto FC is not part of the Development Academy.
The Union has had an affiliation agreement with FC Delco, which has sent two players to theMLS as homegrown players: Zach Pfeffer and Jimmy McLaughlin.
Phoenix FC is in its first season in USLPRO.
The article that you should have written should be about who wasn’t given entry into the u13/14 Development Academy League.www.3four3.comu10,u11,u12 SoCal 2013 State Cup Winnersu10,u11,u13 2012 Surf Cup Winnersu12 2013 MIC Cup Semifinalists whereby they tied barca and beat Ajax
BryanDo you think that deciding who is admitted should be based on how many victories they had, and how may teams they beat?Just curious
Martha, good point. Should it be based on how many top teams you have or facilities instead?? Because alot of it has to do with how you get picked. How about it gets based “solely” on players developed??
Martha,Victories should absolutely not be the only metric used. Winning in and of itself is not at all indicative of ones ability to develop soccer players. It is however, one of the endless necessary ingredients. A resume says nothing of ones ability to develop “true quality” players. A product is required to asses the situation correctly. And if you dig into the link I shared, you will find a product and can draw your own conclusions.www.3four3.com
I agree with you Bryan and wish you had mentioned other metrics. But it looked like the only metrics you put forward was the winning. It unfortunately sounded like when they want to select a coach for player development, they jump on the resumes that list the most state cup wins, or any competition where they were finalist, or that they have been undefeated for 2 or 3 years. This situation will sadly continue as long as most people continue to believe that if a team wins everything, it means the players are developed.I wish the player development be measured by metrics such as how many uninterrupted passes, how long they can keep possession, etc. Anything that focuses on the PLAYER and not the points that GotSoccer gives to a TEAM