Player Development III

Fear And Loathing In US Soccer

USSF Establishes New Development Academy Demands: 
No High School Sports, 10 Month Season Highlight Changes

Part III in the 192 Square Feet Player Development series.  Read: Part I & Part II

Seems everyone is talking about it (*see bottom of post for article links), and where Philly seems to be all afire about the changes perhaps some further discussion here would be of use to a few folks.  Every paradigm shift comes with lots of outcry and discomfort (see: Affordable Care Act; Social Security/OASDI Program).  With all due acknowledgement to the difficulty of knowing the right path to take, I'm fairly sanguine about the changes.  But it's worth acknowledging that having worked for 12 years on both the youth and college sides of the recruiting process, I'm much more comfortable with the realities than a parent who lacks the insider knowledge.  At any rate, just as a student who attends a school like Carleton won't suffer in life for having not gone to Harvard, most kids will do just fine without ever playing for a Development Academy program.

The other side of this argument is that the soccer community is too wrapped up in the changes with the Development Academy; regular clubs ought to be taking the hint and following the approach taken by the USSF to the degree the stakeholders feel is suitable.  If we made our clubs better, not being a part of the DA would be far less of a concern to the close-but-not-quite set of players.  Doesn't it seem odd that the USSF, and the experts they consulted with came up with the approach they did, and so few of the clubs (run by part-timers, volunteers, and generally non-soccer-professionals) see fit to replicate that effort?

The change is a good one, and the tempest will pass.  No one need be worried about being shut out of senior level opportunities.

Here's why.
The Numbers Game

US Soccer is a crazy conglomeration of playing and training environments from the utmost examples of professionalism to the most fly by night efforts.  We lack, clearly, the same single-minded organization that many other soccer nations have in regards to player development (but the same, if not greater, raw material and potential...more on the sheer numbers here, here and here).  But we have a much larger geographic and demographic situation to manage.

Soccer's avid fanbase is 10 percent, which does not sound like much until you realize that is 33 million people. "Based on the way it is trending, I believe global soccer will soon be four or five times bigger than it is today, and MLS's fanbase will triple or quadruple,"  ESPNFC

The USSF had to make some inroads with the youth game to create a similarly dedicated avenue to the highest level of the game, in essence to copy the European model.  Consider this- before the USSF started the Academy, the MLS clubs (and USL, for that matter) weren't making any effort to organize the youth soccer scene coast-to-coast.  And the DA will make a significant advance for our young players to that effect.  So as a fan of US Soccer, I think it's great that the kids who want to put in the requisite time and effort to be a part of the DA, have that option.  It's certainly a tall order to pass on everything else in the way the USSF requires, but it ain't showfriends, it's showbusiness.  For every kid who really wants to play high school soccer, there's hundreds who reluctantly go back to scholastic ball each August faced with crammed schedules, poor coaching, lousy fields, & widely varying degrees of quality amongst both teammates and opponents.

Similarly, the USSF leadership and Klinnsmann in particular, observed that while the club system was well-developed, the clubs simply weren't producing truly exceptional talent.  And the list of reasons why is as long as my arm: too much club-hopping by disgruntled families, too many games/too little training, prohibitively expensive, too many part-time coaches, a lack of coaching education, a culture of playing multiple sports...and on and on.  ODP wasn't doing the trick either, so credit to the USSF for shelving that idea.  While ODP is still out there (for girls it remains a vital option) it has been eclipsed by the clubs that are getting on board with the new player development strategies and the USSF's efforts with the DA.

Colleges Recruit Clubs Outside Of The DA

For those who are at a level where the DA is an option, but perhaps like the idea of playing a second sport, or playing for a robust high school program, the choice is particularly painful.  But, if a Lower Merion SC player opts not to go the DA route, it is hardly fair to say he won't get good college looks playing for a non-DA club.  Of course, getting in front of the right school's staff is the key, regardless.  Go to camps on your own, guest play with another club at a particular tournament, attend one-day "camps" such as this, this, this, and this (same goes for the girls!)...and on and on.  A great many NCAA Division I players are not DA products.

College coaches may not be rocket scientists, but they can do the math.  1.5 million boys play soccer in this country (under the age of 18; 3% of them are 18 = 45,000), and there are 80 or so DA programs.  Leaves plenty of room for good players to play outside the DA system, and as long as a club that appears in the right showcases is within reach, high level soccer at the adult level is very reachable.  198 Division I programs, 400 or so in DIII, we're talking 15,500 players (or 3,875 per year)...the DA offers 80 clubs to select from, or approximately 1,600 players (though it's really closer to 800 b/c the age groups are double- U18+17 form the older group, and U16+15 form the younger team- only two teams per DA club).  So if 800 guys graduate each year from the DA, we still need to come up with 3,075 players from other clubs, per year.  Out of 45,000 graduating boys.  The numbers are roughly analogous on the girls' side, though there are about 200 more college programs.

I suppose, at the end of the day, kids and their families have to be wise enough consumers of the soccer landscape to realize that as in college selection, the vast majority aren't going to participate in the elite programs.  But of the thousands of college options, there are hundreds that can prepare a future job-hunter just about as well (to say nothing of the individual's own self-regard, effort and creativity!)  This article shows how hopeless the Ivy League is...The DA is little different.  Look at this graphic and think about the availability of DA situations, just on geography alone.  What a bitter disappointment to have to go to a lowly school like University of Chicago, or Carnegie Mellon University...or play for a non-DA club that does things well.

"Regular" Clubs Work
Non-DA soccer programs can still get kids where they want to be.  It's a shame that not making a DA team would be seen as the terminal event in a young boy's career, where so much can change between U15 and the age of 22 as a college senior.  There's a reason the MLS has a college draft, in addition to the various combines and more normative transfers.  The college game has a place in developing pros, and while it is certainly evolving, will most likely continue to do so.  And as the math showed above, a great many of those potential future pros and Division I athletes will have to come from non-DA systems.

Playing for a club that goes to the big showcases helps, but like homebuyers, coaches make up their minds in pretty short order - remember those numbers above; coaches can't possibly see everyone play, and have to make very speedy decisions in order to get through the sheer volume of players trying to make the jump.  So even a big tournament isn't a sure thing.  Camps and clinics at a given school may well represent the best chance a player has; but the list of schools has to be short because there isn't much time over the summer break to attend camps.  The more and more common one-day "clinic" is becoming a major player, and with multiple colleges attending a given clinic, these offer great recruitment opportunities.

While it can be overwhelming, and difficult to sort through, US youth soccer has so many options no player is prevented from pursuing his or her goals...save the big one: financial access.  For a family of resources (both cold hard cash, but just as importantly, leisure time) it's eminently do-able, with or without the DA.  For a family who is not so well-off, far too many doors close for those kids.  Camps are expensive, high-profile clubs are outrageous, and the travel and time required can be too much for many families.

The Old Ways

10 years ago, everyone accepted that ODP was a political mess that wasn't worth it (if your kid didn't make it) or a perfectly fine system (if you kid did make it) and fewer kids participated in that program than the current DA.  But colleges filled their rosters anyway, high schools fielded teams, and as a nation we continued to under-perform.  We'll see, in time, how the DA affects national performances, but while it is a sudden shock to those in the DA now to be told all-or-nothing by US Soccer, those coming along in the next few years will make the choice going in, and we'll hear a lot less about this.

A little aside about ODP.  When I worked with NH ODP a few years back, we had a standing agreement with the Region I staff that no matter what, if we brought a full team to the ID camp, one of our kids would make the Region I roster.  The logic being that if we didn't get kids on the Region I team, other kids wouldn't bother trying out for ODP because it looked hopeless to advance.  So some poor kid from Eastern PA, or VA or whatever, was sent packing because a kid from NH (who may or may not have been better) had a spot locked up in the back room deal.  Right?  Wrong?  Doesn't really matter.  It was the call the powers-that-be made, and for good reasons, and with good intent, if not good outcomes.  The DA, if things go according to plan, will have less of this sort of tomfoolery.

Add to that the rather limited college recruitment attention for scholastic teams :

• Poor quality overall at the HS level for a variety of factors deters coaches from scouting
• Season conflicts with the college season, so college coaches can't see as many games 
• Players are perpetually over-trained due to excessive schedule demands and so don't show as well
• Multiple ages playing together make playing time much harder to come by; age group arrangement in club ball simplifies this and offers more playing time/exposure
• Being a top player in the generally weaker scholastic divisions makes it tough to determine if a player has the chops to handle the next level- the comparisons can be widely skewed.

Top-notch players are often wise to opt for a higher profile club situation.  It is very common these days to have players opting out of high school soccer for the above reasons.  Players who attend prep schools will fare better than most public school players, but the restrictions still exist on opportunities to be "seen."  All that said, of course, and the real truth of recruiting is that kids recruit themselves.  It's pretty rare for a coach to simply discover a student and convince them to attend a given school.  Kids find schools that interest them, initiate contact, and then coaches try to to seal the deal...far less sexy than most wish.  But Hollywood doesn't always get it right.

High school ball is fun...but it's been around longer than ODP, most clubs, and the DA...and it clearly hasn't develop players who could hang at the highest levels.  Our best players need to make a choice about which path they'd like to take, how scholastic play fits into that and how best to advance on their chosen route to senior level soccer.  They are very lucky to have options beyond the DA that can get them to the highest levels if they opt out.

The New Way (For Everyone)

If more clubs would choose to follow the guidelines currently being used as directives by the USSF for the DA clubs, there'd be a lot less concern about keeping up with the Joneses.  The DA has good coaches, but they hardly have a monopoly on technical knowledge.  Clubs need to understand that the game is well beyond just gathering up a bunch of kids, calling Eurosport for some uniforms and entering every tournament in creation.  The administrators of a club must establish curricula, coaching education minimums (I couldn't work for some youth programs as I only have a "C" license via the USSF...and I think that's great) as well as continuing education protocols.  Training must be a mandated requirement of all staff/teams (and to do this any self-respecting club should have facilities expressly for training) and a line in the sand drawn on the number of games played per year**.  The info is out there, there are plenty of suitable and determined coaches, and space can be found just about anywhere.

At the end of the day, without some of the more onerous requirements the USSF puts on the very top percentage of players, many other clubs can offer just as challenging and effective player development environments.  With some thought and creativity, it can all be done at a cost that is not prohibitive to the 99%-ers.  But, as we see with the DA U13/14 program, clubs need to either get going on initiatives like these, or the DA will simply outpace all the rest.  With FC Delco and PA Classics in our backyard, LMSC should be interacting with those clubs to shadow the best practices used at those clubs with the DA affiliation.  It's fun to go out and compete with other clubs and keep score and get the bragging rights.  But it is far more meaningful and worthwhile to do all that with the idea in mind that if we're keeping our eye on a slightly bigger target (improving the individual player's experience and development, enjoyment of the game, etc.).

One other thought, if the FIFA "Big Count" is considered, it could be argued that not only do regular clubs have a serious role to play (especially given the centralized approach via the DA clubs) in feeding players upward, there are too few of them!  With over 4 million registered players we double the number of registered players in Brazil, for instance, yet Brazil had 3X as many clubs in operation.  I suspect the "club" designation in most other countries refers to a more adult-level whereas the US sees clubs as a mainly youth program (FIFA may or may not count our youth-only organizations as clubs).  Regardless, our mega-club approach (CASL in North Carolina has an annual budget of 5 million dollars...) may not be quite the thing we hope.  Boutique clubs of smaller sizes may offer far more economical approaches in virtually every sense.

*Resources/links:

The Development Academy overview here.
**(PLEASE NOTE THE 30 GAME PER YEAR MAX FOR U15 & UP)
FAQs about the 10-month rule here.
The new U13/14 Academy program here.
The USSF Curriculum here.

The High School Debate:
Grantland ...4 posts on the topic
Washington Post
SoccerAmerica
New York Times