Youth soccer’s dividing line: Club vs. academy

The Washington Post has a lengthy piece on the club vs. academy issue raging in that youth soccer hotbed, and it’s a topic that’s a rather hot one across country.

The U.S. Soccer Federation setting up a development academy that has involved Major League Soccer helped fan the flames of a long divide between the “professional” and “youth” camps in the American soccer structure.

Advocates of the academy system believe that the teaching and mastery of skills aren’t being emphasized enough, and they favor a more vertical system of player development that is common around the world:

“We need to shift the focus of our young elite players from an ‘overburdened, game emphasis’ model to a ‘meaningful training and competition’ model. This will ultimately lead to more success and will allow players to develop to their full potential.”

The speaker there was USSF president Sunil Gulati, whose comments have rankled more than a few defenders of the club approach, and not just because they feel their uniquely American-style autonomy and dominance are being encroached upon:

“I think we all want to push our players on to better environments But the key is, is it a better environment? We’re told it is, but there is nothing being done that proves they are.”

That was an unnamed youth club technical director in the D.C. area. Of course, the academy undertaking is rather new, and it probably will not supplant the established club system that is financed and dictated by highly involved parents.

Earlier this year, Jeff Carlisle of ESPNSoccernet.com examined the national youth structure in a five-part series that delved heavily into the Development Academy. One of his conclusions isn’t optimistic about this new approach:

“One issue is that kids rarely play soccer outside of a structured setting, meaning the kind of improvisation and experimentation that players develop organically in other countries is tougher to come by in the United States. But that is a cultural obstacle too large for the USSF to influence with one program.”

This is a topic I want to explore further as it pertains to what’s happening on the metro Atlanta scene. How much of a club vs. academy problem is there with your club? How is it affecting your child’s ability not just to play or get noticed by scouts, but simply to enjoy and appreciate the game?

Cobb Futbol’s Jack McInerney, a leading player on the U.S. Under-17 national team, has benefited from both environments, although his time this past year at the USSF’s residency program in Florida certainly has elevated his stock.

Can the long-standing club culture really turn out top-level players with potential for pro and national team careers in a way to advance the American game? Or are young players, especially those at the youngest age groups, better off in a less competitive and results-oriented cocoon, where their skills can be incubated without the constant pressure of winning games?

What do you think?