Summer Wrap-up

With the Fall 2008 Season around the corner, a quick update on the summer...

Fall 2008
We are still working on some of the technical glitches on our website. Our hosts seems to be making progress on them. For the time being almost all communications will be disseminated via email. OESA parents and players should have received their fall schedule and teams going to the Gallagher Friendlies should have received the hotel information to begin making reservations. If you have not, please contact me immediately.

U.S. Soccer Development Academy
The Development Academy finals were a pleasure. Four contrasting teams from four different parts of the country. I felt Carmel U15/16 was the best team we saw all year and they proved it in the final. On the heels of the U17/18 final, it was a bit of a boring match dominated by Carmel, who won 1-0. The U17/18 final had everything - 6 goals, overtime, a penalty in the final minute of regulation, 3 red cards, a coach sent-off (the referee was in over his head), and a team from the Northeast versus a Hispanic style from SoCal. Baltimore Bays were outplayed by LAFC (Los Angeles) for the first half hour, but their experience and substituting the best player in the league into the game turned the match in their favor for the 4-2 win.

When I was with Blue Chip, the Baltimore Bays came to Cincinnati the Spring after they won the National Championship so getting to see them in the Academy Finals was pretty cool. The other top teams in the country that year that came to Cincinnati were FC Milwaukee, Andromeda, Concorde Fire, Vardar, Chicago Magic, and Dallas Texans. Since they are all in the Development Academy we probably won't see a field like that again in a USYS event.

Some new rules and program enhancements were announced at the DA meetings in Los Angeles. Each has an impact on our program and others...

Affiliations are no longer valid for the purpose of a Developmental Player. A player must be registered within the DA club by January 1 to be eligible to play with that DA. They may not be dually rostered. (Essentially, the club they represent in state cup is the club a player plays for. If that is not us or Crew Jr. or Carmel for instance a player may not be added to the respective Development roster.) The purpose of the rule is to ensure players are training with the DA club/staff on a regular basis.

It was reiterated that each Academy must train together 3 sessions/week throughout the season. So, we cannot have part of our team train in Columbus and the rest here in Cincinnati.

25% start rule. A player must start 25% of the games - down from 30% last year. It's a good rule that protects the player as well as gives the club some flexibility if a kid isn't coming to practice or other disciplinary issues

The minimum roster size was changed back to 18 players. Originally, it was to be 20 this year. For the purpose of roster sizes the U15/16 and U17/18 are considered one Academy. So, we can have 16 on one and 20 on the other. We still believe we need 42+ players for the season to spread the travel, make a quality training environment, and to cover for injury.

Playoff system. The top three teams in each division will advance to a playoff during the Summer Showcase (Greensboro, NC). The points are tallied on divisional games only. With 9 divisions, 5 wild cards will round out the 32 teams on points for all games played. Teams will be placed into 8 groups of the 4 with the group winner advancing to the National Finals in July. (Note: Our U17/18 team would have been in the playoffs this year.)

The Summer Showcase is now optional for teams not in the playoffs.

Over 1,000 games and training sessions were scouted last year. They expect to increase the number this year, especially in training.

The Federation announced 2 ID Camps that are invitation only for Development Academy players to go into a National Camp.

ODP
The U16 age group of ODP was completely wiped out at the Regional level because of the Academy. I expect it will be pretty much eliminated at the Regional level next year. This would be the 1993 age group. The staff believes the U15 age group was significantly hindered as well (missing the top 15-20 players) and will have to make some changes for the 1994 age group next year. USYS ODP needs to embrace the Academy system, not fight it. If the Academy adds the U14 age group is some capacity for 2009-2010, USYS ODP will have no choice.

Super Y League
This summer was my first experience with Super Y League. From my time as a State Director of Coaching, I never fully understood the benefit. I did enjoy coaching the players over the summer, but considering the increasingly-full year-round schedule the players are experiencing and quality camp opportunities, I expect our time in Super Y League ends with the final game this summer. In talking with several of our opponents, it appears we are not alone.

Enjoy the final few days of summer!