Are there any youth academies in the US that's even close to anything like what they have in South America or Europe? I'm talking about 8 year olds (and younger) leaving home to go to school and also be trained as footballers. Messi left Argentina for the Barcelona youth academy when he was something like 11 years old. Players don't develop playing peewee soccer.
I'm not sure how the whole youth system works here in America exactly but I do know quite a few MLS players do residencey programs, but they start at 14 or 16 I think. Many of the Union players have talked about leaving home at 14-16 to live in Braidington Fl. at there program. Supposedly 90% soccer, 10% school. Alot of MLS teams too are actually developing there own academies.
My son is 11 and is a soccer fanatic, kind of what got me following more and more, his steps have gone...
4 years old instructional, inter-town play on teams from 5-8yr old, 8-11 years old travelling soccer (we traveled up and down NJ and play teams as well as tournaments)
Since 8 when travelling started its also been soccer 11 months a year and Futsal in the winter, as well as soccer camps and such.
Now that he is 11 tho the rules have changed and so have the "competitiveness".
The kids who played from age 4 to 11 who were never really good now move onto another sport, or play recreation or a lower level of travel.
Now they play 11 vs. 11, under age 11 its 8 vs 8, the halfs are longer etc...
And it is no longer travel or recreation but instead now my son plays for a local academy.
Basically his team is made up of 18 kids from across our whole county. No more walk ons, no more first year players. Only the best kids who attend tryouts get on the team. Instead of my son being stuck at forward cause he was better then 90% of the kids he faced, he now is on an even field with players like himself all the time and sees time on defense as well as the mid.
Maybe its the access to the internet that his helped him become such a fanatic, as well as channels like GolTV and Fox Soccer and the rise of televised MLS. I kno as a child/teen the best we could hope for was some randomly televised game, but for him he's been able to come home from school and see a game alway on or be able to access a million replays or news stories via the web.
That the thing they're changing here in Ontario. They're banning score keeping/win-loss records for all youth divisions under 13 years of age in the hopes it will help push coaches to develop players instead of focusing on winning games. We'll see if it does anything though.
Not sure how the rest of the states work but here in Jersey at 11, my sons age, all bets are off. Cardings have started, 11 vs. 11, run up the score, slide tackles etc..
Under 11 there was basically no tackles on the ground, a kid had to basically get into a fight to see a card, plus teams would be fined if they scored after leading by 5.
My sons team, if they had a 5 goal lead, would basically play passing drills till the whistle blew or it was a $200 fine for the club per goal.
