Andromeda FC USSF Development Academy Program 2014/15

News came out last night here is the highlight.....

Andromeda FC plans to convert its USSF Development Academy Program into a fully funded program for the upcoming ‘14/’15 season. This sponsorship includes the U14/U16/U18 Boys USSF DA program where there will be no dues, travel costs, or kit costs for the players.

The dues for the entire AFC club will stay the same for the ‘14/’15 season as this sponsorship will not require additional financial support.

Hope everybody has a great week and let's hope for some warm weather!

Great to hear! This is the way it should be...across the board.

REALLY??? Interesting

I saw that and the first thing I thought was "where is the money coming from"?. I am happy they are doing it but it doesn't add up. Andro dues are about $2500 per year, and I wouldn't think that alone would generate enough money from the club teams to also fully fund 3 DA teams (including unis, travel, etc.). Where is the $$$ coming from for all of this? Again I am happy they are doing it and not trying to bash, just curious. Maybe Tottanham is throwing in some money (LOL).

Nice, that should attract some attention ! Let's spread the word around...

Any information on coaching staff, practice location (how will you get talents located in south Dallas with your fields all the way up north) and other interesting details ?

Why does it matter WHERE the money comes from? Maybe they hit the lottery or found grandmas penny jar. Unless you have some credible info that they have drug cartels funding it thru cocain sells then I'm not sure why it matter.

off_the_woodwork wrote:I saw that and the first thing I thought was "where is the money coming from"?.  I am happy they are doing it but it doesn't add up.  Andro dues are about $2500 per year, and I wouldn't think that alone would generate enough money from the club teams to also fully fund 3 DA teams (including unis, travel, etc.).  Where is the $$$ coming from for all of this?  Again I am happy they are doing it and not trying to bash, just curious.  Maybe Tottanham is throwing in some money (LOL).

Well you know, Andro went bankrupt once, they can do it again

gababa wrote:Nice, that should attract some attention ! Let's spread the word around...

Any information on coaching staff, practice location (how will you get talents located in south Dallas with your fields all the way up north) and other interesting details ?

I thought andro practiced in the Richardson area? Puts them closer to S Dallas and the hot bed of metro soccer the NE.

MT Gox losses all of it's bitcoin and the andro becomes fully funded. Hmmmm   I'm not say, I'm just saying

I was thinking about the post last week about liverpool supposedly getting the Andro Academy spot (well actually the preacademy spot). Is this the answer from Andro ?

hey maybe andro will get smart and drop pre academy. Possible a LP/andro collabo

What about Rush? They are new to NTX, but also an established national brand. I expected them to get the next DA franchise. There are a lot of parental hopes (and maybe even a few coaches' promises) riding on that ultimate decision.

finish1 wrote:What about Rush? They are new to NTX, but also an established national brand. I expected them to get the next DA franchise. There are a lot of parental hopes (and maybe even a few coaches' promises) riding on that ultimate decision.

There won't be an additional spot in NTX only a spot takeover if at all.

Rush won't get one and already have one south of us that is terrible. No need to give them 2 to mess up

The German wrote:

finish1 wrote:What about Rush? They are new to NTX, but also an established national brand. I expected them to get the next DA franchise. There are a lot of parental hopes (and maybe even a few coaches' promises) riding on that ultimate decision.

There won't be an additional spot in NTX only a spot takeover if at all.

I don't think there will be another spot although I think there should be. Playing the same teams over and over and over and (well you get the point) sucks. I have seen some of those TX academy teams so much I feel like I should put the parents on my christmas list. Anyway maybe they will go ahead and seperate the MLS teams and open up 2 spots

The PA/DA leagues are just like any other, GO. Every year, you play the same teams over and over and over.

As far as where the money is coming from, it's probably an 'investment' by the club.

Most clubs have reserve funds.

This is a brilliant marketing move. Because now, I can see them picking up some of the better players because it will be totally subsidized.

And honestly, since the DA is a USSF creation, they should be footing a substantial part of the bill.

Lord knows Gulati is overpaid

Yeah this is a great move for them. I forsee the Andro teams getting much better the next couple of years because of the bottle neck of current Academy players who are being squeezed out because of age or roster reductions. There will plenty of U14s that won't want to play u15 PreA next year because their parents believe they are good enough to play U15/16 DA and there are full rosters of U15PAs that should make up the bulk of U15/16 DA rosters next year. Same with the boys going to U17/18. In theory it's supposed to work like that but the clubs will have a hard time convincing parents that their bb used to be good enough for Academy but now they will have to roster on the highest places CL team. Ando will happily take all the overflow.

I am very glad to hear this. Having cost-free soccer programs is the absolute key for soccer, to get to the next level in USA, IMO. There cannot be high quality if financial burden is on parents alone; you miss on a lot of talent like this, for one.

The key is to come up with a business sense around it.

In Europe, youth academies are mostly free; it is an investment, where club spends money in order to produce players for its pro-team  (if done well it is cheaper than buying them on the market) or to sell players for profit. They come to you and say “we want your son to play for our academy”; not the other way around. (i.e. they pick the best they can find, at young age, through scouting, open trials, camps, cooperation with elementary schools etc.)

All this is in a well-established system with many strong professional leagues and a lot of advertisement $$$, for soccer (i.e. there is a large market for players). This is where US is behind, as soccer does not attract a lot of $$$, just yet. Furthermore, all these academies are not under professional soccer club either (well most of them anyway). Where are the players going to go (ok college, but I am not talking about that)?...Each journey starts with the first step, as we all know, so academies are positve development in this sense, IMO.

In case of Andromeda, I really wish them all the best, but I am a little skeptical too, as I was around, not too long ago, when we were all waiting for "the money to arrive next week". Hopefully this is a different club now.

dd1 wrote: In case of Andromeda, I really wish them all the best, but I am a little skeptical too, as I was around, not too long ago, when we were all waiting for "the money to arrive next week". Hopefully this is a different club now.

"It's coming on Friday". That was the running joke even weeks after Andro folded. I am sure they are smarter this time, right?

finish1 wrote:The PA/DA leagues are just like any other, GO. Every year, you play the same teams over and over and over.

yeah but academy you don't have as many teams to play as classic league and you just play the same ones more often. More teams would at least give you a few more faces

go99 wrote:

finish1 wrote:The PA/DA leagues are just like any other, GO. Every year, you play the same teams over and over and over.

 yeah but academy you don't have as many teams to play as classic league and you just play the same ones more often.  More teams would at least give you a few more faces

????
DA has 13 teams. That's more than 10 in D1-3. In tournaments they do play they don't usually face same teams as thier division?

Certainly a step in the right direction, good for Andromeda.

This will surely make things more interesting and should help even out the playing field over time.

ntxsoccerchat wrote:

go99 wrote:

finish1 wrote:The PA/DA leagues are just like any other, GO. Every year, you play the same teams over and over and over.

 yeah but academy you don't have as many teams to play as classic league and you just play the same ones more often.  More teams would at least give you a few more faces

????
DA has 13 teams. That's more than 10 in D1-3. In tournaments they do play they don't usually face same teams as thier division?

okay the 16 and 18 have a wider conference the 14 only have 9 total

GO, you're starting to sound like an old woman. Quit your bit**in'! If you don't like seeing the same faces over and over, changes leagues. The point of PA/DA is more training and less games, anyway.