U14 NTX National Team

Soccerinsanity wrote:Unfortunate, but true in every sport, not just soccer.

go99 wrote:unfortunately it seems to work in other sports but it does not in soccer

go99 wrote:players are selected and promoted by coaches who have no background or experience in finding world class talent at young ages. The selection pool is ridiculously small. The working pool of talent should be one of the largest in the world but it isn't. It's full of athletes with little potential for soccer and rife with politics

omega striker wrote:

go99 wrote:unfortunately it seems to work in other sports but it does not in soccer

well this is true just ask a certain coach how politics worked for his bb nationally

Madcap wrote:Congrats to ALL 35 boys for sure. I do have a follow up question:

How did the local boys obtain their selection? Was it from ODP? Was it from Academy or Pre-Academy? Was it Classic League play? Or a tournament, camp, FIFA video game?

Would love to know, and knowing is half the battle! (couldn't help myself)

MC

ontherightside wrote:

Madcap wrote:Congrats to ALL 35 boys for sure. I do have a follow up question:

How did the local boys obtain their selection? Was it from ODP? Was it from Academy or Pre-Academy? Was it Classic League play? Or a tournament, camp, FIFA video game?

Would love to know, and knowing is half the battle! (couldn't help myself)

MC

id2 camps - we had roughly 8 boys chosen in the 99 age group to attend the id2 camp. Of those 8, 3 were chosen to go to Spain with id2 and those same three were chosen to attend the U14 Nat'l camp. One of the three is only going to national camp - he opted out of Spain. Too much time away from school back-to-back.

Pancho Villa wrote:

ontherightside wrote:

Madcap wrote:Congrats to ALL 35 boys for sure. I do have a follow up question:

How did the local boys obtain their selection? Was it from ODP? Was it from Academy or Pre-Academy? Was it Classic League play? Or a tournament, camp, FIFA video game?

Would love to know, and knowing is half the battle! (couldn't help myself)

MC

id2 camps - we had roughly 8 boys chosen in the 99 age group to attend the id2 camp. Of those 8, 3 were chosen to go to Spain with id2 and those same three were chosen to attend the U14 Nat'l camp. One of the three is only going to national camp - he opted out of Spain. Too much time away from school back-to-back.

Forgot to mention that PDA has 2 players on ID2 Spain team. It is the only club to have more tahn one player on thgat team this year and has been the only one to have 2 players on the select id2 team every year since 2010.

No its not ID2 camps. These players were identified for ID2 camps through National TC's. It is supposed to be the other way around but it's not. 22 players invited to ID2 Camp in Phoenix last december had already been to 1-4 National Pool Camps by USSF. There were 52 total. of the 18 picked for Spain trip 14 had already been to a USSF National Camp. Had that 1 player gone that would only leave 3 not yet invited to a National Camp. One other that has never been invited to a USSF National Camp but made this SPain trip is from PDA. The head coach for ID2 runnimng the show is also director for PDA. ID2 should have invited new talent not already in the USSF mix. Id2 is supposed to identify new talent for USA National Team recommendation. It is not. Politics.

bigtex75081 wrote:Along with finish1's sentiment... How many of these 35 will still be involved in this program at u18? Or at u21? Does this program do a good job of retaining players and helping them to continute to move forward? Or will these 35 guys be on the way out if somebody new comes along next week?

Pancho Villa wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:Along with finish1's sentiment... How many of these 35 will still be involved in this program at u18? Or at u21? Does this program do a good job of retaining players and helping them to continute to move forward? Or will these 35 guys be on the way out if somebody new comes along next week?

If you look at every USA U14/U15 roster for this and past years, you will notice that there is always close to the same % of players picked from California ( around 35% ) and East Coast ( 25-30% ). Most of the East Coast players are picked from a few states like, New Jersey, New York, Pensylvania, and 1-2 more. That % for these 2 regions start to diminish at U17 and up. Regions 2 (Midwest) and 3 ( South ) start off with low % but pick it up to eventually even it out or dominate at U23. I do not understand how every year the entire country produces the close to the same % of each region or state if your California. If we pick so many from California at U14/U15 why dont we have more Californians on the Men's side??

Laimport wrote:

Pancho Villa wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:Along with finish1's sentiment... How many of these 35 will still be involved in this program at u18? Or at u21? Does this program do a good job of retaining players and helping them to continute to move forward? Or will these 35 guys be on the way out if somebody new comes along next week?

If you look at every USA U14/U15 roster for this and past years, you will notice that there is always close to the same % of players picked from California ( around 35% ) and East Coast ( 25-30% ). Most of the East Coast players are picked from a few states like, New Jersey, New York, Pensylvania, and 1-2 more. That % for these 2 regions start to diminish at U17 and up. Regions 2 (Midwest) and 3 ( South ) start off with low % but pick it up to eventually even it out or dominate at U23. I do not understand how every year the entire country produces the close to the same % of each region or state if your California. If we pick so many from California at U14/U15 why dont we have more Californians on the Men's side??

great question.

Also, why is it that the younger ynt pools are overwhelmingly hispanic. Yet the U23 and full national teams much less so? Is it because many hispanic kids hit puberty sooner and otherwise mature physically sooner than others?

That's why I think it is a mistake to identify Bradenton u17 residency players at U15. Most are. Don't know the actual numbers, but it is a safe bet that many of those identified at u13/14 are out of the national pools by u18 and u20 level. And when you look at the money invested in Bradenton, to me that's a poor return on investment.

I think I read somewhere that around 30% of kids coming out of the u17 Bradenton program end up playing professionally. Guessing an even lower percentage ever play for the full national team.

This country is just too big and the players too spread out to try to identify future superstars at 15.

Too many falling through the cracks.

With the sheer number of players we have the US national teams should have much better players.

Even at the top academies in the world, under the age of 15/16 they are only bringing in basically 'local' players. Vast majority of barca academy players are from Catalonia.

Real Barcelona wrote:Lets all start scouting!!!! Wait, who de we report to? Ahhh the same coaches that can't ID a player under their nose.

go99 wrote:wow all of that is so confusing no wonder the US national team sucks. With the kind of money US soccer spends they should have scouts in every nook and cranny searching for players.

How about this?

No national team at 14/15. Split the country into lets say 4 regions and have regional national teams. Already at 4 times the player pool. Have state and local pools for training and identification with kids coming and going. Those state and local pools feeding the regional. By 17 you pull players from your regional pools to form a national team.

First US soccer has to change its focus from making a team to the building and developing of players. The way to do that is to identify and develop as many players as possible. FYI hispanic americans playing on the Mexican national team (u-20) is an embarassment and should cost somebody a job.

plantit wrote:

go99 wrote:wow all of that is so confusing no wonder the US national team sucks. With the kind of money US soccer spends they should have scouts in every nook and cranny searching for players.

How about this?

No national team at 14/15. Split the country into lets say 4 regions and have regional national teams. Already at 4 times the player pool. Have state and local pools for training and identification with kids coming and going. Those state and local pools feeding the regional. By 17 you pull players from your regional pools to form a national team.

First US soccer has to change its focus from making a team to the building and developing of players. The way to do that is to identify and develop as many players as possible. FYI hispanic americans playing on the Mexican national team (u-20) is an embarassment and should cost somebody a job.

How bout this, have the player drive the ball at a wall 50 times and if he can " Kill it " and OWN possession 45 out of 50 times we may want to take another LOOK! (I don't mean trap and chase) I mean kill it dead on the first touch with eyes up determining where he's going with the next touch.PRESERVEING POSSESSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

plantit wrote:

go99 wrote:wow all of that is so confusing no wonder the US national team sucks. With the kind of money US soccer spends they should have scouts in every nook and cranny searching for players.

How about this?

No national team at 14/15. Split the country into lets say 4 regions and have regional national teams. Already at 4 times the player pool. Have state and local pools for training and identification with kids coming and going. Those state and local pools feeding the regional. By 17 you pull players from your regional pools to form a national team.

First US soccer has to change its focus from making a team to the building and developing of players. The way to do that is to identify and develop as many players as possible. FYI hispanic americans playing on the Mexican national team (u-20) is an embarassment and should cost somebody a job.

How bout this, have the player drive the ball at a wall 50 times and if he can " Kill it " and OWN possession 45 out of 50 times we may want to take another LOOK! (I don't mean trap and chase) I mean kill it dead on the first touch with eyes up determining where he's going with the next touch.PRESERVEING POSSESSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

go99 wrote:

Laimport wrote:

Pancho Villa wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:Along with finish1's sentiment... How many of these 35 will still be involved in this program at u18? Or at u21? Does this program do a good job of retaining players and helping them to continute to move forward? Or will these 35 guys be on the way out if somebody new comes along next week?

If you look at every USA U14/U15 roster for this and past years, you will notice that there is always close to the same % of players picked from California ( around 35% ) and East Coast ( 25-30% ). Most of the East Coast players are picked from a few states like, New Jersey, New York, Pensylvania, and 1-2 more. That % for these 2 regions start to diminish at U17 and up. Regions 2 (Midwest) and 3 ( South ) start off with low % but pick it up to eventually even it out or dominate at U23. I do not understand how every year the entire country produces the close to the same % of each region or state if your California. If we pick so many from California at U14/U15 why dont we have more Californians on the Men's side??

great question.

Also, why is it that the younger ynt pools are overwhelmingly hispanic. Yet the U23 and full national teams much less so? Is it because many hispanic kids hit puberty sooner and otherwise mature physically sooner than others?

That's why I think it is a mistake to identify Bradenton u17 residency players at U15. Most are. Don't know the actual numbers, but it is a safe bet that many of those identified at u13/14 are out of the national pools by u18 and u20 level. And when you look at the money invested in Bradenton, to me that's a poor return on investment.

I think I read somewhere that around 30% of kids coming out of the u17 Bradenton program end up playing professionally. Guessing an even lower percentage ever play for the full national team.

This country is just too big and the players too spread out to try to identify future superstars at 15.

Too many falling through the cracks.

With the sheer number of players we have the US national teams should have much better players.

Even at the top academies in the world, under the age of 15/16 they are only bringing in basically 'local' players. Vast majority of barca academy players are from Catalonia.

I am gonna agree and disagree with you. Our problem is not identifying kids too young. It's what we look for when we identify them. It was a scout at barcelona who put it best. He said at 11, 12, 13 we can't tell who will be great but we can tell who will not. and yes for a country of this size we should be trying to include more players. But first we have to take the coaches and people with no experience of identification out of it.

from 2011
FC Barcelona scouts are constantly on the lookout for new talent in all age ranges. Last year, Barca’s army of 21 scouts logged 351,237 kilometers to watch 4,763 footballers between the ages of 7 and 23. The scouts watched a total of 5,254 different matches! Out of this pool of nearly five thousand, only 221 players were earmarked for further attention from the club’s youth coaches.

how many miles did us scouts log? How many scouts do we have? How many players have been earmarked? A national team from a country as large as the US should have way more in every category.

Laimport wrote:

go99 wrote:

Laimport wrote:

Pancho Villa wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:Along with finish1's sentiment... How many of these 35 will still be involved in this program at u18? Or at u21? Does this program do a good job of retaining players and helping them to continute to move forward? Or will these 35 guys be on the way out if somebody new comes along next week?

If you look at every USA U14/U15 roster for this and past years, you will notice that there is always close to the same % of players picked from California ( around 35% ) and East Coast ( 25-30% ). Most of the East Coast players are picked from a few states like, New Jersey, New York, Pensylvania, and 1-2 more. That % for these 2 regions start to diminish at U17 and up. Regions 2 (Midwest) and 3 ( South ) start off with low % but pick it up to eventually even it out or dominate at U23. I do not understand how every year the entire country produces the close to the same % of each region or state if your California. If we pick so many from California at U14/U15 why dont we have more Californians on the Men's side??

great question.

Also, why is it that the younger ynt pools are overwhelmingly hispanic. Yet the U23 and full national teams much less so? Is it because many hispanic kids hit puberty sooner and otherwise mature physically sooner than others?

That's why I think it is a mistake to identify Bradenton u17 residency players at U15. Most are. Don't know the actual numbers, but it is a safe bet that many of those identified at u13/14 are out of the national pools by u18 and u20 level. And when you look at the money invested in Bradenton, to me that's a poor return on investment.

I think I read somewhere that around 30% of kids coming out of the u17 Bradenton program end up playing professionally. Guessing an even lower percentage ever play for the full national team.

This country is just too big and the players too spread out to try to identify future superstars at 15.

Too many falling through the cracks.

With the sheer number of players we have the US national teams should have much better players.

Even at the top academies in the world, under the age of 15/16 they are only bringing in basically 'local' players. Vast majority of barca academy players are from Catalonia.

I am gonna agree and disagree with you. Our problem is not identifying kids too young. It's what we look for when we identify them. It was a scout at barcelona who put it best. He said at 11, 12, 13 we can't tell who will be great but we can tell who will not. and yes for a country of this size we should be trying to include more players. But first we have to take the coaches and people with no experience of identification out of it.

from 2011
FC Barcelona scouts are constantly on the lookout for new talent in all age ranges. Last year, Barca’s army of 21 scouts logged 351,237 kilometers to watch 4,763 footballers between the ages of 7 and 23. The scouts watched a total of 5,254 different matches! Out of this pool of nearly five thousand, only 221 players were earmarked for further attention from the club’s youth coaches.

how many miles did us scouts log? How many scouts do we have? How many players have been earmarked? A national team from a country as large as the US should have way more in every category.

Actually I was thinking the same exact thing. Regional pools first. Some will say this is what ODP is doing...but it should be run by USSF...not the state associations. There will still be politics though. The big clubs are more well connected.

I'm not toally against identifying players that young. Just that we use the wrong criteria to select players...ie physical maturation over technique and brains.