It’s a simple question, but a very fair one to ask about the player development initiative being implemented now by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The answer, not surprisingly, is more complicated.

If you’re new to the subject, the Academy program is USSF’s effort to revamp and significantly upgrade the system of player development in this country. There has been an increasing hunger in this country to produce more players who were on par with those produced by the rest of the world’s soccer nations. A committee chaired by USSF President Sunil Gulati identified a number of problem areas in our setup, including too many matches per year for top players, not enough high-quality matches, and not enough training. Each of these issues brought with them related problems in player quality including lack of technical excellence and tactical awareness, the absence of a professional mindset in our aspiring youth players, plus risks of burnout and physical breakdown.

Beginning this fall, the USSF, which had not been directly involved in youth competition previously, oversees a national league of 64 clubs who follow a development-friendly schedule for U16 and U18 age group teams. These teams’ participation in traditional programs such as ODP and U.S. Youth Soccer’s State, Regional and National Cups, is either forbidden or greatly limited.

A cynic could be forgiven for wondering if the new program is just an effort to secure direct control of the top end of the youth soccer marketplace. In reply, it is always stated that the league itself, with its schedule, refereeing standards and match rules governing substitution, is just the tip of the iceberg. What will ultimately determine the success of the Academy in taking player development here to the next level, is what happens on the training ground and in matches with coaches and players, and whether the clubs can afford to operate in that matter.

So again we ask, how will things be different?

U.S. Men’s National Team coach Bob Bradley starts off with the concept of “connectivity.”

“The goal of the developmental academy is to find a better balance, to connect more of what takes place with our national teams with what takes place day in and day out for our most talented players,” Bradley told Top Drawer Soccer. “There’s been a lot of good work. At times we don’t give credit to some of these clubs that over the years have done an excellent job of developing players, reaching into communities and trying to find opportunities for kids who don’t always get them. But in many cases these have been separate type efforts. More and more we realize if we can be more connected, to support efforts better and reach down from the national team will only improve us as we go forward.”

Bradley also emphasizes balance when it comes to seeking ideas from abroad vs. the means of developing players utilized by coaches here.
   
“We all are respectful of what goes on around the world. Many coaches in this country have gone to great lengths to learn from methods and coaches around the world, so I think we’re always looking to see how things get done elsewhere,” Bradley said. “In the end it has to be applied to what goes on here. You have to understand soccer in the United States and understand our levels and where we are with leagues and youth programs and the college system. That’s all important. We’re always trying to balance those 2 things. There are those people who sometimes believe that all the answers need to come from somewhere else, but there are a lot of very, very good people in this country who have worked in the game for years. So you need to balance between having an open mind about ways to improve and– recognizing the unique aspects of soccer here and the good things that have gone on here.”

Bradley added that the Federation can take a lead role in player development while respecting the autonomy of coaches and clubs in the Academy program.

“There should always be room for different ideas and different styles. It is important we share goals and share ideas,” he said. “One of the starting points for the Developmental Academy was the idea that many of the players who were taking part in our U15 National Team program talked about what their environments were like, how many games they played per year, their training sessions and the quality of their games. We could take information from players that were in these positions and look at it and say ‘How can we do this better? A lot of clubs were caught in this situation where they knew what was going on, but they found it difficult to make changes. So the idea that U.S. Soccer can play the leading role for these clubs (is solid). We all agree these are areas where we can improve, so going forward we want to do a lot of things better.”

Scouting, evaluation and establishment of standards to be hallmarks
USSF has appointed former U17 Men’s National Team coach John Hackworth, who has been very involved with the formulation of the concept and the program, to head the Development Academy for the organization. Along with being an assistant to Bradley for the Men’s National Team, Hackworth is now charged with setting up various components of the system, even as the first season of the league is underway.

Hackworth is currently in the process of hiring 4 full-time scouts who, along with himself and 4 existing USSF national staff coaches, will be watching a great deal of the league matches and providing evaluation and other feedback to the club coaches involved. Per diem scouts will also be utilized during the season.

The mention of national coaches interfacing with club coaches conjures up several images, some more positive than others. Hackworth said the Federation’s approach will be to set a high standard for what is to be accomplished in player development, but without attempting or appearing to dictate coaching methods to those who are charged with on-field work.

“There are a number of things we’re currently doing. When we watch these teams we want to immediately communicate what we see on the field back to the club. At the fall showcase for instance we taped every game, then we break it down and get back to the club,” he said. “This gives them a clearer idea of what national coaches are looking for, and that alone is beneficial to coaches and players. It’s not just ‘Great job, you won 1-0,’ but we go through what they really did on the field. We want to communicate regularly with the clubs through the year to give them that kind of feedback. We will also have another Best Practices seminar (run by U18 MNT coach Bob Jenkins). So the evaluation of matches and training sessions, scouting and educating are all part of it.”

Hackworth said the standards (rather than style) that should be expected of Academy teams has been arrived through careful study of top teams and players around the world, noting that his own team’s struggles at the recent FIFA U17 World Cup didn’t come from lack of exposure to or aspiration to those standards, but through failure to execute them. As an example of areas of the game that teams will be evaluate on, he gave a comprehensive list, noting each item tends to have several permutations.

“How do you attack? How do you defend? What kind of transition is there? What is the technical level employed for each of these,” he asked rhetorically. “What we’re trying to get across is that there is a technical and tactical level along with the physical and mental levels that you need to be successful. Do they understand their own attacking tendencies and what is required technically for the various options? When they lose the ball do they understand the various roles in transition? Do they understand the various roles in defending and the technique required for that? When they win it back do they understand the roles of transition, both tactically and in terms of the technical needs for that?

“There are many different styles of play and coaching, and so much depends on what kind of players you have, but these are the kinds of ideas we want to get across in terms of what level the game needs to be played on,” he continued. “We’re not saying “Do this session.’ We’re saying “Here’s the principle. We’re going to hold you accountable for how well your players understand and how they are doing it. Your responsibility is to get that done. If it’s not being done than we need to refine it, make sure it’s done better or maybe get somebody else. There’s no promotion and relegation in the league, but we will be evaluating clubs all the while. It’s not just a league. It’s a developmental program with the emphasis on the elite program, to set the standard all the way down for the youngest player coming into that club.”

Club coaches mix optimism, business concerns
At the club level, some of the leading coaches in the old system are understandably taking a wait and see approach. Real So Cal coach Alberto Bru, whose U17 squad chose the Academy over a chance to become the first team to win 4 U.S. Youth Soccer national championships in a row, said the potential of the program made the risk worth taking.

“We can win every title around, but if we don’t get any better, what does it mean?” Bru asked. “The real value so far is the train-train-train – then play a match model that they’ve established. You can work on a lot of things and address issues immediately more than you could before. This is more geared to helping us make strides to get better.”

Concorde Fire coach Gregg Blasingame said the collective parts of the model make it appealing.

“It’s the whole learning model,” the Atlanta-based coach said. “You’ve got good coaches. You’ve got good training sessions. You’re playing competitive teams. You’ve got a workable schedule. You’re getting feedback from the national staff. Everybody can reap the benefit of everybody’s experience, but I think all of these things will make the Academy a successful endeavor.”

David Richardson, director of the Chicago-area club Sockers FC mentioned the schedule and mixed-year player pools as potential pluses in the program, but added that he still has many questions about the nuts and bolts of the program.

“In other countries the job of youth development is to get the players to the professional level or sell them on to another team. It’s a great incentive. It would be interesting if U.S. Soccer would say that any club that puts a player with the full national team, or the Olympic team or an MLS team, would receive a fee for it,” Richardson said. “All of a sudden you would see a huge swing in clubs that would now actually be more interested in developing players. We know U.S. Soccer has $40 million or more it’s trying to figure out how to spend. Some of this money could then come back into the club and could really make a difference in influencing the pay-to-play system.”

Bru had a similar concern, although he spoke more in terms of the opportunity awaiting players after they had been graduated from the youth ranks.

“This will definitely help the American youth player, but I don’t know it will ever help the American professional player,” he said. “Some other things will have to change first. I look at MLS vs. the rest of the world and I see all these young professionals playing overseas. I look at (Barcelona FC 17-year old sensation) Bojan (Krkic) and he could play on my team if he lived here. The money part of it over here is not there yet, and it may never be.”

Richardson pulled no punches on the importance of the clubs finding a business model, and said this will be a responsibility of the Federation.

“We all want it to succeed. But to have us develop players along the lines of how the rest of the world does it, you need to have a financial incentive for it,” he said. “The Federation has to support us, and it can’t just be with words and paper. If this fails, then the organization that is supposed to lead soccer in this country will then be unable to lead. It’s that important.”

Blasingame’s take cited more of a shared learning process and responsibility.

“It definitely is a work in progress (finding a business model) and we all need to get a handle on what the budgetary requirements are going to be,” he said. “Once we have a year under our belt, we can talk with one another and exchange more ideas. Then next year should be that much better. I know the Federation is also trying to help out in that area too, in finding how to cut back on transportation and lodging, findind some deals, that help us work together to have buying power. Everybody is still learning.

“There’s nothing else you can do but learn as you go. There’s noting to prepare for completely smooth sailing,” he added. “You’re never going to think of every possible angle in any new business, but the master program has to be to maximize everybody’s return so we can keep doing this better and better.”

Response to change predictably mixed
Public and private response to the initiative thus far has covered a fairly wide range. Participation from leading clubs has been pretty impressive, with the notable exception of Texas, which doesn’t have a single representative in the program after Solar SC decided not to be involved. When the program was first announced it received a certain amount of demagoguery, particularly from some organizations, leagues and tournaments. USSF President Sunil Gulati says he hasn’t been particularly shocked at the reaction.

“In any set of changes, you have some that are very positive, some less positive and some that are just negative,” Gulati said. “We’ll be judged on these decisions as we go forward. We’re not trying to turn the world upside down, but we are certainly trying to turn it. We’re trying to get better, and make sure we’re including all elements of American soccer. But sure, there is some resistance to just about any change.”

Former U.S. MNT goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who with a long history as a starter with Blackburn Rovers in the English Premiership, has perhaps the leading resume of any U.S. professional player, says the Federation will need to navigate some particularly American challenges in establishing the program. Friedel is sufficiently optimistic about the chances of success to allow his Cleveland-based Premier Soccer Academies’ players to participate in the program via an affiliation with MLS side Columbus Crew.

“The entire country has been inundated with a lot of amateur programs. I don’t think it’s to the fault of a lot of people, just more about traditions in this country,” Friedel said of the difficulty in getting the elite youth soccer public to accept a more ambitious and thus more involved developmental model. “It’s difficult to find a professional youth environment and professional coaching in the U .S. Until now you’ve had to go to the rest of the world to find that. Saying that, it’s getting a lot better in the U.S. and MLS is a big part of that. It’s up to my generation to take that expertise and bring it back to the U.S. and really help at the grassroots level. People here are more aware of soccer than they’ve ever been, so we need to keep them more intrigued with better facilities and coaching.”

Need at the end product level still evident
Bradley, who has called in a number of young American professionals to the national team this year as he prepares for World Cup Qualifying beginning in 2008, has seen nothing to indicate a greater professionalization of the player development model wouldn’t be a good thing.

“Without a doubt a good number of young players have begun the process of becoming professionals earlier. I look at that and see we are improving and raising the bar for what it means to be a pro, of learning ins and outs of your trade. But I still feel that is the area where we have to continue to raise the bar much higher,” Bradley said. “I have conversations a lot of times with young players, what I say to them is if you’re a talented player at a certain level, you may think you want to become a pro, but now when you make that leap, you find out it’s not always easy. There’s a lot of growing you have to do as a pro. There’s a process of understanding day in and day out what you need to do to contribute to you team and not only contribute, but to a team that can win something. There’s a lot more to it than you ever realized.

“We are making process in that area, but at the same time we ask how can we move it along,” Bradley continued. “When I talk about player development this way it can sound like we focus on the hard part of it or the serious part of it. Even as we look at that we know there has to be a balance for the young American player where he can still enjoy the game and have a passion for the game. When we talk to coaches in the developmental academy and try to make improvements, we constantly try to strike that right balance. Being able to do that comes from experience, from a feel, it’s not necessarily a black and white thing, but a feel for doing things right and knowing that certain things need to be taught better. Coaches looking for answers might ask ‘Do we do this, or that?” Sometimes we have to say “Both.” Recognizing that is for me the most important thing. We know there is still great room for improvement.”