MLS Youth Academies

Hi everyone,

i have some questions about how some of the MLS teams have set up their youth academy structure. I have been lucky enough to have been the Director of the Centre of Excellence for three professional clubs in the U.K, two of which were in the Premier League and one in Division 2. At these clubs we had a main centre where all the better players were filtered through to but we also had regional centres which were set up to indentfy and develop players who do not live within a close proximity to the club but it still gave us a chance to work with these players and if they progressed to a standard that we thought they may have a chance of becoming a professional then we would invite them to come for a month and train at our main centre with what we deemed the elite players of each age group and if the did well they would be invited to stay and train continually at the main centre as opposed to the regional centre. In some cases this did put a strain on the parents to get them there but get them there they did as they knew that this was the pinnacle for their age group and where they all aimed to be, this is not to say that players did not sign professional apprentice forms from regional academies because many did but the main centre was where everyone wanted to be invited to.

Having the regional training centres also let the clubs cast there net further and as we had scouts working in all area's it gave a new player the chance to show if he was up to the required standard under less pressure to begin with.

Now in the MLS i am only aware of one club that have adopted this system. A good friend of mine has told me that he is coaching in one the Seattle Sounders regional academies. They have set up six in total and he also told me that every session which has been conducted at his academy has been attended by at least one member of the Sounders coaching system and in fact they have taken part in or run the whole session on numerious occasions. Does anyone know if this kind of set up has just been taken on board by Seattle or have any other MLS clubs done the same thing ? I think Chicago may have but i am not sure.

Lets hear your comments and if you know how other MLS clubs run their youth development programs.

Regards
Richard.