Impact Unveiling A New (Real) Academy

[navycyr]

I'm surprised that anyone didn't notice that the Impact Academy is aimed at replacing NTC as the way for developing players for the Impact. I think Impact people and owner Joey Saputo came to conclusion they could do better than the NTC. If a was a boy of that age and I was offered the choice between NTC and Impact Academy, no wonder I would choose the Academy right away. Question is : What will happen then with the Quebec NTC if the best prospects go to the Impact Academy ? In my opinion it would be wasted money to maintain a program that is supposed to be an excellence program for people that are not among the 70 best players in the 14-16 group of age. The academy will be the equivalent of a NTC to the exception players will be part of teams that will play in the Quebec elite soccer league but in older than the group of age to which they belong.

For Richard : Yes the Impact Academy is for Quebec players only, both francophone and anglophone.

Question for the ROC (rest of Canada) : If the Impact judged it would be better served by developing themselves their players what about you and your NTCs ? Should Toronto do the same ? Are the NTCs still the best way to develop players elsewhere ? I'm curious to see your opinions on the subject.

[Trillium]

Coaches with no experience of coaching players in meaningfull competitions on a weekly basis, little ability to guide players to professional contracts, filled with politics and regionalism. No boarding situation to allow players from remote areas to participate.

Cancel them let the clubs do it ..

I'm surprised that anyone didn't notice that the Impact Academy is aimed at replacing NTC as the way for developing players for the Impact. I think Impact people and owner Joey Saputo came to conclusion they could do better than the NTC. If a was a boy of that age and I was offered the choice between NTC and Impact Academy, no wonder I would choose the Academy right away. Question is : What will happen then with the Quebec NTC if the best prospects go to the Impact Academy ? In my opinion it would be wasted money to maintain a program that is supposed to be an excellence program for people that are not among the 70 best players in the 14-16 group of age. The academy will be the equivalent of a NTC to the exception players will be part of teams that will play in the Quebec elite soccer league but in older than the group of age to which they belong.

For Richard : Yes the Impact Academy is for Quebec players only, both francophone and anglophone.

Question for the ROC (rest of Canada) : If the Impact judged it would be better served by developing themselves their players what about you and your NTCs ? Should Toronto do the same ? Are the NTCs still the best way to develop players elsewhere ? I'm curious to see your opinions on the subject.

[jpg75]

Question for the ROC (rest of Canada) : If the Impact judged it would be better served by developing themselves their players what about you and your NTCs ? Should Toronto do the same ? Are the NTCs still the best way to develop players elsewhere ? I'm curious to see your opinions on the subject.

I've posted this a number of times elsewhere in the forum; i believe the NTC's should be remodelled to act as a gateway from youth club soccer to elite level training. I would decrease the age of the trainees from the current 15-18 age group - which is way too old to be starting elite training - and drop it down to 13-14 (or 13-16 depending if there is no significant increase in pro clubs in the near future) and either quadruple (or double if you keep it as a 4 year program) the number of trainees brought in. I would also expand the number of TC's and perhaps have as many 20 or 30 of them. These changes would help bridge the current development deficit - the age where our kids tend to fall behind their European peers - and also provide an incentive for kids who would otherwise have stopped playing because they saw no opportunities for themselves in the sport.

[Trillium]

I've posted this a number of times elsewhere in the forum; i believe the NTC's should be remodelled to act as a gateway from youth club soccer to elite level training. I would decrease the age of the trainees from the current 15-18 age group - which is way too old to be starting elite training - and drop it down to 13-14 (or 13-16 depending if there is no significant increase in pro clubs in the near future) and either quadruple (or double if you keep it as a 4 year program) the number of trainees brought in. I would also expand the number of TC's and perhaps have as many 20 or 30 of them. These changes would help bridge the current development deficit - the age where our kids tend to fall behind their European peers - and also provide an incentive for kids who would otherwise have stopped playing because they saw no opportunities for themselves in the sport.

Do not invest in the Academys...change the player development rewards allow clubs to reap a return on training and they will give better training.

Hiring more NTC coaches will not do it, they have no incentive for excellence, because they do not have any benchmarks for success in terms of individual player development.

Since they NTC system is closed i.e. you cant get to national u15 level unless you go through province and NTC, there is no external benchmarking.

Its a crock, can it.

[jpg75]

Youth clubs have had almost 2 decades to provide our youth NT system with qualified elite players and have failed miserably in most cases. Get the elite training away from the mom and pop shops and let someone else handle it. The system i describe is similar to what the French and Germans are doing, i'll take their system over what we have currently.

[Daniel]

NTC's? Really? There's also CNHP (Centre National de Haute Performance), administered by the FSQ.

I'm guessing there's still a place in the system for "second-tier" players, who either play in civil clubs or don't want to integrate the Academy for school reasons, but who are high-level and playing in LSEQ. Sometimes, not all the best players end up in the best setup, or it's just not right for them. It also allows for more late bloomers, who might be boxed out of IMFC's system.

[DJones]

This is the problem with the system. Where jpg75 is from, the NTC may be a really good thing but in other parts of the country it's been a disaster.

In BC, we've seen a huge decrease in the number of players into the NT programs on the boys side since moving to the U13 to U16 NTC program age group. Only early developers/matured and early born players seem to find there way into the program. If you're not identified by U16, you're out of the system (out of sight/out of mind) and you're forced to find other avenues to get notice (move away). The club coaches at the top clubs in BC are as good or better than coaches at the NTC. Make the prerequisite for coaches at the elite clubs to have the standard set out by these NTC programs and let the top talent flow there. Instead of having 1 elite group, you'll have 5-8. More numbers, more prospects, more coach development.

Look at the Whitecaps Residency. They've used the NTC as almost a prerequisite for BC boys to get into their program. Look at the birth-dates. Notice anything? The late born players (minus 4 and they where all early developers) are all from outside the country. (Van Blerk I believe is an exception to the rule.)

http://club.whitecapsfc.com/pdl/roster/default.aspx

Not that the Whitecaps choices are poor. I'm not saying that at all but can only early born players really play soccer at the highest level? In this country it tends to be the case. If we leave only the 3 MLS or NTC's to do it, we'll miss players. If we continue the way we're going, you run the risk of also having players who, passed over by these programs, develop in spite of the system and will choice not to represent Canada (especially the ones that leave to develop out of country). Identifying players that young when we know that it's an unfair advantage for the early developer/early born, doesn't make a ton of sense and a huge waste of money... to me anyway.

[jpg75]

Well, I agree that the way the system is setup right now in most parts of the country is not working very well. I didn't know that BC had switched to a 13-16 age grouping, i'm curious how many kids are being brought into the system at 13? I'll assume it's probably nowhere near enough. I'd like to see the number of Centres increase and far more kids being introduced into the system at the early ages stage.