The following three links are the inspiration for the below topic of discussion:

Is it time for youth transfer fees in the US

Philadelphia Union partners with local youth academy

Fernando Clavijo trafficking young American players from South Florida

Youth Development in the United States is what I would rank as the top problem facing the beautiful game in this country today. Let's list off some names shall we?

- Freddy Adu - proclaimed the savior of American Soccer, he'll be the first legitimate USA Soccer Star

- Eddie Johnson - he of 19 minute hat-trick in his first or second National Team appearance at the tender age of early 20 something (I'm not that big into fact checking here)

- Jozy Altidore - I think we all know what he's done lately

- David Arvizu - the US creative influence during the 2005 U-17 World Cup, another "Next big thing" in the Landon Donovan mold

- Preston Zimmerman - the tall blond striker with potential at the 2005 U-17 World Cup

- Landon Donovan - again, I think we all know what he's done

So what's the common thread here? They're all players who've been annoited (we can discuss the fairness of these annointments on another day) as someone who will help US Soccer shed its big fish in a small pond tag and explode on the World Stage. What is the end result of this annointing for all of them? Lack of success and playing time outside of the MLS, and except in Lanny's and Jozy's case, all have been extremely underwhelming ('Cakes was fairly underwhelming in the eyes of most US fans up until the summer of 2009). We dominate the Olympics every year in most sports, we have arguably the best football, baseball, basketball, golf, and tennis players, let alone overall athletes. So why hasn't the US developed a true global soccer superstar yet?

My belief is that there is a lack of development for youth players in this country. We continue to operate Recreational Leagues that service players from 6-13 years of age, where coaches are often parents who know little or nothing about the game but are forced to volunteer in order to keep the league going. Not to put down these volunteers for their efforts, but Rec League is essentially kids running around outside chasing a round ball and they're not allowed to use their hands. As far as developing the necessary skills for advancement in the sport goes, it's about as useful as riding a moped from LA to New York when you have a Lear Jet available.

The next step on the soccer path brings a player into the US Club scene, where players can play from the U-8 age level to the U-20 age level. Clubs within this country provide better coaching (for the most part), better access to good competition, but still adheres to the pay to play idea. While these clubs are much better at developing the skills and mental side of the game, too often you hear of clubs or caoch against teams that are only about winning games and tournaments to up their prestige and get more players into their ranks to generate more revenue by attracting wealthier players.

So why does every other nation seem to produce top tier talent left and right while we continue to just produce athletes who can play the game? In Europe there appear (again, not about fact checking here) to be two types of teams for youth players, rec teams (street soccer in the poorer nations) and professional club academies. The professional academies, like our club systems are out for themselves, but they're purpose and mission is to serve the club, to produce the next great player. Because, the transfer fee or revenue (tickets, shirt sales, etc.) garnered from this player being associated with the club makes the 50 players who didn't make it worth all of the money invested in the academy, and some of this money is put back into the academy. To develop more players that can step into the first team or be sold to other clubs.

So what can we do in the interim to re-focus the eneriges of the youth clubs in this country to develop talent instead of merely winning games and tournaments.

If I owned an MLS club, and cash flow was not an issue, I would set up partnerships with as many youth clubs within the area, especially those in the inner cities. By area I mean a 5 hour driving radius. These partnerships would be akin to an employer-employee relationship; my club gives the youth clubs coaching courses, free camps for those partner clubs, as well as a certain amount of money each year to be spent on coaching fees and education, player scholarships, or other development oriented costs, not uniforms or tournament entry fees. In return for those modest sums of money, the clubs would in turn abide by player development guidelines that are set forth by all of the clubs involved in order to provide my club with technically and tactically astute players, not just a bunch of athletic assholes only focused on winning at all costs. As the years go on this relationship would be reviewed and the amount of money would be increased or decreased accordingly.

In conjunction with these partnerships I would create a paid (meaning to compensate the players and families in a small way) residency academy for U-14 age groups and up, we would hold tryouts every other year to keep the talent fresh, as some players may "lose the plot" or simply not wish to continue down this path, and we may uncover a player that was a late bloomer. Players from the partner clubs would obviously tryout for free, while all others would pay a nominal fee. Clubs whose players are selected for the squad would receive a two-tiered transfer fee based on number of years with the club when we signed them. This fee would help offset the cost of developing the player for X number of years, as well as encourage them to continue the good work. Now if my club then sells the player on to another club a portion of that fee will go to the youth club, again to encourage better player development in the future.

All of this would be dependent on a few things:
- MLS's communist financial ways for all teams in the league (excellent idea for surviving and growing in your first 15 years, but not a good business model thereafter) would have to be abolished so that clubs have the final say in selling a player as well as given the appropriate compensation for selling the player.
- As a sub point to the one above, Promotion and Relegation would have to be instituted in order to get some of the ownership groups to pony up the dough and make their teams at least competitive.
- The MLS SuperDraft would be nothing more than other American sports drafts; a fair way for clubs to select talent coming out of college. Though, in MLS's case it would be college players only, any player that plays for my youth academy teams is considered my player and is not subject to being drafted by someone else.
- The reserve league would have to be reinstated so kids don't have to sign with companies like Traffic Sports to get some PT at a professional level. Given the current situation in American Soccer, I'm not against what Clavijo is doing, I just wonder why we only hear of such things and people on this side of the Atlantic (ahem, Carlos Tevez Kia Joorbiachin thing a few years back); most countries where soccer is played professionally let clubs develop talent, not agents.

Ideally every USL, WPS, and MLS club would have their own academy to develop players who can eventually step into a professional setting and succeed, instead of relying on youth clubs who are mostly concerned with their revenue streams. Some of these clubs are also run by people who are more concerned with wins and losses at all levels to stroke their egos and make up for their lack of past glories by living vicariously through the kids in their clubs. I digress. Based on all the different factors for the sport in this country; cash coming in via TV and sponsors is limited, exposure is limited, college being the chosen after-high-school path for most due to their Socio-economic class, the number of clubs versus the size of this country, etc. fully funded youth academies for all of the professional clubs is not feasible now, nor anytime in the near future.