To think the majority of kids can get into "invite only" football development programmes

[Futb0l]

I have a year 2 DS. He doesn't play at a football club or team but lots in his class do - 10 out of 15 or so boys.

This year lots of parents have dropped into conversations that their kids are now "at an academy", or "at an invite only team". 6 so far have mentioned this, and referred to their boys as being "advanced".

I don't really get this. How can you be "advanced" if most kids are 😂

Do parents really fall for this shit? It seems like there's "academy" spaces for any kid who tries for one & these programmes are pretty expensive.

AIBU to think these programmes are really common and most kids can play at a good enough level to "pass" the trial?

It depends. At DS's school, in juniors, a couple of the boys went to Manchester United Academy. It didn't last for them, but they were considerably better at football than most at primary school.

My year 2 son plays football and there is a sad kind of desperation to have their little boys be the next Rooney among some parents. When in reality they play a match and are mostly shit, but at the age of 6 it’s about having fun and it’s the parents who take it way too seriously

This.

There is so much that is so wrong with taking dc away from their mates before the age of about 15.

I only know of two kids at an academy. One is 17 and the other is 10 so I don't recognise this as being common.

Yep this. I know some families whose kids played at premier league team academies and they were all genuinely pretty good
and definitely better than average at their school. Is that what you mean though OP?

If its saying it's an academy or elite then it's not a very high level unless it is free and part of a recognised performance pathway for that sport.

Yes, at y2 academy is generally about taking money off gullible parents. It means something and is competitive when they are older but not at that age.

I agree, OP. Our nearest big club (League one) runs an academy, and quite a few of my DS's friends were scouted to join it (including my DS, but we didn't send him). It cost a lot of money, they had a development squad AND a shadow development squad, and for the majority who went there, it all seemed like a massive waste of time and money, when they could have been having fun with their friends.

I think on the whole, I'd say that the kids they scouted were on the better side of average, but nothing more than that. If kids were really good, why would a football club make them pay to join? Surely they'd want to invest in them, not the other way round?

I live in Manchester and there are always a few (1 maybe 2 kids) invited to play for man u or city junior teams. They dump you real quick and the time commitment is significant. I knew a couple doing both city and united for a time. The mums I know try and keep a sensible head on and not get their hopes up, but they are naturally proud and I'm happy for the kids. One boy got his secondary education paid for on the city team as there's a nearby private school where city send their junior players.

You have to be a very good and dedicated player to make these kind of named teams. Everyone else just plays for local leagues so I haven't heard of invite only academies.

I’m involved in running a grassroots football club and we see players (and probably more so their parents) enticed by academies. Sadly the fact is that only a small percentage of players will make it into professional football.

we’ve always had a club ethos that football should be fun and inclusive for all but academies run completely differently and unfortunately some clubs even though they aren’t academies have adopted this “invite only” approach.

My 9 yr old plays “advanced” football at grassroots level. I don’t think much more than they’ve tiered it in the same way his groups in his class are tiered by ability.

they played a team recently who were development moving into intermediate and they beat them something like 16-0. When they play other advanced teams the scores are much much more balanced and less like rugby scores. (think 3-3 or 2-1).

in relation to academies, they will take kids at 9, sign them and that the end of grassroots football for them unless they’re let go. They cannot play for any other teams (bar a school team) from age 9 if they’re signed.

many of my son’s “Advanced” team have left to join Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell, Kilmarnock etc and the scouts actively watch their games.

I don’t really agree with children being snared by these clubs at such a young age but it’s definitely a thing and many of the kids are very serious and dedicated too.

Where we live there are academies linked to clubs which do scout & the players scouted start training around year 2. They are definitely much better players & can stay at grassroots until they get properly signed from age 9 onwards.

There are also some paid academies. Obviously they are less selective & you would sign up rather than get invited.

So yes it's possible some are pretty good players. Obviously that doesn't mean they will still be amazing in 5 years time.

It's a bit bad taste to show off. We told DS to not really talk about it in school when he was with a couple of academies. They can get dropped just like that so it's not worth showing off.

Perhaps everyone gets in,perhaps they don't but if it's good quality coaching then it can only be a good thing. By the time they are 11 those children will have been filtered to the more talented ready for the next level of training. Whilst very few make it as a professional player I know several that got head hunted to play soccer at American Uni/Colleges with fully funded places which was a amazing experience.

I'm reminded of Victoria Wood's comments about how she wasn't one of the popular girls and felt left out at school but now she looks at it differently because the pinnacle of those girls' lives was being the captain of the school netball team.

@budgiegirl

If kids were really good, why would a football club make them pay to join? Surely they'd want to invest in them, not the other way round?

We never paid anything for academy football & kit was also free. The paid for ones aren't really proper academies - they're just a business using the name & hoping parents will pay up.

I don't mean actual academies run by premier league/championship clubs. Clearly those kids are miles ahead of peers.

I mean privately run football clubs that describe themselves as "x academy" & have "invite only training squad" or similar. Word "professional" littered across website. References to kids who are "invited" being advanced but a hell of a lot of kids are "invited".

The parents are bragging/proud of their kids, let them have their moment and hope for the best for the kids. Most don't make it into club academies or are dropped by clubs if they dont fit , only a few get through to their dream of being a professional footballer and it is hard knock for a young person on the way back down.

I don't know much about football, but my DS plays other sports and my DD was a dancer and I recognise this phenomenon. There are some talent development schemes, generally those run by a national governing body or other well recognised high performance team or school that are "real" and are usually very selective, and then there are lots of others run as essentially money making exercises by people who take advantage of the dreams/insecurities of children, or actually more often, their parents. It's easy to get sucked into thinking that everyone else is trying out for these schemes so you're letting your child down if you don't do it too, when often it's much better for them to just stay in a "normal" club or school.
Personally, I don't think that very young children should be going into any such scheme, even the good ones and parents of older children should generally approach these things with a degree of scepticism. There are lots of people jumping on the band wagon and offering little or nothing more than a good local club coach or teacher can provide, but at much greater expense. I've seen a lot of children fall out of love with their sport or hobby because they have been pushed too hard in pursuit of a dream which is just not going to come true. Fun, friendship and fitness are the really important goals for the vast majority in my opinion.

Prob different for boys just due to numbers, but my daughter plays football for a local team. We know 3 girls who are playing with academies (mix of PL, Championship, League 1) - they are the standout players in their age group.

Unfortunately, most clubs seem to have an A team, and a B team (or a squad and a development team) and getting a six year old into a club just to have some fun is quite hard

Unfortunately some adults take kids sports far too seriously.

We have two childrens Rugby clubs nearby... one is the junior section of a "big name" club and the other just a local rugby club. The "Big Name" club refuses to play the "local" club because they keep beating them whenever they do concede to having a game. The only difference between the children is that "big name" has high subscription fees and kit costs and the local club does a lot of fundraising to provide sport for everyone.

I think a lot of it is money making, particularly the development type squad stuff. My son played in various development/academy squads at Arsenal, Watford and Luton and there was no real point to them other than being a nice little earner.

The proper academies are different and seem to get more serious by 10 or 12. It's pretty brutal though (rugby too). I know several kids who waited all year to see if they were signed when their team mates had been. You have to really want it.

That said, as much as I've eye-rolled at parents who think their son is the next Ronaldo (particularly when it was at the expense of their school work), one of the kids recently went from Reading to the City academy and has played for England u18s so credit to him.

This happened at the palace for life academy (linked to Crystal Palace but is actually a charity) after a holiday camp a few years ago. I got an email with an invite code for the “development programme”. All excited we booked then to realise anyone can join - I felt duped and disappointed and I’m not even a pushy football mum 😂

It’s the same with other privately run academies too invites dished out like sweets to unsuspecting parents for £££.

my son knows one boy who was scouted and now genuinely at pro level and he knows lots of football obsessed boys!

It is well known that they sweep up anyone with a modicum of talent and spit them out at a later date when they are distinctly average.
I feel sorry for the kids who really think they are something because they are academy players when in reality they are just a punt the team has taken 🤷🏻‍♀️

If it’s just the “academy” class at an ordinary kids’ football club, it probably doesn’t mean much. At DS’s old club they almost all went into the academy once they’d been going for a few months- it was just to distinguish between the boys who turned up to training every week and did their best and the boys who only came occasionally and dicked around.

The academies of proper clubs and youth training programmes are different.