Pay-to-play still permeates youth soccer, Development Academy

This is Part 4 of a five-part series by Jeff Carlise of ESPN examining the structure and organization of the U.S. Soccer Federation and its youth programs. Coming in Part 5 is a look at the longer-term goals and challenges of the Development Academy.

The U.S. Soccer Federation\'s Development Academy has, in its brief existence, enjoyed some successes. National team coaches like U.S. U-20 manager Thomas Rongen have hailed the approach, with its emphasis on more practice time and better competition, as a huge step forward in player development, and the increased player pool for youth national teams is among the benefits. But one problem the Academy has not been able to solve is the steep cost of playing elite-level club soccer.

An informal poll of 16 non-MLS clubs participating in the Development Academy revealed that the total outlay for each player can be as high as $6,000 a year, with the average coming out to around $4,000.

[+ read full story on SoccerNet.com]

Other stories in this series:

Part 1 - U.S. Soccer overhauls its youth programs
Part 2 - Development Academy is also an educational tool for coaches
Part 3 - USSF models youth development on a mix of foreign concepts