Academy or club, take your pick

When I look at Canada’s collective woes on the on the international stage, one wonders why soccer in Canada just can't seem to get over the hump. I wonder perhaps if it starts with our youth system. Not exactly a ground breaking theory on my part, as it inevitably is the grassroots level of any sport that drives future success but what I’ve noticed as a former youth player, and soccer enthusiast, is a divide at the youth level of development. I grew up playing soccer in clubs in southern Ontario. At the time, club soccer was the most competitive level for youth soccer. High school soccer was not as competitive as the OYSL, The Ontario Youth Soccer League, and academies in my time functioned more as extra training sessions than anything else. So club soccer it was. The soccer was competitive and it gave me an opportunity to play at the University level. The best youth players, who weren’t professionally gifted and already snatched up, played in the OYSL. This inherently made each of us better by playing against the best possible competition in our region. What I’m noticing in youth soccer today is growth in developmental outlets but these outlets don't have any unity to allow the best to play each other. While clubs still operate as they once did, academies are popping up all over the Greater Toronto Area and essentially watering down the talent pool in any and all leagues including their own. When Toronto FC of Major League Soccer was born in 2007, it created with it an academy for youth development. With a junior and senior level academy system, TFC takes another 40 players or so out of the OYSL, watering down talent pools yet again. Now I’m not arguing for one or the other. I’ve been a part of both club and academy, as a player and a coach, and I know there are a lot great soccer minds in Canada, but it seems that academies and clubs are moving in opposite directions. The point here is not for me to pick a preference, but rather hypothesize about why Canada perennially underperforms on the soccer stage. I do believe that growth of leagues and the implementation of more sophisticated systems is the key to youth development, but it can’t work unless this growth is done together. There are a lot of great soccer minds in Canada, but we need to bring these ideas together and think more about the sport, rather than how our own ideas are better than others, and find a Canadian soccer identity together. So for that parent out there trying to figure out what’s the best avenue for their child, I would simply say this: your child will thrive in an environment he/she feels most comfortable in. So meet coaches, go to try-outs, get a feel for the team and make a decision based on your situation and what works for best for your child and I’m sure they will be happier in the sport because of it and lets hope that one day our systems of development find some unity so that Canadian soccer can thrive as it should.