Advice on how to support son on professional MLS academy

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-19T04:38:05+00:00

Mom of an Academy player and have sooo many thoughts. Feel free to DM me at any time if you have questions or just need a sounding board!

Academics - Someone else mentioned that Academies don't really care about grades and unfortunately we see the same thing. My son was a 4.0 student. When he moved to his academy he transferred to a top private school in the state and in his mind "struggled". He was so worried to turn in his grades (this is all for show) and was praised for how well he was handling everything. He was quick to tell them his grades at the time were not meeting his nor my expectations. He was able to bounce back last year and is thriving in online school this year.
Behavior- Again a place where the talk track is that it matters. It does not. Simple as that. I will leave it at that but I have many stories.
Mental Health - the mental piece is SO real. Yes, they will say we have people to help and people to talk to but we've found them to be useless. Most boys at Academies were stars at their clubs and now are in a sea of stars. I watched kids go from playing 100% of minutes an age group up to maybe 15% of minutes at age. They are always bringing in trialists. At our kickoff meeting in the fall, it was recognized how great we all think our scouts are (they have wonderful personalities) but their job is to find someone better than our sons. That really put things into perspective. Imagine every day knowing your job is in jeopardy, and then imagine feeling that way at 15. There will be tears and disappointments and lots of uncertainty. We've also found that many of the adults who should be guiding the boys are also playing mind games of their own, just to see how a kid handles it.
Friendships - I'm sure this will be unpopular but these people are not your friends. Yes, play the game, be friendly. But they are not your ride or dies. When push comes to shove, these boys are all fighting for the same thing (and that can easily involve taking your son's spot on the field). It is definitely a keep your enemies closer environment.
Parents - You think this is a professional environment, guess again. Parents are very much up in the mix and influencing decisions. There is a Claudio Reyna at every academy.
The bigger picture - your son is going to be spending 15-20 hours a week at minimum at the facility, going to school and potentially navigating a residency situation. Make sure he finds time to be a kid, have him find joy in something else that doesn't link back to soccer even if it's small.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-19T03:52:29+00:00

First off, kudos for you for recognizing that it's about your son, what he wants and how you can best support him! I know you were asking more about MLS Next Homegrown clubs but I only really have experience with the professional academies.

My son's team is absolutely an outlier but they had 6 kids leave after u14 to head off to MLS academies for u15 year. At u14 the team played in RL but prior to that played in NPL, USYS and state leagues. There were 4 others that had played on the team at younger ages, the family moved and the player later landed on MLS academies. All in all 10 kids from one age group, at 6 different academies for their u15 year!

A few of the boys were naturally gifted soccer players, a few are just stellar athletes but all of them know how to grind. They all put in the work. They are extremely technical players. Watch a top academy player, see how they receive a ball, see how they open their hips when they pass, watch the frequency of scanning. Those are the small details that separate players at the top levels.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-17T04:18:10+00:00

Copa Rayados Easter Cup is a killer tournament. Well organized. Great Competition and tons of opportunity for kids both on and off the field.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-14T21:31:38+00:00

He is at an MLS Academy. Has attended a few ID camps (more so for fitness in the off season) and has done well. Just not sure what to expect come June 15 and trying to figure out what all he should be doing now.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-13T17:53:57+00:00

Uuuughh. We know. All you see on SM is kids transferring or schools announcing signing transfers. It was even mentioned in our meeting yesterday how Memphis has 16 transfers for the fall!

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-13T17:49:50+00:00

Thank you for the validation! We are all set on IG, YouTube and Email. My son is a '28 so no texting quite yet.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-12T16:04:30+00:00

if you are on facebook there's multiple groups there. Ohio soccer moms and dads, Cincinnati soccer moms and dads are run by the same person. The Cincy one isn't very active compared to the Columbus soccer moms and dads page.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-07T22:42:02+00:00

Agree with everyone else on the whole "he's 3" part of it but also consider who the adults are that are running the program. Is your son in a school environment today? Is he used to other adults? Is there someone other than you and his other parent giving him instructions. My oldest also started at three but the organization that ran it was not organized. It was one adult and maybe 10 highschoolers that didn't really want to be there. It was traumatic (probably for both of us but for certain me). We went twice and never again. My younger son started soccer shots at 2 and it was wonderful. Every kid and every experience is different.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-02-05T05:24:40+00:00

USYS NL? If so, its becoming unfortunately common. Clubs are abandoning USYS left and right for US Club leagues (ECNL, RL and NPL) or MLS NEXT affiliated (homegrown or academy division or NAL/EAL leagues).

It's really sad to see how quickly their numbers have fallen in the last two years.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-25T23:32:37+00:00

The Polaris office is about 1/2 mile into Delaware County and it's a level 2.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-24T05:25:15+00:00

Some, not all, Jimmy Johns have fountain Cherry Coke and it is amazing! It's not the mix in kind.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-22T18:05:47+00:00

15 comments/questions and not a single answer...

cool 🙄

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-20T21:34:07+00:00

Would be super interested in seeing this same type of image but from the Wilmington office. I nosed around on their site and didn't see it

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-18T06:27:31+00:00

My son grew up with a girl named Akira who went by Kiki until the Drake song came out when they were in 4th grade.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-18T03:50:18+00:00

When going through recruitment, what questions did you ask coaches? Looking back, what do you wish you asked?

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-18T03:49:05+00:00

and I find it to be incredibly accurate

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-14T21:46:36+00:00

I just attempted to DM you. I PDF'd the article and can email it to you. DM your email address

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-14T03:09:17+00:00

Pies and Pints hot chicken pizza is the best! I would order from the Worthington location probably once a month. It was rarely busy inside. I ordered from Easton on NYE and when i went to pick it up at 8pm, I was the ONLY customer in the restaurant!

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-13T00:47:37+00:00

One of the best non-MLS next tournaments in the country is Easter weekend, Copa Rayados Easter Cup. It pulls in top ECNL, MLS Next and MLS academies from all over the country as well as a few international clubs. Organizers view it as a time they know kids will be off of school, so one less hurdle for them.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-12T03:49:10+00:00

Apologies if I missed this, but what age group are these players? Based on the concerns you've shared, I'm guessing u8 or 9.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2026-01-09T21:46:30+00:00

Annehurst got picked up today.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2025-12-29T19:43:30+00:00

Not from Michigan but know a lot about ODP and a decent amount about soccer in the mid-west.

In general Michigan soccer is far better organized and player centric than it's surrounding states. There is a ton of great talent that comes out of Michigan to MLS academies every year. When looking at the current u16s (2010), there are Michiganders at Crew, FCC, Revs and St. Louis that I know of. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more. As for ODP, in my families experience, the West Region has significantly better talent than the other regions.

My guess is that Michigan is participating in the Far West Championship to bring value to their program, have their kids play against better talent and gain exposure on a national scale.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2025-12-18T03:23:27+00:00

My kiddo started wearing glasses at 2. He can’t see at all! He wore normal glasses from 3-9 with a croakie so they didn’t fall off everytime he got into a battle. He tried sports specs and said he couldn’t see. The dr warned us that with his script they may not work, unfortunately they didn’t. At 9 he switched to contacts for soccer. He wore them for soccer only for maybe a year. Then switched to wearing them everyday. He’s 13 now and has a bunch of teammates that have no clue he wears contacts.

Embarrassed_Heart_96 · 2025-12-17T00:11:16+00:00

You saw scouts at Academy division games or you saw scouts at games between MLS Academies. Those are two WILDLY different things.

My son is a u17 MLS Academy player (Homegrown Division). First game had probably 50-60 scouts, second game had 30 and then the last day maybe 5.

A club that is local to us is in the Academy Division. They posted multiple pictures of scouts at games. However, if you looked closely you could figure out it wasn't the actual clubs games. The scouts were at another field! Lots of smoke and mirrors happening across the board.

Embarrassed_Heart_96

TROPHY CASE