WFF & IMG (not Clearwater Chargers!) Discussing merger of "equals"

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This was the position a few years back and the new policy does not apply to returning students. We trained there and was offered 85% to attend this coming year. Things are very different now. IMG wants to be a soccer powerhouse (maybe because us has world cup coming) like they are in football. Once that is accomplished via affiliation, scholarship and grants, they will revert back to prior model because they will have all the leverage to attract the elite player. Its smart business!

Wrong- They do not offer 85% discount pricing for girls soccer, no matter who you are. Football, basket ball, now that's a different story. There are no big money contracts, fame in women's soccer. The return on investment is non existent. Good talent doesn't need to pay tens of thousands of $$s to be seen or make a league. The only people who do this are those who need to buy their kid a team or who don't understand the realities of college scouting. There are plenty of good clubs (DA, ECNL, FDPL..ect that will showcase your daughters, give great training without paying a yearly salary). Smarter folks know this, let their kids talent and ethic do the work....rather than their wasted money). The pay to play model does not work with the supposed stated DA model/goal. Neither will it attracts national talent. As national level talent w
doesn't need to live in a diff state and pay to obtain what can be obtained without.

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This was the position a few years back and the new policy does not apply to returning students. We trained there and was offered 85% to attend this coming year. Things are very different now. IMG wants to be a soccer powerhouse (maybe because us has world cup coming) like they are in football. Once that is accomplished via affiliation, scholarship and grants, they will revert back to prior model because they will have all the leverage to attract the elite player. Its smart business!

OP here, what I wrote about with our daughter was the beginning of the current season (August, 2017) when IMG first received Girls DA - not "a few years back."

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OP here, what I wrote about with our daughter was the beginning of the current season (August, 2017) when IMG first received Girls DA - not "a few years back."

The point I am making with my daughter is that this was a offer we received recently. And was told the policy was only for the elite player FWIW.
I generally assumed that the policy was new, but did not realize it was this new, which is why I said a few years back. Ill add that they were very aggressive in aggregating talent for next season. Ask around, many players are now on some form of scholarship! Mind you its not like college, its for 1 year only!

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The point I am making with my daughter is that this was a offer we received recently. And was told the policy was only for the elite player FWIW.
I generally assumed that the policy was new, but did not realize it was this new, which is why I said a few years back. Ill add that they were very aggressive in aggregating talent for next season. Ask around, many players are now on some form of scholarship! Mind you its not like college, its for 1 year only!

Two questions:
1) To be clear, are you saying that IMG is offering significant cost reductions to Girls DA players that are non-resident status (commuters) beginning next season?
2) And if so, what does that mean for WWF's GDA program? It would seem that due to all the benefits IMG could offer and the proximity to WFF, that it would quickly mean the end for WFF's GDA.

[Unregistered]

Two questions:
1) To be clear, are you saying that IMG is offering significant cost reductions to Girls DA players that are non-resident status (commuters) beginning next season?
2) And if so, what does that mean for WWF's GDA program? It would seem that due to all the benefits IMG could offer and the proximity to WFF, that it would quickly mean the end for WFF's GDA.

1) No - they are not. Contrary to what you are being fed, they do not give out 85% discounts for girls soccer (football yes). That would be the anomaly. EVERYONE gets a "scholarship". By scholarship, that means 30k up (just to attend school). If you live there, that will be in ball park of 50k up "scholarships". It's a country club that caters to country club parents. If you have to pay that sort of money to get your kid noticed (and the stats aren't that impressive), you probably go to time share seminars too.

2) WFF won't suffer at all. Nobody living local is that dumb to throw that type of money away on results they can obtain from local clubs, coaching.

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1) No - they are not. Contrary to what you are being fed, they do not give out 85% discounts for girls soccer (football yes). That would be the anomaly. EVERYONE gets a "scholarship". By scholarship, that means 30k up (just to attend school). If you live there, that will be in ball park of 50k up "scholarships". It's a country club that caters to country club parents. If you have to pay that sort of money to get your kid noticed (and the stats aren't that impressive), you probably go to time share seminars too.

2) WFF won't suffer at all. Nobody living local is that dumb to throw that type of money away on results they can obtain from local clubs, coaching.

I have been a casual observer but had to respond to this post because it actually made me laugh out loud. Please elaborate on what local club or coaching could possibly compare to IMG. We have great coaches from top to bottom and training staff that cannot be matched. Maybe TBU can match up on some levels but not across the board and certainly TBU is not a local club to the pool of players that IMG will draw from. Please elaborate on this point because i want to learn something new. We all do!

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I have been a casual observer but had to respond to this post because it actually made me laugh out loud. Please elaborate on what local club or coaching could possibly compare to IMG. We have great coaches from top to bottom and training staff that cannot be matched. Maybe TBU can match up on some levels but not across the board and certainly TBU is not a local club to the pool of players that IMG will draw from. Please elaborate on this point because i want to learn something new. We all do!

An awkward laugh, probably. I'd feel awkward to if I realised I was paying a years salary (for many) supplementing the other sporting programs. Great coaches? What ruler are you measuring with? College commits, national team? If so, how does this stack to any of the bigger clubs in FL? Do you really want to compare? Lol. Isn't it pretty much the same 4 coaches you've had since the Jurassic era? The others come and go like any other club.

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Craig Heseltine, from Liverpool, is the best trainer

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I have been a casual observer but had to respond to this post because it actually made me laugh out loud. Please elaborate on what local club or coaching could possibly compare to IMG. We have great coaches from top to bottom and training staff that cannot be matched. Maybe TBU can match up on some levels but not across the board and certainly TBU is not a local club to the pool of players that IMG will draw from. Please elaborate on this point because i want to learn something new. We all do!

The arrogance, you need to step off the IMG campus and look around. WFF might have some "humble" fields at J.C. Handley compared to IMG but the level of coaching is equal or batter than IMG. Way to throw TBU a bone but you know it's between WFF and IMG GDAs and WFF will excel - at 1/3 the price!

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The arrogance, you need to step off the IMG campus and look around. WFF might have some "humble" fields at J.C. Handley compared to IMG but the level of coaching is equal or batter than IMG. Way to throw TBU a bone but you know it's between WFF and IMG GDAs and WFF will excel - at 1/3 the price!

The fact that IMG can’t even field teams below the u15 age group (outsourced to Braden River) should show that they aren’t a serious competitor. The majority of their talent in the older ages is being recruited in from out of state, or country for that matter. In regards to high level competitive soccer, IMGs model is the exception, not the rule, and shouldn’t be used for comparison.

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IMG is for parents that don’t like being parents. Just like military schools, ship them off, have someone else raise them and call them ‘elite’ so everyone feels better. 70k for girls soccer?
Parents show up a few times a year to tell Susie how great she is, then watch her walk back to the dorm room alone.

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IMG is for parents that don’t like being parents. Just like military schools, ship them off, have someone else raise them and call them ‘elite’ so everyone feels better. 70k for girls soccer?
Parents show up a few times a year to tell Susie how great she is, then watch her walk back to the dorm room alone.

And to make up for the loneliness, Susie finds the needed attention from the entire Jamaican track team behind the storage shed.

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IMG is for parents that don’t like being parents. Just like military schools, ship them off, have someone else raise them and call them ‘elite’ so everyone feels better. 70k for girls soccer?
Parents show up a few times a year to tell Susie how great she is, then watch her walk back to the dorm room alone.

Spot on-
The staff (for that 70k) will also tell Susie how great she is too, even when Susie is clearly not. Susie will never hear any words of discipline or correction when she half asses a practice or game either. It's all about keeping that 70k retention.

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The fact that IMG can’t even field teams below the u15 age group (outsourced to Braden River) should show that they aren’t a serious competitor. The majority of their talent in the older ages is being recruited in from out of state, or country for that matter. In regards to high level competitive soccer, IMGs model is the exception, not the rule, and shouldn’t be used for comparison.

This is untrue. IMG pretty much starts at 8th or 9th grade so they will have fewer players in the younger age groups because of this.

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This is untrue. IMG pretty much starts at 8th or 9th grade so they will have fewer players in the younger age groups because of this.

Sounds kinda like you are agreeing with the post you are responding to