Sounders, Tacoma Tide Announce PDL Partnership

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 12:56 PM PST in Sounders: Academy, U23 PDL and Reserves

The Seattle Sounders have added a PDL team to their youth development program, partnering with the Tacoma Tide and rebranding the team as Sounders FC U-23. The team will be coached by current Sounders academy director Darren Sawatzky and play somewhere in Pierce County, although a permanent home has not yet been determined.

"The intent is to fill one of the gaps in development that we felt we had at this time," Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer said. "Most importantly for us, it's to bring some of our academy grads who are in university back for the summer so we can observe them, maybe train a day or two with the first team and to just keep tabs on those players."

"Secondarily, there's the potential that a player who doesn't make our team can stay in the area and train and get games with a PDL organization and keep tabs on them."

Hanauer noted that while the U-23 team will be fully amateur, meaning that players can not be paid, the Sounders host several youth camps that could help supplement any non-soccer income players may be receiving. More likely, the team will be heavily stocked with the likes of former Sounders Academy players such as DeAndre Yedlin (Akron), Sean Okoli (Wake Forest), Nick Palodichuk (Duke), Ryan Herman (Santa Clara) and Troy Peterson (College of Charleston).

"For a lot of these guys it's a place they can come back to," Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. "It's also an opportunity to watch other college players play some of their summer soccer. It becomes a logical progression, it bridges that gap from the Academy teams to MLS and becomes a great enhancement for the college players."

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I love this FO!

by majora999 on Jan 25, 2012 1:03 PM PST reply actions

Great Move

now it’ll make things interesting if U-23 makes it to the Open Cup tournament and ends up playing MLS sounders. hmmm who to root for… Na i’ll just boo at the ref as usual.

by gstommylee on Jan 25, 2012 1:06 PM PST reply actions

Anything on the Sounders Women team?

by yuniform on Jan 25, 2012 1:10 PM PST via Android app reply actions

Michelle French is their new coach

a Sounders employee is the GM. They play at Starfire in the USL affiliated women’s league.

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 1:20 PM PST up reply actions

It's not an ownership change

just an affiliation. Which means the Women aren’t necessarily part of the deal. But I suspect the ties will be strengthened this year

Nos Audietis

by sidereal on Jan 25, 2012 1:25 PM PST up reply actions

They did mention the women...

It strengthened the relationship probably but I don’t think there’s much operational change.

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 1:29 PM PST up reply actions

Sounders Woman

just revealed their new logo on their facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/sounderswomen

by gstommylee on Jan 25, 2012 1:35 PM PST up reply actions

make

that just revealed today.

by gstommylee on Jan 25, 2012 1:36 PM PST up reply actions

The big MLS Sounders logo in the middle

suggests a rather strong affiliation. Be interesting to see the nuts and bolts

Nos Audietis

by sidereal on Jan 25, 2012 1:46 PM PST up reply actions

Makes

me wonder if they’ll adjust their uniforms as well to make it work with their new logo or would they stay with the blue and white?

by gstommylee on Jan 25, 2012 1:50 PM PST up reply actions

sounders fc vs sounders u-23 open cup final sounds good to me

by alexyepz on Jan 25, 2012 1:17 PM PST via mobile reply actions

logo...

surely put a lot of effort into that logo…

by fuzzyforeigner on Jan 25, 2012 1:29 PM PST reply actions

ha, yeah...

And just got word they are fixing the spelling of “premier”

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 1:30 PM PST up reply actions

It will be changed in moments

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 1:33 PM PST up reply actions

discovery claims

how will they work for this team?

by fuzzyforeigner on Jan 25, 2012 1:32 PM PST reply actions

It won't affect them

If a guy wasn’t in the Sounders academy before going to college, this shouldn’t be able to change that.

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 1:34 PM PST up reply actions

It shouldn't affect HGP signings

but Portland proved that it can

Nos Audietis

by sidereal on Jan 25, 2012 1:48 PM PST up reply actions

I'm not sure I can think of a similar situation that would work in teh Sounders favor

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 1:50 PM PST up reply actions

Based on the late fall-out from the Portland mess

That the league basically let them dictate a list of current prospects on their PDL team whom they could count as HGP’s down the road and the fact that Chicago hasn’t made similar claims makes me think the PDX thing was legit.

by CMC_Stags on Jan 25, 2012 2:43 PM PST up reply actions

Portland got an exception based on their history and connections with a youth club

not just due to PDL

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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 2:54 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

My understanding was that their youth club was their PDL team

They are only now forming U-16 and U-18 teams.

by CMC_Stags on Jan 25, 2012 3:47 PM PST up reply actions

Their GM was Richards coach at Eastside United FC

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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 4:43 PM PST up reply actions

Ok. So then they basically claimed some number of Eastside United FC players as HGP then?

by CMC_Stags on Jan 26, 2012 11:30 AM PST up reply actions

yes

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 26, 2012 11:50 AM PST up reply actions

The player will still need to meet the same pre-college standards for an HGP signing

but this is a simple way of maintaining the relationship post college.

As for Discovery Claims, it should give Seattle a leg up on players that aren’t draft eligible.

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 1:35 PM PST up reply actions

question

Great article recently about the different ways academy players make the pros. My question is with this teams affiliation as U-23, could we have a scenario where a kid after a year of college (not academy) might decide they want to be a Sounder, could they contact our club and we have them come into the U-23 and then sign through our club that way? And by-pass superdraft? Or maybe a great kid out of highschool that wants to get straight in the U-23s instead of college?

If so I could really see this paying off big time as a way for players that want to be Sounders. And might not want to risk the single-entity system that doesn’t really give a player the freedom to choose the team he plays for.

by python6114 on Jan 25, 2012 9:46 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

HGPs are generally supposed to have played for academy before college

Timbers obviously got an exception to that one.

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 10:51 PM PST up reply actions

cool

I meant not as a homegrown player, but I guess then all domestic players are subject to entering through the draft? few exceptions aside.

by python6114 on Jan 26, 2012 1:14 PM PST up reply actions

Tide

I was hoping the new logo would somehow incorporated the Tide yellow or something from their logo. Maybe their jersey will have a patch or something to commemorate the old Tide.

by PaoloD on Jan 25, 2012 1:41 PM PST reply actions 5 recs

That would be a nice touch

And a sign for those fans who supported the Tide throughout the years.

by Dizzo on Jan 25, 2012 2:53 PM PST up reply actions

So I'm confused on how this benefits us

I was convinced after the recent article/discussion about Portland’s PDL team that it’s not really beneficial to even have a PDL team, that it doesn’t get us any extra pull or benefits or anything. So how is this suddenly good news?

by chrisperry1983 on Jan 25, 2012 3:30 PM PST reply actions

Here's how it helps

Rather than our academy grads going off to play for random PDL teams, they can come home and be under the guidance of Sounders coaches while still playing meaningful matches.

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 3:32 PM PST up reply actions

I guess I can see benefit here

So summation of benefit is academy kids transition to this team, get some semi-pro training and Sounders tutelage, and because they’re already academy kids we own their rights as HGPs? Key being they are already academy kids and this does not extend our reach or grant us any new privileges in any way?

by chrisperry1983 on Jan 25, 2012 9:20 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

that's the understanding

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 10:52 PM PST up reply actions

Well if we're doing it as partnership rather than spending money to outright run the place, I guess that seems like the most effective way to get the small benefits there are.

by chrisperry1983 on Jan 26, 2012 1:45 PM PST up reply actions

I'm still not convinced it's a great thing

but Seattle is doing it in a partnership rather than an outright own and operate. We’ll have more details from Darren Sawatzky shortly.

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 3:41 PM PST up reply actions

The team has to have time with their Academy products who are in NCAA to still have them eligible as HGPs, correct?

I’m hoping time spent with the PDL team will count towards those training hours.

Even if it doesn’t, it’s still an opportunity for the players to get more meaningful playing time outside of the NCAA season. This is especially true if you think that the MLS Reserve games are already going to be full of current Sounders and Academy players.

by CMC_Stags on Jan 25, 2012 3:50 PM PST up reply actions

The PDL hours will count as training hours for HGPs

Because the coach is a Sounders coach

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 4:42 PM PST up reply actions

Sounds like the Sounders will get some benifit and at a small cost.

I really dont see this investment costing the Sounders much. It wont give us a huge advantage but it gives us a place to continue viewing our college age players who started in our academy. It also helps us grow the Sounders brand in the region.

Im curious to see how our afilliation affects the attendance of local PDL games. Seems like the Tide averaged about 200 per game. It will be interesting to see if this helps the attendance of other PDL teams in the region also. It does help promote other local teams that Sounders fans may have not heard about.

by MurrayD on Jan 25, 2012 3:50 PM PST up reply actions

How could it not be a good thing?

It has nothing but upside. As JO already said, it’s a team for kids to come back to and play within the Sounders system. They train how you want them to train and they play how you want them to play. What Hanauer said about training with the first team is key as well. If Joe Schmo decided to go to Cali and play with Orange County Blue Star instead of coming back to Seattle, he misses the chance to get that first team training.

by TheTank123 on Jan 25, 2012 6:36 PM PST up reply actions

Schmo could have gone to Tacoma, Everett or Crossfire without this deal

this doesn’t really change that.

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jan 25, 2012 7:54 PM PST up reply actions

but he wouldn't necessarily be overseen by Sounders coaches directly

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 25, 2012 8:26 PM PST up reply actions

Schmo is no good

and will be lucky to be signed as a Timber let alone a Sounder. :)

by lysander on Jan 25, 2012 8:51 PM PST up reply actions

I'd imagine

that a Sounders player playing on a Crossfire PDL team would happen over Bernie James’ dead body.

by TheTank123 on Jan 26, 2012 11:16 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs

It should also help the staff evaluate the players

to determine if it’s appropriate to sign them as HGP at any point before their NCAA eligibility is up. It’s easier to do that if you have them here locally under Sounders coaches. It also means we have a place to send draft picks if they can’t get on with a NASL or USL Pro club.

by Randy Meeker on Jan 26, 2012 1:30 PM PST up reply actions