Youth Academy Q/A Thread

[sterlingice]

Ok, so there's not much info out there. Time to start compiling. I'm going to rip some of the info from the youth conferences while we're trying to figure things out, too.

Q: Any idea when players change form on the youth academy? We don't have a little "The Club" page like we do for the big team.
A: ???

Q: What are some of the common YP texts from scouts and what do they mean?
A: See post 3

Q: What are some of the common training texts from managers and what do they mean?
A: See post 4

SI

[sterlingice]

Any idea when players change form on the youth academy? We don't have a little "The Club" page like we do for the big team.

SI

[sterlingice]

Q: What are some of the common YP texts from scouts and what do they mean?

This player has wretched Defending at this point in his career. His overall abilities right now are weak, in my opinion. Coach this player right and you will get passable Winger before you know it!

Right, this week's candidate is 15 years of age and is called Justin Hopkins.

If we look at his Scoring skills, I would rate him as a doubtful young player. If he develops well, I would say this chap can emerge with inadequate Scoring before joining the senior squad. Without any further training, this player will remain with poor Scoring.



SI

[sterlingice]

Q: What are some of the common training texts from managers and what do they mean?

Good morning,

Nothing new to report, I'm afraid.

In my opinion, Corey Drew has the potential to improve considerably, he just needs someone to give him a break.

I'm starting to realize that Corey Drew is a diamond in the rough! Train him well and he will be your most valuable young player.

This week I can report that several players have improved their capabilities through training. A special mention for Stephen Williams, who has worked well on his Defending skills.

Fabian Holden is one of those players that adds a lot of fighting spirit on the team, but sometime he overdoes it.

That's all I had for you today, boss.

Hi,

I'm sorry my friend, I've been distracted this week - personal problems, you know - and I can't give you any meaningful new information.

You can always trust Thibaut Fantin to give you his honest opinion about the situation in the team, that's valuable I think.

We had to pull Clément Faivre out of a fight again this week. That kid never learns.

Always a pleasure to talk to you, but I need to leave now. Cheers!

Good morning,

Nothing new to report, I'm afraid.

Ricky Carlton keeps developing, his Defending ability is now better.

Dorian Watts does not seem to respond to our training any more. Maybe he needs a new challenge?

I don't think we can afford to keep players like Dorian Watts on the squad, boss... He has no talent whatsoever!

Not everyone can be a leader, can they? Lucius Perdue was born to follow…

On a sidenote, it was Ricky Carlton's birthday this week. Time sure flies.

Always a pleasure to talk to you, but I need to leave now. Cheers!

All is well here, hope the same is true for you.

It's been a quiet week here. The players have been working well, but I can't give you any details on their progress.

It was endearing to see Jordan Connell in this week's game, he really gave us all he's got.

OK. See you later, then.

Hey! I hope you've had a good week?

I'm sorry my friend, I've been distracted this week - personal problems, you know - and I can't give you any meaningful new information.

On a sidenote, it was Wallace Morris's birthday this week. Time sure flies.


SI

[sterlingice]

A couple of interesting threads over in global have some more information:


I know it's early days but I've done a lot of reading on scout comments and this is my theory of how to interpret your scout's comments when you call him to pull a youth player.

You can receive up to 4 useful pieces of information (and a 5th which I haven't decided if it is useful info or a red herring). You may get fewer than these 4 pieces of info.

1. Indication of current level of overall skills using the usual rating descriptions. Best I have heard of so far is passable.

2. Indication of current level of one specific skill using the usual rating descriptions. Best I have heard of so far is solid.

3. Second indication of one specific skill using more general descriptions which may indicate: i) how quickly he will learn the skill, ii) his current skill or iii) how good he can become after training. This comment is the most difficult of the four to interpret and there are various theories going round. There seem to be six descriptions (in likely ascending order): "hopeless", "doubtful", "hopeful", "talented", "hot prospect" and "prodigious".

4. Indication of future level that can be reached in a specific skill with training using the usual rating descriptions. Best I have heard of far is excellent.

5. You also get a general comment such as "I am very impressed", "future star", "very talented", "great prospect". I am not sure on how good these comments are as a true indication of your prospect's star quality.

Example
Here is my youth pull this week:

His overall abilities right now are inadequate, in my opinion. Zeroing in on his Playmaking skills, this boy could very well be a hopeful talent. Without any further training, this player will remain with weak Scoring. Given the chance to improve his Scoring skills, this guy might well reach passable in that department.

My scout was looking for a defender. The most concrete piece of information is that he is weak in scoring and could get up to passable - not exactly going to set the world on fire.

But I also know he is inadequate overall. Therefore it seems fair to assume/hope that he is at least passable in a different skill (to get to the overall average of inadequate). Now "hopeful" in playmaking doesn't sound fantastic (when he could be, say, "prodigious") therefore with any luck he is already passable in defending which is what I want. I'll play him at CD next week and see how many stars he gets.

From the above I suspect that the specific skills which you get information on may be purely random and do not indicate your players best skill. Hence my pull may turn out to be a fantastic defender even though my scout mentioned nothing about his defending skills.

Conclusion
Next week I will try to hold out for one of the following: at least inadequate overall, current skill at least passable or future skill at least solid. I might be tempted by a skill area where he is "prodigious" or "very talented" but not "hopeful" or (obviously) "hopeless".


I have done some similar analysis which I have posted in my own youth league conference.

The majority of my conclusions are the same and the points 1-5 are almost exactly what I had posted in my report last night.

That is good because it must mean we are on to something - if two people come up with the same independently of each other it is a good sign.

A snippet of my report below

a) a random comment from scout which I don’t believe means an awful lot
e.g. I have found what seems to be a great prospect for you
I think I have found a skilled youngster for you
I might have a good talent for you
I've been watching him and I'm impressed
from what I have seen of him I must say I am impressed
We have an interesting prospect to evaluate
I think I have spotted a future star here, to be honest
looks promising. He is 15 years old and seems to have something extra

b) an overall assessment of the player with a one word comment often talking about an individual skill

Comments seen so far and my best guesses as to what real skills they translate to from what I have seen in the total comments

1. hopeless = disastrous
2. doubtful = wretched
3. hopeful = poor
4. talented = weak
5. hot prospect = inadequate
6. prodigious = passable

e.g. Zeroing in on his Scoring skills, this boy could very well be a talented talent.
this player is a hopeful player when it comes to Defending
If we look at his Scoring skills, I would rate him as a talented young player
If we look at his Winger skills, I would rate him as a hot prospect young player
If we look at his Keeper skills, I would rate him as a prodigious young player
To focus on his passing abilities, it might be so that this boy is talented.
In my opinion, this player is a hopeless player when it comes to Defending
If we look at his Scoring skills, I would rate him as a doubtful young player

c) an overall assessment of the players skills (looking at an average of all his skills)
e.g. His overall skill is poor
I would say as an allrounder, he's poor
His overall abilities right now are poor
With his average skills at weak
With his inadequate overall skills

d) an indication of what one or more individual skills are now
e.g. Right now I would say his Playmaking capabilities are around the poor level
Without any further training, this player will remain with wretched Passing
without any further training his playmaking will be inadequate
This player has inadequate Winger at this point in his career
This player is wretched when it comes to wing skills at this point in his career
This player has weak Defending at this point in his career
Without any further training, this player will remain with disastrous Scoring
Without any further training, this player will remain with passable Winger

e) an indication of what one or more individual skills are likely to be at the end of youth training (before promoting to 1st team)
e.g. Coach this player right and you will get weak Winger before you know it
Given the chance to improve his Keeper skills, this guy might well reach solid
Given the chance to improve his Playmaking skills, this guy might well reach inadequate

Whatever all of this means from what I have read in some comments I believe it is possible to raise a player’s level by 2-3 levels before promoting to first team (maybe more or maybe less) – the key is finding the players best position from the scout’s comments and indeed assessing whether a player is any good at all. It is also likely that there is a cap on how high the player’s skill can go within the YS e.g. he may be weak PM now and he may not be able to get past inadequate even with continual training. We will have to look at how his performance in matches varies to find this out.


SI

[Chubby]

Scout Comment

I think I have spotted a future star here, to be honest. He told me his name is Tommy Rockwell and is 16 years old.

Right now I would say his Winger capabilities are around the wretched level.

Can I offer him a place at the academy?

We will see how Tommy does this week :)

[Raven Hawk]

Hey, I haven't been able to call my scouts in the last 2 weeks? Does it matter if I pull from the youth squad? What's the deal?

[Mr. Wednesday]

There's a cap of 16 players on your youth squad; you start out with one open spot. Once you've filled it, you need to do normal pulls until you open up another spot.

[sterlingice]

My three for this week:

Anyway, Jay Free is 16 years old and from what I have seen of him I must say I am impressed.

Zeroing in on his Passing skills, this boy could very well be a hopeless talent. Right now I would say his Scoring capabilities are around the wretched level.

Do we sign him, boss?



I think I have found a skilled youngster for you. His name is Donald Turpin and he is 15 years old.

I would say as an allrounder, he's weak. In my opinion, this player is a doubtful player when it comes to Winger.



I think I have found a skilled youngster for you. His name is Ronald Hawes and he is 17 years old.

In my opinion, this player is a talented player when it comes to Passing. Without any further training, this player will remain with disastrous Playmaking.

SI

[TazFTW]

My three calls

I think I have found a skilled youngster for you. His name is Steve Wallis and he is 17 years old.

If we look at his Playmaking skills, I would rate him as a hopeless young player. This player has disastrous Winger at this point in his career.


Anyway, Morris Harp is 16 years old and from what I have seen of him I must say I am impressed.

Zeroing in on his Keeper skills, this boy could very well be a hopeless talent.


Alvin Cantrell looks promising. He is 16 years old and seems to have something extra.

If we look at his Playmaking skills, I would rate him as a hopeful young player.

[Havok]

i gotta say... im getting pretty dam lucky so far. Here's my latest call (1st try)

We have an interesting prospect to evaluate. He goes by the name of Jimmie Epps and is 15 years old.

In my opinion, this player is a hopeful player when it comes to Defending.

What do you say? Should we give him a chance


Last week when i got a '6 star' defender and the week before that i got a 'hopeful' talented winger.


So my insanely bad luck with the previous youth system has come full circle with this one. In fact, my league game this week im expecting something like 32-35 stars which is WAY more then anyone else i've seen in our league.

lucky me... i guess we'll see if it actually pays off or not when the time comes to start pulling these guys.

[Mr. Wednesday]

I got a bunch of junk this week. I wound up taking a guy who's currently "poor" at winger, after completely striking out with my first two scouts.

[Alf]

That's 2 weeks in a row I reach my 3rd scout and he found no one. *shurg*. Changing his assessed region to another one.

[TazFTW]

Keeper scout found no one.

Anyway, Mark Beaty is 15 years old and from what I have seen of him I must say I am impressed.

Zeroing in on his Defending skills, this boy could very well be a hopeless talent. I would say as an allrounder, he's poor.

Any player scout found no one. :(

[Mr. Wednesday]

The "poor" winger produced 2* as an offensive winger.

[TazFTW]

Today's calls.

I have found what seems to be a great prospect for you. He is 15 years old and is called Howard Kaplan.

Without any further training, this player will remain with disastrous Scoring. Zeroing in on his Scoring skills, this boy could very well be a hopeless talent. Coach this player right and you will get weak Passing before you know it! I would say as an allrounder, he's wretched.

Johnnie Witt looks promising. He is 16 years old and seems to have something extra.

If we look at his Defending skills, I would rate him as a doubtful young player. Given the chance to improve his Defending skills, this guy might well reach poor in that department.

Right, this week's candidate is 16 years of age and is called Leonardo Gates.

Zeroing in on his Scoring skills, this boy could very well be a hopeless talent. Given the chance to improve his Passing skills, this guy might well reach weak in that department.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Ew.

I got three different post-match feedback items this week. I'd gotten two after one other match, all the rest were one or none. One of the items was a bit of a repeat, though... telling me that the guy who put up 4* on the wing is the best prospect on the team.

[finketr]

how are people keeping track of how their youth academy players do?

[TargetPractice6]

how are people keeping track of how their youth academy players do?I'm just recording their performances and any other information I get about them in my supporter notebook. I think it's the first time I've ever gotten any use out of the feature.

[Vince]

I'm using an excel file.

Does anyone know if there is any way to get a scout's impression of the players that were pre-loaded onto a youth academy? Or am I going to have to rotate them throughout all the positions to figure it out?

[sterlingice]

There's no way to see that, near as I can tell. Best to rotate positions.

SI

[Mr. Wednesday]

how are people keeping track of how their youth academy players do?
I have a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of performance and coach comments.

[Vince]

There's no way to see that, near as I can tell. Best to rotate positions.

SI

Blech, that's an awful lot of work. Not a big deal, but still seems retarded that I can't, say, ask the trainer "Yo, what's this kid's strongest skill in practice?"

[TazFTW]

Today's calls

We have an interesting prospect to evaluate. He goes by the name of Albert Miner and is 17 years old.

If we look at his Keeper skills, I would rate him as a doubtful young player. Right now I would say his Scoring capabilities are around the disastrous level.

I think I have spotted a future star here, to be honest. He told me his name is Tom Vacco and is 16 years old.

With his poor overall skills, this might be the player for us. If we look at his Winger skills, I would rate him as a hopeful young player.

Kept Vacco since he is hopeful.

[sterlingice]

The guy I kept:

"If we look at his Playmaking skills, I would rate him as a doubtful young player. His overall abilities right now are weak, in my opinion. This player has inadequate Winger at this point in his career. Coach this player right and you will get solid Winger before you know it! "

SI

[TazFTW]

Promoted a forward who was getting 5 stars and it turns out he has poor scoring. :(

[sterlingice]

I promoted a 3 star defender and got a poor defender. About what I expected. Tho I'm kindof disappointed to hear some of the claims. Basically, you need a guy to be getting 7 or 8 stars to be considered worth selling once he promotes.

SI

[Poli]

Yeah, it's disappointing. My best was a weak defender. I'm not very happy with that.

Since I'm technically training midfield and passing, I may just promote/fire every goob on the team and just start making calls to fill out the roster with only those types.

[Poli]

I kept a hopeful talent as well.

[Poli]

I have a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of performance and coach comments.
Hook me up!

[Brillig]

I promoted my star keeper (8.5* in solid form). He turns out to be a solid GK with 3890 TSI in weak form (just a hair from excellent according to tools.)

[sterlingice]

Nice :)

SI

[the_meanstrosity]

Just a quick question for those who have experience with the Youth Academy. Is it worth it?

I gave up on the old youth squad and thus my squad is now disastrous or whatever the lowest level it can be. Is the Youth Academy worth my time and money?

[sterlingice]

I don't think it's a good money making enterprise at all. I think the odds of getting a "lottery pull" are even worse. However, if you're competent, you can at least get some generic guys to sell off for a few bucks so you don't lose money.

I think the argument that you can make custom guys is completely false since it's almost impossible to get someone young (15) and talented to train up to where you couldn't buy someone easier to fill the void. Particularly annoying is that you can't train any speciality- you have to wait until they are pulled to find out. So, why waste 2 seasons training up some uber winger stud to find out he's not as good as you thought and not quick to boot?

That said, I'm not quitting mine anytime soon as it's really fun and definitely one of the better additions in a long time. It's a nice new puzzle to play and you should be able to break even after a couple of seasons so as long as you think of it that way instead of a money making tool, you'll enjoy it.

SI

[the_meanstrosity]

Thanks SI. I'm at that point where the fewer time I spend on hattrick the better, lol. I just want to keep it at a minimum or else I'll eventually just get sick of it as so many other former Hattrickers have.

[JAG]

I spend almost zero time on the youth academy. I have my main trainees I've found (thus far) that get all the work, and the rest I play at whatever position I've set them at. Of course half-assing it like I'm doing might be worse than just doing the old youth pull method.