So...you want to use your Youth Academy effectively? Not sure what makes a good youth pull?

I'll give you my opinions, you can take them or leave them.

You will need some coaches to build up the additional training points. After you have the coaches there are 2 basic ways of training and then 2 basic ways of using those players when you are ready to move on. I'm sure there are variations but to keep it simple I'll just look at those ways.

One Way


You can put all of your points into one player to create a beast. What do I mean?

A typical 16 year old pull might have 22 strength and 20 speed. Perhaps you get lucky with a high teamwork and decent intelligence. That player starts with say 8 carrying, 7 vision, 6 positioning. Not horrible, but not the best.

It seems that most players will get .5 sp of training an update. Your YA points you get each u p d a t e to invest are on top of the .5 amount. Whatever it says your YA points are on the YA page, divide by 100. That is the actual amount of sp you get. For me it is in the 130 range so I end up with about 1.3 bonus sp for my academy per update. It depends on your coaches. Mine are middle of the road compared to others here.

That 16 year old:
22 strength
20 speed
8 carrying
7 vision
6 positioning
5 agility

You get about 1.5 to 1.9 per u p d a t e for that player when you combine your bonus points and normal training. I'll use the low end for this example. 1.5 points times 24 updates is 36 sp a season. Let's assume that player stays in your YA for 3 total seasons (108). He could end up like this:

42 strength
42 speed
30 carrying
21 vision
26 positioning
28 agility

That is a monster 19 year old, right? Well the downside of taking this approach is you don't know the physical caps and you could get unlucky with a guy capping below 40 in both physicals. Thus wasting sp on a player you might not use. So this takes some luck. I suppose this would be akin to putting all your eggs in one basket.

Second Way

You simply spread the bonus points among a few of your YA players.


Pro of all in one player: Possibility of creating better than a draft player.

Con of all in one player: Takes time, that means the rest of your YA players will essentially be back ups on your roster or sold off. You also risk the caps coming too soon.

Pro of spreading to a small group of players: Every season you may have players that join your roster. Less risk of gambling with caps. You essentially are creating solid starters that won't be as good as draftees but are serviceable for the time being.

Con of spreading around: Won't get the monster player.


Suggestion:

If you are in need of depth perhaps spreading around would be a good choice. If you have some depth then taking a risk with one player might be a path you choose. It is your team, you decide.


Now that you have these youth players trained....now what?

How you approach your YA purpose hinges here.

You can....

1. Use these players as transfer market fodder to make some cash to supplement your income.


or...


2. Use them for your own team.


or...



3. Somewhere in between.

I suggest you have a plan of action.

Now what makes a good youth pull?

I'll post what I think, but others may have different opinions based on preferences. Some regard intelligence higher than others, same with teamwork.


When I am looking at my 4 choices I look at the physicals totaled compared to age first.

I estimate a player gains 10 sp a season in general. So if I had these 4 players to choose from:

16 years old 20 strength 21 speed= 41 total

17 years old 25 strength 20 speed=45 total

17 years old 24 strength 24 speed=48 total

18 years old 26 strength 22 speed= 48 total

I would choose the 16 year old easily. In one season he would gain at least 10 sp and be 51 and 17 years old.

I compare the players and compare them using the idea that 10sp a year of age of difference.

I then consider the teamwork in relation to the physical skills. The higher strength the player has the more I want his TW to be higher.

uiuiui

Nice guide you have here sfniner!

I run my YA a lot like you have stated here, but with some minor tweaks.

Hey now! That's something I as a Portuguese man should be saying!

Great work on the guide sfniner. :Claps:

Something I'd add for noobs -

After you get a HC, make your next 2 ACs the ones you will use to train speed and strength. So probably a DL or OL AC for strength and a WR or RB AC for speed - so make sure these 2 ACs have good CPs and exp.

You will spend most of your time training player's physicals in the YA (and a lot on the main roster too) so this is very important.

I'm pretty sure a LB AC will cover both Speed & Strength. At least that's what someone said in a thread earlier.

Great stuff SF, this one should deserve a sticky.


One season is 24 updates though!

And yes, a LB AC will cover both strength, speed and tackling which is a skill the entire defense uses. I started out using a LB AC for physical skills before swtiching to a WR AC which trains agility as well.

Oh and by using a LB AC or WR AC etc. we mean switching every youth academy player to the LB position. They can be switched around without any penalties, so doing so will maximize their training on the different skills. Just a little explanation for any new manager reading this.

I thought so too. I counted the beginning of this season to the rollover u p d a t e and came up with 26. Perhaps I counted wrong. I'll count it again.

I counted 26 again....I count the season rollover as the final training of that season for each season.

I would count it as first of the season (still makes 26). If you let that final training run and don't promote & HR your 20 year olds before Pete "flips the switch", then you will lose them.