The Forward Madison Academy is here!
Yes, I’m a couple days late on this.
You see, I am elderly. I have an AARP card in my wallet. I take five pills every day for my heart (which has a stent in it). And, a message from Group Health Cooperative told me earlier this week, I really ought to get vaccinated against shingles.
The nurse who administered the shot on Thursday afternoon said, due to side effects of the shot, I “might feel kinda crummy.”
Understatement.
I also made a critical error. Just like a Forward Madison fan should never say “looks like we have this one in the bag” with a 1-0 lead in the 88th minute, a man who’s recently gotten a vaccination shouldn’t say, “I’m not feeling any side effects at all.”
But that’s exactly what I said around 10 am Friday. Shortly thereafter, MLS NEXT dropped the news of their new second division and all the teams in it, and I reached out to the Forward Madison front office, who said they’d have an announcement soon. So I started writing up this here newsletter.
Then … the side effects happened. It is now Sunday morning, and I’m finally feeling right again.
So. Here we go. The big news of the weekend: Forward Madison now has an academy!
University of Wisconsin and Madison 56ers legend Aaron Hohlbein is the director of Forward Madison’s youth program. He joined the podcast last summer to talk about Forward Futures, which was more or less an advanced training program for some of the area’s top youth talent.
With the announcement of the Forward Madison Academy joining MLS NEXT this week, we see it evolve into a development program for the club.
The press release announcing the academy calls it “a clear pathway to our first team.” So far, Forward Madison has only had three local guys on the roster — Vital Nizigiyimana, Demetrius Kigeya and Carl Schneider. Only Schneider ever saw competitive minutes. So the idea of creating an intentional means to grow our own players is very promising.
Also worth noting, having an official academy allows the team to bring more players for matches. In addition to the seven subs normally allowed to dress, USL rules permit two academy players on the sidelines ready to sub in if needed.
Back in 2018 I asked founding managing director Peter Wilt whether the club would have a youth program. “Certainly not at the beginning, and maybe not ever,” he said at the time. “I mean, I think one thing, you’ve got some good clubs here, and we don’t want to stand in their way. What I’d like to do is talk to them about ways a pro team can supplement what they’re doing.”
After several years of hosting camps for players and coaching clinics and such, it looks like this new academy will not depart from those partnerships. Along with the academy’s competitive team, the club will launch an affiliate program with local clubs to provide advanced training as well as coaching curriculum.
The 10-team North Division is the smallest of the eight regional competitions. Regional tournaments will serve as qualifications for an MLS Next Cup competition in 2026.
The academy will train and host matches at Breese Stevens Field, and we’ll definitely try to keep up with their schedule and get a look at the youngsters now and again.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE.
The Forward Madison Academy will be an all boys program for just one year, with a girls’ academy launching in the fall of 2026. I think there’s still some optimism that our women’s Superleague team will be ready to go by then; I sincerely doubt that’ll happen before 2027. In any case, a girls’ academy program will be an important component to building something sustainable on the women’s side, if and when it comes.
What’s up the next couple weeks?
The Mingos will take the field at Breese Stevens next Saturday, March 8, hosting Drake University for their final preseason friendly. Season ticket holders can come have a look, and I’ll be there as well, to give my honest assessment of the squad.
Then we open the season at Naples the following Saturday, so I’m planning a crossover with Ian and Paul from the brand-new Forza Naples podcast.
And that Thursday, March 20, we host Duluth in the first round of the US Open Cup, and will look to repeat the dominant performance we had over the NPSL side a year ago.
In the meantime, I don’t know any specifics about any additional player signings, though there will almost certainly be one or two more guys who will have earned a contract through their performance in the preseason friendlies. I’ll let you know about them as they come! I’ll also drop postmatch audio and recaps whenever I can, in addition to a newsletter whenever a new podcast episode drops. Subscribe to stay in the loop - it’s free!