As far as number of youths you can get to camp. as others have said, 5 weeks is the only logical option due to the efficiency accumulated in the 5th week alone. you can get 10 players in per season.
You can go two routes with it. you could take on more than 10 youths and make sure each get at least two camp sessions, or you can keep them to 10 or less so they all go to camp each season. ive used the former and it works, i have been using the latter the last 18 months and it works too.. its down to preference and strategy and there isnt a right or wrong approach.
On one side 12-16 youth will give you more possibilities of star players. however, many of them will be neglected from camp their most efficient training years (the 3 youth seasons) and you may find yourself with players who wont be starting levels until 25-26 as opposed to 22-23. this means youd need to have a sizable overhead to take on a lot of youths. its this reason i recommend folk with fresh teams to go the 10 or less route.
If i chose players based on the balls they come with, i would have scrapped three of my stars who came with under 10 balls. two of them gained 6 balls in their camps as youth and flew past players who seemed much more promising.
I train all youth in speed, stamina, and control (with smatterings of position-specific skills for forwards and defenders) and decide who stays and who goes based on these.
If they reach 8 and up in them, i dont care if they max early in tackling or shooting, theyll make excellent mids or wings. i dont think it makes sense sending players to other skills before. whats the point of a 10 ball striker who cant dribble past the defense? and its useless to me to have a 10 tackler who gives the ball back because hes too damn slow.
Additionally, shooting and tackling are worth more. you are running toward high salaries for potentially scrap players. it is, as is said, getting the cart before the horse so far as i can tell.
(youre welcome to go through my former posts in the forum section and pull my contributions. you should find lots of stuff)
