Category: Soccer America Daily

The U.S. Soccer Federation is launching the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, which promises to dramatically decrease the men’s national team program’s dependence on the Olympic Development Program to identify players. The Federation has started accepting applications from the nation’s elite youth clubs to run academy teams for U-16 and U-18 boys to compete in the academy’s regional leagues. Up to 80 clubs will be chosen by U.S. Soccer’s national team coaches to run academy teams. Players in the academy program will not take part in ODP. To counter the “growing trend of clubs playing an excessive quantity of games in lieu of consistent training patterns,” academy teams will not play in any other leagues, tournaments or State Cup competitions. Players will only be allowed to compete on their designated academy team (with exceptions for high school soccer and national team duty). The Federation says ODP, which is run by U.S. Youth Soccer and state associations, will continue “unimpeded” because the spots opened up academy players who won’t take part will be filled by additional players.
The Federation released several documents pertaining to the new program that will provide opportunities for more than 2,000 players:
Academy Overview, On the Field Details, Academy Presentation, Membership Application for clubs.

Shortly after being elected U.S. Soccer President in March of 2006, Sunil Gulati launched a complete review of all the Federation’s technical areas. The Technical Committee, headed by Kevin Payne, concluded that on the youth player development front, at ages 13 to 17, elite players needed an increase in the quality and quantity of training; an increase in the number of quality games, but a reduction in the overall amount of games. Between the myriad state, regional and national competitions, showcase tournaments and ODP events, a typical young American elite player was “stretched too thin.” Said U.S. U-15 boys national team coach Jim Barlow, “It was never more clear to me that things in our youth soccer structure needed to change than at our first U-15 camp last summer when about half of the players, on the very first day of national team camp, told their coaches that they were tired of soccer. Too many games, too many leagues, too many tournaments and camps, too much structured soccer had already taken its toll on this group of talented young players.” And thus came the launch of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.