CHICAGO (June 4, 2007) – In a move designed to improve the development environment for players throughout the country, the U.S. Soccer Federation has taken the initiative in formalizing a nationwide development academy slated to begin in the fall of 2007. The U.S. Soccer Development Academy will begin with up to 80 elite youth soccer clubs from around the country being selected to join the program.

Created to provide players with the best possible opportunity to develop, the U.S. Soccer Development Academy is being initiated after a comprehensive review of player development systems in the United States and around the world.

• Player Development Academy Links
• Quote Sheet on Development Academy
• Q & A with U.S. U-17 MNT head coach John Hackworth
• Academy Overview (.pdf - 1 page) 
• Program Technical Specifications (.pdf - 1 page)
• Academy Presentation (.pdf - 24 pages)
• Academy Application (.pdf - 10 pages)

Each Development Academy club will not only serve as a home for the nation’s top players, but also as a destination point within their community for shared learning and experience. One of the major advantages of the program will see players receiving integrated oversight from both youth club coaches and U.S. Soccer coaches, while training in their home environment. In turn, the Development Academy will provide an improved scouting environment for college, professional and U.S. National Team coaches.

“After completing an extensive review and discussion across the country, we feel that it is the right time for U.S. Soccer to lead a change in the sport at the youth level,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “We need to shift the focus of our young elite players from an ‘overburdened, game emphasis’ model to a ‘meaningful training and competition’ model. This will ultimately lead to more success and will allow players to develop to their full potential.”

To begin that process, U.S. Soccer is using the Development Academy to create a wide-reaching movement within the grassroots soccer environment that will educate parents, coaches and players on the value of expanding national player development directly to the clubs. Using the current U.S. Under-17 Residency Program as a model, the youth clubs chosen to be part of the Development Academy will increase the amount of time spent on meaningful training while also increasing the quality of their matches.

"It's a concept that youth soccer in this country desperately needs and our goal is to truly shift the focus towards increasing player development,” said U.S. Soccer’s Under-17 National Team head coach John Hackworth. “I think it will create a day-to-day training environment that will allow players the opportunity to develop to the best of their ability. Right now we have only 40 players in that type of environment (at the U-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla.), but this Academy will allow us to put thousands of elite players in a similar environment, which will help us raise the entire level across the nation."

With an emphasis on creating a superior everyday training environment, teams in the Development Academy will have a clean slate for a calendar and will be required to train a minimum of three times a week, eliminating the growing trend of clubs playing an excessive quantity of games in lieu of consistent training patterns. To maintain an emphasis on training, Development Academy teams will compete against other teams in the program and will not play in any other leagues, tournaments or State Cup competitions, and players will only be allowed to compete on their designated Academy team (with exceptions for high school soccer and national team duty).

Clubs that are not part of U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy will continue to play in traditional youth soccer competitions, with the longtime Olympic Development Program also continuing unimpeded. With Development Academy players no longer being seen at ODP events, those spots will now be open for additional players to be seen at an elite level.

"I'm very excited about the establishment of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Program,” said U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach Bob Bradley. “It is very important for U.S. Soccer to work with our top clubs to ensure that our best young players are constantly being challenged in an environment that best promotes player development. With a tremendous amount of reach, this program will help focus training sessions and matches on the areas that are critical to elevating our young players' ability to compete at the elite levels of the sport."

The Development Academy will be divided into regions and will play home and away matches against other Academy teams across a complete season. Each Development Academy region will be comprised of up to 15-20 teams based on geographic proximity, with the winner of each region participating in the annual Academy Finals at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The Academy clubs will be comprised of Under-16 and Under-18 age groups, with a minimum of 22 players on a roster. Younger players in the Academy system will also be allowed to play “up” within their club.

Clubs will have the opportunity to apply for membership in the Academy program beginning June 1, and teams will be selected by U.S. Soccer’s National Team coaches. U.S. Soccer’s coaches will evaluate prospective clubs on a number of criteria, including a club’s history of elite youth player development and past success in elite competitions.

"The Academy is a comprehensive approach to help develop some of the top players across the nation, but it is also designed to be a working model for the grassroots level,” said U.S. Soccer Director of Coaching Education & Youth Development Bob Jenkins. “All the clubs involved will be moving in the same direction giving us a similar approach to player development, and then these clubs will act almost like satellites out in the country helping to spread the message out to the clubs around them."

The Academy will also serve as a better coaching development platform, with each participating club receiving two invitations to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Best Practices seminars. The development platform for U.S. Soccer referees will also be enhanced in the program, with U.S. Soccer assigning referees to all Academy matches.

With the framework of the boys Development Academy serving as a starting point for discussion, a similar initiative to enhance the development of female players will also be explored.

U.S. SOCCER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY – STRUCTURE

Objective: The focus of the Academy is on player development and providing players with the best possible opportunity to develop to the highest level they are capable of achieving

Standards: A minimum requirement of three training sessions and one rest day per week

Teams: Up to 80 of the top youth soccer clubs in the U.S.

Selection: Clubs will be selected by U.S. Soccer Coaches on a rolling admissions basis. (Based on further discussions with interested clubs, we adopted a rolling admissions process to provide clubs with the best opportunity to schedule their upcoming calendar.)

Age Groups: U-16 & U-18 teams (minimum roster of 22 players); providing opportunities for more than 2,000 players

Competition Format: Divided into regions with each team playing between 30 and 38 home and away matches during an eight-month season. Each region will be comprised of approximately 15-20 teams based on geographic proximity. The winner of each region will play in the Academy Finals at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team head coach John Hackworth answers questions about the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

How will the U.S. Soccer Development Academy help improve the development of the elite American player?
“The U.S. Soccer Development Academy will help improve the development of the elite American player by providing a daily training environment and a consistently competitive game schedule. Moving towards an environment where they are practicing three to five times a week, compared to once or twice, and playing high-level, meaningful and competitive matches every week, will provide them with a consistent setting that will allow them to learn and develop at a much higher rate.”

The philosophy behind the U.S. Soccer Development Academies is rooted in the success of the U-17 Residency Program. Can you tell us about the original thought process behind the creation of Bradenton and how that philosophy can be applied to the clubs involved in the Development Academy?
“The idea of the U.S. Soccer U-17 Residency Program was to take the elite players in that age group and put them in a place where we can make sure they are getting the appropriate training and competitive matches, so they can develop and reach their full potential. Getting the chance to be a part of that elite environment wasn’t always available at the club level, at least not on a consistent basis. We’ve been doing it on a small scale with first 20 and now 40 players, but the Development Academy will allow us to spread that number exponentially to thousands across the nation. Over the years, we’ve seen how the U-17 Program has worked well in player development so the more we can get in a similar environment, the better.”

How will the Academy impact your ability to identify players for the Residency Program at Bradenton?
“By taking on this model, these great players are going to become our elite players because they will be training and competing in a high-level environment where they can push each other and develop. It will make our job identifying players for the national team significantly easier because we’ll have these localized areas where we can watch the majority of the elite players in the nation, rather than being forced to bounce around to a sporadic amount of tournaments and other games around the country. We still need to continue to look at all avenues to find players across the U.S. and continue to close those cracks players can slip through, but the Academy will be the main place for elite players to play and develop, and therefore we know the best players will on average be coming out of this program, so our scouting will be more organized.”

How will the Bradenton Residency model benefit local elite clubs?
“The clubs that are selected for this will basically become little mini-Residency Programs, or localized Residency Programs. Any player that thinks they are at that level and wants to become better can seek out these clubs involved in the Development Academy. Instead of just having teams and playing games, it will give these clubs a structure where they are helping with player development and therefore improve the overall development of the game in this country.”

Explain the thought process behind including the players in the Residency Program in the Academy.
“We are essentially asking the clubs to do what we are doing here in Bradenton at the U-17 Residency Program, so we want to practice what we preach. We believe it is extremely important that players train and play meaningful games. Our players will then be playing against all these other kids that want to be in the same position as them. That will allow us to compare the national team players to the larger player pool, which helps us continually evaluate who belongs at the highest level.”

Explain the thought process behind the requirement for each player to start at least 30 percent of their team’s games.
“This thought process is that this will allow any player in the Development Academy the opportunity to prove themselves in meaningful games. In other environments, sometimes some of the players didn’t play much, which could hinder their development and also their opportunities to be seen and given a chance at another level. This requirement should give every player a fair chance to show what they can do on a more consistent basis.”

Academy Overview (.pdf - 1 page)
Program Technical Specifications (.pdf - 1 page)
Academy Presentation (.pdf - 24 pages)
Academy Application (.pdf - 10 pages)