Events

Development Academy Showcases provide a national platform for Academy teams to play league matches against non-conference opponents. The Showcases also provide Academy players with exposure to U.S. Soccer Best Practices and additional educational programming, such as SPARQ testing, Gatorade Hydration Guidelines, Interplay and Prozone match analysis. Each team receives footage collected by Hi-Pod of all of their games from each Showcase.

The Showcase events have also proven to be successful platforms for player identification. In the 2008-09 season, all 629 games were scouted by a U.S. Soccer National Team Scout. U.S. Soccer will continue to provide the same feedback in the 2009-10 season to clubs with National Team scouts in attendance at each Showcase and Playoff game. As a result of the extensive scouting process within the Academy, over 250 Academy players were called into the U-17, U-18 and U-20 National Teams since the program launched in 2007, with 59 clubs contributing to the player pool for these camps. College coaches also see Academy Showcases as a recruiting tool, with over 200 coaches regularly attending the Winter and Spring Showcases.

The overall event structure has changed for 2009-10, in which there are two travel groups for the Winter and Spring Showcase.

Academy Events are structured according to U.S. Soccer Best Practices and Academy Guidelines.

The top two teams from each division will automatically advance to the 2010 Playoffs based on division record only. The next 12 teams with the best overall points per games will advance to the 2010 Playoffs.

Once a team has qualified for the Playoffs, teams will be seeded into 4 pots based on overall points per game throughout the Academy season.

Pot #1: Teams seeded #1-#8
Pot #2: Teams seeded #9-#16
Pot #3: Teams seeded $17-#24
Pot #4: Teams seeded #25-#32

Teams will be drawn from each pot and placed into a Playoff Group of four teams. Teams will be placed back in their respective pot if drawn into a Playoff Group with a division opponent.

Each of the 8 Playoff Groups will contain 4 teams each. The same procedure applies to both age groups.

The top eight finishers at the Development Academy Playoffs qualify to attend Finals Week. Each team is allowed up to 20 players and 3 coaches per team for a week’s stay in Los Angeles, CA. Players and coaches are exposed to an overall event designed according to U.S. Soccer Best Practices both on and off the field. The final matches place seeds 1-4 from each group against one another, matching Seed 1 from Group A against Seed 1 from Group B in each group in the final placement game.

One coach and one administrator are required to attend the Development Academy AGM on July 17-18, 2010. The AGM will break into two separate groups for Coaches and Administrators that allows for specialized programming. Coaches can expect to participate in an on-field and classroom sessions with our National Team Staff on player and coach development. Administrators will be given materials and information to register players and coaches, resources to reserve travel and be exposed to some of the Administator Best Practices used by other clubs in the Academy Program.

Market Training Centers (MTCs) are a new platform designed to improve player identification, player development and coach development. Academy clubs will be selected in the 2009-10 season to host MTCs in markets with multiple Academy Clubs. Each MTC will be administered by the Academy Conference’s Technical Advisor, assisted by Academy coaches and National Team Coaches. Most MTCs will be aligned with the Youth National Team calendar to evaluate players before trips and camps. Top players from each Academy club at both age groups will be invited to attend the training sessions. Non-host coaches are encouraged to attend. After piloting the program in the 2008-09 season in large markets such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, positive feedback was given by both Academy players and coaches in hopes of continuing to improve the everyday environment.