About the Team

U.S. Under-15 Boys' National Team

A STEPPING STONE

The United States Under-15 Boys’ National Team – known as the Under-16 Boys’ National Team prior to 2003 – serves as a developmental and identification squad for potential future national team players. Based on recent results at the U-17, U-20, U-23 and full Men’s National Team levels, the Under-15 program is doing exactly that as numerous players have been able to move on and succeed at the next level.

The players for this pool fluctuate every year in conjunction with the Under-14 program and throughout the U-15 cycle. The U-15 Boys’ National Team and the U-14 National Development Program are closely tied in order to streamline player development and become familiar with the core players that make up the age group. Tony Lepore attends the Under-14 National Identification Camps throughout the cycle to evaluate players who eventually make up the core of his Under-15 National Team player pool for the coming year.

PUTTING PLAYERS IN THE BEST POSITION

The Under-15 Boys’ National Team program is also used to identify potential talent and prepare players for future involvement in international soccer. The players are introduced to a culture and style of play consistent throughout all of the U.S. National Teams. The U-15 BNT also addresses the importance of character development such as attitude, discipline, and commitment. A majority of the players in U.S. Soccer’s Under-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla., have come through the U-15 program.

“We have increased our focus to identify and evaluate talented players at the younger age groups at US Soccer Training Centers” said U.S. Soccer Head of Scouting Tony Lepore. “It’s an important role because the players are being introduced to the National Team program, being involved in our training centers helps us to evaluate them in a good environment, to get to know them better and helps them prepare them for a youth national team camp, it is all part of the process as they players move up the ladder with the Under-15, 17, 18 and 20 National Teams.”

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR

The U-15 BNT continues to be busy with a number of training camps on tap for the upcoming year, including a trip to The Home Depot Center in March and another domestic camp in July, which will be a 48-player camp and the final one for the players born in 1997. There is also a foreign trip in the
pipeline for May.

With domestic camps including at least 30 players in each, the U-15 BNT comes together several times throughout the year to train and play against top Development Academy clubs across the country. The team traveled to Zagreb, Croatia, in May, where they played back-to-back matches against the Croatia Under-15s. The U.S. won its first match 4-1 but fell 2-1 in the second meeting.

At the end of 2011, Lepore held two 36-player camps, one in October at the HDC and the second in December at the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., which was a side-by-side camp with Residency to introduce players to the U-17 Residency Program and its staff.