UNDER-15 GIRLS’ NATIONAL TEAM
Head Coach: TBD
Major Competition: 2009 Women’s Nike Friendlies
Eligibility: Players born on or after January 1, 1994
2007 International Record: 0-0-0 (Overall Record: 4-4-2)
U.S. Under-15 Girls’ National Team Sets Base for the Future
The U.S. Under-15 Girls’ National Team was instituted in 2004 to help bridge the gap between the annual Under-14 Girls’ National Development Camp and the U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team. As the U-17s now have a World Cup, the importance of the U-15s grows greater, as this age group will have a tangible goal as they enter their first major programming experience with the U.S. Women’s National Teams.
The pool of 35-40 players for the U-15s will be brought to several training camps over the year in order to expose more players of this age to the national team camp environment and experience. The player pool is identified on a year-round basis, through club soccer, ODP interregional events and the U.S. U-14 Girls’ National Team identification camp held late every summer.
At this time, four-to-five raining camps/events are scheduled for 2009, which will be the sixth year of activity for this age group. The goal of the U-15s is to bring together talented players and let them play in game situations in order that their skills, reading and runs are expressed through attractive, productive ball-possession soccer with an emphasis on fun, free-flowing attacking, creative play.
Camps are often scheduled to run concurrent with older YNT camps to give the players an opportunity to watch and play against older players and learn through those experiences.
Players in this years’ group of U-15s are born on or after Jan. 1, 1994, and will be competing with players a year older for spots on the 2010 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, which has an age cutoff of players born on or after January 1, 1993.
