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Coaching Department Launches First Academy Director Course
Technical Committee Has Selected 20 Candidates; 16-Month Course Set to Begin April 21
CHICAGO (April 21, 2015) – The U.S. Soccer Coaching Department has announced that it will launch its first Academy Director course starting on April 21. The 16-month course will run from April 2015 until July 2016, becoming the highest level course offered for youth coaches.
The 20 participating candidates have been carefully selected by a committee comprised of U.S. Soccer personnel and are all U.S. Soccer Development Academy coaches holding an “A” License.
The candidates will meet from April 21-24 at the Nike Campus in Portland, Oregon, where they will partake in the first in-person meeting, marking the beginning of the course. The first module will focus on the following key areas: Zone I (grassroots) methods of coaching, leadership and Long Term Player Development (LTPD).
The 16-month course will be led by Director of Coaching Development, Dave Chesler. In addition, each module will include leading experts to teach different course components. For the first module Dr. John Cone, Vince Ganzberg and Dr. Greg Shelly will lead the LTPD, Zone I methods of coaching and leadership sections, respectively.
The Academy Director course will be sequenced into multiple modules that focus on enhancing leadership skills, providing periodization and strategic planning tools and staff mentoring techniques.
The modules the candidates will complete throughout the span of the course include: attending a U.S. Youth National Team camp; an international trip; attendance at U.S. Soccer Development Academy events, leadership, LTAD, practical coaching in Zones I, II and III, sport science and technology.
This will be U.S. Soccer’s Coaching Department first Academy Director course offered. The April course launch follows a successful pilot program in 2013-14.
Roster of Candidates Selected:
Tony Annan (Dunwoody, Ga. /Georgia United); Matias Asorey (Miami, Fla./Kendall SC); John Bradford (Raleigh, N.C./Capital Area Railhawks CASL); Erik Bushey (Denver, Colo./Colorado Rush); Tim Carter (Northfield, Minn./Shattuck-St. Mary’s); James Clarkson (Missouri City, Texas/Houston Dynamo); Jonathon Colton (Potomac, Md./Bethesda Soccer Club); Scott Donnelly (Exeter, N.H./U.S. Soccer); Don Gemmell (The Woodlands, Texas/Texas Rush Soccer Club); Mickey Kydes (Norwalk, Conn./Beachside of CT Soccer Club); Paul McGlynn (Middle Village, N.Y./BW Gottschee); Michael Milazzo (Richmond, VA /Richmond United); Samuel Nellins (Denville, N.J./Player Development Academy); Marc Nicholls (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Sounders); Jon Parry (Overland Park, Kan./Sporting Kansas City); Darren Powell (Lake Mary, Fla./Orlando City); Todd Saldana (El Segundo, Calif./U.S. Soccer); Nolan Sheldon (Washington, D.C./D.C. United); Larry Sunderland (Brookfield, Ill./Chicago Fire Soccer Club); Martin Vazquez (Casa Grande, Ariz./Real Salt Lake-AZ)
