By Mike Woitalla
from SoccerAmerica.com
As the U.S. Soccer Development Academy entered its fifth season this month, nearly a third of its 78 clubs moved to a 10-month season, no longer taking a three-month break during which players would commonly play high-school ball, or in the case of Southern California, in the Coast Soccer League.
Clubs in three of the 10 Academy divisions -- Southern California, Northwest and Texas -- will play a 10-month season. That might not make high school coaches happy, but Federation leaders hail the move.
“Around the world, kids at the U-15/16 and U-17/18 age level play for 10 months and they train more than our kids, so this
helps us close that gap,” said Claudio Reyna, U.S. Soccer’s Youth Technical Director.
Said Texans SC Houston Director of Coaching Scott James, “Here in Texas we have been playing from September through December, taking three and a half months away from each other and then we have to cram nine to 12 games into a two-month span. We didn’t have to be sold on moving to single-game weekends or having more training sessions. It was a no brainer for us to move in that direction.”
Tony Lepore, the Academy's Director of Scouting, said by fall 2012, all the clubs will be on a 10-month schedule.
“We’ve added at least two months of high-level training and meaningful games into their schedule where otherwise they were doing something else, in most cases high school,” said Lepore. “It’s just more continuity and, again, more time spent training.
“These clubs will have fewer double fixture weekends, more single fixture weekends, so in turn they’ll be able to have a more consistent schedule with a more productive rhythm between training and matches which will help narrow their focus.”
… The U.S. Soccer Academy kicked off in October of 2007 with 64 clubs. There are now 78 -- including 15 MLS clubs -- each with a U-15/16 and U-17/18 team for a total of 156 teams.