Less than a year into their existence, the San Antonio FC academy teams have been selected into the U.S. Soccer Federation Development Academy, the highest tier of youth soccer in the country. Though the current academy team has already been playing friendly matches with top clubs in the area, their acceptance into the DA will provide the players with a new level of competition and opportunity.
“The USSF Development Academy has cemented itself as the defined elite level of competition for U.S. youth players over the past ten years,” SAFC Pro Academy Director Nick Evans said. “We’re thrilled and excited to be a part of it. It provides our players a chance to be part of a program that provides consistent competition every week. The level of competition will be very high and will allow for a productive program and experience for our kids.”
Since the club’s inception, establishing a strong academy program that is fully funded and accessible to players from all backgrounds has been a crucial goal for the organization in order to build not only a pathway for players to potentially join the first team, but to provide opportunities for youth players all around San Antonio.
“From an overall club standpoint this is an enormous day,” SAFC Managing Director Tim Holt said. “The academy is a critical component in the growth of our club as a full, vertically integrated club that has a defined pathway from the youngest ages to the first team. Joining the DA will help us not only indoctrinate the young players we bring in into the San Antonio FC culture, but also ensure that they have the best opportunity to make it as a professional one day.”
Last April, San Antonio FC began their academy program with the idea of starting with the youngest age group (U-12, 2004 birth year). The club hosted player identification events and began their training sessions shortly thereafter.
Not long after the start of the academy, director Nick Evans and the SAFC staff realized that there was a need to have a consistent streamline of young players coming into the club as well as a way to provide those who weren’t in the academy team to have an opportunity to develop their game at a high level. Thus, SAFC established the Elite Training Program to serve younger age groups.
“We brought two groups of players [to start the ETP],” Evans said. “One was the 2005 and the other was the 2006 birth years. They would then become the following year’s U-12 and U-13 groups if we were successful in our application for the DA, which we have been.”
Upon the success of the established ETP groups, the club decided to expand the program even further. This time, however, they expanded in the direction of older age groups in order to provide high-quality training opportunities to those who were too old to join the academy teams.
“After seeing the club’s commitment to the program and also the commitment coming from the players, we decided we wanted to also expand into the older age groups,” Evans said. “That way there wouldn’t be a gap among players in this city and everybody currently playing youth soccer in the San Antonio area would have the opportunity a path to pro experience.
“The organization’s commitment and drive towards youth development is at the forefront of anything I’ve seen, and specifically to the commitment to make sure that no player gets left behind. Every player within San Antonio and the surrounding areas has the opportunity to be a part of this program no matter socioeconomic status, where they’ve been or where they’ve played. We will look to identify all players.”
Though the academy has expanded at a fast rate, San Antonio FC has been careful and strategic with the development of its youth program to ensure that it is as solid and efficient as possible, while also providing its players with the clearest and most advantageous path to pro.
The club was also careful to lay down the foundation to the program with the goal of continuing to expand to provide top-quality opportunities for players of all ages and backgrounds in the San Antonio area. Now, with the club’s admittance into the DA, the path to pro in San Antonio continues to improve exponentially.
“[The plan for the academy] is one of deliberate growth and quality control,” Tim Holt said. “Rather than taking all the age groups right away and biting off more than we could chew, we’ve tried to take this in measured pieces and grow organically. We’ve been able to give the pilot program the time and attention that it needs to be a success, and now that we’re part of the DA and are expanding both the academy teams and the ETP we will continue to build behind that.
“It’s going to be about a three to five-year process for our academy to be fully built out, and it’ll be five to ten years before there’s any yield for the first team. But for us it’s a long play and it’s not just about San Antonio FC, but also about continuing to grow soccer in San Antonio and the surrounding areas.”
Though the San Antonio FC academy program is still in its early stages, the club’s commitment to developing local youth players is now in full motion. With the club’s admittance into the DA, the path to pro in the Alamo City is as strong as ever.
Less than a year into their existence, the San Antonio FC academy teams have been selected into the U.S. Soccer Federation Development Academy, the highest tier of youth soccer in the country. Though the current academy team has already been playing friendly matches with top clubs in the area, their acceptance into the DA will provide the players with a new level of competition and opportunity.
“The USSF Development Academy has cemented itself as the defined elite level of competition for U.S. youth players over the past ten years,” SAFC Pro Academy Director Nick Evans said. “We’re thrilled and excited to be a part of it. It provides our players a chance to be part of a program that provides consistent competition every week. The level of competition will be very high and will allow for a productive program and experience for our kids.”
Since the club’s inception, establishing a strong academy program that is fully funded and accessible to players from all backgrounds has been a crucial goal for the organization in order to build not only a pathway for players to potentially join the first team, but to provide opportunities for youth players all around San Antonio.
“From an overall club standpoint this is an enormous day,” SAFC Managing Director Tim Holt said. “The academy is a critical component in the growth of our club as a full, vertically integrated club that has a defined pathway from the youngest ages to the first team. Joining the DA will help us not only indoctrinate the young players we bring in into the San Antonio FC culture, but also ensure that they have the best opportunity to make it as a professional one day.”
Last April, San Antonio FC began their academy program with the idea of starting with the youngest age group (U-12, 2004 birth year). The club hosted player identification events and began their training sessions shortly thereafter.
Not long after the start of the academy, director Nick Evans and the SAFC staff realized that there was a need to have a consistent streamline of young players coming into the club as well as a way to provide those who weren’t in the academy team to have an opportunity to develop their game at a high level. Thus, SAFC established the Elite Training Program to serve younger age groups.
“We brought two groups of players [to start the ETP],” Evans said. “One was the 2005 and the other was the 2006 birth years. They would then become the following year’s U-12 and U-13 groups if we were successful in our application for the DA, which we have been.”
Upon the success of the established ETP groups, the club decided to expand the program even further. This time, however, they expanded in the direction of older age groups in order to provide high-quality training opportunities to those who were too old to join the academy teams.
“After seeing the club’s commitment to the program and also the commitment coming from the players, we decided we wanted to also expand into the older age groups,” Evans said. “That way there wouldn’t be a gap among players in this city and everybody currently playing youth soccer in the San Antonio area would have the opportunity a path to pro experience.
“The organization’s commitment and drive towards youth development is at the forefront of anything I’ve seen, and specifically to the commitment to make sure that no player gets left behind. Every player within San Antonio and the surrounding areas has the opportunity to be a part of this program no matter socioeconomic status, where they’ve been or where they’ve played. We will look to identify all players.”
Though the academy has expanded at a fast rate, San Antonio FC has been careful and strategic with the development of its youth program to ensure that it is as solid and efficient as possible, while also providing its players with the clearest and most advantageous path to pro.
The club was also careful to lay down the foundation to the program with the goal of continuing to expand to provide top-quality opportunities for players of all ages and backgrounds in the San Antonio area. Now, with the club’s admittance into the DA, the path to pro in San Antonio continues to improve exponentially.
“[The plan for the academy] is one of deliberate growth and quality control,” Tim Holt said. “Rather than taking all the age groups right away and biting off more than we could chew, we’ve tried to take this in measured pieces and grow organically. We’ve been able to give the pilot program the time and attention that it needs to be a success, and now that we’re part of the DA and are expanding both the academy teams and the ETP we will continue to build behind that.
“It’s going to be about a three to five-year process for our academy to be fully built out, and it’ll be five to ten years before there’s any yield for the first team. But for us it’s a long play and it’s not just about San Antonio FC, but also about continuing to grow soccer in San Antonio and the surrounding areas.”
Though the San Antonio FC academy program is still in its early stages, the club’s commitment to developing local youth players is now in full motion. With the club’s admittance into the DA, the path to pro in the Alamo City is as strong as ever.
