Academy: Overview
Academy Concept
An academy format is primarily an in-house developmental concept for players. The goal is to develop highly skilled and competent individual players that can experience the game emphasizing the "process of becoming a player" in an age appropriate environment. After graduating out of academy programs players have the option to move in two directions: 1) Move into recreational programs - and experience soccer in a casual training environment, or 2) Be better prepared to fill competitive "classic" teams at U-11 and above age level as the team concept becomes a more appropriate emphasis for skilled players.
Academy programs aid in player retention and individual player development as opposed to the "team forming" model that excludes players too early who are not considered talented enough to add to a team roster. Academy formats are appropriate for young soccer players' development since the focus is on player improvement vs. team improvement or accomplishment. Academy formats do not have the short-term goal of winning a game at ages U-10 and below. In this format, the role of the soccer associations, clubs, and youth coaches is to develop players first. Then at U-11 and above start to incorporate the technically gifted and sound players into teams that can compete and win with increased skills and flair.
The premise of academy training is that "player development" is what is in the best interest of young players. It is at this young age that a player needs to learn the skill sets in order to ultimately play soccer at a higher level. The Academy format offers this special vehicle.
The Academy concept is a common global program and is practiced in Brazil, France, Holland, and England, among many other countries. In addition, in Africa and many Latin American and other similar countries "street futbol" and unsupervised soccer is a fundamental Academy format from which the best players are developed without a team construct.
U-10 and Below Organization & Soccer Format Option
Academy Program
We've talked about what Academy is; now let's take a moment to outline how we accomplish the goals listed above.
Once a week in the evening, each of the various Academy groups (boys and girls; U7-U10) will practice/play/train together in a large group for about an hour with skilled licensed knowledgeable coaches running the practice, and Dad/Mom coaches assisting and learning. All kids will be taught the same fun skills by playing soccer appropriate games designed to teach soccer skills in a very fun manner. Every Dad/Mom coach will be doing these exact same games in the large group with these kids. Every child will get the same training. All parent coaches will be required to participate in all of these sessions.
Then on another night during that same week all the kids will come together again and train with the parent coaches in a group by themselves with their teammates. The parent coach will conduct the exact same fun sessions they did earlier in the week. So each kid will be taught a soccer skill twice a week in a fun manner. Each of these practices will include a 15-20 minute scrimmage at the end. We will come together on Saturday mornings and play actual games.
During the first couple of weeks of practice, the coaches will evaluate players as best they can and attempt to mix all players as evenly as possible amongst the teams. The Arkansas State Soccer Association has mandated we play 4 v 4 at U7-U8, and 6 v 6 at U9-U10.
The teams will start out as evenly matched as possible, but keep in mind the kids will progress at different levels, so some separation in overall team skill amongst the teams may occur over the course of the season. Also, because of conflicts - sick kids, Razorback home games, out-of-town weddings, older sibling Classic tournaments, etc - we may have to move players across teams on a given Saturday if player counts are unreasonably uneven. However, all reasonable efforts will be made to limit player shifts.
Our goal is for the children to have fun and lots of it while learning the game. Another goal for the parents coaching is to learn the proper fun games that teach these kids the basic technical skills of soccer without the kids even knowing they are being taught to dribble and shoot the ball. Our hope is also that some of the parent coaches will enjoy it so much that they'll pursue a coaching license!
Parents, results from last year prove one thing: all the kids do get better. So congratulations for signing up for the best soccer experience in the world, Academy style soccer!
Important
We need one more thing: We need a soccer mom or dad to help set up a communication tree via email to the whole age group and 4 or 5 team managers to call kids in case of rain or a change in schedule. Do we have any volunteers? If so, please email using our online Contact form.