As the USL Technical Committee convened in Los Angeles in January for their annual meetings and the 2017 NSCAA Convention, one of the key topics on the agenda for Gordon Bengtson, the USL’s VP of Competition & Technical Development, was the vision the league had for the competition as it moves into the 2017 season.

With the USL awarded Division II sanctioning the week prior, continuing to raise the level of competition on the field is the top priority within the league’s headquarters, with Bengtson and his colleagues in the USL Competition & Technical department leading the way.

“We felt it was important to provide a little bit more context to our technical staff members as to where we see the league going and how we’re going to drive things forward,” Bengtson said recently. “My primary task is now to evolve the competition, improve the standard of play and the quality of the overall competition. So what we did was look at where we are, how we got here and key areas we want to improve in order to achieve our goals and aspirations.”

A coach himself before he joined the USL, Bengtson has seen from the inside the changes that have been made to the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Coaching Education department over the past two years. Led by U.S Soccer’s Director of Coaching Education Nico Romeijn, the group has overseen the expansion of the department, which has included the introduction of the new Pro License, and enhancements to previous licensing levels.

“With the wholesale changes that have come to the coaching education department, the ability for me to both participate in the newly-formatted pilot ‘A’ course recently allowed me some exposure and an inside track to the new leadership team in the U.S. Soccer Coaching Education Department,” said Bengtson, who this week completed his USSF ‘A’ License.

“Nico Romeijn and the other key leaders have been working diligently over the past 18 months getting a handle on the landscape, restructuring all of the courses, and really getting an understanding on where U.S. Soccer isand where it needs to go. We had the chance to introduce them to the USL, and introduce the technical staff of our USL clubs to the new leadership of the U.S. Soccer Education Department.”