SAN ANTONIO – Less than a year after its establishment this past April, San Antonio FC was named among the newest clubs accepted into the U.S. Soccer Development on Friday. The addition of the latest building block in the club’s structure was gladly welcomed, as the work accomplished in short order by SAFC Pro Academy Director Nick Evans was recognized.

“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.”

As big as the arrival of San Antonio FC – which will host the second edition of the USL Experience in early April – as the city’s new professional soccer club was for the legions of fans in the region, the commitment Spurs Sports & Entertainment has put into building a true local club has arguably been bigger. The SAFC Academy began with a squad from the 2004 (U12) age-group, with the goal of expanding from there.

That expansion process came sooner rather than later when the prospect of becoming part of the USSFDA came into view, and the club’s Elite Training Program began working with the next two years of players.

“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.”