When Rio Grande Valley FC takes the field at the inaugural USL Academy event, it will mark the culmination of the efforts of many people to make youth soccer more accessible at the southern tip of Texas. Based in Edinburg on the border between Texas and Mexico, since their founding in 2015, the Toros have created a system designed to combine academics and soccer for young players.

The club has accomplished this by partnering with IDEA to form IDEA Toros, a fully-funded school that allows their players to get an education that fits within their soccer development schedule. IDEA is a charter school founded in 2000 out of what were essentially trailer classrooms, and has since grown to teach about 45,000 students from around Texas. IDEA Toros has operated from a recreation center so far, but is set to open its own brand-new building in January 2020.

For RGV Youth Academy Director and Assistant Coach Rafael Amaya, having a fully-funded place for young players to both go to school and play soccer - of which examples can be found at Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union and LA Galaxy - is key in building a successful program.

“With a fully-funded program like IDEA, you’re able to go after your best talent, but we also went at it another way and went after academics,” said Amaya. “The players have a place where they can go to school and still be training. Education is so important and we really want to combine and teach kids two careers - you have soccer and you have your future career.”

Amaya spent multiple seasons in Major League Soccer during his playing days, and since retiring has played a big part in helping current and former professionals Roger Espinoza, Nat Borchers, Khiry Shelton and James Riley follow in his footsteps. For Amaya, getting young soccer players the developmental assistance they need is personal.

“Part of this program is my own experience. What can we do to help our kids that have the talent? We found a way that those kids who have a special talent can go to school and still practice that talent working with IDEA,” said Amaya. “After three graduating classes from IDEA, 100 percent of our players are playing soccer in college.”

Amaya called the area traditionally low income, but emphasized that no one in the RGV system feels sorry for themselves. The club has built an excellent culture at the youth level that has already begun producing top-notch prospects since it was founded in 2016.