American Soccer has seen a huge increase in participation at the youth levels and with this there seems to be a new club popping up in every town in America. I often get asked by parents what is the difference in clubs and how do they know where their child fits in. I can not claim to know all the levels out there so I will go over the different levels found locally in most areas.

Recreational Soccer Clubs

Almost every town in America will have a local youth soccer program run by local parents and community leaders. Some of these clubs are very small while others offer more than is to be expected. As stated these clubs may be run by parents, folks that volunteer their time in order to provide an athletic outlet for the children of their surrounding community. Youth Soccer Coaches will most often be parents whose child decided he/she wanted to play soccer. Some clubs, if not all, will require that the coaches have at least taken a minimum coaching course offered by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). If my memory serves me correctly the lowest of their required licenses are free of charge. These licenses are meant to provide an overview of the sport and a Cliff’s Notes, if you will, of how to run a soccer session and the rules of the game. All this to provide a fun and learning environment for the participating children. The price to play may not be much, enough to cover costs to upkeep the facilities and buy products to supply their concession stands – these monies will then be funneled back to the club in order to provide more for the children.

In the larger recreational american soccer programs there will be more than one child that may be too advanced of a player for the rest of the group, in order to keep this type of player focused and interested in the sport a more advanced group is created – Travel Teams. These sort of teams will require more dedication than the first as the games are now more competitive than the previous ones. Kids in these groups will play against other local youth soccer programs that train like-minded children. Due to the nature of this competitive group, recreational soccer programs will require that the coach have a higher level license and possibly more in-depth knowledge of the game itself. The training for these teams become more structured and fast-paced. The coaches are still considered volunteers. They may attend competitive tournaments representing their youth soccer program. Participation in this part of the recreational program will cost a few more dollars. This may be to provide better uniforms in order to distinguish the travel players from the recreational players.

Youth Soccer Academies (Independent and US Development Academies)

When you have children that desire more out of the game in terms of competition your best bet is to then venture into the lucrative business that is youth soccer academies. This is a multi-million dollar business, companies are sending sponsorship money to these organizations in order to have their company logo placed on the club jersey as a form of advertisement. Cubs such as these have paid staff members running their day to day process as well as professional coaching staff. The price is hefty to join these types of programs. Fees will cover everything from staff, training, facilities, league games, tournaments, etc. Parents will look to spend hundreds of dollars on uniforms and travel expenses. It is a very large investment in your child – they will receive, at times, some of the best training that maybe a parent volunteer may not be able to offer them.

Independent Clubs

Independent clubs are just that, independent. They may be standalone in terms of partnerships with local clubs or USSF itself. They will, in my experience, have paid coaching staff but it will not be as much as one would think – many of the coaches will be local high school coaches, college coaches, or former players looking to give back to the community in one way or another. You will notice the training may be more advanced or a curriculum will be set in place showing how a child’s development will be monitored. Parents will find that teams in these clubs will travel to play other competitive clubs in different cities and sometimes in different states. These teams will attend invitational tournaments looking to move up in national rankings – at a certain time in their playing career they will be able to attend showcase events in which they have the chance to play in front of collegiate scouts in hopes for that illusive college scholarship.

US Soccer Development Academies

Here is where you will see the business of youth american soccer take a leap in terms what is offered to its member families. Like the Independent competitive clubs, these teams will also travel quite a bit to attend games and tournaments, however, there is a road map that each player will follow. Where the map leads to will be dependent of how serious the athlete is as it may lead to a college scholarship or even a professional playing contract. USDA clubs will have the backing of US Soccer, companies, and hospitals. Every player is taught by a coach who makes his/her living teaching the beautiful game of soccer. These individuals will more often have the highest of licenses or national certifications, some if not all will have collegiate and professional playing experience. They know the game inside and out and they have much to offer their students of the game. Then begins the select soccer process in which kids begin to tryout for teams within the club. Those that show a promise of more to come, will be selected carefully for what is called preacademy and academy soccer. Here is where you begin to see these kids treated like professional soccer players in that they are expected to prove they belong in the ranks of this elite group within their respective club. The academy teams are assigned a US Soccer scout who can visit their game or training in hopes of finding the next National Soccer Team member. Many professionals around the world got their start here.

There is much to be offered to a very hungry, aspiring american soccer player. It is up to them to grab on to their dream through a hard work ethic and achieve it.

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