Each Development Academy club not only serves as a home for the nation’s top players, but also as a destination point within its community for shared learning and experience. One of the major advantages of the program will see players receiving integrated oversight from both youth club coaches and U.S. Soccer coaches, while training in their home environment. In turn, the Development Academy will provide an improved scouting environment for college, professional and U.S. National Team coaches.

According to U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, the Development Academy aims to shift the focus of our young elite players from an ‘overburdened, game emphasis’ model to a ‘meaningful training and competition’ model that will ultimately lead to more success and will allow players to develop to their full potential.

To begin that process, U.S. Soccer is using the Development Academy to create a wide-reaching movement within the grassroots soccer environment that will educate parents, coaches and players on the value of expanding national player development directly to the clubs. Using the current U.S. Under-17 Residency Program as a model, the youth clubs chosen to be part of the Development Academy will increase the amount of time spent on meaningful training while also increasing the quality of their matches.

With an emphasis on creating a superior everyday training environment, teams in the Development Academy will have a clean slate for a calendar and will be required to train a minimum of three times a week, eliminating the growing trend of clubs playing an excessive quantity of games in lieu of consistent training patterns. To maintain an emphasis on training, Development Academy teams compete against other teams in the program and do not play in any other leagues, tournaments or State Cup competitions, and players are only allowed to compete on their designated Academy team (with exceptions for high school soccer and national team duty).

The Development Academy has been divided into ten divisions aligned under four conferences. Each division is comprised of eight or nine teams each based on geographic proximity. The Miami FC Kendall Academy teams will play 30 matches across a complete season. Based in intra-divisional results and a playoff round, eight  teams will qualify for the annual Academy Finals at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The Miami FC Kendall Academy teams are comprised of Under-16 and Under-18 age players, with a minimum of 20 players on a roster, plus an unlimited number of Developmental Roster players from within teams registered to Kendall Soccer Coalition.

The initial Academy clubs were chosen by U.S. Soccer’s coaches from more than 200 applications based on a number of criteria, including a club’s history of elite youth player development and past success in elite competitions. Each subsequent year more than 100 clubs have applied for inclusion in only a handful of open slots. The Academy will also serve as a better coaching development platform, with each participating club receiving two invitations to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Best Practices seminars. The development platform for U.S. Soccer referees will also be enhanced in the program, with U.S. Soccer assigning referees to all Academy matches.

To view more information about Kendall SC's Development Academy porgram please access the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Program section of our website.