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Shalrie Joseph and the Revs couldn't solve Colorado Saturday night. (CHRIS ADUAMA/ aduama.com) |
The Revolution's technical staff, under the direction of Director of Soccer Michael Burns, will oversee all instruction and development of the teams' players. The team's youth development staff - including a director and coaches - will be in place in the coming months.
"Launching the youth development program is a significant milestone for the Revolution," Burns said. "The New England area has long been recognized as one of the strongest in the country for youth soccer. We see the launch of our youth development program as a major factor in the club's future success and as a means to further establish our team in the community."
Under Major League's Soccer's "Homegrown Protected List," the Revolution will be able to protect up to three players per year who have played with the club's youth teams. Should those protected players sign with MLS, they would not go through the MLS SuperDraft but would be placed directly on the New England Revolution roster. Through the structure of MLS' youth development program, players' amateur status will be preserved and they will not jeopardize their collegiate eligibility by playing for the Revs' youth teams.
"By playing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, our youth players will have the opportunity to play against the nation's top players in their age groups every time they represent the Revolution on the field,” Burns said. “This prospect is important in developing players who can eventually impact our senior roster."
The Revs’ club was one of 12 new teams added to the academy for the 2008-09 season.
Three Major League Soccer teams and a total of eight programs from Texas, which is represented for the first time in the academy, are included in the 12 new clubs. With the additions, the Academy will now field 74 clubs, plus the U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team for the second year of the national team program.
“Over the past eight months, we’ve seen the U.S. Soccer Development Academy have an immediate and positive impact on soccer in the United States,” said Development Academy Technical Director John Hackworth. “Moving into our second year, we’ve added a number of elements that will continue to help us provide the greatest environment possible for players, coaches and referees in the Academy, not the least of which is the addition of 12 quality soccer clubs. The Development Academy will always be an on-going process for us, improving year-in and year-out while helping to provide thousands of athletes the platform to develop as soccer players."
FC Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy were added to the Academy, bringing the number of MLS teams to nine overall. The other nine new clubs come from Texas and California, two states with a strong history of producing players for the Men’s National Team.
In addition to the 12 new clubs, all 63 clubs who have been involved in the inaugural year of the Development Academy program will be returning. As with the initial class of Academy admissions, each club will enter an Academy team into both the U-15/16 and U-17/18 mixed age groups. Academy conferences will be realigned for next year’s season to reduce travel and continue to provide a diversity of meaningful competition.
New 2008-09 Academy Clubs:
• Andromeda SC (Plano, Texas)
• Classics Elite (San Antonio, Texas)
• Dallas Texans (Dallas, Texas)
• Danville Mustangs (Danville, Calif.)
• FC Dallas (Frisco, Texas)
• Los Angeles Galaxy (Carson, Calif.)
• Lonestar SC (Austin, Texas)
• New England Revolution (Foxborough, Mass.)
• Santa Cruz County Breakers (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
• Solar SC (Dallas, Texas)
• Texas SC (Spring, Texas)
• Texas RUSH (The Woodlands, Texas)
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