Academy Information
The Academy’s coaching staff are carefully selected from a pool of soccer education specialists for their qualified background & expertise in specific areas of soccer. The Academy has broken down the game of soccer into its key components and aims to deliver these key components through multiple experts within the game.
“Practice is the best of all instructors” - Publius Syrus
Many players understand the game when asked but fail to learn the game in its intirity for it to be played autonomously. The main focus of The Academy is to provide players with the essential skills needed to play the game and allows players opportunities to search for movement solutions (e.g. ways to get the ball into the net) within the changing environment of drills and practice. As teachers and experts within the game we constantly refer to the word skill and so a clarification of its definition is essential. Skill can be defined as:
“the learned ability to to bring about some end result with maximum certainty and minimum outlay of energy, or time and energy”
The skilled soccer player
  • 1. no longer has to process all available information and can focus on the critical tactical elements of the game.
  • 2. Is able to scan the entire field and determine their options, thus ignoring irrelevant information. Experienced players constantly scan the field visually, knowing what they are going to do with the ball before they receive it. This decreases the use of irrelevant information and expands the processing of relevant information.
  • 3. Is able to apply what is learned in a training session to a game. Creativity, spontaneity and anticipation are all attributes of consciousness and highly skilled soccer players.
  • 4. The Academy staff will establish specific constraints to support skill development, such as requiring that during practice players shoot only from outside the penalty box or that they pass a minimum of three times before shooting. Practice positively impacts performance.
It is not expected that all players will achieve the same success in skill acquisition but attention will be paid to players technique. Academy staff will consider each player’s physical characteristics including strength, power, flexibility, speed, posture and proportionality (4) and provide a learning environment that optimizes the learning & development opportunities for each participant. Academy Staff will progress players into pressure situations (once technique has been refined) to allow players the opportunity to solve problems through their own learned ability.
Discovery learning in soccer occurs throughout a player’s entire career. When presented with new challenges, players can use creativity and experience to discover ways to overcome the obstacles and perform successfully.
Williams and Davids observed that experienced soccer players had a higher visual search rate, involving more fixations of shorter duration. Players were also found to focus their attention on their opponent’s hip region, thus allowing them to focus on essential information and to accurately anticipate the next move.
Research shows very little transfer of training.

* Expert chess players do not have unusually high IQ levels.
* Training in one domain does not mean better performance in another domain necessarily.
* One can develop an automatized routine or motor skill without being able to describe how it is done.
* Because a player can describe it does not mean they can do it.
Academy Developmental Stages
  • * Junior Squirts (3-5)
  • * Senior Squirts (6-7)
  • * Junior Academy (U8, U9, U10)
  • * Senior Academy (U11-U12)
  • * Premier Academy (U13-U14)
  • * High School Academy (U15-U18)
Soccer Squirts
United Soccer Academy’s Soccer Squirts program introduces children to group experiences & basic motor skills through FUN soccer related activities.

Junior Squirts
Players will experience the basic motor skills of traveling, balance, coordination & agility through innovative & fun soccer activities.

Senior Squirts
United Soccer Academy, Inc. senior squirts program enhances a child’s ability to perform motor skills in a more deliberate & controlled manner. Players of all abilities will develop the necessary movements & social skills essential for a child’s overall maturation.

Junior Academy (U8, U9, U10)
Development academy enables players to become proficient with the range of fundamental techniques necessary to play the game. Players will be taught the importance of a solid foundation in a structured format developed through increased pressurized situations. 
Junior  Goalkeeper Pre-Season
 1. Basic  positioning 
 2. Ball Familiarity 
 3. Handling 
 4. Footwork 
 5. Diving & making Saves 
 6. Positioning 
 7. 1 v 1 
 8. Dealing with Crosses 
 9. Organizing Set Pieces 

Junior Goal Scoring 
 1. Shooting with inside of foot 
 2. Shooting with laces 
 3. Shooting for accuracy 
 4. Shooting under pressure 
 5. Shooting for power 
 
Junior Soccer Science 
 1.  Juggling/Tricks 
 2.  Foundation 
 3.  Turns & Moves 
 4.  Dribbling 
 5.  Game Related (1v1/2v2)
 
Senior Academy (U11-U12)
Designed for the serious soccer player. Advanced techniques and tactics are introduced through game realistic situations and developed into game condition full-sided play. The focus is player’s ability to understand & develop their role within a team formation. Tactical decision-making and assessment is incorporated to allow players to improve their knowledge of the game. 
Senior Goalkeeper Pre-Season
 1. Refine development academy 
     curriculum 
 2. Clearances and squeezing play 
 3. Dealing with Attacking Heading 
 4. Goalkeeping: Angles & Positioning 

Senior Goal Scoring 
 1. Refine development academy 
     curriculum 
 2. Progression of decision making 
     when in Attacking Shooting 
     with inside of foot and laces 
 3. Heading To Shoot (Attacking Heading) 
 4. Shooting under different circumstances 
        (off a pass or dribble; from wide, close, 
        far or in the air)
 
Senior Soccer Science 
 1. Juggling/Tricks 
 2. Foundation 
 3. Turns & Moves 
 4. Dribbling 
 5. Game Related (1v1/2v2)
 
Premier Academy (U13-U14)
In preparation for the high school game players are taught at an accelerated level. Practices are developed & based upon full-sided, game realistic situations. Advanced techniques and tactics are delivered in an intense training environment to pressurize players and maximize their positional awareness under game day conditions. The focus is player’s ability to develop & fulfill their role within a team formation. 
Premier Goalkeeper Pre-Season
 1. Refine senior academy curriculum 
 2. Command of goal area / angles 
 3. Goalkeeper as a defender 
 4. Distribution and progression of angle 
    work.

Premier Goal Scoring 
 1. Refine senior academy curriculum 
 2. Development / reinforcement of set 
     plays 
 3. Volleying to shoot 
Premier Soccer Science 
 1. Juggling/Tricks 
 2. Foundation 
 3. Turns & Moves   
 4. Dribbling 
 5. Game Related (1v1/2v2)
 
High School Academy (U15-U18)
With the increasing level of high school play the academy offers an insight into the rigor of college soccer. Development of team play requires intensive training is the major focus incorporating tactical & physical development to take players to the pinnacle of their game. 
High School Goalkeeper Pre-Season
 1. Refine Senior academy curriculum 
 2. Constructing attacks 
 3. Dealing with crosses 
 4. Goalkeeping as the 1st attacker 
High School Goal Scoring 
 1. Refine Senior academy curriculum 
 2. Combination play 
 3. Shooting (placement) 
 4. Near and far post runs