NGSA Select and Academy Program
The NGSA Select Program is for those looking for competitive soccer at the U-13 & older age groups. The Select Program is for the truly committed soccer players who are willing to strive to develop to their full potential and compete with other Select Program teams throughout the state. Families will be responsible for any additional training, travel, and tournament play at the select level. Once a Select Program player is registered and rostered to a team he/she is bound to that team for the entire seasonal year (August 1 - July 31), which includes both fall and spring seasonal play. Select team coaches & trainers select the players to be on their team.
Select soccer represents a new level of commitment from not only the player but also from the parents and maybe even the player's siblings. There's more training, more potential travel, more competitive play and more expectations! Attendance and participation at all training sessions and games is expected.
Academy Soccer
The NGSA Academy Program follows the GYSA guidelines as a way of introducing young, talented players to advanced training and more competitive play. With a consistent training methodology in place, all Academy players will receive the same fundamentals and tactics - preparing them for select level competition at U13.
The NGSA Academy Program represents the opportunity to explore more competitive soccer with a more vigourous training. It is a bridge program from recreational soccer to the truly competitive play of select soccer.
What is an Academy program?
In 2002, the Georgia Youth Soccer Association (GYSA) began looking for a way to more slowly transition players into the highly competitive environment of select soccer. Many clubs were looking for a way to decrease the travel and the competitive intensity for U10 play while still wanting to offer a program of increased technical training and quality games. From that search came U10 “Developmental” programs started by some of the larger associations in metro Atlanta that later became the GYSA sanctioned Academy concept. In 2003 it was extended from U10 to U11 and this fall it will also be available for U12.
Academy soccer provides the opportunity to utilize a club’s best coaches and trainers for the benefit of more players than they can reach by working with a single team. It requires the same commitment by the player and the family to increased practice time and potential expense of training and tournaments. Although there is some travel involved, the club has a voice in how much.
Players register with the Academy program, as opposed to registering with a specific team. They can then be moved from team to team within the program to best meet their development needs in both practice sessions and games.
Right now GYSA officially recognizes both Academy and Select programs for U10, U11 and U12. However it seems quite apparent that at some future date, select play will not start until U13.
What are the benefits of an Academy Program? How does Academy really differ from Select?
Academy Training Style: Training curriculum taught to all players in that age group. All players in a given age group and gender practice together.
Select Training Style: Individual Team Training determined by that team’s coach and trainer. No scheduled interaction with other teams.
