Image courtesy of Mass Premier Soccer
Director of Coaching Peter Bradley, one of the two brothers that founded Mass Premier Soccer (MPS), just returned from Portugal where they are exploring a potential club affiliation with Sporting Lisbon, the academy that produced Cristiano Ronaldo.
“We’re looking to start a relationship with them,” said Bradley. “We’ve been back and forth and I spent three and half days looking at their youth academy. Sporting invests because they produced Ronaldo and Ronaldo goes off and gets sold for $30 million and that pays for the academy.”
“What’s been happening for a number of years,” continued Bradley, “is that the European clubs see the potential of the US because it’s such a big country and it can produce world class players, they’re there. They want to reach out and develop relationships with clubs that are like-minded in terms of their philosophy towards player development and see opportunities for them to identify players who otherwise they would never see.”
Chelsea, West Ham, Benfica, and Derby County have already established youth club alliances in the US. Recently Fulham linked to the Boston area through agreements with Fenway Sports Group and Professional Soccer Advisors, and is also considering a local club affiliation.
MPS has found success in identifying and developing players in Massachusetts. Two players who came through the MPS School of Excellence, Declan McCabe and Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, were recently selected for the U-14 and U-15 US national teams. But considering that Massachusetts has the second highest number of youth players in the country, the state has relatively few youth players in the national arena. Bradley would like to see that change. MPS is working with other area clubs to shift the emphasis from winning at all costs to an increased focus on development. This initiative seems to have improved the overall level.
“Clubs are starting to become more sophisticated, more organized in Massachusetts,” said Bradley. “There’s more solidarity in terms of what people are doing and that can only improve. That’s one of the reasons we’re in New England Premiership (NEP) league - trying to get clubs to work together more and push the level forward versus fighting against each other all the time.”
MPS competes in the Y league, which ranks the club second in the nation, and has applied to participate in the National Development Academy alongside the New England Revolution and the Boston Bolts. They also groom players in the NEP league and MASC.
New England's miserable winter weather and lack of year-round play is partly to blame for the region’s lack of competitiveness. The forthcoming BCL indoor/outdoor complexes in Bridgewater and Bellingham should somewhat alleviate the shortage of field space for training and games, however. MPS has signed a letter of agreement to be the anchor tenant in the innovative spectator-friendly facilities slated to open September 2010. The new Citizens Bank Fields in Lancaster, Mass, developed by Mass Youth Soccer Association through the initiative of the late John Burrill also gives Massachusetts soccer a much-needed shot in the arm.
MPS promotes development through ongoing coach training within the club twice a week and by sending MPS coaches out into the community to train local coaches. For communities, MPS typically offers preseason courses, one for U-10s and another for U-11s and up. They provide the coaches with curriculum, lay out expectations about what they should be doing with their age groups, and teach them good practice.
“I’d love to see more people be more involved in getting coaching education,” said Bradley. “Because youth soccer is a volunteer organization, it’s very difficult to make people do it, but it’s a good idea to mandate certain levels before you can take top teams.”
Currently, MPS has 25-40 staff members working spring through fall with coach and player development. MPS camps connect with 3,000-4000 players a year, the School of Excellence for young players involves around 950, and the Premier U-13 through U-20 teams for boys and girls involve around 950 players. MPS also operates the W-League Boston Renegades and a PDL team, formerly the Cape Cod Crusaders, which were relocated to Maine this year and are now known as Portland Phoenix and will start play in summer 2010.
For more information on Mass Premier Soccer click here.
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