Gulf States Premier League hosts 62 players at US Club Soccer PDP event
Boys roster | Girls roster | Gulf States Premier League
MANDEVILLE, La. (Nov. 5, 2019) – A total of 32 boys and 30 girls players participated in the ninth US Club Soccer Player Development Program (PDP) in Louisiana, held November 3 at Pelican Park in Mandeville. The event targeted 2006-born boys and 2005-born girls.
The 62 athletes represent the following eleven clubs:
• Baton Rouge Soccer Club (Louisiana)
• Cajun Soccer Club (Louisiana)
• Chicago Fire Louisiana Jrs. (Louisiana)
• Gulf Coast Texans (Florida)
• Gulf Coast United FC (Mississippi)
• Hattiesburg FC (Mississippi)
• International FC (Mississippi)
• Mandeville Soccer Club (Louisiana)
• Mississippi Brilla Juniors (Mississippi)
• Mississippi Rush (Mississippi)
• Perdido Bay FC (FL)
The players were coached by Amber Andrews (Mandeville Soccer Club), Pere Bascu (Mandeville Soccer Club), Mike Ortner (Mandeville Soccer Club), John Plumbar (Cajun Soccer Club), and Justin Roberts (Mississippi Brilla). The athletes participated in various tactical and technical exercises, such as possession training, including possession to target, possession to goal, and advanced attacking shapes. The players also broke into smaller games in the morning, before playing 11x11on a full field, where they were scouted in a real match environment.
id2 Boys Program Director Gerry McKeown was on-site to scout for inclusions to id2 Training Camps and National Selection programming. “It’s always great to be able to attend a PDP first-hand and the ones hosted by the Gulf States Premier League are often full of talented players,” added McKeown. “PDPs are essentially the grassroots of the id2 program so it’s very rewarding to be able to identify players here and see those who are selected progress through the levels of the id2 program.”
Gulf States Premier League has hosted all nine US Club Soccer PDPs in Louisiana, holding at least one per year since 2012.
PDPs are identification and development programs conducted within the id2 Program umbrella. Consistent with US Club Soccer’s philosophy that identification and development should be free to players, there is no cost to players. PDPs are approved as an Olympic Development Program by the United States Olympic Committee and U.S. Soccer Federation.
PDP invitations are based upon scouting within the NPL, scouting of NPL clubs and other nearby clubs, as well as recommendations from Directors of Coaching. Based upon this scouting and recommendation process, top players are invited to attend PDP events. id2 Program scouts are on-site at all PDP events to scout players for potential inclusion in id2 Program Training Camps. U.S. Soccer scouts will also attend many PDP events to scout players for consideration in U.S. Soccer Youth National Team camps. 2020 id2 National Selection programming will feature the inaugural girls International Tour.
