San Francisco Elite Academy becomes newest Girls Academy League member

San Francisco Elite Academy has become the latest club to join the Girls Academy League, ahead of its inaugural season.

SF Elite becomes the seventh member of the league’s Northwest Conference, alongside six other clubs from California and Washington: Lamorinda Soccer Club (Moraga, Calif.), Reign Academy (Tacoma, Wash.), ISC Gunners (Issaquah, Wash.), Silicon Valley SA / Palo Alto SC (Bay Area, Calif.), Breakers F.C. (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Clovis Crossfire (Clovis, Calif.).

Tom Atencio, SF Elite Director of Player Development and Girls Academy Director, stated: “The San Francisco Elite Academy is pleased to join the Girls Academy and is excited to further the clubs’ growth on the national stage. SFEA continues to move forward and provide opportunities for players through a combination of self realization and age appropriate rhythm training. Congratulations to all players, coaches and staff.”

The Girls Academy will include teams in the U13- U18/U19 age groups. SF Elite will also continue to compete in US Club Soccer’s NorCal NPL and Champions League of NorCal Premier.

Jim Millinder, Girls Director of Coaching stated: “I think this is an outstanding opportunity for the San Francisco Elite Academy. Playing against top quality competition is what we have always had our sights on in the development of all of our players and teams. From a recruiting standpoint for our players this will give them the opportunity to be seen by a large amount of college coaches.”

A total of 60 clubs have now been announced as members of the Girls Academy League for the 2020-2021 season, across seven conferences.

The Girls Academy League is a new competition platform launched by members of the Development Player League (DPL). The DPL has stated that it will continue to provide its clubs with flexibility in the following two key areas:

• Permission for all players in the Girls Academy League to participate in high school soccer.
• Revising the substitution rules to encourage clubs to better utilize their player pools, especially when showcasing their players to college coaches.

To learn more about the DPL’s newly-launched Girls Academy League, Click Here or visit girlsacademyleague.com.