West Florida Flames awarded renewal letter for USSDA membership
The West Florida Flames have received their renewal letter for the 2019-2020 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season. Once again, the club will be featured as a member in both the Girls’ and Boys’ Development Academy programs.
See below for the club’s press release announcing the news, following the completion of U.S. Soccer’s evaluation process of aspects of the club such as staffing, developmental model, training environment and player development philosophy:
Brandon, Florida (May 2, 2019)— We are pleased to announce that West Florida Flames has been awarded their renewal letter for 2019-2020 Development Academy Season. We are one of 64 Academy Clubs selected to participate within U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has gone through a nationwide Development Academy program restructure. The plan included a re-auditing of all the DA clubs for the 2019-2020 renewal, as well as, downsizing DA programs in conferences throughout the country. Our staff has been heavily involved in the process of providing all required Technical and Operational documentation required by the Development Academy, including attending various conference calls and meeting follow-ups during this process.
The criteria for renewal included but are not limited to:
(1) Player pool and market
(2) Player development effectiveness (YNT, NT, and pro player production)
(3) Staff leadership, structure, and qualifications
(4) Talent Development Philosophy
(5) Training environment and personal development
(6) Facilities and infrastructure
(7) Staff and player respect
(8) Resources, fees, scholarship, and financial assistance.
Recently, the US Soccer Club Development Manager visited our fields at JC Handly and stated that our staffing, developmental model, training environment and player development philosophy is one of the best in the country. This was a major factor to being awarded the renewal for 2019-2020 season. U.S. Soccer will continue to work with us to assure that we enhance criteria number one (1) Player pool and market. The new restructure of the Development Academy standard will emphasize the competitiveness of our player pool. As well as, not only a continual development of our own players but, of opposing players in terms of us providing them meaningful competition.
We are excited about the DA renewal for next season, as we have already begun preparation to meeting standards required for the 2019-2020 season. The Development Academy staff will be present during competitive tryouts as we continue to evaluate players.
