SAN JOSE, Calif. –- The San Jose Earthquakes will establish seven U-14 Pre-Academy Regional Development Schools around Northern California as they continue to build their youth system, the club announced Wednesday.
Locations for Regional Development Schools will include: Central Valley, East Bay, Marin, Mountain View, Sacramento, San Jose and Tracy. Each training center will be operated by the Earthquakes and will compete in an Earthquakes Pre-Academy League against affiliated programs.
“Our goal in establishing Regional Development Schools is to provide a professional environment for the best players around Northern California to learn and practice together,” said Earthquakes Academy Director Fred Wilson. “This network of training centers will focus on the implementation of a curriculum that is conducive to youth development while also providing local technical directors an additional resource for coaching education.”
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The Development Schools coaching staff will include current Earthquakes assistant coach Ian Russell (San Jose) and former Earthquakes players Troy Dayak (Tracy) and Albertin Montoya (Mountain View). The other regions will be run by former MLS player Guillermo Jara (East Bay), Cody Worden (Marin), Gregg Thompson (Sacramento) and Dana Taylor (Central Valley).
Each Regional Development School will act as a supplemental program to Northern California players in the U-14 age group. Those selected are not required to leave their current youth club of registration for participation in the Earthquakes Pre-Academy.
To determine player pools, each training center will host tryouts to consider the best 1997, 1998 and 1999 players in Northern California. The price of the program is $275 per player to cover costs for training gear and fees, participation in games and, for those selected, in the San Jose Pre-Academy Showcase. Those in an Earthquakes Regional Development School will also have the opportunity to play in four additional Pre-Academy Showcase events: Generation adidas Cup in Kansas City and tournaments in Vancouver (Can.), Portland, and Seattle.
The players selected from the training pools will also be eligible to play in the Quakes’ Pre-Academy League from Jan. 2012 through June 2012. The league will be comprised of teams from each Earthquakes Regional Development School.
In addition to the new Regional Development School network, the Earthquakes have Youth Academy squads at the U-16 and U-18 levels. San Jose’s full academy players compete as part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy system.
For more information about the Earthquakes’ youth development programs, visit www.sjearthquakes.com/academy.
