US Club Soccer Has Announced Players First License, A Designation for Outstanding Youth Soccer Clubs.
US Club Soccer launches Players First, a recognition of clubs who place players’ relationships with coaches, parents, and teammates first.
How do parents know if a club is good? Here is a new standard of excellence from US Club Soccer.
Youth Soccer News: Players First is a holistic soccer experience for parents and players, which emphasizes the development of each individual player to his or her full potential.
46 clubs from 19 states across the country have been licensed as part of US Club Soccer‘s new program, Players First.
The program aims to develop youth soccer clubs in all aspects of the game: Club Development, Coaching Development, Player Development, Parent Engagement, and Education & Player Health/Safety.
Clubs who have been recognized & endorsed through the Players First program are given several benefits: such as recognition in their marketplace, increased exposure through US Club Soccer’s club search engine, access to use the Players First logo for branding & advertising, as well as several others.
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Players First is dedicated to building the absolute best players possible, by focusing on the player’s relationship with coaches, parents, and teammates. They provide stability for clubs in order to help clubs foster the talents of tomorrow while encouraging players to focus on their own development.
The program also helps parents to focus on the experience their child has playing soccer, rather than be fixated on match outcomes. This helps the players better understand the game, and enjoy playing it more.
Most important of all, the Players First program focuses on the health & safety of all its players. Players First is committed to maintaining a healthy, fun and safe environment for all players of the beautiful game.
“We believe this to be the most rigorous and comprehensive attempt in U.S. Soccer history to identify those clubs that have demonstrated a commitment to creating the kind of infrastructure and culture necessary to provide the best overall environment for players,” said Kevin Payne, US Club Soccer CEO
These exemplary clubs have met the rigorous Players First standards of offering comprehensive Club Development, Coaching Development, Player Development, Parent Engagement & Education and Player Health & Safety:
- Arizona Arsenal SC (Gilbert, Ariz.)
- Arkansas United (Little Rock, Ark.)
- Ballistic United SC (Pleasanton, Calif.)
- Barça Academy Charlotte (Charlotte, N.C.)
- BEST FC (Westborough, Mass.)
- Birmingham United Soccer Association (Birmingham, Ala.)
- Blaine SC (Blaine, Minn.)
- CAPS FC (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Challenge SC (Houston, Texas)
- Classics Elite (San Antonio, Texas)
- Crossfire Premier Redmond (Redmond, Wash.)
- East Meadow SC (East Meadow, N.Y.)
- FC Alliance (Knoxville, Tenn.)
- FC Stars (Lancaster, Mass.)
- FC Wisconsin Girls (Milwaukee, Wis.)
- Florida Kraze Krush (Oviedio, Fla.)
- Houston Dynamo/Dash Youth (The Woodlands, Texas)
- ISC Gunners FC (Issaquah, Wash.)
- Lake Norman SC (Mooresville, N.C.)
- Liverpool FCIA TX (Dallas, Texas)
- Lonestar SC (Austin, Texas)
- Manhattan SC (New York, N.Y.)
- Marin FC (Greenbrae, Calif.)
- Match Fit Academy (Brick, N.J.)
- Mustang SC (Danville, Calif.)
- North Carolina FC Youth (Raleigh, N.C.)
- Ohio Elite Soccer Academy (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Ohio Premier (Dublin, Ohio)
- Placer United SC (Rocklin, Calif.)
- Prince William Soccer (Woodbridge, Va.)
- Sacramento United SC (Sacramento, Calif.)
- San Antonio City SC (San Antonio, Texas)
- San Francisco Elite Academy (San Francisco, Calif.)
- San Juan SC (Rancho Cordova, Calif.)
- Sockers FC (Palatine, Ill.)
- Southern Soccer Academy (Marietta, Ga.)
- Space Coast United (Melbourne, Fla.)
- STA (Randolph, N.J.)
- Sting SC (Dallas, Texas)
- SUSA (Suffolk County, N.Y.)
- TSC Hurricane (Tulsa, Okla.)
- United Futbol Academy (Cummings, Ga.)
- Villarreal Virginia Academy/Annandale (Fairfax, Va.)
- Virginia Soccer Association (Haymarket, Va.)
- West Florida Flames (Brandon, Fla.)
- Western NY Flash (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Youth Soccer Clubs interested in this designation are able to submit an application to be recognized by Players First.
