Below is the information shared at our Information Meeting last night. Parents need to read and respond by Monday to an email sent out this morning.
OUR VISION, VALUES & PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Everyone who loves the beautiful game agrees that we need to add a significant level professionalism to our player development programs across Canada. It is clear we need to emulate how the rest of the "successful" soccer countries around the world do it. This means developing and implementing a systemic, consistent and predictable method of exposing our brightest young talent to highly qualified, licensed professional paid coaches. This is why Elite Soccer Academy Niagara exists.
Our Academy program is second to none in terms of quality and quantity of training, and exposure to the best possible opportunities for our players. Our program is only for dedicated full-time soccer players who want to take their game to the highest level possible.
Under the guidance of Technical Director Clayton Rosario, our Head Coach Tuukka Salonen leads player development and coaching. Tuukka played professionally in Germany and Finland for 10 years. Tuukka’s pro playing experience, formal university education, professional training with Schalke 04, and proven track record of developing talent, make him one of the top coaches in Ontario.
Our players receive training and exposure and gain experience not available elsewhere. The Academy and players are also promoted through numerous professional contacts, and through our new youtube channel and team website. We are taking lessons we have learned from Academies in Europe and putting them into practice in Niagara, Ontario Canada.
Elite Soccer Academy Niagara is proud to have professional relationships with ASD Pro Calcio (AS ROMA Italy) and Pro Calcio Canada FC. We are also proud of our coaching connections with Empoli FC, Italy. Our relationships and connections include visits from and training with international coaches and agents.
Our program includes training 11 months a year, three times a week in quality training facilities. This means our players benefit from approximately 135 professionally designed training sessions per year. Though summer and fall/winter futsal leagues, tournaments, and friendlies we ensure players play in 30-40 games per year.
Elite Academy players have access to train in our own private facility, The CAT, as well as quick access to the best facilities in Ontario and Western New York, from Batavia to Niagara to the Greater Toronto Area.
Our players are immersed in a positive but intense environment with like-minded teammates. The priorities of the professional coaches will be to ensure that each player in the program develops to their full potential. Coaches do not be place unreasonable pressures on players to win games and collect trophies, but rather they will challenge them to identify and develop their weaknesses - to grow as individuals as well as athletes. Guided Discovery is a foundation of our coaching philosophy.
For new players, our Academy will do the utmost to ensure a smooth transition to our program for both players and parents. For those that decide to join our Academy, it will quickly become evident that the benefits will far exceed any program available in the region.
Once signed on with Elite, parents are not be required to register for other training, camps or clinics throughout the year - the Elite Soccer Academy Niagara package provides the highest quality training year round – a complete package.
2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
Elite Soccer Academy Niagara had a very positive first year of operation. The team competed in the Versus Academy League out of Vaughn and had a number of outstanding and entertaining games. It helped our player/team development to play against top-level competition such as established teams from York Region and Vaughn; competition not found on this side of the Burlington Skyway. Through Versus we made connections with quality teams and coaches that we will use through-out the coming year for combined training/friendlies.
Our players also benefited from hands-on coaching, perspective and input from Empoli FC Coach Davide Massafra. We will continue to bring in professional guest coaches when possible.
In September, our team played in the first Niagara Futsal Cup, organized by the Canadian Futsalon Federation and Clayton Rosario. We played against the Canadian U14 National Futsal Team and the Brazilian U14 National Futsal Team which featured Brazilian Legend Ronaldo’s son. We look forward to this event next year as well.
We entered three US Tournaments in 2013. Our first tournament action in the Erie Premier Cup, saw us go undefeated but end up one goal shy of an appearance in the finals. Next up was the AC Milan Continental Cup in Cleveland Ohio where we watched our boys defeat the Ohio U13 Olympic Development Team and unfortunately bow out to the eventual tournament champions in the quarter-finals.
Finally, in our third tournament our boys tasted gold, winning the Elite Challenge Cup U13 Elite Division in Erie PA. They earned a perfect record, beating the Cleveland Internationals (Ohio State Cup Champions), Fort Wayne United (Indiana State Champions) and the host Erie Admirals. Along the way the team recorded 2 clean sheets, scored 12 and conceded only 2 goals all weekend.
With every tournament we saw the growth and development of our players and team. We will continue to challenge our team with an aggressive tournament schedule, targeting the highest quality tournaments possible – as we tell the players, to be the best you have to compete against the best!
Our Fitness and Skills Testing Program showed fantastic results in our first ten months of operation. As a group, our team’s fitness levels rose over 45% on average per player. Coach Tuukka can meet with parents interested in a detailed breakdown on their child’s results.
Lastly, we are excited about our updated CAT Field. We have been able to increase our training facility’s functional value by increasing player safety measures, widening the playing area, redesigning goals to give better shooting angles, and to give an overall impression of a brighter, more open space.
We are looking to build on our successful and busy 2013. We are finalizing our agreement to register the team under the Buffalo Soccer Academy and then have the player’s International Transfer Clearances submitted for approval to US Soccer.
WHY U.S. SOCCER?
As an Academy we will always look for our team to compete at the highest levels possible. We will seek out top-level competition. Soccer in Ontario is very fractured and disorganized and we have seen and will continue to see the level of competition drop. However, this move to US Soccer is not about the state of soccer in Ontario, it is about the organization, professionalism, and maturity level of soccer programs in the US.
The October 2013 FIFA World Rankings lists US Soccer at 13th in the world and Canada at 111th world-wide. This speaks volumes towards the level of professionalism and sophistication of player development programs across the US, and the systemic advances US Soccer has made over the past number of years.
Because of our geographic proximity to the US border (within 30 miles) we are eligible to register with US Soccer and have International Transfer Clearances processed for our players. Once registered with US Soccer our Academy will be eligible to compete in any soccer venue in the US or Canada. We will be eligible to play in all State Cup competitions. We will not be under any restrictions from the OSA. In this system our players will be exposed to university and college scouts in the US. This is not a hopeful comment but a fact - this is how US Soccer is designed.
We will register in the Western New York Thruway League and will play games from Buffalo to Batavia. Games will be on weekends. We will look to play double-headers if we need to travel farther.
TOURNAMENTS
We had very positive experiences in 2013 with the AC Milan Continental Cup and Erie Elite Challenge Cup and will look to those and other similar or higher quality tournaments for 2014. At this point we are targeting 5-6 tournaments, some of which will include more “local” tournaments in the US and Canada where there will not be a need for hotel stays. Fundraising will be a key component for our 2014 Tournament Schedule.
CANADIAN FUTSALON FEDERATION
We have worked with the Canadian Futsalon Federation (the same organization which hosted the Niagara Futsal Cup at Ridley) to bring Futsal to Niagara. Starting November, games will be played in Welland at BP Sports Park, on the courts next to The CAT. This is another area of development and competition that cannot be found in the Niagara Region.
2014 FEE STRUCTURE
We have worked to drive down costs for 2014 as much as possible and have the following break-down on pricing:
FIXED COSTS
$1,700.00 Base Academy Fee which includes 11 months training, insurance, rent and professional coach’s salary
$295.00 League Fee, uniform and US Soccer Registration
$1,995.00 Total Fixed Costs per player for 2014
NON-FIXED COSTS
Home game field rental $150/game 4-6 games $600-900 /Team
League Referee fees/ game $55/game 8-12 games $440-660 /Team
5-6 Tournaments approx. $500/Tournament $2,500-3,000 /Team
$3,540-$4,560 Total Non-Fixed Costs /Team for 2014
Our goal is to raise the total non-fixed costs through fundraising. As an example, given 14 players, this would equal between $250-$325 fundraising dollars per player for the year. This is a very achievable target.
Monthly payment options are again available and can be discussed with Clayton.
*FUTSAL League costs are NOT included in this pricing model. Fees for FUTSAL will be paid separately or through a sponsorship if secured.
