Register now for the Spring Semester.
Training dates and locations in March 2015
Sundays , March 8, 15, 22, 29 3 – 5pm Westwood Park, 900 Barklay St. Davis CA 95616
Tuesdays , March 10, 17, 24, 31 4:30 – 6:30pm Stone Creek Park, 3625 Spoto Drive Rancho Cordova, CA
For Spring Semester 2015, we are only accepting U13, U12, U11 players, boys and girls.
“GIVE THE GAME BACK TO THE PLAYERS.”
This is a highly selective program for a limited number of serious players with supportive families who understand and share the NSA philosophy of High Quality youth development.
The program is designed for players who live within driving distances to NSA (in Sacramento/Davis, CA).
For serious players who live in other locations, please consider joining the USA Tours, the College Bound Player development Program and the International Tour.
What is special and unique about NSA ?
We believe critical factors to successful youth development are
a) Like minded families and committed players
b) Master teachers of the game who can provide a clear developmental path for your child.
For over 20 years, NSA has been offering services to those who wish to learn the NSA way. NSA DOES NOT attempt to control or coerce families to belong. By design, the commitments to NSA are for short periods and for small groups. NSA programs attract like minded children and families who participate because they want to, not because they have to. The primary mission of NSA is to make the time families spend with NSA be enjoyable, instructive and memorable.
NSA Philosophy
A major part of the burn out in youth soccer can be attributed to over coaching and too many meaningless performance events.
To excel, it is important to “play” a lot soccer in different environments and be guided appropriately. However, it is not beneficial for young players to have to “perform” every weekend when most of them are still trying to make connections between their brains and their bodies.
The prevalent “club structure” in NORCAL is numerous groups scramble to form teams each season focusing on QUANTITY. Players of widely different levels of ability and commitment are convinced to join the same team for an entire year. Restrictions are then placed on these families regardless of whether the environment is good for those children’s development to prevent them from leaving. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of these teams achieve good youth development.
NSA’s short term goal is to provide high quality training so the players can play at the highest level they can attain during the golden years of development (ages 9 – 14) without the undue pressures of “winning at all cost”. Our long term goal is to funnel these players into the College Bound Player program and assist players to continue their soccer playing days into Colleges.
At NSA we strongly believe in HIGH QUALITY AGE APPROPRIATE TRAINING. To achieve good team dynamics, we assemble a small number of like minded players and families. We also provide short term commitments to enable families who REALLY wish to belong to NSA to stay and others to leave with impunity.
NSA subscribes to the ideology that time spent between PLAYING, TRAINING and PERFORMANCE must be balanced for excellent Youth Development.
NSA fosters an environment in which children learn to make good decisions and execute them properly on the field.
Creativity on the field, which is an integral part of their development is highly encouraged.
At NSA, we strive to educate and encourage the following environment:
- 50 – 60% “Playing” time, street soccer, playing with friends, playing in unorganized events.
- 20 -30% “Training” time where NSA coaches will guide and teach the technical, tactical, psychological and physical components of the game
- 5 – 10% “Performance” time where NSA coaches will teach “performance” in the competition.
Our recommendation for the optimal development of players:
- Train twice a week,
- Play numerous scrimmages games, street soccer as well as lots of “unorganized” soccer
- Participate in 3 – 5 tournaments a year, with a month or more in between each event.
Many additional scrimmage games will be arranged but they will not be performance events.
If necessary, we may join a playing league to make it easier to organize games vs different opponents but we WILL NOT put children into too many performances every weekend as the present “soccer environment” dictates.
Who will be teaching my child?
- Players will be trained by Head Coach Fred Hsu with assistance from other high quality staff. Coach Fred has been involved in Youth Soccer for over 30 years and holds the USSF “A” License, a Brazilian coaching License and the National Youth License. Other guest trainers will also be invited throughout the year to assist and reinforce ideas.
- Unlike most other coaches, Coach Fred is the creator and master of “Organized Chaos” training, a practice that has proven to be extremely effective in the development of high level soccer players. This NSA method of training consistently yields excellent results as evidenced by the many NSA players reaching top playing levels and the excellent game results in tournament play in both international and local tours over the past 20 years.
How will Players learn about PERFORMANCE?
Tournament play is used to teach performance. PERFORMANCE events should be special for the players. Using the Youth Symphony as an example, musicians rehearse for an entire year for one or two performances. Based on the player pool’s availability, NSA will plan to attend events spread out over the year. In our opinion, it is best to attend 3 – 6 appropriate events per year and have time in between to learn from each event.
Annual Calendar:
Similar to the School system, there will be two semesters and a summer vacation.
Fall: Aug 25 – Jan 31; with Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations.
Spring: Feb 1 – June 15
Summer: June 15 – Aug 24 (Vacation)
Training will be twice a week plus many scrimmage games.
Players will attend between 3 to 5 tournament a year (separated by at least 30 days)
Costs for the ELITE PLAYER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
There are three different options to pay for the Elite Player Development Program.
- Per session: Training fees per 2 hour session is $40.00 per player.
- Copper members: are those who prepay the discounted monthly rate.
- SILVER MEMBERS are those who prepay the discounted semester rate. Silver members receive $100- discount per tournament.
Fees per player includes Training, field rental, insurance
Summary of fees:
|
Annual Training CALENDAR |
Per Session cost |
Copper |
Silver |
|||
|
Spring Semester Feb 1 – June 15 |
||||||
| February |
4 |
weeks |
320 |
200 |
900 |
|
| March |
3 |
weeks |
240 |
200 |
Spring Break week – off | |
| April |
4 |
weeks |
320 |
200 |
||
| May |
4 |
weeks |
320 |
200 |
||
| June |
2 |
weeks |
160 |
160 |
||
|
subtotal |
960 |
|||||
|
June 16 – Aug 25: Summer Vacation – off |
||||||
|
Fall Semester Aug 25 – Jan 31 |
||||||
| August |
1 |
weeks |
80 |
80 |
1000 |
|
| September |
4 |
weeks |
320 |
200 |
||
| October |
4 |
weeks |
320 |
200 |
||
| November |
3 |
weeks |
240 |
200 |
Thanksgiving week – off | |
| December |
2 |
weeks |
160 |
160 |
Christmas — New Years , 3 weeks off | |
| January |
3 |
weeks |
240 |
200 |
||
|
subtotal |
1040 |
|||||
|
Total |
34 |
weeks |
2720 |
2000 |
1900 |
|
Tournament Teams
Teams will be formed from the core members of the program with guest players invited as needed. Tournament cost when you decide to participate is $395- per event per player. It takes substantial effort and knowledge to assemble tournament teams. The fee pays for tournament entry fees, NSA organization of the event, coaches lodging, coaches travel and food. Families will be responsible for travel, lodging and food for their participants.
Fees for International Tours are published with the event announcement.
If selected for a tournament team, your child will be part of a small group of like minded families immersed in a dynamic environment guided by dedicated professionals committed to your child’s development. You will also have more weekends to do other enjoyable things with your family.
At NSA, “Soccer is NOT LIFE … Soccer is Part of Life”
What is the Time Line for assembling Tournament Teams?
| 12 weeks prior to the event | Invitations sent to potential players |
| 10-11 weeks prior to the event | Core team formed |
| 9-10 weeks prior to the event | Decision made whether to apply for event |
| 6-8 weeks prior to event | Once team is accepted, all fees are due |
Sanction Information
National Soccer Academy is one of the few groups granted ACADEMY status under US Club soccer. We have the ability to dual register players between NSA and their local Clubs. Players may train and participate on NSA Tournament teams in addition to other clubs.
Annual Tournament List
Following is the list of annual tournaments NSA teams may participate in (this list is subject to change based on the players ability and availability). We may bring different age groups to different events.
US Club State Cup – Fall Semester
February, Torneo dei Presidenti Redwood City CA
*March, Disney Spring Invitational, Florida
*March, Nomads Showcase, San Diego, CA
March, Reno Sage Brush Start Up Tournament, March, Reno Nevada
*March, Las Vegas Showcase, Las Vegas, Nevada
April, Manteca Touranment, Manteca, CA
May, Santa Cruz Memorial Day Tournament, Santa Cruz, CA
July, International Tour, Dana Cup, Denmark; Gothia Cup, Sweden
August, Reno Tahoe Soccer Festival, Reno, CA
October, Mayors Cup, Las Vegas, Nevada
October, Reno Sage Brush Tournament, Reno, Nevada
*November, Surf Thanksgiving Cup, San Diego, CA
*November, Nomads Thanksgiving Showcase, San Diego, CA
*Away higher level tournaments
What are other NSA’s Programs?
Soccer Training/Tryouts (mostly on Sundays) are held in many locations in different States to train and observe players. Training sessions are open to all and are optional.
Intense Training weekends are normally scheduled a week before a tournament for the tournament team.
USA Tours – Tournament teams are assembled periodically to participate in major tournaments in the USA. Players for these teams are by invitation only.
International Tour: Every July, NSA teams travel to Scandinavia for 3 weeks to participate in the world’s largest Youth Soccer festival, the Gothia Cup with over 1600 teams from 70 nations, the Dana cup with 950 teams from 45 nations. The NSA teams consist of players from around the U.S. as well as Danish and Swedish players.
Families will have time to decide if their child can participate. However, once a family commits to a tournament, they must follow through and not only participate in the event but attend as many of the scheduled training sessions as possible up to the time of the event. From experience, it takes a team of dedicated families to help create an excellent environment for children to develop.
What happens when players get older?
It is our goal to provide for the more serious players quality programs until they are of age to attend College. If the Players have the ability to play in college, they will be included in the College Bound Player Development Program and participate in College Showcases and be guided in seeking out appropriate Universities for their higher education.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Parents love to watch their children perform.
Ask the questions:
Is your child in a performance environment most of the time they play soccer?
Is forcing young players who are still trying to connect their brains with their bodies to perform constantly a good youth development environment?
Has youth soccer “coaches” and managers gone too far in making too many league games, cup games, tournament games the norm because adults want to and are willing to pay for low cost entertainment ?
