West Florida Flames Selected as Member of U.S. Soccer Girls Development Academy

Brandon, FL   (Saturday, July 9, 2016) – We are pleased to announce that West Florida Flames has been selected to participate as a member of the U.S. Soccer Girls’ Development Academy. “We are excited to have been invited and recognized as a leader of player development in the Greater Tampa Bay Area and to be one of the founding members for the Girls’ DA. Our vision at WFF is to continue to be a pioneer in player development and provide those individuals with the most competitive levels of our sport” stated Jorge “Yoyo” Zavala, West Florida Flames ECNL and Girls Director of Coaching.

The Girls’ Development Academy is part of U.S. Soccer’s global leadership position in women’s soccer and connects with its long-term plan to improve player and coach development. The mission of the program is to provide education, resources and support to directly impact the everyday environment for clubs to develop world-class female players. U.S. Soccer created the Academy to focus on individual player development. The Academy philosophy is simple: More Training, Higher Quality Training, Less Games, More Meaningful Games, and Proper Rest Ratio.

“I have been fortunate to be a part of U.S. Soccer as an assistant coach at the 2006 U20 Women’s World Championships in Russia and, in recent years, a scout for U.S. Soccer’s younger women’s national teams. The news of Girls’ DA coming to West Florida and WFF is even more exciting as we will now work with US Soccer at the grassroots level in our community,” said Steve Rammel, WFF Executive Director.

From the start, the program will feature three combined age groups in the Girls’ Development Academy: U-14/15, U-16/17 and U-18/19. In addition to combining the most elite players from each birth year to form the mixed age group player pool, coaches will be encouraged to play their most elite players “up” on an older age team within the club to help accelerate development. The competitive framework will focus on the core values of the program, which emphasizes quality coaching and teaching in a positive learning environment for players. Development Academy program objectives; Individual player development within the team concept, improving the quality of coaching for players, shifting away from results-driven philosophies, and promoting a holistic approach to development: respect, lifestyle, personal responsibility.

U.S. Soccer will officially launch the Girls’ Development Academy Program in the fall of 2017. For additional information regarding the academy program, visit the U.S. Soccer Development Academy website online at http://www.ussoccerda.com/girls-academy.

For information regarding West Florida Flames program, please contact Jorge “Yoyo” Zavala at jzavala@fcflames.com.