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 The landscape of club soccer in Wisconsin continues to change.
Three of Wisconsin's clubs are moving their top Under-13 through Under-18 boys teams to the National Premier Leagues, a new U.S. Club Soccer competition that starts this fall and concludes with the NPL Champions Cup in July 2012.
Milwaukee's Bavarian SC, FC Milwaukee and the Madison 56ers are among the 23 teams in the NPL Midwest Development Academy, and will play against clubs from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas in the Great Lakes Division.
"One of the main reasons to join NPL is it's kind of the who's who of soccer in the Midwest," said Tom Zaiss, the director of soccer operations for Bavarian SC. "You have all the Academy clubs and then you have all the other clubs that U.S. Club Soccer has felt is of that level of producing very good players.
"It's kind of the best of both worlds, right? You can potentially still play within your state but have the opportunity to compete against what, on paper, are the best clubs organizationally and historically result-wise at all age levels."
The conference, one of nine across the country, includes all 13 members of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy in those states.
The NPL will follow several tenets of the Development Academy, including:
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An emphasis on the ratio of training sessions to games. Teams are expected to train three times per week, though that is not mandatory.
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A limit of one match per day.
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Limited substitutions. For Under-13 through Under-15, seven subs are allowed in a half but there is no re-entry in a half. For Under-16 through Under-18, seven subs are allowed in a match with no re-entry.
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Club scheduling – meaning that when the 56ers play FC Milwaukee, for example, all six 56ers teams will play all six of the Nationals' teams on the same day.
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Roster flexibility. Teams can have 26 players on a roster and can shift players up to older teams.
While U.S. Club Soccer oversees the league, the rules and guidelines were determined by officials from the 23 clubs.
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U.S. CLUB SOCCER
NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUES
Midwest Developmental League |
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Great Lakes Division |
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Bavarian SC |
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FC Milwaukee Nationals |
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Madison 56ers |
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Minnesota Thunder Academy |
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Rockford Raptors (Ill.) |
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Chicago Fire Academy (Ill.) |
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Chicago Magic (Ill.) |
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Sockers FC Chicago (Ill.) |
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FC United (Ill.) |
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St. Louis Scott Gallagher-Metro (Ill.) |
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Blue Valley SC (Kan.) |
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Sporting Kansas City Juniors (Kan.) |
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St. Louis Scott Gallagher-Missouri |
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Erie Division |
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Carmel United (Ind.) |
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Cincinnati United SC (Ohio) |
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Crew Juniors (Ohio) |
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Fort Wayne Fever (Ind.) |
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Grand Rapids Crew Juniors (Mich.) |
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Internationals SC (Ohio) |
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Michigan Jaguars FC |
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Michigan Wolves SC |
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Vardar (Mich.) |
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WAZA FC (Mich.) |
"The whole point of that league is to get all the best clubs in the Midwest within one competitive format and to extend some of the principles of the Development Academy down into younger ages and into older ages from clubs outside the Academy, whether that's more limited substitutions, whether it's training to game ratio expectations – that type of thing makes the game better," said FC Milwaukee Academy director Christian Lavers, who also is the ECNL president and the executive vice president of U.S. Club Soccer.
"I think one of the neat things is when we had (a) conference call a few weeks ago, we had directors and top coaches from 23 of the best clubs across the Midwest all on the phone for the first time, talking about 'What's right? What's right for the game? What can we do to make it better?' And when you get good people all under the same umbrella, change – and good change – can happen."
Zaiss and 56ers coaching director John Reddan are most excited about the possibilities for player development. Reddan noted that in order to play at the top levels in the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association and U.S. Youth Soccer Midwest Regional League, teams need to win.
"All along here you had to win at U-11 to get access. And if you don't, you either don't get in or you're at a lower level," Reddan said. "And yet everything that U.S. Soccer and any international group will tell you is that winning should be the furthest thing from a director and a coach and a kid's mind early on. They're supposed to be just getting better.
"We can kind of remove that specter a little bit in terms of our teams. They know where they're going, they know who they're going to play against, so we can be a little bit more aggressive at the younger ages. Go ahead and stick your U-11s in a U-12 tournament, or take your U-12s and have them play up in a local U-13 tournament rather than U-12 so they're up against older kids. You don't have to worry about results, you have to concern yourself with just getting better."
Zaiss added: "One of the other big tenets is really – and we'll see if everybody practices what they preach – is to really use it from a developmental standpoint. So if you have a U-11 kid that's pretty precocious and has hit his growth spurt really early or someone that's super technical, you can play them in the 13s and not have to worry about relegation or promotion."
Lavers pointed out that the schedule will be a plus, as teams will have more home matches – meaning family and friends can easily attend – and will have to travel less. Reddan thinks having all the teams together, home and away rather than the many neutral-site games in MRL play, will help foster the idea of club, at least with the 56ers.
"I think it really can be a struggle in club soccer – this is this team and that is that team over there and this team over here," he said. "You want to be a club, you want to have cohesiveness. But when everybody's spread out all over the place, it's a little more difficult."
On the down side, because most of the NPL teams won't be playing in a WYSA league, they won't be eligible to play in the Wisconsin State Championships, better known as the State Cup. Reddan said the 56ers' Under-13 and Under-14 Red teams will continue to play in the state league in addition to the NPL, but it's not feasible for the older age groups. The club's White teams will continue to play at the highest level possible.
"There's going to be some disappointment – State Cup is certainly a fun competition to be involved in," Reddan acknowledged.
There also will be a period of adjustment for players and parents, getting used to more training and fewer matches, and most likely less playing time for at least some players due to the substitution rules.
"I think there's always a learning curve," Zaiss said. "Can I convince my players that four practices a week and one game is better than two practices and three games? That's kind of a tough sell for the parents, it's a tough sell for the players as well. But you have to find a happy medium."
The inaugural NPL Champions Cup, which will include champions from each of the nine NPL leagues, is scheduled for July 27 to 30 in Waukegan, Ill.
Links
National Premier Leagues
NPL Midwest Developmental League
Bavarian SC
Madison 56ers
FC Milwaukee
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