Five new clubs, including the Houston Dynamo Academy, will join the U.S. Soccer Development Academy for the 2009-10 season after the most competitive application process in the young history of the Academy program, U.S. Soccer announced last week. With the new additions, 79 total clubs are slated to participate in the national team training program next year.
Joining the Academy in 2009-10 will be California Development Academy (Sacramento, Calif.), Houston Dynamo (Houston, Texas), Kansas City Wizards Juniors (Kansas City, Mo.), McLean Youth Soccer (McLean, Va.) and NJSA 04 (Holmdel, N.J.).
The five Academy clubs were selected from a pool of 250 applicants after an extensive review process. Clubs were selected based on their potential to generate future national team players as determined by geographic location, history of player production, coaching staff and administrative capabilities. Information was gathered through the national team scouting network, including more 50 site evaluations.
Kansas City and Houston become the 10th and 11th MLS clubs to participate in the Academy program, joining the Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, D. C. United, FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls.
"We're excited about joining the program," said James Clarkson, Houston Dynamo Director of Youth Development. "We feel it's going to provide some outstanding opportunities for our players and accelerate their development toward a professional standard."
Tryouts for the Dynamo Academy U-18 and U-16 teams, including a chance to go on the Dynamo's 2009 European trip, will be held at the next Dynamo Elite Camp, held June 8-11. Registration is available at HoustonDynamo.com.
