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Date Posted: 9/3/2009
How do we grow young soccer players into community role models?
August 10th and 13th launched what we believe will become a significant part of this developmental process.
The Compton United inaugural Urban Soccer Leadership Academy (USLA) brought LA Galaxy professional player Julian Valentine together with 60 Compton United players.
Julian lead our boy’s under 15 team in a strenuous ‘professional’ style practice and clinic. The practice covered proper warm up techniques, advanced ball control and passing skills, coordination drills and scrimmages.
Julian’s availability and ability to build into these players was no less that inspiring. The players watched and took in every word and demonstration from the Galaxy defender. It’s not often that a professional player shows up in neighborhoods like Compton.
However, even more important was the leadership development talks the Julian gave after the practices. Julian told stories from his own life and experience as he tied leadership principles to being the best you can be on and off the pitch.
The Academy principles of, “Attitude, Character and Leadership” came through as Julian trained the players each day and integrated the principles of hard work, team work and integrity into his talks. At the end of the last day more than 130 players from several CUSC teams and their parents gathered around to hear Julian’s closing remarks.
A deeper aspect of the leadership development emphasis was the Academy Assistants. These are hand-selected players from our boy’s under 18 team that assisted Julian in leading the trainings with the younger players.
These emerging leaders have already had two years of leadership development. Previously, BU18 player Chris Alvarez joined players, Jesus Moreno and William Mesa in coaching at the US Soccer Foundation’s 2009 LA Passback clinic at the Home Depot Center and the LA Galaxy Compton Clinic with Galaxy defender Tony Sanneh. Jesus and William had previously participated in the 2008 National Soccer Leadership Camp at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In a conversation last year, Jesus told his coach that before being a part of Compton United he didn’t think that college was for him and now he knows that he can go and excel there.
Each of these players are headed to college and have plans to continue to build into younger players, even though they hadn’t always had that themselves.
[Click here for additional photos of the Urban Soccer Leadership Academy]
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