Membership Announcement
Nanaimo Youth Soccer Club is proud to announce the launch of its Academy Program for the 2009/10 season.
Over the past three years, Nanaimo Youth Soccer has been working towards ways to implement Long Term Player Development while at the same time offer players all levels of play from Club to Select. The process has been a long process in the work, but during the past twelve months, the club has finally established a program that will help build the club system into a structure and viable league while at the same time offering players looking for higher level challenges the opportunity to participate in the Academy Program.
The Academy program is run in conjunction with the Club system. The Academy System was developed to start the road to Long Term Player Development, and has replaced the “Rep” system for ages U11 to U15 for both genders. This will allow the Academy to find highly competitive games to be played with players inside the Academy. This change is essential for many reasons, but the largest being the focus shifting from being “competition” and winning focused, to focusing on improving the player first, the competition second. As well, the program will offer more opportunities for what we refer to as “bubble players” meaning players that would not have made a “rep” team in the past, therefore losing out on some high performance training, to now including those particular players in the Academy so they may continue to develop and grow.; therefore allowing us to train more players across all age groups and genders to play at their highest potential for their current development. More details about the rational and the long term player development can be found in the Academy Document on the NYSC website.
Effective Sept 4, 2009 registration for the Academy Program will be open to all players to register into. The Academy Program is a Nanaimo Youth Soccer directive, but due to the constraints of the number of coaches, facilities, and ensuring the players receive the highest level coaching available; NYSC has been in meetings with the District Development Centre based out of Nanaimo and has requested that the program be facilitated through the Nanaimo DDC and their coaching staff. This will allow NYSC players to receive the most consistent training, high performance coaching staff and the chance to be placed in appropriate levels of training. Details on the structure of the program can be located within the Academy document found on the NYSC website.
The DDC and the Academy program are programs that are an additional cost to regular registration. Due to the current economic environment still lingering both the DDC and NYSC have worked very closely together to ensure the same high level programming can be brought to the players, but at the same time trying to ensure it is affordable to the general membership. The conclusion that has been drawn during the discussion has allowed both groups to present a very affordable Long Term Player Development structure.
Program Cost
The program for the 2009/10 season will have a cost of $250 for 20 weeks worth of training. This works out to $12.50 per session, which is reduced from the previous model of $16.50 per session. Lots of measures have been taken to help reduce this cost, again, to ensure it is available to as many players as possible. For details of what is included in the fees, please refer to the Academy document located on the NYSC website.
The program dates are as follows:
Sept 14th to Dec 7th First Sessions 12 Weeks
Jan 11th to March 1st Second Session 8 Weeks
There will be no additional sessions added in March due to spring break starting early in the month (Mar 6) and not ending until (March 14) which is then preceded by wind up tournaments for all Club teams on the following few weekends.
Payment Options
Throughout the discussions, it was also established that a payment plan is open to players and parents to help divide the cost up, and maybe not take such an initial output in the beginning. For players that need this option it is available in this format:
Upon registration a payment of $150 dollars is needed. Then two post dated cheques are to be left for $50 for the dates of November 15th, 2009, and Jan 15, 2010.
NYSC and the DDC are very excited about this partnership and the opportunities this present towards the development of local players. As in any program change is difficult at times, but this program will ensure the player’s development is set above all other areas. This model is currently being launched in a similar fashion by the Vancouver Whitecaps in the lower mainland market, so good news is the NYSC is ahead of the curve on the player development and the long term is to produce more players at all levels. Below is a quote from Tony Waiters (Internationally known for his support of LTPD and a well known “Guru” of soccer development in Canada), this is from his News letter dated Sept 2009:
“ While we are on about "Academies," we should continue in future newsletters to look at the success (or otherwise) of the academy program in the United States and Canada. I have said before that just about every youth soccer organization these days has an "academy." But on the basis that an extra session within an "academy" program is another opportunity for additional practice is in itself, a success. Our young players need more practice (and fewer competitive games) if they are to develop.”
Programs are available for players from U6 to U18 for both boys and girls.
If you have any questions, please contact the District Development Centre. They can be reached at ddc@nanaimosoccer.ca.
Wishing all the players, parents and coaches the best moving into the 2009 season, and hoping to see many players on the field.
On Behalf of the NYSC Board of Directors;
Shawn Fiddick
Executive Director
Nanaimo Youth Soccer / District Development Centre
To review the document outlining the Academy Program, please follow this link - "
NYSC Academy Program"
We are very excited about the new steps towards player development. We are very excited about the new outlook for the club system and building it into a stronger place for ALL players, and yet still offer the avenues for those players looking to take their game to the next level at the same time.
