NASA Academy Girls
Frequently asked questions:
1. What is the NASA Academy? The NASA Academy is designed to enhance the development of the North Atlanta Soccer Association's girls through professional coaching at the younger age levels (ages 6-12). Our mission is to build a strong foundation for the soccer stars of tomorrow, while providing a fun and healthy soccer environment.
2. How does the NASA Academy fit into the programs offered at NASA? Our club launched the U10 Academy program in May, 2001 to serve as a bridge between the U8 / U10 recreational soccer programs and the U11 select (i.e., "Athena") program. We created the U11 Academy in the fall 2003 season, and launched the U12 Academy in the fall 2004 season. We created the NASA Junior Academy in the summer of 2013 for younger players (ages 6 and 7). Traditional select (Athena) teams now begin at the U13 age group.
3. Where are you located? NASA has two Cobb County locations: Metro North Park (MNP) in southeast Cobb near Johnson Ferry Road and the Chattahoochee River and United Quest Park (UQP) in northeast Cobb near Town Center Mall and I-575. Each location has its own Academy program. Our coaching philosophy and training curriculum (along with several of the coaches) are the same at each location. Link: Google map with NASA's Cobb locations
NASA opened a Cherokee branch in 2012 playing out of J. J. Biello Park in Woodstock (southeast Cherokee).
4. Is this a year-round commitment? Yes and no. It's a 1-year commitment that covers fall and spring seasons. But we don't play year-round. After tryouts are complete (late May or early June), we break until we start preparation for the fall with our Academy Camp in July. The fall season ends before the Thanksgiving holiday. We start preparation for the spring season in February, and wrap up with the Adidas Friendship Cup tournament in May.
5. How often do you practice? Our U9 through U12 groups practice 2-3 times a week. The Junior Academy groups practice twice a week.
6. Is this a travel team? Yes, but with limited travel. During league play, we typically play half our games at home, the other half at other clubs' fields in the metro Atlanta area. The U11 and U12 age groups will occasionally travel outside Atlanta (for example, Birmingham, Greenville or Chattanooga) for tournaments. Travel tournaments are within easy driving distance.
7. How many tournaments do you play? This varies by age group:
Junior Academy (U7 / U8): We include in-house tournaments as part of our game schedule. As for official tournaments, we may play one post-season fall tournament, a spring pre-season tournament, and a spring post-season tournament. All tournaments are in the metro Atlanta area, and our tournament choices rarely involve a holiday weekend. Some tournaments follow the "soccer festival" format, where teams play a series of games, but no championships are awarded. Others follow the format where teams play for championships and tournament silverware (trophies, medals, etc.).
U9 / U10 Academy: We typically play one pre-season tournament and one post-season tournament each season. All tournaments are in the metro Atlanta area, and our tournament choices rarely involve a holiday weekend. Some tournaments follow the "soccer festival" format, where teams play a series of games, but no championships are awarded. Others follow the format where teams play for championships and tournament silverware (trophies, medals, etc.).
U11 & U12 Academies: We typically play a pre-season and post-season fall tournament, possibly one mid-season tournament. We typically play three tournaments during the spring: one pre-season, one mid-season and our own NASA Friendship Cup at the end of the spring season. Most of the tournaments are in the Atlanta area. At the U11 and U12 ages, we occasionally travel outside Atlanta for a tournament, but these are "driving distance" trips (for example, Birmingham, Greenville, Chattanooga).
Tournament time commitments: A typical tournament schedule calls for two games on Saturday, one or two games on Sunday. Schedules could include early morning games and / or a Saturday night game. Tournament schedules are determined by the tournament host and are usually made available 5-10 days before the event. Link: info about tournaments
8. Do you have to tryout? Usually. Admission into the NASA Academy is through invitation only. We select most of our players through tryout sessions in late May or early June. Tryouts are open to all age-appropriate girls, whether they currently play at NASA, another soccer organization, or are new to soccer. We also evaluate players from the NASA recreational programs during the spring season. Some players may make a strong enough impression that we issue an invitation prior to our tryout sessions. In most cases, though, we want candidates to attend tryouts so we can confirm our previous evaluations.
9. What are the age requirements? Girls are eligible for the various Academy programs based on their birth years as follows:
Program Eligible birth year(s): 2016-2017 season Junior Academy (U7 / U8) 2009, 2010 U9 / U10 Academy 2007, 2008 U11 Academy 2006 U12 Academy 2005
10. What happens if my daughter tries out and makes it? We will invite your daughter to join the Academy either via a phone call, a face-to-face conversation at the fields, or via our Academy web site. If you need a day or two to think it over, that's no problem. If you decide to join, you attend an orientation meeting in June to review registration, uniforms, schedules and other details. If you decline the invitation, you are still welcome to register for the NASA recreational program.
11. What happens if my daughter tries out and doesn't make it? If your daughter had the initiative to try out, this speaks well of her desire. We strongly encourage her to keep playing! She can register for the NASA recreational program. If she loves the game and sticks with it, she'll always have a chance to achieve her goals. Players mature at different rates, and a player who isn't selected this time around may blossom by this time next year. Over the 13-year history of our Academy program, we've had plenty of cases where a player wasn't invited after her first tryout, but made it into the Academy the following year.
12. Who are the coaches? Coaching staffs for the 2015-16 year include:
13. What are the coaches' qualifications? Most coaches are licensed by the US Soccer Federation (USSF) and/or the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Most have many years of experience coaching youth "select" teams, all have many years of playing experience. None of the coaches have daughters who play in their age group's Academy.
14. What do the coaches look for in a player? Three main characteristics: game awareness, personality (for example, desire, enthusiasm and creativity) and athletic ability. Current technical skill is a bonus, but if a young player has the other three attributes, we believe she can develop technical skill through focused training sessions and by playing with and against strong players in training and games.
15. What are the coaches expectations? We expect three things from each player:
A good attitude and consistent effort will yield good results. We're accepting of mistakes, which are a key part of the learning process. (We are teachers, not drill sergeants.)
16. Is Academy soccer all abut winning? No. We measure learning and fun, not scores and standings. The Academy program doesn't post scores or keep standings. At young ages, player development is much more important than winning a game. Our goal is to create an environment where players compete with themselves, teammates and opponents, with our focus on quality soccer, not immediate results.
At young ages, some teams win games by playing "superstar" soccer, where most players on the team are instructed to kick the ball to a superstar player and let her do the rest. That's not our style. We want all of our girls to develop into skilled soccer players who are confident in their own abilities and eager to display their abilities on the field.
17. What do you expect from parents? We expect five things from parents:
Arrange to get your daughter to training and games on time.
Be supportive of your daughter and her teammates. Be your daughter's biggest fan, and the other players' 2nd biggest fan.
Leave the coaching to the coaches. You're welcome to cheer from the sidelines, but you should not try to direct your daughter or any other player from the sidelines.
Stay informed. Each age group has one or more communication channels. Please make a point of checking the appropriate channel(s) on a regular basis.
18. What are the yearly fees? Fees for the 2015-16 soccer year are $1195 for the U9 through U12 Academy groups, and $910 for the Junior Academy (U8). There's a $60 discount if paid in full in June: total due $1135 for U9 through U12 Academies, total due $850 for Junior Academy. This covers player registration and coaching fees for both fall & spring seasons, capital improvement fee, plus our summer Academy Camp. Uniforms and tournament entry fees are not included.(Regular league games are included in your NASA fees; tournaments are extra.) Fees can be paid in installments. Link: fee details
19. I already registered my daughter for NASA's fall recreational program. Do I have to pay twice? No! Money already paid toward registration for the NASA recreational program will be applied to your daughter's Academy registration. So you only have to pay the difference between the recreational and Academy fees.
20. Which team will my daughter be on? We don't have pre-set teams. Some weeks we'll create teams by current playing level, some weeks we'll create teams by age, some weeks we'll create equal teams. We normally post team assignments for Saturday's games on Monday night. We normally post tournament team assignments a week ahead of the tournament. Team assignments are available via a web site and / or e-mail. Link: team assignments and levels of play
21. What happens on game days? For the U9 through U12 age groups, a typical league game day has us playing several games against another Atlanta-area Academy program, all games at the same location. We divide our player pool into teams, and each team plays one game. Games are usually 1 hour long with a 5-10 minute halftime break. Link: game-day details. For the Junior Academy, game days will vary and could include intra-Academy friendly matches or festivals, games against other NASA teams, and games against other Atlanta-area clubs.
22. What size soccer ball does my daughter need? The U10, U11 and U12 age groups use a "size 4" ball. The Junior Academy age group uses a "size 3" ball. It's perfectly fine to bring a smaller ball, but we discourage bringing a size 5 ball.
23. Do you play full-field or small-sided soccer? We play small-sided games on smaller fields. The smaller fields put the focus on developing soccer skills. Players need skill to thrive, not just straight-line sprinting ability.
Junior Academy: We play a mix of formats from 3v3 (3 a side) up to 6v6 (6 a side), adjusting formats and field sizes as needed as the players develop skill and understanding.
U9 Academy: We play 6v6 (6 a side) on smaller fields. The 6 a side fields are typically slightly less than half the size of a full 11 a side field.
U10 Academy: We play mostly 6v6 (6 a side) on smaller fields. The 6 a side fields are typically slightly less than half the size of a full 11 a side field. We also schedule some 8v8 (8 a side) on slightly larger fields to give the girls exposure to the format they will play once they reach the U11 age group.
U11 Academy: We play 8v8 (8 a side) soccer on smaller fields. The 8 a side fields are typically half the size of a full 11-aside field.
24. How many teams do you put together? This depends on the size of the player pool. For example, if we have 32 girls in the U10 pool, we'll form four teams for 6v6 games. This means 8 girls per team, which helps us maximize playing time.
25. How much playing time will my daughter receive? All girls play at least half of each game. We keep roster sizes small for regular weekly play, though, so girls typically play 2/3 of each game.
26. What happens if my daughter has to miss an event? Just communicate this in advance with her coach. The flexibility of the Academy program usually allows us to work around an occasional schedule conflict.
27. What happens after my daughter completes a year in the Academy? If she's a U12 player, she'll graduate to the U13 age group. She can try out for a Select ("Athena") team. If she's younger, she'll repeat the Academy tryout process. Current players have had a year (or more) to demonstrate their qualities. Most coaches recognize the value of a year-long body of work, so a current player has an advantage during tryouts.
| Created: 05/08/03 Revised: 01/29/16 |
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