Program Purpose

Pflugerville FC Academy provides premier youth development program for 8U, 9U, and 10U players in the Pflugerville, Round Rock, Hutto, Manor and surrounding Austin areas. We also have our Junior Academy program for players 6U–7U. The program is designed for players who desire advanced training from the PFC professional staff. The Academy program emphasizes developing the complete player in all 4 pillars of the game including: technical, tactical, physical, and psychological. The PFC Academy program is a stepping stone into our Select program. All Academy players are expected to demonstrate focus, and a willingness to compete and develop, as they prepare for Select soccer which starts at 11U.

What is an Academy level player and how to identify if a player should be in academy?

• An Academy player has advanced skills for their age and is usually involved with most of the scoring, or saving, of goals. There are usually no more than one, possibly two players, that will wind up being from the same Recreational team, but every once in awhile there can be up to three or four of these players from one team. 

• These players most often exhibit skill levels beyond that of the rest of the team, if not both teams in Recreational soccer.

• Instinctively, as a coach and/or a parent, you know these players need to play with others who are on their level to properly develop.

• The players in our program need to, and want to learn, and be coached at a higher level. They must exhibit the ability to do so. All our PFC Academy players must be coachable. 

• Many times, these players may already know they want to play competitively and possibly at the Select level.

We want the parents of players with higher skill levels to know there is an alternative to Recreational soccer for more gifted players.

If you have players on your team that are excelling please reach out to the academy staff to observe play this season. Moving more advanced players from recreational to Academy benefits both divisions. If a player is too advanced for recreational play and dominates ball touches in games and practices, it takes away touches and development from less skilled players. Moving advanced players to Academy allows a natural balance of comparable skill levels and allows player development for coaches and players at each level of play.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

Our model recruit is a player that has more advanced skills, is coachable, and wants to play at a higher level.

WHO WILL WE TAKE?

Any player that exhibits at least two of the three qualities listed above.

What is an academy?

• An academy football program is when a club/association keeps a collection of players within an age group instead of placing them on individual teams. The academy is a concept that is based on professional soccer club systems from around the world.

• Academy is a pre-Select or competitive league designed to promote players into the Select program at U11.

• Players are pooled together within an age group and play between the academy's different teams using the player pass.  

• Academy is a step above and unlike Recreational soccer. Players/teams are divided into 3 levels:

  • Division A - Highest competition

  • Division B - Mid-level, Advanced

  • Division C - Lower, One level above Rec

• Advantages of the Academy program:

  • More competitive play against level competition

  • More games throughout the season (12–16)

  • Better coaching: Academy coaches have US Soccer grassroots training, and most of them have a US Soccer D License 

  • Access to extra play, end-of-season tournaments

  • Discounts on PFC clinics and camps

  • More professional, higher quality uniform kits

  • Preparing for Select soccer at 11U.

  • Year-round play (Fall and Spring Seasons)

HOW IS PFC ACADEMY DIFFERENT AND BETTER?

Our coaches are highly qualified.

• All our Academy coaches are required to have the US Soccer 4V4 and 7V7 licenses. 

• All our Academy coaches currently have or are currently pursuing, their 9V9 and 11V11 licenses. 

• Four of our Academy coaches have their D-License.

• Most of our Academy coaches plan to transition to Select as their teams age out of the Academy. (It is a requirement to have the 4 above licenses and the D-License to coach in PFC Select)

• PFC probably has more volunteer D-License coaches than most any other Texas club, and getting more all the time, with five more in the pipeline now.

Each team will have an assistant coach

• Assistant coaches will attend most, if not all, practices and games.

• This makes it possible for more one-on-one coaching opportunities. We can break them down into smaller groups and have coaches with each group.  

• Having multiple coaches allows for better management of games and practice sessions. 

• Some teams can wind up with multiple assistant coaches.

Each team has a team manager

• This person plays a very important role

• There is a need for more detailed parent interaction in planning and team communication and coordination. 

• Oftentimes managers will be at practices regularly. Especially with the younger ones. Bathroom breaks, tying shoes, keeping balls on the field, etc. This helps keep the practice moving and players engaged and touching the ball, because the coach is not having to stop practice. 

TWO PRACTICES PER WEEK

• These practices will have all the Academy teams practicing at the same time, and at the same place. 

• This allows for collaboration / observations / and pool training amongst the teams, coaches, managers, the Director of Coaching, and the Academy leadership.

BLOCK SCHEDULING

• This allows for us to have more than one game per weekend, and we try to get them scheduled where they are no longer than a couple hours apart. Players can “pick-up” games where they have played their two and want an extra.

• Every week we will either host, or travel, as a team at the same place. Again, this allows for sharing of resources. That could be coaches or players.

• Pass play is MUCH easier to execute. This is when you borrow players from other teams.  We need this when a team might have one or more players out for a game. Rather than be shorthanded or forfeit, we would pass play, or borrow from another team. If we have a team playing up a year for one block, we can pass play with a couple players from our older team, to even out the skill level for more balanced games. Keeping play balanced is a core tenant in the Academy programs.

• This method also allows for better household planning. If you make yourself available between 8am and 5pm on Saturdays for every weekend we have blocks,  you will most likely make all the games. Rarely will you have Sunday games, unless we have a very rainy season.

What is the process to Join Academy and WHAT IS AN ACADEMY OBSERVATION?

• A couple times a year, we hold observations. It is essentially a practice where we have PFC Select and Academy coaching staff that will assess the players. The players will be judged on various skills. If multiple coaching staff members agree that a child is ready then they are invited to the program. We will email you an invitation to join the PFC Academy development program.

• Register/request/attend an Academy Observation.

• Observations for the Fall season will start in late May and again in mid July. Observation dates/events are posted on paysl.org and emails reminders will be sent prior to observation dates.

• We are also in need of Academy coaches as well, if interested reach out to the Academy Staff.

  • Each coach must take the US Soccer Grassroots courses, at least 4v4 and 7v7.

TEAM SPOTLIGHTS

Uniform KITS

ACADEMY
PFC Academy wears exclusively PUMA® kits sold by SoccerZone USA for $230 and includes gameday uniforms for home and away, plus a training uniform.

The required kit includes: 1x home, 1x away jerseys, 1x practice jersey (which can also be worn as an alternate gameday jersey), 2x shorts, 2x socks, and a gym sack with the player’s number printed on it. To make things easier, the shorts and socks are the same across all home, away, and training kits. Players may choose to purchase optional items like warm ups, backpacks, slides and more but those items are not required.

Goalkeepers: Each PFC Academy team will receive one PUMA goalkeeper jersey to be shared.

JUNIOR ACADEMY
PFC Junior Academy also wears exclusively PUMA® kits sold by SoccerZone USA for $160 and includes a gameday and training uniform.

The required kit includes: 1x gameday jersey, 1x practice jersey (which can also be worn as an alternate gameday jersey), 2x shorts, and 2x socks. To make things easier, the shorts and socks are the same across all home, away, and training kits. Players may choose to purchase optional items like warm ups, backpacks, slides and more but those items are not required.

Age Eligibility

by birth Year (Fall 2024 – Spring 2025)

2019–20 - 6U PFC Junior Academy

2018 - 7U PFC Junior Academy

2017 - 8U PFC Academy

2016 - 9U PFC Academy

2015 - 10U PFC Academy

EVENTS

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