Charlotte FC Academy Deep Dive

I had the pleasure of spending a few days at the incredible campus of [program_tooltip program_id='283629' first='Charlotte' last='FC'] as a player that I am assisting went on trial this past week. The staff were incredibly welcoming and accommodating to no not only myself but the player and his family. For a club that was only established in 2022 I had my doubts going into this experience. Would they have the infrastructure in place to support not only an MLS team, MLSNext Pro side but also full functioning academy in such a short period of time in existence? They quickly proved my doubts to be folly. This club has already and are going to produce top level professional soccer players. The resources available to these kids is unlike any that I have ever seen.   The facilities are impressive. There are 6 fields in total, four amazing grass fields two that the first team use and two that the Next Pro/Academy teams share. One full size turf field and one 9v9 size turf field. A state of the art gym, amazing cafeteria, classrooms, and a full front office with staff busy at work. There is room to grow as it is on a piece of land that allows more growth and I'm told even more is planned in the coming years.    From the second that I arrived at the facility you could feel the clubs culture. I watched the U14, U15, U16, and U18 teams train and the level is really high. The professionalism that the club projects is amazing. They have 4-5 coaches at every academy session evaluating not only the player's performance but the performance of the coaches responsible for the session. They even have an analyst with a computer that tracks the kids training actions and loads. The kids themselves are super respectful. All of them came up to me to shake my hand or give me a fist bump even though they had no clue who I was or what I was doing there. A true testament to the club's standards of building the whole individual not just good soccer players.   Charlotte is a great market for talent and the majority of their academy players do come from the area or at least neighboring states. However, they do bring young players into their academy from around the country starting at the age of U15. Hence the reason why I was there. These kids either move from where they are based to the Charlotte area with the rest of their family, get set up with host families or live in a staff member's house with a handful of other out of market players.    They have an incredible scouting network with years of experience. Spearheaded by their Head of Scouting Tom Morris. When they identify a player of interest, extreme due diligence is done before bringing the player in on trial. They will watch a ton of film on the player in question, talk to the player's coaches, trainers, and anyone else of interest regarding him. They will analyze the family situation to see what makes sense. After all of this, a trial opportunity will be presented to the player. During the trial the staff will see how they fit with the rest of the group from not only from a playing perspective but a social one as well. Once the player passes all of these milestones an offer will be extended to them for the year.   The club has two full-time education counselors whose job is to make sure the kids are taking care of what they need to in the classroom so they remain on course for a collegiate opportunity if they don't end up signing a professional contract. These two individuals were incredibly knowledgeable and seemed to genuinely care about the young men that they are responsible for. Some players attend a regular high school in the area while others opt for online learning. They stress that the online learning is more interactive than just staring at a screen and clicking boxes. With group discussions taking place to promote critical thinking and differing opinions. Reiterating the idea of practicing what they preach in building the whole individual not just the athlete.   The Academy wants to establish itself as a place where talent is developed to not only play in their first-team but moving young players on to bigger and better things internationally as well. You can already see dividends of the clubs work in the development of young superstar [player_tooltip player_id='14338' first='Nimfasha' last='Berchimas'] who is a 2008 born player that has graduated from the academy and making his presence felt on the first team. He is one that will probably find his way into a top 5 league in Europe in the next 5 years. An incredible achievement by an academy that has only been in existence for such a limited amount of time. And there are many more to come. I saw so many good players throughout my time observing. I believe that many of these players are on their way to great things.    Graham Syrett is a 2009 Goalkeeper who believe it or not has actually been training with the first team occasionally. At just 16 years of age Syrett is facing shots from the likes of Wilfred Zaha and Patrick Agyemang.   2007 born player Adrian Mendoza is a super hardworking and technically gifted midfielder. He works his socks off and while I was there got the opportunity to hop into a first team training. Some of the first team players were singing his praises afterwards.    [player_tooltip player_id='288397' first='Wyatt' last='Holt'] is a big strong 2009 born Center Back who has been getting a run of games with the 2nd team Crown Legacy. He has great feet and is solid with his distribution. Holt is a tier 1 athlete who has the pace to keep up with even the fastest wingers and forwards.    Daniel Brown is a 2011 born who is a lefty attacking player who is so tricky to defend. He shows just enough of the ball to get defenders to bite and either blows by them or wins a foul in advantageous positions. Brown reminds me of how Jack Grealish used to play at Aston Villa when he was playing the number 10 role as opposed to winger at Manchester City.    Christopher Abdella is another one to keep an eye on in the next couple of years. He is a youth national team that seems to be destined for greatness. He is a highly competitive and technically gifted attacking player.    Another one that really impressed me was a trialist by the name of Brady Walsh. He was playing outside back while I was there and has an excellent soccer IQ. He has a fantastic motor, loves a 1 v 1 battle offensively and defensively. He showed to be an excellent crosser of the ball. You don't see too many kids playing outside back so comfortable at moving into central midfield to dictate play the way Walsh can do.    All in all it was a fantastic experience for me in Charlotte and any young player who is garnering interest from the academy, I would highly recommend you give it serious consideration. From the amazing facilities, to the resources available for academy players and their families. It is a first class organization who have seemed to avoid the growing pains of what most clubs who are so young go through.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days at the incredible campus of Charlotte FC as a player that I am assisting went on trial this past week. The staff were incredibly welcoming and accommodating to no not only myself but the player and his family. For a club that was only established in 2022 I had my doubts going into this experience. Would they have the infrastructure in place to support not only an MLS team, MLSNext Pro side but also full functioning academy in such a short period of time in existence? They quickly proved my doubts to be folly. This club has already and are going to produce top level professional soccer players. The resources available to these kids is unlike any that I have ever seen.