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Player Development Overview

  • Open attacking style with predominately 1 and 2 touch movement
  • Player led philosophy
  • Let the players express themselves and let them make the decisions on the field
  • Enjoyable learning environment that promotes competition, but is fun for the players.
  • Repetition based program.
  • Technique based training, breeding good habits.
  • Development of the player, not the team. The end product is what matters, not the game results.

The Fever United Futbol Club views our Player Development Program as an investment in the future. As a youth club we need to monitor the behavior of our coaches and educate the parents to ensure that our players are protected from a trophy hunting mentality, burnout, and a misplaced emphasis on winning at a younger age.

Player Development Philosophy

The Club feels that the success of our program is measured by the number of players we produce for our select and showcase teams from U-13 through U-18. This is definitely a long term perspective, in stark contrast to how success is measured here by other youth clubs. The Fever United Futbol Club is more concerned with producing quality players at the U-5 to U-12 age groups than winning games. Theoretically, the Win/Loss results in U-5 to U-12 games should not be important to the overall success of this program.

Teams within the Fever United Club will play the following formats:

  • Individual Player Development Programs: U-5 to U-8 will play 3 v 3 and 4 v 4
  • Individual Player Development Programs: U-9 to U-10 will play 7 v 7 
  • Junior Academy: U-11 to U-12 will play 9 v 9
  • Select and Showcase Competition: U-13 to U-18 will play 11 v 11

The philosophy of our program is to let the players make their own decisions in the game, and use the intervals for any instruction. Head coaches will refrain from coaching the player on the ball and limit coaching from the sidelines for off-the-ball positioning or team shape and even that is done sparingly. The weekly training sessions are repetition based to develop technique, but using activities that replicate game conditions. The goal is to breed good habits by taking care of the little details via repetitions and corrections. The corrections must be positive with coaches careful not to embarrass the players in front of their teammates. By the time players reach the age of 12, they should be technically proficient, so that advanced tactical training can be accomplished from U-13 to U-18. However, work on technique is never neglected, even at the Select level of competition. Parents are kept informed via verbal/written progress reports and periodic communications from the Head Coach, but they are not allowed to get involved in the training. Parents are prohibited from coaching from the sidelines during the games or training sessions. During training, parents are not allowed on the field. In the summer of 2016-2017, the club will be asking all parents to sign a Code of Conduct which outlines what the club expects from them as members of this club during the upcoming 2016 – 2017 Season.

Player Development Program

  • 2- 3 Teams in each age group
  • Respective Head Coaches within a particular age group work together to place players on teams that will allow players the opportunity to improve strengths and weakness within their game. U-13 to U-18 student athletes will be evaluated 2X a year using our player development evaluation model, TIPS. U-5 to U-12 student-athletes will be evaluated 3X a year.
  • Technical
  • Intelligence/ Soccer IQ
  • Personality / Ethics
  • Speed / Agility
  • Each team within a specific age group will be required to train together 1X to 2X a month so Head Coaches can evaluate the talent pool within their respective age groups.
  • Parent/ Player Accountability – The Club is looking for players/parents that are committed to improving in the game of soccer. Commitment to making consistent training sessions, scrimmages, outside skill sessions and games will be very important factors in helping the Head Coaches form teams for future select and showcase competition.
  • Competitive Environment – U-5 to U-12 players are not signed to contracts which allow the possibility for players to be periodically moved between teams in their own age group depending upon their level of commitment to our program. Furthermore, our club will incorporate the use of Club Player Pass(CPP) from time to time at the Select/Showcase level of competition. The decision to use CPP will be at the sole discretion of the club.
  • Guest Playing – The Fever United Futbol Club is trying to implement our own philosophy of developing effective student-athletes on and off the pitch. However, we understand that a different environment may positively affect a player’s development in the future. As we start to retain more players in a particular age group, more teams will be formed as a result. More teams in a particular age group will allow every player an opportunity to “guest play” with other teams inside of the club rather than outside of the club.
  • Student-Athlete Retention – In order to provide a quality talent pool between the ages of U-13 through U-18, we must diligently begin to emphasize development over winning at the U-5 to U-12 level of competition. Players must be appropriately placed on a team where they can “play” and “develop” at their own pace. Players develop through both playing and watching the game.