5 NWSL Teams with Youth Academies
NWSL clubs having youth academies is becoming a popular occurrence around the league.
While some clubs don’t have academy teams, they are still heavily involved with youth soccer in their home cities. Some have affiliate programs or run camps and things of that nature.
It’s important for clubs to help train the players of the future, and it’s great for the sport as a whole. As the academy landscape of women’s soccer continues to grow, so will the pathway to college and professional for players.
We take a look at some of the clubs that do have youth academies.
NC Courage Academy
The NC Courage Academy is an ECNL program. They currently have U15, U16, U17, U18, and U19 teams. Sean Nahas, the head coach of the North Carolina Courage, is the NC Courage ECNL Academy Director.
The Courage Academy has found a lot of success. Nine players from the Academy have played professionally, including Brianna Pinto, who’s playing with the Courage in the NWSL. Additionally, three academy players were called up for the U17 Women’s World Cup in India!
U17. Our starting XI against CSA today. Let's go Courage. pic.twitter.com/7pocy97ER3
— NC Courage Academy (@NCCourageAcad) October 2, 2022
Portland Thorns Academy
For the Portland Thorns, their Academy teams run from U13 all the way to U19. The team is in the Northwest Conference of ECNL. They have excellent facilities and a ton of opportunities to interact with the NWSL team.
The Academy also has a pre-academy with U11 and U12 that was launched during the 2020/21 season.
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OL Reign Academy
OL Reign also has a great Academy program connected with their club. They have two different Academy teams, OL Reign Academy Bleue, a standard Academy team with intense schedules. Then they also have OL Reign Academy Rouge and Blanche, which is a little bit more of a relaxed team.
The Academy offers teams from U9 up until U18/19.
Full speed to the weekend ⚡️
⭐️ 09 Rouge#BoldTogether pic.twitter.com/SonWjGzLRW
— OL Reign Academy (@OLReignAcademy) September 1, 2022
Racing Louisville FC Academy
One of the newer academy attachments is in Louisville, Kentucky, having launched in 2020. Racing Louisville FC Academy.
They have terrific training grounds utilizing newly built training fields and facilities. The academy offers teams from U8 up to U18/19, and they play in the ECNL. In addition, some of the pro players from Racing Louisville FC stop by sometimes!
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Houston Dash Youth Academy
The Houston Dash Youth Academy has teams for U13-U19 and competes in the Girls Academy league.
The Dash stresses the importance of having a complete pathway to college for their players. According to the Dash Youth Academy website, they have had 305 college commitments from players since 2017.
A successful opening weekend for the Dash Academy teams in the @GAcademyLeague, winning 9, drawing 2 and losing 1 in the match ups agains BVB and Renegades! Great job, girls! ⚽️🧡#dynamodashyouth #ddyelite #ddyga #dashacademy @stxsoccer pic.twitter.com/qzi34IDrgn
— Dynamo Dash Youth (@DynamoDashYouth) September 19, 2022
Featured image via @loucityacademy on Instagram
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