USL Focus Part VI: Super Y-League provides foundation for USL’s “pyramid”

By Charles Boehm, Potomac Soccer Wire Sr. Staff Writer

The United States has been described as a “sleeping giant” in the world of soccer for decades on end. With the youth game securely entrenched in daily life for millions of middle class families and upwards of 18 million registered players nationwide, it has often appeared as if the country’s ascension into the world soccer elite was merely a matter of time.

Yet inconsistent performances on the unforgiving stage of international competition have often exposed the faults and foibles of the U.S. youth development system. Many factors are blamed: cutthroat coaches, crazed parents, overlapping jurisdictions, too many games, too much travel, not enough spontaneity, socio-economic conditions which create a dangerously shallow talent pool – and the list goes on.

The United Soccer Leagues surveyed this convoluted landscape more than a decade ago and decided to address the situation from a holistic, ‘big-picture’ perspective that meshed youth development with its own existing hierarchy of professional and amateur leagues. Even as it faced its own year-to-year struggle for survival, USL managed to turn an eye towards the long-term growth of the game by founding the Super Y-League in 1999 to foster top-flight youth competition across the nation.

“Francisco Marcos, the founder and president of the USL, had the vision to complete the USL pyramid,” said Matt Weibe, a longtime league official who supervised the creation of the USL’s Super Y and Super-20 leagues ten years ago and has since moved on to become Senior Director of Franchise Development.

Weibe joined Jeff McRaney, USL’s Senior Director of Youth League Development, for an in-depth phone interview with Potomac Soccer Wire last month to discuss the Super Y-League’s history and future.

“Really, the final completion of the USL structure was the youth development aspect,” explained Weibe. “What we wanted to do was take the opportunity for elite level players to make the long climb to professional soccer and our national team programs.”

The decision has proved to be a farsighted one. Starting from humble roots in ’99, the
Super Y-League has since grown to encompass some 800 teams in 10 regional divisions in an array of age groups from under-13 to under-17 level – and in recent years an Olympic Development Program has also been added to facilitate the early identification of exceptional talent.

The league proved itself able to deliver high-quality regional and national competition in an efficient and cost-effective fashion, thus satisfying several elusive objectives for ambitious youth clubs around the country. In doing so, the league has broken new ground in the wider debate over player development.

“It was really ahead of its time. It was a loss leader for USL,” asserted Weibe. “I mean, we charged a minimal fee for teams to play in the league and we saw it was important for the whole USL infrastructure itself…It was always our focus to do the best thing that we could to help our national teams grow and evolve.”

Registration for a full Super Y season costs about $1300 – the sort of price clubs routinely pay for a single weekend at an elite tournament – and its organizational principles are designed with simplicity and flexibility in mind, avoiding ‘poaching’ laws and convoluted age group restrictions. While travel costs are borne by the clubs, the regional structure allows coaches to schedule matches in a way that maximizes efficiency while limiting the physical toll on their players. The opportunity to earn a USL ODP nod, and the corresponding national team exposure, adds another benefit for participants, and scouts from foreign clubs are taking notice as well.

“Twelve players from our boys ODP system last year were invited to train with [England’s] West Ham youth academy,” boasted a proud McRaney. “There was significant interest there in a few of them. And it’s not only national team identification, which is primary, it’s USL identification to the higher levels and higher leagues, and possible international opportunities. More than anything, our ability to offer a wider variety of options to players will hopefully be mutually beneficial to both them and USL.”

Super Y has undoubtedly benefited clubs in the Potomac area, as D.C. United, Washington Freedom, Northern Virginia Royals, Richmond Kickers, Real Maryland, and FC Fredericksburg are just a few of the local sides to prosper in Super Y.

Led by coach Rob Ukrop, the Kickers’ U14 girls side won their South Atlantic group last season to advance to the national finals in Tampa, Florida for the second straight year, where they were edged out by a stacked Atlanta Silverbacks Juniors squad that finished their campaign undefeated. Ukrop, whose entire squad harbors ambitions of advancing to the elite college level or beyond, has been consistently impressed with the league’s organization and quality.

“A first-class event,” said Ukrop. “We only played one game per day. The refereeing has been exceptional. Results are posted online, you can track the progress of your team and other teams throughout the country, and it kind of lets the girls feel like they’re part of something bigger than just a regular soccer league. We’ve been very pleased with the success that we’ve had, both on and off the field in terms of developing these girls.”

Super Y also inspired similar innovations from other domestic stakeholders as U.S. Soccer has established its own Development Academy league, a 2007 arrival which essentially advances the same concept with an even more exclusive group of clubs and players. With the full heft of the U.S. national team setup behind it, the Development Academy has quickly become the destination of choice for well-funded outfits like United and its MLS counterparts – yet according to Weibe, that’s a welcome development for USL.

“We’re flattered by other organizations wanting to do national youth leagues,” said Weibe. “No one else was doing national youth leagues until we created the Super Y-League…While other Major League Soccer clubs are [now] involved in the youth aspect, they weren’t that at that time. There were a few, like D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls, where we gave them the opportunity to develop a youth academy, because no one else would. The state associations wouldn’t let them have a youth club – they wouldn’t let them compete anywhere. But that was an important aspect for the growth and development of the game. Many of those clubs are still very involved with us.”

United’s early work on academy programs placed them ahead of the curve among MLS clubs, so Super Y-League competition represented a crucial step for the four-time MLS Cup champions as they built their infrastructure. United youth squads continue to compete in several Super Y divisions as well as the USL Super-20 League, which “keeps our old kids that go off to college connected to D.C. United,” according to John Maessner, D.C.’s Director of Youth Development.

“[The Development Academy] is the best place to be for the top clubs in the country,” said Maessner. “But that’s only for U16 and U18, so people have to find places for their older teams and younger teams. And the Super Y-League can be a good place for a lot of teams.”

The situation offers a striking parallel to the senior pro level, where USL’s decades-long mentality of dogged endurance was quickly outshined by the flashier entry of MLS and its big-money investors in 1996. Yet over the ensuing decade, the richer, younger league realized the importance of USL’s deep-rooted “cradle-to-grave” approach, the likes of which has long fueled the dynamic achievements of world soccer powers like Brazil, Holland and France.

“People still see the value in the system, and in the design,” noted McRaney. “If you look at how it’s implemented from top to bottom in other countries, I think there’s obvious reasons why.”

---

Editor's Note - enjoy all the stories in this series:
Thriving in the shadows: The survival, and success, of the United Soccer Leagues
USL Focus Part I: DC United exes find greener pastures in Vancouver
USL Focus Part II: Season of success cues bullish outlook
USL Focus Part III: MLS expansion leaves United Soccer Leagues wary
USL Focus Part IV: Real Maryland looks to move past growing pains
USL Focus Part V: Real Maryland hoping to find rhythm in year two
USL Focus Part VI: Super Y-League provides foundation for USL’s “pyramid”


Charles Boehm has covered D.C. United and the rest of the Washington-area soccer world for more than four years. A native of Dallas, Texas, Charlie made D.C. his home following a hard-working -- but hardly spectacular -- NCAA Division III college career and subsequent Peace Corps stint in the small, soccer-crazed, island nation of Grenada, where he also coached and played in the Grenadian Premier League (such as it is). He welcomes feedback at cboehm@potomacsoccerwire.com.