MINNESOTA THUNDER ACADEMY

The Elite Clubs National League, Inc. (“ECNL”) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member-based organization founded in 2009 to enhance the developmental experience of the female youth soccer players in the United States through: Improving the competitive environment through creation of a true national competitive league with multiple flights; Improving the process for identifying elite female soccer players for the U.S. Soccer youth national teams through a systematic scouting and identification program based on national competitions; and Improving the daily training environment at top female youth soccer clubs through developing best practices and training and organizational guidelines for its member clubs. MN Thunder is proud to be the only metro based club to be part of the US Soccer Development Academy. The Development Academy is a partnership between U.S. Soccer and the top youth clubs around the country to provide the best youth players in the U.S. with an every day environment designed to produce the next generation of National Team players. The Academy’s programming philosophy is based on increased training, less total games and more competitive games. The Academy also connects National Team coaches directly with the Academy clubs to develop and identify players and coaches for future Youth National Teams. Each Academy team is evaluated by a member of the Men’s Scouting Network at least ten times each year and each Academy club receives two formal evaluations in over 100 categories each year from U.S. Soccer Technical Staff. The Development Academy is also focused on identifying and developing the next generation of elite referees. U.S. Soccer assigns up-and-coming officials to participate in Academy games at the local level and at national events.