True to the principle “No politics” SFE together with Schulz Academy launches new Developmental Program
South Florida Elite FC has appointed Dr. Josef Schulz as its sole Director of Coaching and lead trainer. Dr. Schulz is one of the most renowned trainers in the country, and the head of Schulz Academy. “I wish “Pitu” Alvarez and Charles Freitas all the best in the future. Pitu is a very talented trainer and Charlie was a very good administrator, and both brought a lot to the club. But we are excited about the future”, remarks Dr. Schulz. “We intend to build on the strong foundation laid by Pitu, Charlie and others, and I am sure the new training program will take the club and its talented players to the next level.”
In this new program there will be only 4 teams, and all 4 will be trained and coached by Josef Schulz.
The 4 teams will be a U12 (including U11’s), and U14 (including U13’s), a U16 (including U15’s) and a U19 (including U17’s and U18’s). In addition there will be a small Elite Program for U7 – U10 players).
SFE eagerly anticipates its future with Dr. Schulz. SFE players will receive top-notch training from Schulz and his staff. Our players will also benefit from the other Schulz Academy programs like Super Y League (Schulz Academy produced 5 SYL National Champions, 2 last year), the partnership with English Premier League Club West Ham United and many other projects, like assisting in getting scholarships at colleges and universities. Through our Schulz Academy activities we provided scholarships for at least 100 players in the last few years, which equals an amount of approx. 10 Mio $, which we could save our parents in college tuition. The top players of our club will have the opportunity to train with one of the best clubs in England, West Ham United. And the very best players 15 and older will get the opportunity to practice with the players of the Schulz Academy’s Premier Development League team in the morning and in the afternoon during their school break.
“For players 15 and older the new program at SFE is a perfect preparation for their college or pro career. And the very best of these young players will have the chance to train with the PDL players during the summer break in the morning and in the afternoon. I know coach Josef. He is looking for the next Jozy Altidore, and he will even play one of these young players in the PDL if they have the talent and physical condition to do so”, says Stephan von Lattorff, manager of the new FT. Lauderdale Schulz Academy PDL club.
“The PDL provides the best vehicle for the development for a young player. Amateurs can play and train with professionals, and young talented players of our club will have the opportunity to train on a much higher level with our PDL players because of the higher intensity and speed of play of these players. Our slogan is: If a player is talented and his body is ready for this, he will get the chance. This should enable us in the near future to produce more “Jozy Altidores”, continues Dr. Schulz.
“Although the players will have enough matches during the season, the focus of this program will be on the consistent, high level training. There is a reason why in Florida with all the talent here, no players, except Josmer Altidore, made it to a serious pro level. Players change clubs too often, and most of the different coaches, except a few, teach them things, they don’t exist in modern soccer anymore. There is no consistency in the development of a young player, especially in Florida.
I really believe that there are other Jozy Altidores out there, but in the past, these talents were moving each year from one club to the other, from to one coach to the other, and at the end wasted their time till it was too late. There are a lot of good coaches and trainers, but at the end the little details of the highest level of this sport you only can teach when you played on this level. And these little details at the end make the difference whether you become a college player or a high paid professional. I give myself another five years where I will be active on the soccer field with the players, and exactly these details I want to pass on to the talented young players in this new program.
Very important is the talent, but even more important is the commitment to practices, the desire to learn and discipline. There will be no politics involved, and high standards of top European Soccer Academies based on the partnership with the West Ham United International Academy will be matched. Players will be individually monitored and prepared for the highest level. If a player at the end makes it to the pros depends on a lot of things, but at least a scholarship at a prestigious college should be the minimum goal.
For sure we want to attract the most talented players, but more important in this new program is the absolute desire to learn, commitment to practices to get the necessary physical and mental toughness to be able to perform on the highest level.
We showed already in the past that we can do this, and we are going back to the roots, work with a small number of players, and focus on the details of their development”, describes Josef Schulz, who will not only supervise the whole program, but also be on the field with the players.
“With our partnership with the West Ham International Academy we also have the direct line to one of the best, if not the best, Soccer Academy in Europe. Our top players will be invited to London on a consistent basis, where they can get some international experience and train with the best international talent in their age group. Also trips to Brazil and England every summer and an international tournament in January in Ft. Lauderdale are planed within this program”, says Stephan von Lattorff, new board member of SFE, and Manager and Director of Marketing of the new Ft. Lauderdale Schulz Academy PDL club.
From now on though the main focus will be on the individual development of the chosen players in this program!
“In the last 15 years working as a coach here in Florida I participated in all kind of competitions. All of these tournaments or leagues have their advantages and disadvantages, and we will make a plan for our players, where we take the good things, and eliminate the bad. We participated in the Academy League of the US Soccer Federation (too expensive, too much traveling, too much pressure for results, too much interference from people, who didn’t grow up with the sport on a high level), sent player to the Residency Program (the players either returned injured or physically and mentally exhausted), went to all kind of tournaments (too many games in a short period of time), but at the end, the most important thing, the daily focus on the improvement of the player only works, when we take care of the little details every moment of the training. Therefore we will reduce the number of teams in our club to 4, so we can really specialize our training sessions. Players will be video monitored in practices and games, so they also understand what we want from them. We will increase the number training sessions, and add some quality to it, and we will decrease the number of games, and replace them with less, but more quality matches”, says Dr. Josef Schulz, the Director of Coaching of this new program.
In the new season, Josef Schulz will be the only Director of Coaching of the club. Jorge “Pitu” Alvarez, the previous assistant coach and since 2 years DOC partner of Josef Schulz at SFE accepted another job offer. “Jorge is a great guy, and a very talented, young coach, and I wish him all the best in the future”, states Josef Schulz.
“At the tryouts we are looking for talented but especially players who are committed to soccer and serious training. Only 1 player in the last 100 years came out of the talented player pool of South Florida (Josmer Altidore), and it has a reason. Players move from club to club too often, where they are trained mostly by coaches, who never played on a high level themselves. And it is difficult to teach something you never experienced yourself. Books don’t help too much there. Especially the South Florida players grow up in an atmosphere where discipline on the field is not taught in early years, and therefore when these players grow up they are tactically (individually and as a team player) not on the necessary standard. Therefore they make the wrong the decisions on the field in difficult situations, and this hinders them at the end to fulfill their dreams to become a pro in this sport”, continues Dr. Josef Schulz.
Other than the appointment of Schulz as the sole Director of Coaching and the benefits of a union with Schulz Academy, no other logistics of SFE will change. SFE’s home field will remain Central Broward Regional Park. The teams will continue to participate in local leagues, as well as national and regional premier and elite tournaments.
Based on the difficult economic situation we are all in these times we at the club decided to reduce the registration fee as well as the training fee for our players for the new season. Last year’s registration fee of $ 450.00 (uniform not included) will be reduced to $ 390.00 (uniform not included), and the training fee from last year of $ 150.00 per month will be reduced to $ 120.00 per month/12x. We also will have training fee specials for families with 2 or more children at our club.
To make the registration as simple and affordable as possible parents can register their child for an initial amount of $ 220.00, which includes the first month of training fee, and $ 100.00 as first part of the registration fee. The remaining amount will then be able to be paid off till March. Like always online registration will also be available.
TRYOUTS
Tryouts for this new venture will be held at Central Broward Regional Park on field 4 (NE corner of Sunrise Blvd. and US 441) on:
Tuesday, June 1 (Central Broward Regional Park)
from 6:00 – 7:30 for U11/12 and U13/14
from 7:30 – 9:00 for U15/16 and U17/18/19
Wednesday, June 2 (Central Broward Regional Park)
from 6:00 – 7:30 for U11/12 and U13/14
from 6:00 – 7:30 for U15/16 and U17/18/19
Thursday, June 3 (Central Broward Regional Park)
from 6:00 – 7:30 for U11/12 and U13/14
from 7:30 – 9:00 for U15/16 and U17/18/19
Friday, June 4 (at Veterans Park at 9400 W. Palmetto Park Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33428). This try out also serves as last try out for the Super Y League !)
From 6:00 – 7:00 for U11/12 and U13/14
From 7:00 – 8:00 for U15/16 and U17/18/19
Tryouts for the Elite Program for 7-10 year old players will be on the same days and locations described above from 6:00 – 7:30.
Age Categories
2010-2011
Team Born between
U9 8/1/01 and Under
U10 8/1/00 - 7/31/01
U11 8/1/99 - 7/31/00
U12 8/1/98 - 7/31/99
U13 8/1/97 - 7/31/98
U14 8/1/96 - 7/31/97
U15 8/1/95 – 7/31/96
U16 8/1/94 – 7/31/95
U17 8/1/93 – 7/31/94
U18/19 8/1/91 - 7/31/93
Please bring a copy of the birth certificate and a photo.
