NextGen Series News Release

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

TAMPA, Fla. – The NextGen Series will open its final inaugural-season event Friday at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida when 16 boys and girls teams from some of the top clubs in the southeast and Texas gather to participate in professional-level training, testing and education. The inaugural NextGen Series event was held in September at IMG Academy.

Inspired by the consistent message from youth coaches seeking a fresh development initiative geared for younger players, NextGen focuses on the U12 and U14 age groups and strives to develop the complete elite youth soccer player through a defined regimen of training, competition, testing, and evaluation. NextGen is a partnership between USL and IMG Academy.

Clubs taking part in the event include Austin Texans Soccer Club, the Cape Coral Cyclones, Celtic FC Florida, the Florida Knights, the Houston Dynamo of Tampa, Jacksonville Youth Soccer Club, Samba Futbol Club and the VSI Pinellas Flames.

Participants will not only compete on the field, they will take part once again in IMG’s world-renowned i360 Athlete Evaluation program and classroom instruction regarding athlete body management, nutrition and mental conditioning. Coaches and parents will also participate in classroom education sessions designed to place the focus on development and reverse results-based trends.

“This weekend will offer a fantastic opportunity for all of the NextGen Series participants to gauge the improvements they have made during the past six months since the first NextGen event,” NextGen Series Director Drew Hoffman said. “The NextGen Series is focused on the growth of players, coaches and parents, and we are looking forward to spending more time on the fields and in the classrooms emphasizing development over results.”

Participants will undergo i360 Testing and a leadership seminar Friday morning, followed by technical training in the afternoon with coach and parent education sessions in the evening. Games kick off Saturday morning, followed by additional classroom sessions focused on nutrition and mental training, and additional on-field training sessions. Saturday’s schedule concludes with additional classroom sessions for parents and coaches.

The world’s largest and most advanced multi-sport training and education complex, IMG Academy hosts myriad soccer team training camps each year. IMG recently served as Major League Soccer’s Eastern hub for the 2014 preseason. MLS teams, including the Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, FC Dallas, New England Revolution and Toronto FC, trained and competed in a series of friendlies in January and February.

To learn more about the Next Gen Series please visit www.NGSsoccer.com.