21 State Cup Champions   State Cup Finalists   Regional Championships and Finalists   National Championships and Finalists   National Tournament Championships and Finalists
The Naperville Soccer Association (NSA) was formed to provide an opportunity for all qualified athletes to participate in traveling team soccer. This is done in a positive environment by qualified coaches who have USSF coaching licenses and who are ACEP (American Coaching Effectiveness Program) certified. Coaches also attend clinics that include skills, techniques, strategy, care of soccer related injuries, and nutrition. The success of NSA in carrying out our goals can be seen by the major tournament wins compiled since our inception and by the players that receive college scholarships. The association was formed in the Spring of 1986 by six Naperville soccer enthusiasts. Jeff Bradley, one of the founders, is currently the President of the club. He is a USSF licensed coach and referee, as well as being a board member of the Illinois Women's Soccer League (IWSL) and the Illinois Youth Soccer Association (IYSA). The Naperville Soccer Association is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of Illinois. The sole objective of the club is to teach and develop girls traveling team soccer. Open tryouts are held in May and June of each year. NSA has girls teams for U8 through U18.  Professional trainers are hired for all teams. A week long camp is held in July or August, and again during Spring Break, for all NSA players with emphasis on skills, tactics, and fitness.   Fall and Spring practices are two or three times a week in Naperville. Team participate in IWSL and MRL in the fall and spring  Teams practice weekly during the winter and play in an indoor league.  The club is highly competitive and has all of its teams playing in the top divisions of the IWSL. Teams go to two or three tournaments a season, with the High School program attening more National and Showcase Tournaments. The club started a Junior Training Program in 1996. This program is for girls in kindergarten through 3rd grade. The emphasis of this program is to train younger girls in preparation for traveling soccer.
NSA Premier High School Program
NSA Premier recognizes that there are two types of serious soccer players – those who are willing to travel to the major tournaments across America to enhance their exposure to college coaches, and those who are serious players, but are not interested in playing college soccer or do not wish to dedicate the time and resources needed to play in the national tournaments across America. NSA forms two teams per age group at the high school level, the Showcase team and the Competitive team. The Showcase team will participate in the IWSL TAD, Midwest Region League and attend local and national tournaments.  The Competitive team will participate in the 10 game IWSL league and attend all local tournaments and they have the option of traveling farther if they decide to do so as a team. At NSA we strive to do what is the best for our players. Our Competitive and Showcase teams, each with their own coaches, practice together and work with all the trainers in the club. This maximizes the development of each player and allows each player to learn from different training perspectives. There are separate tryouts for each team. The club makes an offer to the best player solely based on the players trying out for the respective team. These are not A and B teams; these are teams whose only difference is the level of travel to games and tournaments. If a player wishes to move from one team to the other due to changes in her or her family’s situations, we will try to fit that player in to the other team as team logistics allow. Any given NSA Premier High School Program player should be able to fit seamlessly from one team to the other because both teams have been trained similarly and because the coaches and trainers are familiar with the girls from both teams. If this is something that appeals to you, come tryout for NSA Premier. Our main goal at NSA is not to make money, but to develop youths as players and responsible young adults. As such, we rely on the integrity of the players who try out for NSA. We believe we offer the best soccer program in the area, and we are willing to allow the players chosen to play for NSA time to make their commitments to NSA without having to make a deposit. We trust that the players who commit to NSA will play for NSA.
Player Development
NSA recognizes that different aged players require separate and a more specific training curriculum. Our club, therefore, has a multi-pronged strategy to deal with this. First, the Junior Academy builds good basics and teaches the children the basics of soccer; then the Youth Development Program builds on the skills and adds position knowledge so that they are familiar with different positions and how they interact in a game; finally, the high school level Premier program emphasizes team tactics and strategy. Junior Academy will teach solid fundamentals such as passing, receiving and shooting, and will move up to develop advanced footskills. Our players will be able to use their solid fundamentals in executing their footskills.. NSA’s goal is to have each junior play assertively. This will come from being able to dribble and handle the ball with confidence. Positions in games are not a priority at the young ages. Small games and repetition will give the kids a lot of touches on the ball to prepare them to play for whatever position they may be suitable for at a later age as the children develop more physically and mentally. The emphasis on solid fundamentals will prepare the children for higher levels of soccer in the future. The advanced moves will allow the kids to have fun playing, as well as preparing the players for a more attractive, fun game of soccer. Youth Development Program will continue the strong emphasis on individual technical ability (receiving, passing, shooting, dribbling, heading etc). Advanced footskills will continue to be taught. It is important for a player to have the confidence and ability to take players on 1v1. In order to make a pass, receive a ball, or take a shot, the player will generally have to beat at least one player – usually in a 1v1 situation as most players are not double teamed. Fitness will be done early at practice as part of warm-ups in order to train the players to rely on their fundamentals to carry them through the game even when they may be tired. NSA does not believe in running long distances for fitness. A lot of fitness will include working with a ball. Anybody who has played soccer will know that even a small length of time dedicated to intense soccer moves will build explosiveness and speed needed to make the advanced footskills more effective. Various short and long sprints to build soccer stamina will be the rule. The players will not be doing long distance running as we are not training cross country runners. Passing, receiving, heading, shooting, dribbling will be worked on constantly. The NSA players will understand positioning and be able to connect passes accurately. Training sessions will include 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 sided games and focus on aggressiveness and intensity. Ultimately, each player will be able to execute the fundamentals at a high level of proficiency needed for the Premier High School Level. When a player graduates to the Premier level, U15 to U18, the emphasis at practice will be more on team tactics and strategies. At NSA we believe that players make the strategy, not strategy makes the players. At least one practice per week will be a club oriented session, where the youth teams will train at the same location and work cooperative with each coach, to gain a broader training perspective.