Home of the #1 U17 Girls Team in the Nation, NSA Fury

	23 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 & boys traveling team soccer. Open tryouts are held in May and June of each year. NSA has girls teams for U8 through U18, and boys teams U8 - U14.  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, NISL, and MRL in the fall and spring  Teams practice weekly during the winter and play in an indoor league. Teams go to two or three tournaments a season, with the High School program attending more National and Showcase Tournaments. The club started a Junior Training Program in 1996. This program is for girls and boys in 1st through 3rd grade. The emphasis of this program is to train younger players in preparation for traveling soccer.
Player Development
"NSA formally announces World Soccer Model for player development in Northern Illinois and Western Suburbs", creates International Training and Development Academy (ItDA) beginning at U8. Why:  Impending changes in the United States Soccer Federation strategy for player development have helped pave the way for this radical change in US Soccer player development.   Those countries in the world that are recognized as "soccer powers" from youth all the way up to World Cup Competition do one thing the same way; They develop the individual player first, before the team concept is addressed.  In a bold move, NSA is announcing their international Training and Development Academy. Key elements of this Academy's structure and instruction are: U8-U10 ·         4 highest value, player development skills will be taught and mastered: o   Foot Shape o   Dribbling o   First Touch o   1 v 1 Duels Foot Shapes The 4 critical Foot Shapes - Instep, Outside of Foot, Top of Foot, and Bottom of Foot will be taught. When mastered our players will properly: give and receive passes shoot and trap the ball. Dribbling instruction when mastered, will allow our players to: ·         control the ball, its speed, and direction ·         dominate the opponent in real game situations ·         eliminate purposeless kicking of the ball First Touch will use mastered footskills, dribbling, and foot shapes to teach our players: ·         to receive passes from teammates ·         to control the ball away from opponents while under pressure ·         to maintain possession of the ball 1 v 1 Duels Focus will be on using all 4 Highest Value Skills real-time, to figure out how to win every 1v1 Duel.  The game of soccer is a series of 1v1 Duels and generally, the team that wins the most 1v1 Duels, wins the match.   The children who learn how to read and win a majority of 1V1 Duels, generally go on to play higher level soccer. Watching children possess and use great skills makes for entertaining and exciting soccer to watch.   From the ages of u11 through u12, we begin to introduce basic team concepts. Our philosophy at NSA is that your team tactics will only be as good as the technical ability of your individual players allows. Keeping this in mind, "footskills" development is also continued.   U11 -U12   ·         3 highest values, Tactical Games Concepts will be taught to and mastered by each player. They revolve around the size of the field,  the use of other players in that space, and combination play relative to the: o   Defensive 3rd o   Creative Mid-Field o   Final 3rd Defensive 3rd will teach regardless of position, with or without the ball how to read a game situation. Our instruction will then build on how to integrate our footskills to: maintain possession of the ball plan Next Move combine with teammates Creative Mid-Field   our teaching and individual instruction will focus on: how to anticipate the ball coming into the creative midfield how to receive the ball moving into the midfield how to use combination passing such as give and goes with Teammates to maintain possession how to advance the ball to the final 3rd of the field Final 3rd will instruct each athlete on how to maintain possession of the ball and score a goal using striking, crossing, or dribbling skills. Athletes will be taught: what are your 2 strongest skills to leverage how to use your strongest skills to assist in or score a goal    Measurement of Progress For each age segment in the academy, an evaluation tool will be utilized by each coach to measure the progress of each player against the critical skills in their respective age segment. A minimum of 3 evaluations will be conducted; a baseline at inception, a fall progress point, and mid spring evaluation. At each evaluation, one key area of focus will be identified by our coaches as the critical development and training need over the next 60 days. This will be the guide for individual player development outside of practice.

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.