LAFC Chelsea
Soccer Club
U.S. Soccer Development Academy
Slideshow
- 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 environment designed to produce the next generation of National Team players.
- The Academy’s primary focus is player development, in which players are provided with the best opportunity to achieve their potential as elite soccer players. LAFC has removed all financial barriers by covering training, travel expenses, equipment and participation costs.
TOPS/Special Olympics
- The LAFC Chelsea TOPSoccer program was created to:
- Train athletes with disabilities to play soccer in a caring coaching environment
- Serve as a feeder program to recruit, assess and train players to participate in competitions offered by existing sports organizations for people with disabilities
- Mainstream higher ability players onto regular soccer teams
- TOPS/LAFC Chelsea Special Olympics
- The LAFC TOPS/Special Olympics teams were developed in 2004. The program began with just 12 athletes and has developed to 40 athletes in the past five years. LAFC now competes with three teams at various play levels. The athletes are both male and female of all ages and come from all areas of the San Gabriel Valley.
- The LAFC teams have competed under the Special Olympics Pasadena Region each year and have been the Gold Medal winners since 2005 in the Southern California Fall Games. In 2008, LAFC joined the TOPS program in an effort to create more competitive opportunities for the athletes.
Slideshow
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