US Soccer Names Claudio Reyna as Federation’s Youth Technical Director

Four-Time World Cup Veteran Will Lead the Development of a Teaching Curriculum for Coaches

CHICAGO (April 7, 2010) – U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced the appointment of four-time World Cup veteran Claudio Reyna as the Federation’s Youth Technical Director in New York on Wednesday afternoon.

In his new position, the former captain of the U.S. Men’s National Team will oversee the design and implementation of long-term strategies for development of both coaches and players at the youth level in the United States.

“We are excited to have Claudio join U.S. Soccer as our Youth Technical Director,” said Gulati. “One of our main objectives has been to improve the development of our coaches and players across the country, and Claudio’s experience and background makes him uniquely qualified to provide the necessary direction to accomplish that goal.”

Reyna’s initial focus as Youth Technical Director will be to create a structure and plan to improve the coaching of 6- to 12-year-old players. He will craft a teaching curriculum that will be used to help educate coaches across the country and provide direction on what their specific focus and goals should be when working with young players.

Former captain of the U.S. Men’s National Team Claudia Reyna

As Reyna begins the process of building the framework of the curriculum, he will be studying the various methods of player development that are utilized globally, spending time with numerous top-level clubs, managers and administrators involved in the game.

“After evaluating the elite player development process in the U.S., the best way to improve the large base of youth players is to focus on developing their coaches,” said Reyna, who speaks Spanish and holds a USSF “A” Coaching License. “By providing better direction for our coaches we can begin to improve the environment for our youth players, which is a crucial element for their development. I look forward to working with the Federation to come up with a plan that we can begin to implement in the near future.”

The appointment of a Youth Technical Director continues the implementation of plans developed by the Player Development Task Force, which was created in 2006 to review all aspects of player development in the United States and recommend a course of action.

The creation of Reyna’s position follows the successful launch and growth of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Launched in the fall of 2007 after a detailed review of player development systems in the U.S. and across the world, the Development Academy provides players, coaches and referees a nationally-coordinated program designed to enhance their development environment. Created in accordance with U.S. Soccer Best Practices, the Academy has improved the training environment, provided relevant, high-level matches on a consistent basis, increased the level and efficiency of scouting for the national teams and provided players, coaches and referees with more structured programming.

In a report by Soccer America, Gulati was quoted as saying: “When we started this process of creating a player development task force we identified three primary areas or broke our primary development plans into three zones, essentially by age. And player development continues to be the core of what we do. By its very nature it’s a long-term process, so it might not be as sexy as announcing a national team game or a coach or winning a game, but it’s actually probably the most important thing we do.

“We focused very early on the national team, then on the middle part when we introduced the Development Academy, and today’s announcement really addresses, even within that, probably the most important aspect which is long-term player development of young players. How do we give more of our millions of kids playing a better experience and a better path to becoming better players? And as that pool grows, no doubt we get better players out the other end, whether it’s after playing in our club system, professionally or whatever it may be.”