Silicon Valley Soccer Academy and Palo Alto Soccer Club are excited to announce that SVSA-PASC has accepted an invitation to be inaugural members of the Girls Academy League!
After the demise of the US Soccer Development Academy (DA), the Girls Academy (GA) League was formed by unifying clubs from DA conferences across the country. The GA was founded to maintain the defining standards of the DA while providing flexibility in two key areas: (1) permission for all players in the GA to participate in high school soccer and (2) a revision of substitution rules to encourage clubs to fully utilize their players pools, in particular when showcasing players to college coaches.
SVSA-PASC will compete in the Northwest Division of the Girls Academy League. The GA includes many of strongest clubs in the country in the Southwest, Frontier, Mid-America, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast Divisions. The GA will allow SVSA-PASC players to compete at the highest level against the strongest teams in the country. Competition will encompass not only regular season league play, but also showcases across the country. Those showcases will give players the opportunity to gain exposure to college coaches and will provide an identification platform for youth national team coaches.
Executive Director, Rodrigo Baptista: “Palo Alto Soccer Club has been serving players and families in Palo Alto for more than 40 years. We are extremely excited to participate in the Girls Academy and give the young women in our community the opportunity to showcase their talent and compete at the highest level. We are committed to providing the best opportunities to our players on the field, impacting their college journey, and helping them gain the life skills that will help them thrive on and off the field.”
Academy Director, Gerson Perez: “Silicon Valley Soccer Academy is thrilled to be able to offer the highest level of training and competition to female players. Adding a girls program has been a standing goal of the Academy from our founding and the GA is an outstanding platform that allows us to achieve that goal. We are thrilled to be competing with the best youth development programs in the country and are excited to provide a pathway for our players to participate in college programs and youth national teams.”