So, if you take San Antonio in this situation, we launched our Academy in 2016, we did it two months after we started the franchise here, and we did it with a group of 12-year-olds, 2004s and 2005s.
TIM HOLT SOCCER SAN ANTONIO PRO
It’s a long-term game, young pro player development is a long-term game. I think it speaks to deliberate efforts among USL clubs that began years ago that are starting to pay off. I think we’ve seen that happening in MLS, we see it now happening in USL and it’s radically different than it was 10 years ago, even five years ago. Tim Holt: From my perspective, it’s unbelievably exciting and encouraging to see the proliferation of young players – teenagers, literally – that have been developed at USL clubs that are now impacting the First Teams in all kinds of different environments. It’s so different to when I started at USL in 2010, what has it meant for you – as someone who has seen so much of the USL’s history – to see that be an inflection point and part of where the league is now?
TIM HOLT SOCCER SAN ANTONIO PROFESSIONAL
Nicholas Murray: We’re now starting to see kids who are 15, 16, 17 years old that are starting to sign professional contracts and play in the league. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Under his stewardship, alongside that of the club’s technical staff, San Antonio currently sports the youngest average age of a roster among the Championship’s independent clubs at 23.1 years old, while counting 40 percent of the club’s roster as having developed within the San Antonio market, either in the youth or college ranks, and in some cases both.Īs San Antonio prepares to host the USL’s Mid-Year Meetings this week – the first time the league has held the event in collaboration with an independent USL Championship club in its home city – I went in depth with Holt on the way San Antonio has approached its youth development structure, the evolution of the league and potential for USL Championship and League One clubs to take leading roles in helping players reach the top levels of the game, and how San Antonio is aiming to further build its following within the city’s broader soccer community. From its embrace of local culture in selling itself to the city’s community to the progression of an Academy program that is now starting to see top local talent arrive on its First Team roster – including professional signings Jose Gallegos and Leo Torres – the club has built a strong following and sturdy base for the future.Īt the helm as the club’s Managing Director and a Vice President within the Spurs Sports & Entertainment organization is Tim Holt, formerly the USL’s President and a longtime league employee before his move into the club side of the game in 2015. Since its launch five years ago, San Antonio FC has in numerous ways become one of the model modern clubs in the USL Championship.
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