For its second mini-camp of the year, the United States Under-14 Girls’ National Team Talent Identification Program has called in 62 players, all based in the Central Region and all born in 2006. Regional Talent Identification Managers Katie Cole, Marieke Laurens and Diane Drake will be in charge of the event, which will run from Wednesday, March 4th to Sunday, March 8th, and will be held in the Dallas, Texas area. Continue reading “U-14 USGNT TIP: 2020 Central Region Mini-Camp Roster Announced”
Tag: U14 Girls TIP
U-14 USGNT TIP: 2020 West Region Mini-Camp Roster Announced
The Under-14 United States Girls’ National Team is back for 2020 and back to being an annual program, after having been active only in even years since 2015.
Following changes introduced on the boys’ side in 2019 (U.S. Soccer), the new Girls’ “Under-14 Talent Identification Program” now features three regional “mini-camps” of 60 players each, for a total of 180, from which just 60 players will be called back for a national identification camp. This change will more-than double the total number of players brought into a U-14 camp, compared to recent cycles, which had around 80 total players maximum per year. Continue reading “U-14 USGNT TIP: 2020 West Region Mini-Camp Roster Announced”
A Quick History of U.S. Soccer’s Under-14 Girls’ Programs
With U.S. Soccer now officially launching a new version of its development program for Under-14 Girls, it is useful to put those changes into context.
Prior to 1999, the youngest age-level for U.S. Soccer’s female youth teams, was the Under-16 Women’s National Team, which appears to have been established in 1996. (Danielle Slaton, Abby Wambach, and Hope Solo are all listed as members of the U-16 team in 1996 per their media guide biographies.) Before that, the only youth USWNT was the original Under-20 USWNT, which began in 1989 (if not earlier, as a U-19 program) and exists to this day as the U-23 USWNT, having adjusted its maximum age level twice.
U.S. Soccer’s first Under-14 Girls’ program began in 1999, as part of the federation’s Under-14 National Development Program, which started two years earlier, on the boys’ side. Participants of that first girls’ camp included Heather O’Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley, Becky Sauerbrunn and Ashlyn Harris. Continue reading “A Quick History of U.S. Soccer’s Under-14 Girls’ Programs”