Throughout the afternoon on Monday in North Logan at the groundbreaking ceremony for Real Salt Lake’s first in what will be a series of RSL Training Academies was ripe with rhetoric of growing the game in soccer in the state of Utah. Different models of success from around the world were sited in explaining the goals of the satellite training centers that will become prevalent up and down Utah and Arizona in coming years.
Then, RSL midfielder Luke Mulholland took the microphone and summarized it all cleanly and efficiently in his Preston, England, accent.
“It’s the dream of every young player to grow up and play for their local club,” Mulholland said to the crowd on hand.
And with that, the focus of the North Logan RSL Training Academy became clear. Ultimately, Real Salt Lake and Owner Dell Loy Hansen are building the training centers to raise the availability of high-quality soccer at the youth level through field access and high-level instruction for both players and coaches. That, in turn, gives players a better opportunity to develop as players and earn their way onto the Real Salt Lake roster years down the road.
For Hansen, it’s a passion play on many levels. A resident of North Logan, Hansen saw firsthand the impact educated coaches can have on youth teams. When his daughter was starting to flourish in soccer, a new coach came in with new ideas to help spur her team on to success at the youth level. In continuing the education and training, she went on to play collegiately and played for a national championship with six of her teammates from the Logan area.
“They’ll get plenty of play and we will teach the skills they need,” Hansen said. “We set the goal to have the best youth training organization in the United States and we’re not going to stop until we get there.”
In addition to the club’s main training headquarters, being built in Herriman with an expected opening in the Fall of 2017, the training centers will be put up in Logan (also expecting completion in the Fall of 2017), Ogden, West Valley, Murray and St. George, as well as locations in Arizona.
The training centers will serve to supplement existing clubs in the region with training and education for area youth ages 7-12 with each site featuring indoor and outdoor fields, as well as a classroom.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to give back to the soccer community,” said RSL Youth Academy Foundation President Jacob Haueter. “The whole vision behind what we’re doing is to continue to support organized soccer and to supplement and support what the clubs are doing.”
