Date:  May 9, 2020

From:  Charlotte Soccer Academy, 13501 Dorman Road, Pineville, NC 28134

Contact:  Brad Wylde – 704.708.4166

Charlotte Soccer Academy is pleased to release both the boys and girls club coaching assignments and structure for the 2020-21 season.

“We know this has been a difficult and frustrating season with Covid-19.” states Executive Director, Brad Wylde, “We hope when play resumes next month and then subsequent tryouts, we will move forward with a sense of normalcy. We are very excited about the opportunity to expand our programming and introduce a new infrastructure for the 2020-2021 season. We have made some productive changes in how we are structuring the club this year. These adjustments have been made to continue the evolution of the club and offer more opportunities for every level of play under the new ECNL regional leagues and USYS youth soccer model. We are confident that these adjustments will continue to push the club forward in being one of the top full-service clubs in the country.”

Highlights and key changes to the structure include a change for our National level programs. With the termination of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy program, both boys’ and girls’ National programs will enter the ECNL (Elite Clubs National League). Our girls will rejoin the ECNL, where they were one of the founding members when it began in 2009. The league now stands alone as the top program in the country for women’s youth soccer. Brian Moore will continue his role as the Director of the program. Since Coach Moore joined the program early last year, the team and individual player successes have moved into a new level. More players have gained National exposure along with positive team results which has positioned CSA into one of the leaders in girls’ soccer across the country. The former boys US Soccer Development Academy teams will participate in the newly formed ECNL National 10-Month Program. Steve Gummer will enter his fifth year heading this group. The program has gone from strength to strength under his leadership over the past five years with over 95% of players in the program receiving scholarship opportunities to play at the collegiate level.

To assist in the preparation of our players for the Elite programs, we have created a new section this year with a Pre-ECNL program for both boys and girls.  Last year, our boys U11-U12 Elite players competed in a Pre-DA league and now we have decided to expand this program with a more specific platform designed for the U11 and U12 elite players who will feed into the top level of our organization. Coach Ben Cook will head up this program with both boys’ and girls’ teams in the Charlotte section, a combination boys’ team from Matthews/Mint Hill/Uptown and another combo team from the North/Huntersville area. These teams will again play in the CDL (Carolina Development League). Our girls’ teams will be introduced to the programming this year at U11 and U12 age groups in the Charlotte section. They will play under the USYS structure for their first season but also have the same training opportunities and curriculum as our current boys. Click here for more info on the Pre-ECNL program.

The Elite Program under Steve Magee has also been restructured this year with the club’s expanded presence in the ECNL and will allow us to provide advanced development and competitive opportunities for more players. Coach Magee has done an outstanding job since the program began with several team successes over this past year, winning state and regional championships as well as individual players advancing to the National level due to the continued player development curriculum he has implemented.

The ECNL boys will continue in the national leagues with the 13U and 14U ECNL boys in the 10-month program and U15-U19 ECNL boys in the 6-month program, allowing them to participate on their high school teams. We are welcoming Phil Hindson into the role as the director of ECNL boys’ program. Coach Hindson will replace Patrick Bridges and brings a tremendous amount of experience to the program being a former Division 1 coach at Clemson and Winthrop University as well as a senior director at Charlotte Independence, formerly Discoveries Soccer Club. Coach Hindson will also direct our college recruiting program and run our annual College ID Camps. Hindson takes over this role from Peter Broadley who will be focusing his efforts more on the Elite program in our North section. Read more about Coach Hindson in his press release.

With the expansion of our Elite Program, we have added a support staff of Matt Denton and Peter Broadley covering the North program and Gary Forbes in the South program. CSA’s 13U-19U North and South Elite teams will be competing in the ECNL Regional League for both boys and girls. The league will consist of the home and away games vs several of the larger clubs in North Carolina as well as South Carolina clubs such as CESA and SC United. Read more about the Elite program by clicking here.

Our two newest sections within the organization have continued to grow offering the CSA brand in additional locations in and around the Charlotte community. CSA Uptown has progressed tremendously over the past two seasons offering more levels of play for families residing in the Uptown area. Dan Dudley will continue his role leading this section with a support staff of Catey Stewart (girls) and Ethan Kilby (boys). Coach Dudley has been with CSA since inception and has been a key part of the overall success of the organization. Coach Stewart and Coach Kilby bring a wealth of experience to the section as we grow the membership in Dilworth, Myers Park and the Uptown areas of Charlotte. CSA Palisades/Palmetto has also continued to grow this past season as CSA now provides teams from the Youth Academy (9U and 10U) through to 14U boys and girls in North Carolina. Dan Tannir will continue to oversee this section for CSA and also manages the beautiful facility in the Palisades subdivision that CSA owns and operates, now called the Harris Teeter Soccer Complex. Our older age group program, CSA Palmetto, will continue with teams 15U-19U playing in South Carolina, under SCYSA for the 2020-2021 season. Sheldon Russell will continue his role heading up the Palmetto teams and these teams will also be practicing and playing games at the Harris Teeter Soccer Complex.

Our new CSA Director of Coaching infrastructure for boys and girls accompanies this press release with many DOCs remaining in their current roles but with some notable changes listed below.

In our North section, Matt Denton will continue to manage and run this section. Since joining CSA nine years ago he has been instrumental in offering all levels of play for our players in the Concord/Cabarrus county area. Accompanying Matt will be a tremendous support staff with Ruffin Tanner directing the 15U-19U section, Scott Fischer, directing the 11U-14U section, Peter Broadley with the Elite teams and Chris Ryan progressing his role as the Youth Academy Director. We are very excited about promoting Coach Ryan to a bigger role knowing how well he has impacted our young players over the past year.

Andrew Steedman will continue his role as Director of Coaching with our Huntersville section. The program continues to progress and now from 13U – 19U both Coach Steedman and Coach Denton’s teams will be combining to create more opportunities for players in the Cabarrus, Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson areas to have the “CSA Way” available to them. This area now boasts teams for all levels of play under USYS as well as the ECNL Regional league platform.

In addition to the North and Huntersville sections, CSA will be expanding opportunities with a new program designed for players of Hispanic dissent and/or economic hardship with our new CSA Broncos program.  This program will replace our FFL EVO section and provide opportunities in the Concord, Kannapolis and Huntersville area. The program will be run in conjunction with our CSA North program with leadership coming from Coach Napo Carachure and lead administrator, Scott Wagner. For more information on this program please direct your questions to Matt Denton, [email protected]

Our Matthews branch will now be called CSA Matthews/Mint Hill as we continue to expand our footprint within Union County. Andy Guevara will continue as the sectional director working with Tyler Andrus whom collectively have been loyal and professional Directors of Coaching for this program over the past several seasons. Coach Andrus will head up our Youth Academy and USYS 11U program along with the Pre-ECNL boys’ team. Coach Guevara will continue the role of 12U through 19U boys and girls Director of Coaching.   

Some familiar faces return to our staff in the Charlotte section. This section will now be directed by Raymond Fraser who will oversee the entire area as we create a management role for our largest program.  Coach Fraser is another long serving Director of CSA and has been influential in our club’s progression over the years. Coach Fraser knows our expectations and standards here at the club and will be a great influence for the most populated area based at our main complex in Pineville. Accompanying Coach Fraser will be Matt Ford who has been promoted to Director of our 11U-13U boys, Stephano Williams 11U-13U girls, Scott Ginn 14U-15U boys and girls and Gary Forbes 16U-19U boys and girls. Coach Ford, Coach Williams, Coach Ginn and Coach Forbes bring a fantastic combination of experience, leadership and professionalism to their programs and will be a great compliment to Coach Fraser as the Charlotte section continues to grow and prosper.

Richard Butler will continue to run our Youth Academy programs, focusing on developing our future players. Coach Butler, one of CSA’s most senior staff, has continued to do a phenomenal job leading all six sections of our YA program as these young players enter competitive soccer. This past year, CSA was voted Youth Academy Organization of the Year by North Carolina Youth Soccer Association as the leader across the state in terms of the operations, curriculum and infrastructure within the program.   Returning to his staff will be Erik Imler who will transition to the boys’ section in Charlotte from the girls.  His replacement will be Greg Henschel who will be transitioning from his role as CSA’s Recreation Director to the girls YA position. Also continuing their roles with Coach Butler will be Andrew Steedman at Huntersville YA, Chris Ryan at North YA, Catey Stewart and Ethan Kilby at Uptown YA, Tyler Andrus at Matthews/Mint Hill YA and Dan Tannir at Palisades/Palmetto YA.   

Sports Performance Director Luke Williams from Architech Sports continues his mission of getting our players quicker, faster and stronger. Coach Williams will be implementing more opportunities this year as a new clinic will be open in the clubs new 10,000 sq. ft building at our main facility, the OrthoCarolina Sportsplex in Pineville. The facility will now have a PT department along with a weight room and by the end of the year, include four 60+ yard turf running lanes. These lanes will be located in the front area of the club house and will enhance the speed programs Architech Sports will have available to our players. It is crucial for players to have this extra training available to them outside of their regular team training on a weekly basis.

Bill Finneyfrock will also continue as the head of our Goalkeeping department. He will have numerous assistants helping him advance our GKs through all programs. Coach Finneyfrock is the former Executive Director of CUFC and one of the most reputable GK trainers in the Southeast. He will continue to bring a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience to our GK program. Joining coach Finneyfrock will be Michael Winstone.  Coach Winstone has been with CSA for the past 3 years and this past year was promoted to a senior role within the Charlotte section working with our National Program GKs.

Directing our Recreation program next season will be Rich Schwartz. Coach Schwartz has been promoted to this role following his outstanding work and the standards he has set over the past several years with our JA (Junior Academy) program. With our Recreation program presence in our Charlotte, Matthews, Uptown, Palisades and the Cabarrus/Mount Pleasant sections, this program has continued to grow and produces some great players to feed into our respective competitive levels at all locations. Coach Schwartz will have some familiar faces supporting him in the other sections. Meanu Kayea will continue his role managing our Cabarrus/Mount Pleasant section and Tyler Andrus will assist in the Matthews/Mint Hill area. Coach Schwartz will also utilize some new coaches in our Uptown and Palisades areas and these announcements will be made prior to the start of the season in August.

The new club structure will be in effect as of August 1, 2020. The current DOC structure will stay in effect through the end of our revised season in June and tryouts. The transition to the new structure will be in place during our first week of the season at our pre-season camp in August.

Boys Director Structure
Girls Director Structure

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Charlotte Soccer Academy is the only full-service club in the Charlotte NC area, offering members opportunities to play and develop at all ages and levels. Visit the Charlotte Soccer Academy website to learn more about CSA’s competitive, recreational, camp and tournament programs.   www.charlottesocceracademy.com.