The West Michigan Lakeshore Select, Elite, Premier Academy and Premier Soccer Club

Our mission is to provide high quality, high competition, affordable soccer to area youth with the guiding principle of: In the best interests of the kids.  In keeping with our mission, we strive to maximize access to club-level soccer to area players. While focusing on building individual and team soccer skills and performance, we maintain a constant eye on building complete athlete citizens. An underlying concentration of all our Club activities is to foster player character by emphasizing sportsmanship and dedication while encouraging them to be involved with their schools, churches, and community. We are a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation.  We are a family-focused club - as parents, neighbors and friends, we have a vested interest in creating the best possible experience for our children. This aligns with both our mission (by keeping the cost affordable) and with our guiding principle (by maintaining a pure focus on promoting our players).

USA insists on positive, encouraging behavior from coaches, from parents, and from players during practices, games and even off the field. This models the same good attitude and good sportsmanship that we will develop and expect from our players as well.  We continue to grow and develop in our coaching staff and methods so that we can nurture our children in their personal and soccer skill development while they enjoy the game.

Our mission is simple:  To provide affordable club-level soccer to area youth.

The United Soccer Athletes (USA) club is a family-focused, not-for-profit organization that has been in the Holland, MI area for over a decade under the Grand Valley Soccer Association (GVSA). We offer select, elite, & premier-level travel soccer teams for all ages from 6 through 18, for both boys and girls. We have a history of high-caliber play- frequently winning or otherwise finishing high in our league brackets.  Many of our first teams compete and perform well against the best teams in the state through the season-long State Cup and Jr. State Cup tournament and other competitive tournaments.

About Coaches

Our coaches, assistant coaches, managers, and Club administrators are dedicated to developing our area youth to have the skills, attitude, and character to be strong soccer players, teammates, and representatives of our community. We insist on a positive atmosphere of encouragement - both from our Club members (staff and players) and parents. As such, we encourage parental involvement at all levels of the Club. Our coaches hold State and National-recognized coaching licenses and are supported by the Club’s ever-expanding coaching development resources. Many of our coaches, assistant coaches, and managers are parents, post-graduate club players, and young professionals that embrace the Club’s mission and now fuel the growth of our teams and players.  This organic approach has proven to support the Club's mission and structure and helps to foster healthy team and parent expectations.  All coaches are evaluated by the Club and are supported by our coaching development resources.For more information about this year's coaches and teams visit the Our Teams page.  Similarly, for information about next year's projected coaches visit our Coaches & Team page nested under this page.

About Family

We want parents to get involved in order to truly make memories for their child! Each team is ultimately responsible for its own best experience and interests. Team parents are the invisible “team” that make their children team successful. The USA leadership are dedicated to the positive experience of each team and players. The Club provides oversight, resources, and support to teams, coaches, and families. As such, if issues arise that need special attention beyond the parent’s ability or resources, USA board members and/or coaches and managers do their best to support their needs.

About Teams

Teams are formed through open, age and gender-specific tryouts in mid-June. Our trained and licensed coaches evaluate participants based primarily on individual skill-level and coachability. Secondarily, recognition may be paid to more subjective factors (e.g., team continuity/balance, advanced skill, player attitude/effort, etc.).  We historically field at least one team at each age group for each gender.  We strive to ensure that our first teams are comprised of players of the strongest skill and like age/development.  We often will form multiple teams at a given age group and, as such, are able to support the developmental needs of all players.

Some key points to know:
~ Tryouts are open ... teams do not stay the same from year to year and everyone (even legacy players) must tryout to make a team.  Generally, on any team, the core may remain together, the outcome of the tryout process does create changes to our team rosters to ensure appropriate development of individual players, appropriate competitive level of teams, and continued strength of the Club at each age group.
~ We strive to ensure participation ... we recognize that every athlete develops at different rates.  As such, although tryouts (as is the world around us) are competitive, we strive to ensure that any player that has the desire to play (as witnessed by attending tryouts) has a team to play on (*although not a guarantee, we have historically been very successful in managing this).
~ We openly support the multi-activity lives of our athletes ... whether other sports, church, community ... if you play USA you can do other things, too.  Although we do expect strong personal and family commitment and dedication for the sake of our teams, level of competitiveness, and strength of our Club, we do embrace the desire to develop the WHOLE player.
~ The VALUE of USA is superior.  Our Club offers multiple training and individual enrichment programs that are not offered by any other local club.  There are clubs that are less expensive, but they do not offer the opportunities for overall growth and wellness that are offered by USA.  There are clubs that are more expensive, but their cost does not equate to the opportunities available.
~ Everyone can afford to play at USA ... we recognize the cost of playing travel soccer can be a serious consideration and as such offer strong, private financial aid program to ensure that all athletes that wish to play USA have the opportunity.To find out all the information you need to know about joining a team, please view our Joining USA page.

About Costs

We strive to provide the highest value competitive soccer in the area.  As a not-for-profit we focus all of our fees on the betterment of the Club and its players.  As such, we able to maintain relatively low operational costs while offering the highest quality soccer.  The value of USA is superior ... we offer multiple training and individual enrichment programs that are not offered by any other local club.  We recognize the cost of playing travel soccer can be a serious consideration and as such offer strong, private financial aid program to ensure that all athletes that wish to play USA have the opportunity.  For more information on the Club fees for the competition year please visit our Costs page nested under our USA Approach page.

About Practices & Games

All of the details can be found on our Practice & Game page, but ...

Fall practice starts in August Games are played September – October
Spring practice starts in March Games are played April – June
Each season has 8 games (4 home, 4 away), which are usually on Saturdays (or some Sundays).
Travel is generally in west Michigan and rarely exceeds an hour drive. 
Typically, there are 2 practices per week, with each practice lasting 60 - 90 min.
Practices are held at the fields at Helder Park near Zeeland.