CARSON, Calif.— The LA Galaxy’s goal for their Academy is simple: To create one of the best, if not the best, Academy in the country.
Already the club has produced three Homegrown signings— Tristan Bowen, Jack McBean and, most recently, Jose Villarreal. But producing talent is just one aspect of what the club hopes to accomplish, preparing them for the next level is just as important.
READ: LA Galaxy sign Jose Villarreal as Homegrown Player
Assistant Coaches Jovan Kirovski and Curt Onalfo, who is also the head coach of the club’s Reserve League team, coached Grady Howe, Javan Torre and the rest of the U-18’s during a training session at The Home Depot Center last Thursday. The decision to have two coaches from the first team run an Academy session was not a difficult one.
“We think it’s really important to have a connection between the first team and our Academy, and we’ve had that in the past,” Onalfo said. “Even more so between the U-18 and our reserve team, because when we have to supplement our reserve team roster we do that with U-18 players.
“It’s just a natural progression in us having that connection with the Academy, where things go both ways, and it was a good opportunity for us to see them and run a good session for them.”
Even though last year the club would routinely call up players from the U-18 team to train with the reserves — some even played in Reserve League games— this was the first time a member of the first team coaching staff, let alone two, ran the entire session of an Academy team.
Onalfo said opportunities like this help bridge the gap between the Academy level and the professional ranks.
“There’s always a big jump from players that come from college to our level, our league is getting better all the time. So, now when you are talking about the youth Academy that jump is even bigger,” he said.
It also allows the first team coaches to make sure the curriculum and philosophy of the Academy team is up to speed with that the first team is doing. That process makes the transition from the Academy to the pro game even easier, Onalfo added.
“It was an opportunity for those players to see how we run our training sessions,” Onalfo said. “It’s not going to be much different from what Eddie Soto (Head Coach of the Galaxy U-18) is doing, because they do an excellent job.
“It’s kind of the club philosophy and now, that Chris (Klein, Senior Director of Galaxy Academy) has been here for a little bit more than a year, that’s kind of come through.
“There’s been a big emphasis to continue to get better and better. The goal is to have one of the best, if not the best, Academy in the country and these are just small steps along the way to help toward that goal.”
