MK Alliance

Registration is open for the Fall 2011 / Spring 2012 seasons, and MK Alliance is excited to introduce the MK Alliance Academy. Players who are U7-U9 during this spring are eligible to register for the U8 – U10 MK Alliance Academy when using the Milwaukee Kickers website (www.mksc.org) to register for the upcoming 2011-2012 year. To register for Academy, players need to register for both Milwaukee Kickers and the MK Alliance Academy in the registration system.

REGISTER EARLY: We strongly encourage Academy players to register by July 1, 2011, to ensure a spot on an Academy team. We will not be able to guarantee team placement if your registration is  received after July 1, since we need to hold placement sessions, register teams, and make final staffing decisions by the end of June. 

The MK Alliance Academy is a new option for players focused on soccer and committed to being a part of a unique training program designed to accelerate player development, particularly for those wanting to prepare for playing in a select program when they reach the U11 level. Participation in the Academy is designed to provide each player with high-level instruction from a professional coach while being surrounded by other players that have a similar commitment level to soccer.

The MK Alliance Academy program is not a select program (those are illegal in Wisconsin before U11), so no players will be cut from the program. Academy participation is based solely on the willingness of the player—and the player’s family—to make the time and financial commitment to the program. Although there are no tryouts and no player will be cut from the program, the Academy coaching staff will conduct evaluation sessions during the summer to determine the most appropriate makeup of team rosters that will create the best player-development environment.

All Academy participants will train together with their specific age group / gender, under the guidance of a professional coach (or multiple professional coaches, depending on the number of participants at a given age group).

Player development is the focus of the MK Alliance Academy program. With this in mind, the Academy coaching staff will form teams in a manner that it believes will allow each player to develop in the best way. Each team will be placed in a league that the Academy coaching staff—in cooperation with the Milwaukee Kickers coaching staff—believes will be an appropriate competition level, so players are in an environment that provides them the best opportunity to develop. That league may be within Milwaukee Kickers or may be part of another Milwaukee-area program.

On a weekly basis, the time commitment for an Academy player is similar to the commitment for a recreational player—two practices per week and a regular-season game (or two) on the weekend. However, Academy teams will start training for their outdoor seasons earlier than most recreational teams. Academy teams will play in multiple tournaments each season, so players can be exposed to various levels of competition—a rarity among recreational teams. Academy teams also will participate in indoor training/playing opportunities between the fall and spring seasons, which are not common among recreational youth teams.

The costs associated with participating in the Academy are greater than those to play for a typical Kickers recreational team. This expense has three components:

(1)    Kickers registration: As they would with a recreational team, Academy participants must register with Milwaukee Kickers (cost is $165 per year for U8 players; $175 per year for U9-U10 players). This is done on the Kickers website at www.mksc.org.

(2)    Academy fee: This fee of $250 per player is used to compensate the professional coaches in the Academy program. This is charged during the registration process at www.mksc.org.

(3)    Team fee: This fee will vary for each Academy team, based on the tournaments and indoor activities for a specific team. For most teams, parents can anticipate a fee of $200-$250 for the year for four outdoor tournaments, an indoor playing session and indoor training.
However, some U10 teams may choose to play in additional tournaments or could choose to play in more expensive tournaments. On the other hand, tournament opportunities could be limited for U8 teams, which could result in this fee being lower at this age group.

For more information about the MK Alliance Academy, please call Craig Huguet at 262.271.3562 or Donny Jackson at 414.529.4514 or email info@newberlinsoccerclub.org.