MLS NEXT’s mission is to provide the best player development experience in North America. MLS NEXT provides an environment where players receive the highest level of competition while acquiring the training and personal development that will prepare them for their future, both in soccer and in life. The competition platform incorporates more than 9,000 players, in six age groups, across 113 clubs, including 30 MLS professional academies, five USL academies and 78 additional elite academies.

MLS NEXT’s approach to player development will address all key areas of development. In addition to top level competition, MLS NEXT is focused on coaching education, personal development, and player identification. MLS NEXT will also feature regional and national competitions that engage the global soccer community to accelerate the growth of each MLS NEXT player. For more information about MLS NEXT, please visit MLSNEXT.

The LaMO MLS Program

as the players have finished the Pre-MLS stage (U7-U12), which is primarily developing players ball mastery and technical competence on the ball. The players now are starting to move into stage two (U12-U15), playing together, and stage three (U15-U19), playing in systems.

U13-U14 MLS Next program:

The U13-U14 MLS Next Program is for the players who have finished the Pre-MLS Next stage (U7-U12), which is primarily developing players ball mastery and technical competence on the ball. The players now are starting to move into stage two (U12-U15), playing together, and stage three (U15-U19), playing in systems. At these two stages, we create an environment where players are challenged in game like situations that will improve their perception, decision making, and execution. Also improving players physical and mental capacities are critical in the last stage (stage three). The players are now learning to solve soccer problems while imposing our way of playing on the opponent. At LaMO, we take pride in having a pathway to college for our players.

The Lamorinda Soccer Club provides U13 – U14 MLS NEXT level for the players who are interested in playing in a fun, competitive environment. This program develops and prepares player to play at the next highest level.

The U13-U14 MLS is the Competitive Proficiency Phase (Stage 2: Playing Together) In this phase/stage players should learn to solve soccer problems, with the emphasis on how to choose the correct option in respect to the player’s position of the team or in a particular unit of the team i.e. the defensive line, etc. In this phase the player must be able to combine with her/his teammates in order to get past an opponent (the most important thing is the result of what the player does). Emphasis is on learning with more attention given to performance in games as the determining factor in playing time. The time played in more competitive games is up to the discretion of the coach.