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Grande Sports Academy

Full name	Real Salt Lake - AZ Academy
Founded	2010
Ground	Grande Sports World Casa Grande, Arizona
Head Coach	Martin Vasquez
League	US Soccer Development Academy
Website	Club website
Home colors Away colors

Grande Sports Academy is located on the campus of the new $20 million Grande Sports World in Casa Grande, AZ, just 45 minutes from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Grande Sports World has quickly become one of the finest soccer training facilities in the country, and serves as a training destination for the top youth, professional and national teams from around the globe.

Academy

Grande Sports Academy is home of the nationally recognized Real Salt Lake-AZ Academy teams and is the only full-time residential academy that is affiliated with a MLS team - Real Salt Lake. The Academy concentrates on developing highly-competitive soccer players and enabling young athletes to become outstanding soccer players and citizens.

Grande Sports Academy offers focused residential camps throughout the year where campers play on professionally manicured fields, train in the 58,000-square-foot (5,400 m²) state-of-the-art performance center and are challenged each day to improve technically, tactically, physically and mentally.

Programs are designed to help athletes achieve tangible results with the help of former professional soccer players and coaches whose backgrounds include coaching numerous elite and professional athletes, collegiate national champions and All-Americans.

Grande Sports Academy's focus is to develop players who possess the skill and soccer IQ to compete at that next level. Specifically, developing the attacking minded, creative soccer players who have the ability to play comfortably with the ball at their feet. Additionally, there's a real focus on the plan for each session and each match where players know their roles both individually and collectively.

Coaching Staff

The coaching staff at Grande Sports Academy embraces the unique Real Salt Lake philosophy of training, and is recognized nationally and internationally for their professional playing and coaching experience - they all played and coached at the highest levels - international, national teams, MLS and collegiate. Their total commitment and dedication is to youth development, training and coaching.

Martin Vásquez was named Director of Soccer Operations at Grande Sports Academy on July 21, 2011. Vásquez will be the head coach of the Real Salt Lake - Arizona Academy team which makes it home at Grand Sports Academy

Accomplishments

During 2010-2011, the Academy's U-16 and U-18 RSL-AZ teams competed in US Soccer Development Academy's ten-team SoCal Division of the West Conference. During the 2011 season the U-18 team qualified for the USSDA playoffs and ended the season one of the top 16 U-18 Development Academy teams in the nation. The U-16 team ended the 2010-11 season by winning third place out of the 78 U-16 Development Academy teams.

The 2011-12 RSL-AZ Academy roster consists of 65 players from 15 states and four foreign countries. In addition to competing at the highest youth levels in the US, RSL-AZ players have the opportunity to compete in friendly matches with visiting teams at Grande Sports World, such as the various visiting national teams, and train with Real Salt Lake during their pre-season training.

First year accomplishments:

• Every senior and one junior were awarded college scholarships
• One senior signed a professional contract with Real Salt Lake
• One senior signed a professional contract with "Club Atletico Penarol" a First Division team in Uruguay, which is considered Uruguay's best club and considered by many as the most successful South American Club of the twentieth century.
• Six RSL-AZ Academy players played on the Real Salt Lake Reserve team.

Second years accomplishments:

Graduating seniors were accepted into Georgetown University, Clemson University, Indiana University, University of New Mexico, University of Denver, Oregon State University, College of Charleston, University of Connecticut, Loyola Marymount University, University of Wisconsin, and San Diego State University. A junior who has previously been a member of the US and Canadian national teams received a scholarship from UCLA beginning in the fall of 2012.

The US Soccer Federation selected two RSL-AZ team members to the Starting XI teams from among the 78 Development Academy teams.