Blue Springs Soccer Academy - Blue Springs, Missouri

We don’t have expensive uniforms.  We aren’t affiliated with any professional teams.  We don’t cost very much.  We don't have multi-billion-dollar companies as sponsors.  We don’t have a dozen teams in every age group.  We don’t have thousands of players at tryouts.  We don’t have international players with January 1 birthdates.  And we don’t get many of the "early bloomers," i.e., the biggest and strongest players.  

So how are we competing with -- and usually beating -- teams that have all these advantages?  And how are we doing it with players that predominantly come from local recreational leagues?  Simple:  we force our players to struggle with reality and face themselves in the mirror.  

 

Our players know that nothing will be easy here:

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• we don’t get to start in the top divisions…our players must perform to advance;

• we follow the rules...you won't see any of our teams with a player in a different uniform with no jersey number that is the biggest, fastest, and best player on the field;

• we don’t run away to more expensive leagues when we fail…we dig deeper and figure it out here;

• we don't hide our failures...we don't alter our team names every season to keep the public constantly confused about how we've actually done;

• we don't mislead the public about our age...we don't use team names with the birth year of the youngest player on the team, our team names always use the birth year of the oldest player on the team;

• we don’t sell playing time…playing time is always earned;

• we don’t only teach the fun/marketable aspects of the game…we teach the tedious, grueling, and time-consuming aspects as well;

• we don’t use guest player loopholes in the rules to bring our top 3 players to every league game…our weakest players must fend for themselves;

• we never have home field advantage…our players learn how to persevere through some outrageous and unfair circumstances;

• we don’t skip fitness just because it is hard…we train for and reward speed, agility, explosiveness, and endurance just as much as skill; and

• we don’t teach our players that winning is irrelevant…our players are expected to win and when we lose, it hurts.

 

This is why our teams are able to compete with giant clubs from all over the region, including teams from ECNL, Elite 64, National League, etc.  The labels don’t matter.  The platforms don’t matter.  The uniforms don’t matter.  Who you know doesn't matter.  The amount of money spent doesn’t matter.  What matters is the struggle.  Because we struggle in a realistic environment, we tend to improve quicker than our opponents. 

 

If you are doing well in an artificial environment, you will find it difficult to do well anywhere outside of that environment.  We see this all the time as many top club players are unable to translate their game to high school or college soccer, i.e., anywhere outside of their protected bubble.         

 

If you want to see objective improvement and become the type of player that can do well anywhere, you need to avoid artificial environments and start addressing the things that are actually hindering your development.  If you join BSSA, the only thing we promise is that nothing will be easy here.         

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