ORLANDO, Fla. (April 4, 2018) – The Orlando City Development Academy will move its headquarters to the facilities of Montverde Academy. Effective June 1, City’s U-12, U-13 and U-14 boys teams will join its U-15, U-17 and U-19 teams at Montverde.
“We have been pleased thus far with Montverde Academy and look forward to increasing our overall investment in our Academy under their infrastructures,” Orlando City SC CEO Alex Leitão said. “All our DA age groups are united again under one roof to train, use the same resources and learn from our coaches with same philosophies.”
Bobby Murphy, Orlando City SC’s First Team assistant coach and Academy technical director, oversees the development of Academy prospects in conjunction with Mike Potempa, director of the Soccer Institute at Montverde Academy (S.I.M.A) and a former U.S. youth national team player and All-American at Clemson University.
Orlando City initially announced a collaboration with S.I.M.A. in January of this year, which saw its older age group teams and coaches relocate to Montverde’s facilities.
While the Club will continue to fund, manage and train its Development Academy, players will benefit from increased resources offered by S.I.M.A., including its on-site residency programs for student-athletes and its college preparatory academic programs.
“We continue to be excited about this partnership with Orlando City SC because of what we feel we can accomplish by bringing our resources and expertise together,” added Potempa. “We are already observing positive results in our holistic approach with the groups currently working with us. We remain committed to the sincere belief that the ideal model of youth soccer development brings soccer training and fundamentals of education together to make a major impact on our youth players lives on and off the field.”
The S.I.M.A. program has earned multiple national championships and holds the longest active unbeaten streak in the history of high school soccer in the United States. The S.I.M.A. program has now produced 23 student-athletes who have signed professional contracts in Major League Soccer (MLS), the United Soccer League (USL) and various leagues around the world since its inception in 2013.
