NC’s first soccer school coming to Cary

North Carolina’s first soccer school is expected to launch this August at WakeMed Soccer Park, bringing a combination of middle school academics and soccer training to the Triangle.

The Accelerator School will be associated with the Carolina RailHawks, a Cary organization that already has undergone several changes since owner Steve Malik bought the team last October.

“This school is another important step toward having a world-class player development and education pathway,” Curt Johnson, team president and general manager of the RailHawks, said in an email. “We have more work to do in this area, and the RailHawks need to continue to be a leader in player development so that more players in North Carolina can reach their full potential.”

The Accelerator School is designed for children who dream of playing Division I college or professional soccer. To do this, American children need more training time to compete with international players, said Chris Mumford, the school’s director and a professor of practice at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler business school.

Today, he said, American children, even at the academy level, only train about seven to eight hours per week while youth in South America and Europe train 15 to 20 hours per week. But the new school is expected to provide students with more than 400 hours of soccer training annually.

“Right now, we as American soccer players, our youth are just getting outworked by other soccer players worldwide,” he said.

Forming the program

The Accelerator School, which was founded by Mumford; John Kerr, Duke University’s men’s soccer coach; and Terry Ransbury, a local entrepreneur, will start its 2016-17 school year as a small, private middle school where students are provided soccer training in the morning, academics in the late morning and afternoon and club soccer in the evening.

“Everybody is going to have an individualized learning plan and a personalized training plan, and you just don’t get that elsewhere,” Mumford said.

The first year will run from mid-August through mid-June with about 18 to 20 children, who already have been selected, and two teachers. Students will be coached by Carolina RailHawks coaches and will have the opportunity to interact with and train alongside RailHawks players.

“There is a whole movement that is going on in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Chicago and New York,” Mumford said.

There, the schools have no more than 150 students, he said, which gives them the chance to have quality one-on-one time with their teachers.

The cost for the Cary school is $15,000 per child. Similar programs in other parts of the country have higher tuition, such as the YSC Academy in Pennsylvania for $28,500 annually and the IMG Academy in Florida for $55,600.

Mumford imagines the school will educate a maximum of 150 students in the future with about one teacher per every 10 or 11 children. Grade offerings also will expand to offer fifth through 12th grades. Future students will be selected through an application process.

“We want to teach our kids to adapt to the new reality, whether that’s in the workforce, in education or on the soccer field,” he said.

Future plans

The Cary Town Council adopted a resolution Monday, July 25, that authorizes the town manager to enter into a 10-month sublease with the Accelerator School for operation of the private middle school at WakeMed Soccer Park.

In a letter to the town council, Malik said developing homegrown players has become increasingly important for professional clubs, such as the RailHawks, to remain competitive.

“The RailHawks need to develop more local players that can successfully play for the RailHawks pro team, and the soccer school is another step to establishing a clear pathway for local elite soccer players,” he said. “Top local homegrown players can be developed, identified and signed earlier in their careers, and their ties to the local community help drive fan loyalty and support for the team.”

During its first 10 months, the school will rent out multipurpose room space, locker room space and field space from the Town of Cary for an estimated $28,000.

“It might bring people and other businesses to the area,” Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said. “Normally when you have a specialty like that, you usually bring supporting businesses, coaches or trainers. I look at it as a very positive thing and am excited to see how it does.”

Nearing the end of the 10 months, the town will evaluate the program before deciding to approve a new lease. But Mumford said he hopes to school continues to remain in Cary.

“The Town of Cary has really tried to be on the forefront of soccer, and this is just another example,” he said. “We can’t think of a better soccer environment than WakeMed Soccer Park.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "NC’s first soccer school coming to Cary."