Community Spotlight: Merced United Leadership Academy

When running a soccer club, there are many aspects, both logistically and philosophically, to take into consideration in order to provide youth players with the best possible experience.

Questions arise around topics like style of play, how to educate coaches, facilities, the level of competition to sign teams up for, and how the organization defines success. These are just a few of the myriad of questions that clubs tackle on a regular basis.

For Merced United, there’s one more question that helps drive the programming choices for club leadership, and that’s–“what’s next?”

In recent years, Merced United’s leadership asked themselves this very question and decided that the club should continue to pursue development on the field, but also strive for holistic education off of it.

Statistically, not all youth players move on to play at the collegiate level and only a fraction ever make it to the professional level. So while it is still within Merced United’s philosophy to foster the development of their youth athletes to reach the highest level possible, they also keep what’s next for everyone at the forefront of their minds.

Last year, Merced United began its first initiative in the process: creating a new leadership academy to help their players develop life and employment skills. Named the Merced United Leadership Academy (MULA), the program was piloted with the 2008 girls team, with plans to expand it across the organization in the future.

“The leadership academy is getting (our players) ready for the future. It’s not always about soccer, it’s about school too. You have to be prepared for everything because not a lot of girls go pro,” said Merced United President Jovan Pulido.

“We were looking at youth clubs and youth academies from a world standard. You know, you have Barcelona and La Masía, Ajax, and even in the United States, Real Salt Lake Academy,” explained Pulido. “One of the insights our leadership had when looking at these academies, is that education and leadership should be part of a sports education, and we set out to do this within our program.”

Based on a similar program that the city of Merced used in the past to help build intangible skills among its youth population, United’s leadership program hit the ground running in 2024 with its 2008 girls team and a series of events put on by the club, local leaders, and local businesses.

Added Pulido: “We thought–why not have something in our curriculum where we could show players local businesses and how they became a business. Show them local elected officials and how the city council actually runs. Even show them UC Merced, which we have here in our hometown. And we knew we had that community within Mercedes United to make it possible.”

For those interested in attending college, there was a visit to the UC Merced campus and a workshop on how to fill out a FAFSA form. For those interested in going straight into the business world, Merced United met with a local entrepreneur and worked a day at her business.

There were seminars on how to open a bank account, lessons on credit scores, a tour of the city council, and a presentation from the parks and rec department.

Pulido continued: “We’ve gone as far as like, hey, how do we get these girls into college programs of their choice, if that is what they want to do. Not every girl is thinking about college, so let’s show them about entrepreneurship and people within our community that have built their own businesses. We try to expose them to different levels of the workspace and to connect these young players to individuals that could help them.”

Pulido added:“That’s something that’s good for them, showing them what’s out there. Because especially within our demographic, not every player comes from that background, where they have that help. I know for sure I didn’t have that type of help growing up. I had to figure everything out. But these programs that we do within Merced’s Leadership Academy can inspire these kids to think bigger and to know that they are capable.”

For the 2008 Girls team, the program was a success in its first year, both on and off the field.

“The leadership academy is getting kids ready for the future,” said United coach Jorge Olivares. “It’s showing them what else is out there and what they’re looking for after they graduate.”

“I think it has brought us closer together because it gives us that opportunity to open up and communicate with the girls,” said Leanna. “I think it’s awesome because it’s also a part of growing up, we need communication skills and all of that.”

Added Bailee: “I feel like it gives me a lot more leadership. I’m very quiet and not very outgoing in these kinds of situations so I think learning more in this leadership academy is getting me more out of my own shell.”

Pulido explained: “We started with the 2008 girls team as a way to test the program. As we move on throughout the years and they become seniors, we’re hoping that the program grows in scope, and we find even more individuals within our community that are willing to help us teach our youth once we start adding more teams into our program.”

“As youth soccer organizations, we have a duty to invest in the next generation of adults,” said NorCal Premier Soccer Club Services Manager Kevin Botterill. “While only a small percentage of our participants will become soccer professionals, they’ll all be professionals in life. Programs like this one go a long way towards giving our players the tools to excel in whatever they do after their youth soccer careers are over.”