NSCAA Convention: Warts and all, US soccer gathers for its annual reunion

Published on: 15 January 2016

The buzz in the air is palpable as the ritual of congregation happens for yet another year. Signs point the way, and freezing weather conditions inevitably chill the bones.

If those arriving from the south hold any lingering doubts as they hit the city limits, they need only glance at the iconic mural along I-295 that blares “THIS MUST BE THE PLACE” in 10-foot-high letters. That old Talking Heads line is indeed an apt way to welcome visitors to one of this country's scruffiest, weirdest cities, and one of the first on these shores to embrace the beautiful game.

As the Inner Harbor moves into view, the swarming legions of tracksuit-clad coaches on every street confirm it. You've arrived at the grand caravan carnival of American soccer.

More than 10,000 soccer people have converged on the downtown waterfront of Charm City this week, just as they do at this time every year, like some strange flock of disparate but like-minded migratory birds.

This is the annual convention of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. It’s a hectic, teeming assembly of coaches, executives, players, journalists, entrepreneurs, hustlers, and hangers-on. Over the years, it’s grown into a can't-miss date on the January calendar.

Many fans know the NSCAA Convention primarily as the site of Major League Soccer's “SuperDraft,” the league's oddly glitzy method of distributing college products and a few other unaffiliated players among its ranks. Plenty of rumor-mongering and back-room dealing always unfolds at the draft, and Baltimore's central location on the I-95 corridor means that this year's edition will draw decent turnout of hard-core supporters from the league's East Coast clubs, greatly adding to the flavor of the occasion.

But NSCAA week is so much more than the draft.

In fact, even a casual stroll through the convention halls rapidly drives home the strange reality of the North American soccer landscape. The sheer size and heft of the youth game dwarfs MLS, and every other professional league in this country. Even 20 years in, MLS is the young'un at this long-running party, still an up-and-comer trying its best to connect with a multi-billion-dollar industry that was churning along long before the league's birth. It’s an industry that would chug on with barely a wobble should the league suddenly curl up and die tomorrow.

That “upside-down pyramid” that Jurgen Klinsmann so eloquently incriminated as a television pundit during the 2010 World Cup, more than a year before he finally took up the US National Team head coaching job himself, is more than just a figure of speech. It's a heavy, looming reality that grew organically over many decades as the world's most popular sport clung – under hateful duress from a hostile establishment – to life in America by any means it possibly could.

But NSCAA week is bigger than that, too.

The event, which kicked off Wednesday evening and runs through the weekend, is jam-packed with presentations, lectures, round-table discussions and “field sessions” for training and tactical content that take place on compact artificial-turf fields laid out inside the convention center's biggest halls. It's a chance for coaches to build their skills, broaden their toolkits and perspectives, and in some cases, even earn formal academic credit via continuing education certifications.

Guests from all over the world and many of them are head-turning names. This year's list includes the likes of Stuart Pearce, Avram Grant, Michel Salgado, and high-ranking technicians from places far afield like FC Barcelona, Celtic FC, the Spanish football federation and its top flight, La Liga, as well as dozens of domestic clubs, schools and institutions. Less informative but no less influential is the exhibition hall, the enormous showcase of products and services on display on dizzying scale starting with a beer-lubricated opening night on Thursday.

Almost as importantly, convention-goers have ample opportunity to exchange ideas and network over coffee, crab cakes, drinks, or even a small-sided pickup game before, during and after the formal activities. While some undoubtedly look forward to a few nights of hard partying at NSCAA as they escape their daily grind back home, people all across the spectrum can speak to the benefits of these interactions. They've given rise to myriad MLS trades, business partnerships and key relationships over the years.

For all its charms, NSCAA week undoubtedly bears the flaws and frustrations of the huge, chaotic community that fuels it. It's a monument to the shortcomings and absurdities of the pay-to-play model that still dominates the youth game here. Even with the major strides in diversity and inclusion made by the NSCAA over recent years, it still doesn't offer fully proportional representation of the huge Latino, immigrant and women's sectors of the game. Geographically, the organization's density of membership in the East Coast and Great Lakes regions has kept the convention from venturing west of the Rockies for many years, a streak that thankfully ends when Los Angeles hosts next year's edition.

NSCAA week remains the family reunion of American soccer, the one event that gets nearly everyone together like clockwork every winter. It's big, messy, fun, chaotic, and totally unique. It's also a pretty apt reflection of what we, the soccer people, look like these days.

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Learn more