Eagleclaw Football Club is the top youth soccer club player in the Greater Puget Sound region for real player development. Designed to be a comprehensive and holistic player development program, Eagleclaw provides an educational and competitive pathway for players beginning from the grass roots to the highest levels of competition. From our Primary Academy teams to our Advanced Academy teams and our flagship Valencia Discovery Program teams, our core objective is developing players for success at whatever level they choose to play. That’s what we do!
Primary Academy
Player development begins with our Primary Academy, a top quality development program for youth players ages 5-13. Staying true to the ideal that we should train “as many as we can, for as long as we can, and in the best environment possible.” Eagleclaw's Primary Academy has tryouts with no cuts. Our mission is to provide a learning environment where players are free to explore their passion for the game, learn how to play better as an individual and a team mate, and prepare themselves for the challenges that will face them when they compete for spots on Eagleclaw’s Advanced Academy teams, their school teams, college teams or professional club academies.
Each semester, we admit up to 150 players who train with experienced coaches following a comprehensive technical and tactical training curriculum. From this pool of players we also form Development Teams that compete in the Puget Sound Premier League (PSPL). Our Development Teams are an important part of player development at these ages, but not the most important part. Between the ages of 5 and 13, our overriding concern is player development and formation, not team development; that comes later in our Advanced Academy. For that reason, a key objective of the Academy is to prepare players for their eventual tryout for the Advanced Academy.
Through competitive tryouts, some Primary Academy players may be selected for teams in our Valencia Discovery Program (VDP). If a player is not selected for a VDP Team, they still have the opportunity to play with Eagleclaw's competitive Development Teams.
Advanced Academy
The Advanced Academy is the competitive development program for talented and ambitious players. Through competitive tryouts, Eagleclaw will form up to two boys teams and up to two girls teams per birth year. Each team will have a maximum roster of 16 players and a dedicated coaching staff. Training support is provided by coaches from the youth academy of Spanish giants, Valencia CF. Advanced Academy teams will compete in the most competitive leagues available, and in the process develop players who will have opportunities to continue playing at higher levels, whether collegiately or for professional soccer clubs.
Valencia Discovery Program
The Valencia Discovery Program (VDP) teams represent the highest level of training and competition. VDP is for the ambitious and talented player who seeks a pathway to the highest levels of the sport. This is a performance-driven pathway for the performance-driven player. Players are selected through competitive tryouts overseen by coaches and scouts from Valencia CF. VDP teams are formed at the Advanced Academy and Primary Academy level and are coached during the season by Eagleclaw coaches, with close supervision and monitoring by a Technical Manager assigned by Valencia CF to oversee the program. The ultimate purpose of VDP is to identify and develop players with the ambition and talent to potentially join Valencia CF's youth academy in Spain. That is a lofty goal and we do not know if any players will reach it. Nevertheless, the high quality of the training will prepare players to pursue other high level playing opportunities, whether it be abroad or in MLS academies or university soccer teams. Click here for more information.
Our Players
Eagleclaw is currently based in the Tukwila area (Starfire Sports). However, players come to Eagleclaw from all over the Greater Puget Sound Area, including Seattle, Edmonds, Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, Renton, Kent, Covington, Federal Way, Auburn, Burien, Tukwila, SeaTac, Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Normandy Park and Tacoma.
