O.R.T.A. Pro-Soccer Academy: A New Path to Go Pro and Play Pro-Soccer in Europe ...

Описание: This is a short video that discusses what the founder and technical director of the O.R.T.A. Professional Soccer Academy calls the "College-Defection Trend," a phenomenon which he predicted in a blog-article he wrote in 2018 and could be found by clicking on the following website link:

https://www.ortaprosocceracademy.com/post/...

Is NCAA college soccer structurally flawed and inefficient – as a professional development platform – to develop elite-level professional women soccer players? Absolutely! There is no doubt about it. To be sure, as his blog article posits, the NCAA’s two-to-(maximum)-three-month competitive season puts our best American players in a deleterious disadvantage due to the short-term duration of a given season – especially from the vantage of touches-on-the-ball. Indeed, in the best scenario, the NCAA-college-soccer structure limits elite women soccer players to just sixteen (16) months of competitive play over a period of four (4) years, while splitting focus between academics and athletics. In contrast, European players get forty-four (44) months of professional experience – i.e., touches-on-the-ball, fitness-training, tactical-teaching, and film-study, among other things – training no less than 11-months of the year (including preseason training), and they have been doing this since they were 16 years of age.

Think seriously about that for a few minutes and let it sink in. This system-gap explains why the College-Defection Trend (as set out in the blog-article above) is now in vogue and will continue unfettered for years to come. Our best female (youth-soccer) players – that is, ECNL and Girls Academy players – will henceforth increasingly by-pass NCAA College Soccer to play professional soccer in Europe, where they will develop superior technical skills through consistent training and weekly competitive matches. (Why? Europe has more professional soccer leagues – and, hence, more roster spots – than the NWSL and the USL-W Super League.)

The O.R.T.A. Professional Soccer Academy, which has an uncanny, corporate-based business model, is an alternative, professional development pathway for elite-level, female, youth-soccer players who intend to forego (or skip) NCAA College Soccer to become professionals immediately, as teenagers (17-19 years old). Our target audience are players who know, at a young age, that they want to play professional soccer in Europe, as a trade or career.

The O.R.T.A. Academy focuses on providing fitness-training, sophisticated technical-training (led by the best coaches in Spain), and tactical instruction (via film-study sessions) that aspires to reach a standard of “par excellence.” An we provide "guaranteed placement" in a pro-soccer club in Europe for all youth-trainees that complete our programs.

For instance, the O.R.T.A Academy's first youth-trainee, Sophie Castro, whose profile is on the O.R.T.A. Academy's Instagram site, chose this alternative pathway and is playing professional soccer in Europe:

 From age 14 through 18 (2016-20), she was the only player in Virginia to be selected to the top 18 of the ODP East Region Team;
 She was training with professionals at pro-soccer combines of the RAC Elite Soccer Services agency at 15 years of age;
 When she was 17 years of age, she led Virginia ODP (2004 age-group) to win an ODP regional championship (a rare feat);
 When she was 17 years of age, the O.R.T.A. Academy arranged European trials for her in top-shelf Spanish clubs like Real Madrid, Athletic Madrid, Levante U.D.., Osasuna, Deportivo Alavés, etc. (prior to a near, career-ending injury in which she had to get operated on both of her calves and shins due to chronic exertional compartment syndrome.)
 When she was 18, in the 2d half of the 2023-24 season, she debuted in a starter club, Ciutat de Mislata in a regional league in Spain, where she scored 15 goals in 7 games (while still recovering from her previous injury);
 In the 2024-25 season, when she was 19-years old , she got experience playing professional soccer in Spain for the academy team of Deportivo Alavés; and
 Recently, in the 2025-26 season, when she was 20 years old, she played UEFA Champions League for KFF Vllaznia (the Albanian champions).

In our academy, players (even youth-soccer players) are treated like professionals irrespective of their age. If you watch this video and decide that you want forego (or skip) NCAA College Soccer to play professional soccer in Europe, check out the youth-programs page of the O.R.T.A Academy's website and feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail as follows to get an invitation to one of our webinars:

E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (703) 302-0594
Website: https://www.ortaprosocceracademy.com/youth...
Insta.: @ortaprofessionalsocceracademy
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