The Seattle Sounders FC Academy U-15 squad is a unique entity in the club’s player development apparatus. As a conduit between the U-14s and the U-16s, the U-15s serve two primary objectives: to accelerate the development of players not quite ready for the U-16s and to help talented prospects brought in from Homegrown Territories and out-of-catchment areas get acclimated to the club.
One of the biggest problems in youth soccer before the advent of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy system was the over-reliance on gifted athletes playing route-one soccer. Often times the most intelligent and technically skilled players were passed over because of their size.