While Minnesota United’s inaugural MLS season is entering its home stretch, another inaugural season is just getting underway: the MNUFC Development Academy kicks off its first season on Saturday, September 9 with U13 and U14 matches against Campton United SC at the National Sports Center in Blaine. The young athletes have been working hard in training for three weeks now, getting ready for their first matches and getting to know each other as well.

“We’re kind of an expansion side in the academy,” laughs Academy Director Tim Carter. “So I think your first year in, some boys are going to get accustomed to the travel and the demands. And I think that that’s going to be an education. Sometimes, we learn as much as they do. We might think they’re ready for this one activity with this level of pressure, but then come to find we probably needed to start one notch lower.”

Training on weekday evenings for several hours each day has already given the players a peek into the kind of commitment they’re making, but they already seem to relish the work and the chance to prove themselves.

“It’s really hard, because everyone else is really good,” says 13-year-old Louis Walthour. “It’s tough, because the competition is there, and everyone is competing for a spot on the team, so everyone is working really hard.”

According to Academy Coach Andy Seidel, preseason training involves a lot of adjustment and evaluation, particularly since these kids are growing into the game at the same time as they’re growing physically.

“Last year they were playing on a smaller field,” he says, “and they weren’t necessarily playing the same positions as we have on the field now. So it’s trying to figure out where they fit. And really, this might not be where they’re going to be for their whole career.”

One thing they don’t want for, certainly, is players who want to shoot.

“Our mids just want to attack, and I’m just left behind,” laments 12-year-old David Alejandro Hernandez with the exaggerated exasperation of a pre-teen who can’t quite hide how much fun he’s actually having. “And there’s a ton of space in the middle, and then we get scored on.”

These kinds of growing pains are only natural, of course. It’s hard enough for the first team to develop a cohesive identity and sense of themselves and they don’t have homework and curfew to worry about.

“For us, it’s still about trying to make these kids individually better,” says Carter. “At the same time, try to help them play together in a group, and play together in a team. At this age, you don’t know which player all of a sudden is going to emerge five years from now and be a real player. I learned very early on that good early doesn’t mean good late. And passion and determination and love for playing has a lot to do with who all of a sudden becomes that player.”

Between now and the end of the season in late November, the U13 and U14 teams will play about a dozen matches. For now, the boys’ passion is directed squarely at their upcoming opponents, with the players naming their counterparts in other MLS academies as some of the matchups they’re most looking forward to, including the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew SC teams.

The academy’s first year, however, is long. After the fall season ends, training continues, but competitive play picks back up in late March and runs through the start of June. Along the way, the U13 and U14 teams will face many different opponents from all over the country. Some days, they won’t have gotten much sleep the night before, or they might have had a monster project due in Honors Bio. After one recent preseason match they handled easily, Carter reminded them that there’ll be ups and downs this season.

“At the end of the game, I said to this group, you know, if it was like water, that team was just above our ankles,” he says. “But I said that there are going to be some teams that the water is going to be to our waist, and there’s going to be a few that the water is going to be up to our chin. So if you practice only to beat the team where the water is above your ankles, you’re going to have a real tough going. You have to practice like every team is going to be up to your chin, and you have to be ready to take it on.”