NCFC Youth Welcomes Pre-College Development Academy (PCDA) to the visitRaleigh.com Boys College Showcase Combine
NCFC Youth is excited to welcome Pre-College Development Academy (PCDA) to the visitRaleigh.com Boys College Showcase Combine in December. As the presenting sponsor of the Combine, PCDA will have a strong on-site presence during the combine and the tournament weekend, be featured on the combine training shirts, and be engaged with our combine players at different points throughout the session.
“We are thrilled to partner with such a prestigious tournament and look forward to helping many student athletes as we open the doors for PCDA-Raleigh in 2023,” said PCDA founder Ryan Hodgson. “We are always looking to share our model with prospective student athletes. Now more than ever, high school graduates are fighting an uphill battle to find a spot on a college soccer team and to earn meaningful minutes. If they don’t, their development can stagnate leading to high dropout rates or transferring to another institution. PCDA was created to allow students to attend college but play with PCDA over a 10-month period. We have taken the US collegiate model, combined it with a professional academy system, all while preserving eligibility. This means a student athlete can leave PCDA as an academic college junior, but an athletic freshman with the experience of a junior soccer player or higher.”
PCDA is the first network of post-high school residential interconnected soccer academies in the United States. Their goal is to bridge the gap between youth soccer and each individual player’s “next level”. Whether it’s playing in college, academy soccer overseas, or pursuing a professional career, PCDA gives players the opportunity to continue developing on and off the field without sacrificing their eligibility. PCDA offers / will offer locations in Raleigh (NC), Charlotte (NC), Murfreesboro (TN), Atlanta (GA), and Denver (CO).
NCFC Youth expects nearly 300 high school aged players from across the country at the combine in December. Registered players are divided up into teams, train with college coaches, and then play games for extra recruiting exposure to college coaches in attendance.
“We look forward to having PCDA engaged with our combine participants this year,” said Katharine Eberhardt, NCFC Youth Chief Marketing & Development Officer. “We know the journey to the ‘next level’ looks different for every player and roadblocks may stand in the way of reaching that next step – whether it’s academics, physical development, the effects of the pandemic and transfer portal on recruiting, or anything else. PCDA is a new avenue for players to consider in their soccer journey.”
For post-high school graduates who want to play in college, PCDA offers a platform to start college classes while preserving athletic eligibility. Most PCDA athletes take college classes towards a bachelor’s degree. To learn more about PCDA or to apply, visit www.PreCollegePDA.com or talk with a staff member during the tournament.
About PCDA:
The Pre-College Development Academy was introduced in the United States in 2021. PCDA has been created with parts of various programming from around the world. In the US, the focus is on student athletes while in Europe, programs like this exist as an insurance policy to capture late developers. PCDA is the perfect environment to allow high school graduates to start their college academic careers while also further developing in a year-round soccer program preserving their collegiate eligibility. PCDA's goal is to allow student athletes time to further develop and mature before they take on the difficult journey of becoming a successful collegiate athlete or beyond.
