Philadelphia Union

❄️ Welcome to the December Edition of the Affiliate Newsletter!

It’s hard to believe the Fall 2025 season has already wrapped up. The good news is we’re heading into a joyful holiday stretch filled with a well-earned break and plenty of celebration.

This month, your Affiliate Newsletter focuses on the Mental and Tactical aspects of the game. See what our coaches have shared below in The Modern Player. ⬇️

🎁 Gift your player Specialized Soccer Training Sessions or join us for 3v3 Pickup Games this month! Remember, all Affiliate players and families receive exclusive discounts on Union Youth programs such as camps, clinics, and training.

Thank you for being part of our Affiliate family, and please enjoy this month’s issue.

— CJ Seemuller, Senior Youth Coordinator

Community & Environment

By: Lucas Milazzo

The Community’s Role in Protecting the Next Generation of American Talent

The American soccer landscape is constantly evolving, growing more popular, more structured, and, crucially, more competitive with each passing season. While this intensity is necessary to develop elite talent, it often comes at an overlooked cost: the crushing pressure placed on young athletes striving to reach the professional level. The stress and anxiety to perform aren’t born in the MLS locker room; they begin on the youth fields.

The Perfect Storm of Pressure

Young players today navigate a dangerous combination of pressures: from parents, coaches, peers, and, most potently, from themselves. Players are pushed to their physical and emotional limits younger and younger, and the constant threat of deselection or failure can lead to burnout, anxiety, and a profound loss of interest in the sport itself.

As Diego Luna of Real Salt Lake wisely pointed out, “Most people talk about mental health for adults, and that’s important. But I’m proof that young people need help just as much.”

In this hyper-competitive environment, players can feel incredibly isolated. When their performance is judged against the enormous demands of the professional pipeline, a below-average game can feel like a devastating failure. We must understand that a player's performance on the field is only one slice of their life; they are navigating the complexities of adolescence, school, and personal challenges alongside their athletic pursuits.

Creating a Thriving Ecosystem

The key to supporting these athletes and keeping their passion alive lies in the community—the people who surround them every day. Coaches, parents, teammates, and friends have a far greater impact than we often realize.

Coaches as Mentors: Beyond tactics, coaches are vital in advising players on methods for sustainable success and mental resilience. They guide, but they must also listen and validate.
Parents as Cheerleaders: Parents can shift the focus from strict performance metrics to nurturing the fundamental love for the game. Cheer for effort, resilience, and the joy of participation, not just goals and wins.
Teammates as a Support System: Fostering a locker room culture where teammates pick each other up and are open to understanding individual struggles creates an essential safety net. Loneliness thrives in silence; community thrives in vulnerability.

Soccer is, fundamentally, a joyful and welcoming game. While hardships and triumphs are inevitable, we cannot allow the next generation to forget why they started playing. By creating an environment where young athletes are encouraged to seek support and are valued for more than just their scoring potential, we ensure that the memories they make—as players, coaches, and supporters—will last long after the final whistle. Let's strive to create a love for the game, rather than creating a systematic path that strips it away.

The Advantages of Using a Game Model

By: Andrew Bennett

What is a Game Model?

Clarity: Nothing should be left open to interpretation between players, coaches, and parents. It creates a blueprint for everyone, starting with the identity of the club and its philosophies. The main components are Team Structure and Shape, Principles of Play throughout all four phases of the game, and coaching terminology.
Identity and Philosophies: Club culture, who do we want to be, and how do we want to be remembered, regardless of results.
Team Structure and Shape: Formations are the shape our team adopts to play games. Broken down into three different units: a defensive unit, a midfield unit, and an attacking unit. With each unit broken down into individual positions. Each position has its own specific role and responsibilities.
Phases of Play: The game itself. Each phase describes a moment during the game. Two involve transitions: the defending to attacking transition and the attacking to defending transition. The other two phases are the attacking phase, when we have possession of the ball, and the defensive phase, when we do not have possession of the ball.
Principles of Play: This is how we approach all the phases of play, concentrating on our approach rather than the opposition.
Coaching Terminology: All coaches use the same key words and coaching points. Using a universal language.

The Philadelphia Union uses the same game model throughout the club from the First Team through Union 2, Academy & Union Juniors, and the Union Youth’s Player Pathway Program. Four different departments work together through the same playbook.

The Advantages of Using a Game Model

No more generic session plans. Everything is planned specifically using the game model. Since there are specific roles and responsibilities, session plans need to incorporate them into the session design and coaching points.
Easy transition for players. With all coaches using the same terminology, when a player starts to work with a new team or coach, or is a guest player during a tournament. They don’t need an extra explanation of keywords. They already understand them. This is fantastic at the youth level, where teams go from 7v7, 9v9 to 11v11. Where clubs go from three 7v7 teams and merge into two 9v9 teams, and into one 11v11 team.
Matchday becomes a development opportunity for the players. Using objectives revolving around principles of play allows players to take everything learned from practice into a game day.

Overall, a Game Model allows us to develop a positive learning environment, allowing players to grow and learn with clarity. Players can transition between teams smoothly in terms of terminology and expected roles and responsibilities for their position.

Team Philosophy & Identity

By: Juan Flores

One of the most impactful steps a club can take is developing a clear “Identity” and methodology that guides players from the youngest age groups all the way to the top level. When a club commits to a unified playing philosophy, every training session, every game, and every player action becomes part of a long-term developmental pathway, not just a moment on the field.

For clubs, adopting a club-wide Identity offers several key benefits:

Clear Expectations for Players and Coaches: Everyone understands the style of play and the actions we value on the field. Learning becomes faster and more intentional.
Development Over Winning: When methodology leads the way, long-term player growth takes priority over short-term results.
Smooth Transitions Between Age Groups: Players advance knowing the principles and habits they’ve been training.
Long-Term Player Success: A unified identity prepares athletes for high-level competition, whether within the club or beyond.

Why Identity Helps Players Grow

A consistent methodology has a real impact on development:

Faster Learning: Players don’t have to re-learn a new style every year. They build habits that compound over time.
Clear Expectations: Players and parents understand what the club values on the field, and coaches evaluate players with the same standards.
Higher Soccer IQ: The identity teaches decision-making—when to play forward, when to combine, when to overload—rather than isolated skills.
More Confident Players: When principles are repeated in every environment, actions become instinctive. Players become brave and decisive.

⭐ This is how real growth happens: repetition, clarity, and purpose.

How Philadelphia Union Youth Coaches Develop the Identity in Training

A powerful example of this is the Philadelphia Union, whose academy and youth departments mirror the methodology of the first team. From the youth department to the professional level, players grow within the same principles: forward-first thinking in both attacking and defending, active touches, bravery on the ball, quick combination play, and recognizing or creating overloads. This shared identity allows players to step into higher levels seamlessly because they’ve been building the same habits for years.

Our principles aren’t just words; they show up in every training session:

Forward-First Mindset: Exercises encourage immediate forward scanning, forward passing, and forward pressing moments.
Active Touches: Technical work focuses on purposeful touches, directional control, and scanning before receiving.
Bravery Training: Small-sided games create situations where players must take risks, attack space, and problem-solve under pressure.
Combination Play: Rondos, positional play, and third-man runs help players break lines using quick, intelligent movement.
Overloads & Transition: Small-sided games (3v2s, 4v2s, 6v4s) teach players how to recognize overloads and exploit them quickly.

⭐ Every age group uses these same foundational ideas, adjusted for their stage of development, to create a unified identity from top to bottom.

Moving Forward Together

As we continue growing our affiliate program, reinforcing these core principles isn’t just a coaching choice; it’s an investment in every player’s future. Consistency builds confidence, clarity builds development, and a shared methodology builds a club that moves forward together.