The new MPLS Futures program in Minneapolis hopes to bridge the gap between youth club soccer and professional soccer. With team identities inspired by the city of Minneapolis, the league provides a unique opportunity for young Minnesota players to proudly represent their state and further their player development. We spoke with Adam Pribyl, the MPLS City SC General Manager and Technical Director, and Dan Hoedeman, co-founder of Minneapolis City SC, to discuss the Futures program and the ideas behind the designs of the crests and kits.

How and when did you first start planning this league and why? What has been the local reaction to it?

ADAM: We started planning this in 2018. To me, there are two real reasons why we started looking at programming for this age group: 1. There is a gap there - once youth club soccer begins to deteriorate after U17, we wanted to find a way to provide responsive programming that would give players that want to continue to improve and develop an outlet to do so. 2. Our mission is to give Minnesota players a platform through Minneapolis City SC to compete for national dominance, so identifying and nurturing talent at younger age levels makes sense for us.

Although it has gone through a lot of different iterations, I am really happy about the plan we have moving forward.

Local reactions have been really positive. I have spoken with a number of local soccer leaders that all love the concept of the Futures program.

DAN: We had the idea of a multi-level club that would bridge the gap between youth club soccer and professional soccer since the beginning and, in early 2018, our Members approved us looking at a U19 extension, though at that time the details still had to be worked out.

We took our time developing the plan because we wanted it to be right for the kids, right for their development, and additive to what is already happening in Minnesota soccer. All too often, people come in with plans that try to erase or undermine or destroy what already exists. We weren't about to do that.

The MPLS Futures program is a unique approach to the talent development pipeline in the US. Do you feel any added pressure to prove it could be a replicable model for other cities and clubs? Have clubs in other cities reached out to you about the model?

ADAM: We don't necessarily feel any more pressure for this to succeed with it being a unique model because the pressure for us is already there. We put pressure on ourselves to provide a platform for the top talent in Minnesota to thrive beyond the youth club experience. That is where the pressure comes from.

If other areas and markets in the US adopt the model because they see it as beneficial for players in their area, then that is just an added benefit.

DAN: Like Adam said, the pressure comes from ourselves. It comes from our desire to do right by these players, by our community, and for the club. We want to do it right because we want to do right by our neighbors.

It would be great if it ends up being a model that works broadly, but if it doesn't that is okay too. The United States is vast, it's a continent-spanning country, that's wild and wondrous and different. We need to stop thinking about these one size fits all, top down solutions. Minnesota player development should be different than Texas player development because of climate alone! Nobody demands Iceland do what Italy is doing and for good reason. Still, I do think that the Futures model is transferable to a lot of different areas and, if it makes sense, to hope that others take the model and use it.

One of the league’s stated goals is to win a national championship with only Minnesota-based players. What has been the reaction of 18-20 year old players in the Twin Cities?

ADAM: We believe that one of the issues facing younger players is they don't always see a pathway for themselves after youth club soccer. Less than 5% of all players at that age play college soccer, and less than that play professionally. Giving players a pathway to play at a high level and compete in regional and national leagues gives them something to work and strive for, and we hope can further their individual player development which can raise the level of soccer in Minnesota altogether.

DAN: Players want to know 'what's next?' as they get older. We have a meaningful answer for that, one that motivates guys at 18 and 28. Playing in front of our fans, against big clubs, for a national title? If you can't get up for that then soccer isn't for you.

Additionally, in the teen years especially it's important for players to see the level, the application, the mentality of top players. You can't really do that in age group play, especially in a smaller state like Minnesota. I've heard young guys tell me how valuable training with our NPSL players are. How someone like Martin Browne or Luke Haakenson is so good, so focused every training session. How hard it is against big, strong defenders like Aaron Olson and Jonah Garcia, and how they won't lose even a training exercise. Good players want to play with good players, and good young players want to test themselves. Because of that, the reaction from the young guys has been really positive. They want to be in the arena, take down the old guard, show what they can do. It's fantastic.

I'm interested in the neighborhood concept for the designs for the four teams. Can you tell me more about that? What design elements make the crests and kits unique to those neighborhoods?

ADAM: I would have to defer to Dan Hoedeman. He is the marketing/design wizard that does a great job with all of this stuff. I just get to wear the awesome gear.

DAN: The animating idea of Futures was to help local players elevate so, as we built out the mini-league, we wanted to have them represent some of Minneapolis' neighborhoods, to have a team to fight for. Plus, it seemed like fun.

Each of the teams has a design that comes from the neighborhood:

**Northeast Wanderers, from the Northeast neighborhood, is inspired by the neighborhood's flag (which has its own offbeat history).**

**Near North gets its inspiration from a mural that welcomes people to North Minneapolis when you go across Broadway from downtown into North.**

Powderhorn, which represents South Minneapolis, gets its inspiration from a gazebo/public art piece called the Teahouse that is in Powderhorn Park.

And what is now Riverside Rovers gets inspiration from the Riverside Towers, a brutalist, Mondrian-like, set of residential towers very close to our home stadium.

Lastly, how did your partnership with KonceptKitz develop?

DAN: It all started on Twitter, as so many good things do.

I had noticed what he was doing and followed him. He did, on his own, some concepts for us and they were really sharp. I slid into his DMs and we chatted about his work, could we bring it to life, and then the Futures came up. He was keen to give it a go and, as you can see, did a fantastic job of translating the style, the neighborhood into kits. That's pretty much all there is to the story!

Thank you, Adam and Dan, for the insight into the Futures program. Learning about its formation, support for youth development, and the neighborhood design elements was very interesting. We wish you the best and look forward to watching it in action.