GXFC Mission

The mission of Georgia Express FC is to create a premium recreational and developmental youth soccer program for Johns Creek and the Fulton/Forsyth area of Georgia.

This mission is rooted in guidance from leading soccer organizations on how best to develop youth soccer players, including Georgia Youth Soccer, United States Soccer, and from the top soccer clubs from around the world.

Pressure is cited as the single biggest reason players quit football (soccer) in England after twelve years of age. This pressure misses some key components of 8-12 year old boys and girls. First, every leading authority on youth soccer agrees that practices are exponentially more important than games for youth soccer development. This may seem counter intuitive, but each boy and girl will get substantially more touches on the ball in practice than in games. Second, youth mature differently, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Labeling youth players good or bad too early limits their development as players, and more importantly as people.

Lastly (and most importantly from a soccer perspective), too much emphasis by players and coaches too early on winning limits the development and creativity of the player as they age. In fact, this is pointed to as one of the major limitations of US Soccer on the global stage, that the over-structured approach to US Youth Soccer pushes creates a coaching environment where team tactics become more important than player development. This is illustrated by a variety of examples, including forcing players to play kickball rather than feeling comfortable controlling the ball, teaching game tactics and tricks that result in quick goals at the expense of richer games, and players with limited positional flexibility; i.e., they cannot use their left foot, cannot defend, cannot win battles in the midfield, lack fluidity in their formation and movement.

GXFC won’t fix everything wrong with Youth Soccer around the world, but the coaches and leaders of the club are committed to always erring on the side of player development.