What is Bruno United?
Bruno United is a top-flight premier youth soccer club for boys and girls. The club is for players of the highest ability and personal character. Bruno United strives to provide the best opportunities to the most deserving individuals including children from disadvantaged economic backgrounds and a racially diverse cross-section of Rhode Island.

The club offers preeminent professional coaching, unmatched facilities, and a philosophy of "total development" of young people.

Who is Bruno United for?
Bruno United is only for the serious and ambitious soccer player. The club expects that after school and family, Bruno United will be a top priority in the player’s activity choices.

The club seeks to attract youth soccer players of the highest ability and personal character from all economic and racial backgrounds. Bruno United’s player-development philosophy moves beyond the soccer field to promote responsibility and the life skills necessary for success in every facet of the players’ lives.

What does Bruno United offer soccer players?
Bruno United offers three things to its players and parents. 1). Preeminent professional coaching. 2). Superior facilities. 3). A philosophy that emphasizes "total-development" of the player on and off the field.

Preeminent coaching: Bruno United provides preeminent/unmatched professional coaching. The club’s president Mike Noonan is a nationally recognized coach who possesses the highest level of coaching certification in the United States and in Europe. In association with Mike, Ken Murphy Bruno’s Director of Coaching carefully chooses and oversees the coaching staff. The coaches use the latest training methods and techniques. The coaches are chosen because of their knowledge of the game, but also for their ability to work with young players.

Superior facilities: Bruno United’s facilities include:
Olney Margolis Athletic Center for foul weather and off-season training. Warner Roof for foul weather and off-season training. Lights allow evening play. Practice Fields for 3 season training.

The total-development philosophy: At Bruno United winning is important, but the development of players comes first. While the soccer training and competition the club provides is top-notch, Bruno United works to develop the connection between soccer skills and life skills. The importance of academics, respect for others, responsibility, and accountability are integral to what coaches teach their players. In addition to the coaching staff, players from the soccer teams at Brown University assist with training and serve as role models and mentors.

The club also emphasizes an "apolitical" approach to soccer. Soccer, not politics, guides the club’s decisions. Decisions about players are made by soccer professionals and based on the interests of the team, the club, and the players.

How often do teams practice and play?
Most teams practice two times per week and play a game on the weekend. Teams play a minimum of three tournaments per year.

During the fall, the season for ages 12-14 runs from the end of August until November.
Teams may/ will also play an indoor session and train indoors from January until weather permits them to get outdoors.

In the spring, the season for ages 12-18 runs from March through July.

Bruno United teams compete in:
• MAPLE: Massachusetts Premier League
• NEPSYL: New England Premier Soccer Youth League
• Region 1 Premier League
• US Club Soccer
• The club participates in:
• Local, Regional, and National Tournaments
• International Tours

The Soccer Academy: Bruno United also has a soccer academy for boys and girls ages 9-12. The academy is designed to provide younger players with a foundation of skills for future success. The academy trains once a week. The academy emphasizes development but also minimizes the high pressure that can lead to lead to the "burn-out" of young soccer players. Those interested should contact Anders Kelto at doc@brunounited.com.

How do I know if my child should try out for Bruno United?
If your child has demonstrated both a commitment to and love of soccer on and off the playing field, Bruno United is a great opportunity. Parents should also be comfortable with the philosophy of the club and aware of the commitment that comes with playing premier soccer.

How are players chosen to play for Bruno United?
Bruno United selects its players in a series of tryouts held in June and July. Every player trying out is given a careful look using specific objective criteria by several coaches at the club.

How much does Bruno United cost?
The fees for 2007-2008 season for Bruno United are all-inclusive and are paid in several installments over the course of the year.

U12-U14 (Fall, Winter, Spring): $1530
U15-U17 (Winter, Spring): $1255
U18 (Winter - Spring): $ 975


The cost includes:
• Coaching
• Facility Rental (Indoor and Outdoor)
• Uniforms: Jerseys (2), Shorts (1), Socks (2)
• Referee Fees
• Tournaments (3)
• Registrations: MAPLE League, USYSA, Indoor Leagues, U.S. Club Soccer


Does Bruno United offer scholarships?
Bruno United offers a scholarship program. Scholarships are awarded based on need—not on ability. Between 8 and 15% of players at Bruno United are on scholarship. Funds for scholarships are raised through fundraising events, and corporate and individual gifts.

The one-page scholarship application can be obtained by contacting doc@brunounited.com

What if I have other questions?
Bruno United has a player-parent manual and other information at www.brunounited.com that gives a more in-depth view of the club.

You may contact Anders Kelto, Director of Coaching for Bruno United, at (401) 473-5153 or at doc@brunounited.com

Mike Noonan, head coach of the Brown University Men’s Soccer Team, and the President and founder of Bruno United recently sat down to talk with the Bruno website correspondent to talk about his vision for the soccer club.

Bruno: Let me offer congratulations on your success in being named New England Soccer Coach of the Year. There are other examples of your programs success: the Brown University men’s program is a perennial contender, you’ve won six Ivy League championships in your nine years at Brown. You’ve had players drafted into the MLS, a player capped for the U.S. national team. But how would you define success for Bruno United? How do you plan to measure that?

Mike Noonan: There are a lot of different ways to define success within our club. The easiest way for people to see success is with on-field performance. Recently one of first graduates of the club (even though it is only a year old) accepted a scholarship to Boston University to play soccer. Eric Gladney got that scholarship and we’re very happy for him. But I think that more important than the on-field success is the development of young people; using sports and athletics to teach life-lessons is part of the mission of the club. We want to be able to offer this athletic opportunity to wide variety and wide range of people in the greater Providence area. If we can reach out to the whole community and help people understand life-lessons through sport than I think we are making the greater Providence area a better place.

Bruno: Let’s take a typical kid, say an eleven or twelve-year-old boy or a girl. They come to Bruno United and play here for four or five years. What’s their soccer experience going to be? What are the things you want to see in their development as a soccer player? What are some of the life-lessons you’d like them to pick up on? Doesn’t have to be a particularly talented player…

Mike Noonan: Well, in order to be involved in our club you have to have a modicum of athletic talent. We are premier club and we do have tryouts. There is a dichotomy of success and failure: of whether you make the team or you don’t make the team, whether you start or you don’t start. That’s all part of what we do. Those are part of the lessons we feel that at the age of twelve or thirteen kids need to start learning so that they learn how to deal with those things: both success and failure. But a young player, obviously on the field we would like their technical ability to advance each year.

I think we have some of the finest coaches in the area. Using the resources of our staff, but also using some of the resources that I have and contacts that I have we have been able draw a great coaching staff. I think that is the most important element in the teaching process. The people we hire here at Brown and the people we hire at Bruno United are going to coach and lead our teams and are going be just that: they are going to be teachers interested in the development of young players. They are going to have coaching licenses. They are going to have a background in not necessarily just playing the game, though most of them do, but in how to teach young people the game. That’s a key ingredient that we offer and one that many clubs have a hard time providing.

So, from twelve to fourteen we will really emphasize technical development, and then as a player goes along we add the tactical piece. Decision-making and being able to break the game down at a quicker pace is important as they develop through their middle school years.

Obviously the high school years are for us to showcase our players’ talent so that the kids who do want to enjoy the game at the next level and play in college or possibly at a professional level will be able to do that. Our job is put them into tournaments throughout the country that will showcase their talent at an appropriate level. This is not all going to happen overnight, because we are a young club and it takes a great deal of time to develop the culture within the club so that we can get accepted into those tournaments consistently.

Off the field, we want to develop young people who are respectful of the opportunity of playing soccer and respect everything that goes into it. That’s everything from their parents making sure that they get places and drive them, having the proper manners to thank their parents, and to treat the people, whether coaches or referees anybody who is helping them be involved with this sport, with a respectful attitude. It’s not always that way. We are going to remind kids that the most important thing is to respect the game and to respect the opportunity to be able to play.

I think that some of the life-lessons we are talking about are time-management, the importance of academics, and making sure that their school-work is taken care of, because that really is the only way that they are going to advance themselves. The sport is a medium and the true way for a kid to get ahead is through school.

Hopefully, if there are some kids that don’t have some of the advantages that other kids have in the club, a difficult home life or socio-economic status, we want to help them participate and also not feel overwhelmed by what’s going on. If there’s a kid whose both parents are working, we’ll teach a kid how to get on a bus and come to practice. We want to teach some things about responsibility. Sometimes kids fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years of age don’t get enough guidance. We are not actually going to babysit kids, but we are going to provide guidance so that they can take control of their own lives and make good decisions for themselves.

Bruno: Where do you want to see the club in five years?

Mike Noonan: More than anything else, I would like the opportunity to be there for everyone who wants to play premier soccer. In order to do that, it takes a great deal of capital. That is one of my main goals and it is important to the continued development of the game in this country. Kids get passed by because they can’t afford premier soccer or the ODP programs. I would like to be able to find a way so that no matter what, if you have the talent and the drive that there is a place for you in our club. I think that that’s one of the most important things we can do for soccer in New England. Funding for scholarships, funding so that kids can go to tournaments and stay overnight. There was team from Central Falls, a town team, who won the State Cup, who couldn’t go the regionals because they couldn’t afford it. I heard that story and that was really an impetus for me to try to find a way for those who are involved in the game, who make a living from the game, to give back to talented young people who maybe don’t have the advantages that we had.

That’s one piece. The other piece is to be able to provide kids with proper facilities and proper coaching. We have great facilities on the boy’s side right now with Moses Brown. We are developing a site that will be our home hopefully in the next five years and we are working on some new facilities for our girls program right now. In order for a program to be successful they need to have good direction, proper coaching, and good facilities. I think that our club is well on the way to doing those things. I would like to make sure that in five year that those things are secure so that when the kids come to training, they are not training in a park, that there are goals, there are lines on the field that it’s a proper surface for them to play. I want people to look at us as a model for other clubs who are in the area.

Bruno: You just received your UEFA "A" license, the highest level license offered in Europe. Does that trickle down to what you do at Bruno United?

Mike Noonan: Any involvement you have in the game, you always want to challenge yourself, it’s like any education process. Education never ends; it is a lifelong process. Getting the UEFA license was another step in educating myself. I was able to talk other people who were in charge of youth academies over in England about how they do youth-development over in England. So absolutely there is a trickle-down effect. The actual license and the course content is more for your higher-level player: professional and collegiate level players. But it all trickles down. People who are involved in the course are involved in doing the exact same things that we are doing here as far as talent-identification, talent-development, facility-development, and in all the things that go along with the game that is so popular throughout the world. Most importantly, I got to interact with people over the course of a year who were as passionate about the game as I am and passionate about making it a better game for the people who follow us.

Bruno: What is Bruno United’s relationship with Brown University?

Mike Noonan: Bruno United couldn’t have been developed without Brown University, the Brown players, the athletic administration who are allowing us to spend our time helping youth players. Initially I wanted to get my men’s coaching staff to be head coaches for Bruno teams, to get the experience of being the head coach of a team, because obviously here at Brown I make most of the decisions. But we want a vertically integrated program, similar to what you see over in England, where you have your youth teams and you go step by step up to professional.

And the next logical step is producing players for Brown University or Division I colleges or any place in college and then maybe even professionally. The only step that we don’t have is that we don’t own a pro team, which I don’t see in our plans any time soon. But I see the example that Brown gives us as far as excellence in the academic field and excellence in everything that you do. We want to model that throughout our program and have a vertically integrated program straight from the bottom all the way up to the top. I think that is part of the reason why we developed the club.

Bruno: How do kids and their families find a balance between high performing soccer and other parts of their lives?

Mike Noonan: If we truly evolve into a well functioning club then Bruno will be a big part of the family’s lives like any club (golf, beach, social). Much of the time will be spent socializing and being involved with the Club and the Club's activities and games. There is always a time commitment and balance that each family is willing to make. As with anything else, the value and fun is equal to the commitment and time one puts in.

Bruno: Why should kids play other sports and when should they focus solely on soccer, if ever?

Mike Noonan: This is an individual and family choice. I have mixed feelings on this and generally I trust the player to make that decision based on his enjoyment and the family's ability to provide quality opportunities and devote the appropriate amount of time to each sport. There is no doubt that "specialization" is a double edge sword in development. However, the pressure to decide should come from the individual player with guidance from the parents and advice from qualified professionals in the field (coaches) who they trust. It is more about maturity levels than a specific age.

Bruno: You talk about a vertically integrated club. What does Bruno have to offer town clubs and what do town clubs have to offer Bruno?

Mike Noonan: Bruno offers town clubs an opportunity to continue the player development of young players and expose them to levels of competition and training that many local town teams choose not to provide. Competition is different than a "win at all costs" mentality and is the cornerstone of development. Bruno also offers town clubs resources and references in terms of our coaching staff to help make the town experience as rewarding as possible. Obviously the town clubs offer Bruno the natural resource of players who are having their initial soccer exposure and experience. If this is a positive one, our hope is, the best players will seek future challenges with our club.

Bruno: RI soccer has always been organized around coaches, around specific teams rather than clubs. How and why is Bruno different?

Mike Noonan: We are trying to build a club, not one team. We have people – paid and volunteer – who are focused on the development of a healthy club environment more than on any particular team. Obviously our coaches focus intensely on their teams, but they do so without losing site of the club’s values. A club can support the players in the club and the teams in the club in many ways by building a strong reputation – branding if you will. This helps attract quality coaches and players to the club. With a club culture, fundraising is enhanced, which makes soccer available to all players and makes better facilities available. Coaches in a strong club environment are far more supportive of each other. This club-wide insistence on quality means that if you decide to play at Bruno, you can be assured of good coaching, so you don’t need to worry a lot about who will be your coach. It is generally now accepted that youth players should change coaches as they develop. A great U12 coach is not necessarily a great U17 coach. It is also good for kids to learn under different influences, to learn to play their best for more than one person. Nevertheless, while we won’t be a cult of coaches, Bruno will be built around our coaches and we will seek the best facilities and appropriate leagues to challenge all our teams. This is not a "quick fix". It is a process that takes a number of years to evolve but I feel we are making good progress.

Bruno: Tell us about your statement at the auction the other night that you want to focus on player retention, not player recruitment.

Mike Noonan: Our focus will be on creating a good experience for our players so they are more apt to enjoy the game for a lifetime, not a short time. Too many young people get "wide eyed" and sold a bill of goods through recruiting. This happens at all levels and I experience it daily at the collegiate level with an inordinate amount of transfer inquiries. We want to produce an excellent product that is professionally administrated and run. Player development is a process that takes much longer than a year. We will always strive to have the best players in our pools but hopefully if we are doing our job right our teams will continue to improve year after year.

Bruno: Any other thoughts?

Mike Noonan: I had a large hand in starting Seacoast United up in New Hampshire and that has just taken off. I’ve watched that and even been a little bit envious of what Paul Willis, the director of the club has been able to do with the club that we started around the dining room table. Now that’s taken off, with their own indoor and outdoor facilities, great volunteer support and great paid staff, and teams in all age groups at all levels. They are fully integrated into the community and they’re one of the models that we are using to build our program.

One thing that I want to emphasize is that we want to give back to the community. We will have some programs that do give back to the community. I remember at Seacoast we worked with the Make-A-Wish foundation. We expect to announce in the next year or so a couple of programs here in the city of Providence that our soccer club will help support.