Here's to a happy and healthy 2019! We're excited to get this year rolling and look forward to many big events and initiatives not the least of which is seeing our U.S. WNT compete for their fourth star at the 2019 Women's World Cup this summer in France!

The January Membership Call to discuss the information in this newsletter and answer any additional questions you may have will be held Thursday, Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. CT. CALL-IN INFO.

Club Development Workshops Held with Technical Leads at United Soccer Coaches Convention

As part of the United Soccer Coaches Convention, our Club Development and Coaching Education teams held two different sessions to further engage with Members about how our in-market Club Development Managers (CDMs) can collaborate with Technical Leads.

The first session, held on Wednesday afternoon, was an informative explanation of the Club Development department and allowed CDMs to meet attendees.

The session on Friday morning was a collaborative workshop led by Coaching Education and facilitated by the CDMs to discuss strategic planning with attendees, using the Coaching Education strategic plan as a framework.

Next, the CDMs in your area will reach out to your Technical Lead. Then on January 31 at 1 p.m. CT, there will be a webinar to recap these meetings for those technical leads and interested administrators who couldn't attend, so that everyone is on the same page. We want to be transparent with sharing our plan and key performance indicators as we move forward with this initiative. Details on the webinar will be sent next week.

U.S. Soccer and Volkswagen of America Announce Multi-Year Presenting Partnership

Yesterday, we announced a landmark, integrated partnership with Volkswagen of America, Inc., making Volkswagen the presenting automotive partner to the Federation through 2022.

A significant part of the new resources generated by the Volkswagen partnership will go towards helping educate and develop more female coaches, at various levels of the coaching certification process. With more programs and more resources, U.S. Soccer can accelerate implementation and impact more people who can make positive contributions to the overall development of the game.

As part of the historic partnership, Volkswagen will have branding on training tops for all U.S. Soccer National Teams, including the Men's and Women's National Teams, all Youth National Teams as well as the Para 7-, Beach and Futsal National Teams, and the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

2019 Grassroots Instructor License Courses

We are looking forward to hosting Instructor License (GR IL) courses in 2019. U.S. Soccer will continue to subsidize the costs for the GR Instructor License Course in 2019. As part of that process, we will offer three to four additional courses from July-December that are in addition to what is currently planned. Please click here for more information, including the current list of GR IL courses.

AGM Updates: Sign Up for Airport Transportation

In keeping with our practice from previous years, we will offer a shuttle service to/from the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to both hotels: The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch (main hotel) and The McCormick Scottsdale (overflow).

In order to accommodate everyone, we ask that you fill out this form by Feb. 4 to confirm your arrival and departure times. If you don't sign up, you may be able to jump on a shuttle, but only if there is room, so to secure your complimentary ride, be sure to submit your arrival/departure information.

The shuttle is set to run on Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and then on Sunday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you are scheduled to arrive or depart outside those windows, please be sure to secure your own transportation.

You can find additional details on the airport shuttle HERE.

Other Information/Reminders:

• The February Membership Update will come out on Feb. 19, 2019
• Information on the NDC and required data fields archived here.
• The Youth National Team Identification Center Schedule is available here.
• All upcoming International Games scheduled in the United States are available via links on ussoccer.com under "International Games-Weekly Schedule." The pdf is updated when any new game is scheduled.
• Additional comments, suggestions, or questions are always welcome, so feel free to call 312-528-1300 or email us.