The Boonville Soccer Academy (BSA) is a competitive soccer club based in Boonville, MO, founded in 2010. The club is sanctioned by the Missouri Youth Soccer Association (MYSA).

The mission of the BSA is to promote soccer in the Boonslick area by providing a high-quality training environment. The club strives to achieve excellence in the game of soccer by promoting the physical development, mental growth, and moral character of its participants while strengthening their love of the beautiful game. The focus of the BSA is on player development, not winning the matches (first we learn, then we win).

The BSA generally follows the US Soccer Curriculum, which can be found online at www.ussoccer.com under the "Coaches" tab.

Teams in the BSA play in the Mid-Missouri Premier League (MMPL) and in various tournaments. Matches are typically played in and around Columbia, MO, generally on weekends.

Why the Raven?

Soccer is a game of innovation, creativity, and deception. Our Raven symbolizes all those traits perfectly.

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre (The Gold Bug), Poe is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre (Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget) and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction (The Unparalleled Adventures of Hans Pfaal). He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

Poe's stories often broke from traditional, moral portrayals of the story's narrator; the diabolical motives and/or questionable mental states of the narrators can be found in many of his stories (The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat, Ligeia,). Poe's stories are not straightforward, with easily predicted endings; the reader often questions what is really occurring beyond the scope of the narrator (William Wilson, Berenice, Descent into the Maelstrom).

What does a writer who plied stories about ghouls and madness have to do with soccer? His classic poem "The Raven" is hardly a parable for the beautiful game (although you could make the case that it may reflect the madness and futility often felt by the inexperienced soccer players facing a technical & tactically superior opponent).

As for the raven (corvus corax), it is a member of an exclusive club of sociable deceivers that in the past has included only humans and our close primate relatives. Swiss zoologist Thomas Bugnyar's research shows how a raven named Hugin learned to deceive a more dominant raven named Mugin into looking for cheese morsels in empty containers while Hugin snuck away to raid full containers. This shady behavior satisfies the definition of tactical deception and the key to great “footballers”.

The raven in itself symbolizes Mr. Poe who is the perfect icon for soccer, since he had a gift for innovation, creativity, and deception. Poe said “I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.”. Our goal as a club is to develop footballers that play as mysterious as The Raven.

Please, visit the Documents page for legal and administrative information about the club.

Visit the Teams page for information about the BSA teams and practice, match, and tryout times and locations.

Visit the Schedules page for information about the dates, directions, locations, and times for BSA events, including club meetings, Academy clinics, and youth/adult pick-up games.

Visit the Training page for information about the coaching philosophy, methodology, and activities used by the Academy as well as links to numerous soccer websites and free advice from an athletic trainer at Excel.
 
Visit the Scholarship page for information about assistance for families with financial difficulties.

Visit the Sponsors page for information about the individuals and businesses who have been gracious enough to donate money and services to the BSA.

We appreciate your support, and we hope to have fun learning about and playing soccer.

Sincerely,

Timothy Brown
Director of Coaching

Coaches: Test your knowledge of the game with this Tactical Soccer Situations Test.