Originally founded in 2017 in Chester, England, the University Development Academy (UDA) soccer program at NMSU has given its’ players the unique opportunity to compete and train at a professional level since its implementation in 2019 – all while allowing its athletes to receive a full education at the same time.
NMSU holds the country’s first and only UDA program. Las Cruces’s adequate year-round weather, UNM recently dropping their men’s soccer program, as well as having access to the main NMSU campus and DACC ticked all the boxes to implement a UDA program. These factors create opportunities for aspiring collegiate soccer players in the surrounding area, especially because NMSU had never had a men’s soccer team before UDA.
UDA is not affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), nor does it identify exactly as a club. It’s considered more of a hybrid, where athletes get to compete at an advanced professional level without the restrictions of a typical program.
Being able to play at such a high level has proven to be beneficial for UDANMSU. They’ve gotten opportunities to compete against a range of age groups, like playing teams of more upper high school to college-age leagues, to United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) teams ranging from age 25-35. Having these experiences of playing against a vast range of clubs around the country has led them to some particularly unique achievements.
They are the only university team to have ever qualified for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, where they played against Albuquerque’s professional team, New Mexico United, as well as having won various UPSL and regular season championship titles.
“That’s what these guys are striving for, is to get them [to be] that competitive team that gets to have these opportunities,” program director Jeff Thompson said. “Being able to put that label on New Mexico State, and the fact that we are the only [university] team to ever have done that in the U.S., was pretty special.”
Managing athletics and academics as a full-time student-athlete can be notoriously difficult, but UDA fosters a unique blend of each to manage the student’s time through study programs. Their mission statement, “Changing lives through education,” displays the program’s high value of degree achievement and using academics as a driver to encourage new athletes to join their team.
“[The coaches] are making sure we’re not slacking off in school, which is also one of the reasons why I came to this program,” team captain Dominick Worm said. “I want a degree, while also playing the sport that I’ve loved and played my whole life.”
Despite that, it’s not all work. Through their clear shared passion for soccer, the UDANMSU team has become immensely close.
“This is my first year, [and] everyone’s been really nice and welcoming,” Ihab Mesbah, a new member, said. “I don’t necessarily say I have the most in common with them, other than soccer of course, but I joke around and still get to talk to everyone and laugh.”
Awareness and funding have posed a challenge for UDANMSU. Being such a unique program, let alone the only one of its kind in the U.S., means that the program must build its resources and infrastructure from scratch. This has only fueled their ambition and inspired goals like having lights put up on their field, and a locker room for the team.
“Those are things I think we can definitely implement [in] five years, hopefully a lot sooner than that,” head coach Ody Economides said. “To upgrade the program and be able to do things like host night games, and a locker room [will both] go a long way for the team.”
As for awareness, UDA partners with various organizations like student-run programs and fraternities around NMSU to boost their program recognition in the general El Paso and Las Cruces area.
“That’s mutually beneficial, and that’s something we want to improve on, as well as [getting] people out to our games, and let people know more about what we are and what we do,” coach Economides said.
UDANMSU will play their next game on Oct. 5 against Athletico New Mexico at the Men’s Club Soccer Field at 11:00 A.M. MST, followed by the Irish FC Green on Oct. 23 at the Men’s Club Soccer Field at 2:00 p.m. MST.
