In July of 2020, the Colorado Rapids announced the launch of an online school program sponsored by the Audi Goals Drive Progress Program.

The Colorado Rapids Academy partnered with Connections Academy to provide a comprehensive online education platform for a select group of Academy players. These players are supported by the Colorado Rapids Academy Academic Advisor who oversees player compliance with assigned tasks and tracking of player grades.

The Colorado Rapids has a clearly stated intent to provide opportunities for talented young players to prove themselves at the first team level. The online school program has for some time been identified as a critical tool to support our best young players. The online school provides the player and the club with:

1. The flexibility to bring Academy players into first team training environment without negatively impacting the players academic school schedule and their academic progress.
2. Increased contact time on and off the field with senior Academy players and the player pool closest to first team. This increased contact time affords the Academy staff with the opportunity to focus on each player's individual development plan, designed to address the players greatest areas of strength and challenge.
3. Increased access to training facilities and support staff – performance and medical staff are afforded additional time to address each player’s physical development and to manage the training load experienced by each player.
4. The video and data analysis department has increased opportunity to provide the player with valuable feedback on their training and competition performances.
5. Increased opportunity for strength and conditioning development
6. Increased opportunity to impact the player's holistic development. Increased interactions provide opportunities for staff and teammates to develop one another’s interpersonal skills, nutritional habits, lifestyle choices and mental/emotional balance.
7. Increased ability to impact and influence academic progress. The student to advisor ratio is far superior to what the student would experience in almost any other academic setting.

Comments:

"The rollout of the fall 2020 Rapids Academy Online School Program has been marked by impressive achievements from the student-athletes participating in the newly designed and comprehensive player development platform. From the academic perspective, the players demonstrated tremendous perseverance, growth, and academic gains in a challenging learning environment. As the program structures on field training sessions within their school hours, the players consistently brought forth a high degree of energy, excitement, and a level of professionalism within their individual and collective team development. It certainly has been a challenging fall season and semester due to many health restrictions. However, I believe the Rapids Academy Online School Program is well-positioned to continually grow and offer the players academic rigor and top level coaching for their development as they pursue their ambitions within the game."

Daniel Nestor

Rapids Academy - Academic Advisor