The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT March 23, 2013

It has been a good two years for Briggs Anderson as a soccer coach in North Idaho.

With two appearances in the National Club Cup with the Idaho Thunder under-16 and U17 teams, as well as a state 5A runner-up with the Post Falls High girls, he'll turn his focus on getting another program started in the Hayden area.

ANDERSON IS starting The Academy Idaho, a new soccer club that will be holding its first tryouts in June for players ages 10 to 19 years old.

Anderson, who was the Idaho Thunder Director of Coaching for the last two years, resigned from that post in February. In that time, he led the Thunder under-18 boys to a second place finish in the National Cup in 2011 and another appearance last season.

"It was a really tough to leave," Anderson said. "Basically, it boils down to either starting a new endeavor now and hope that I get players to come out, or wait until June and get ready to organize this, so I had to bite the bullet and take the next four months and build this thing."

Of those players on his team that qualified for nationals, 15 of the 17 have agreed or have offers to play at the college level.

"For me, when I first came to the Thunder, I promised them a commitment to get them to the next level," Anderson said. "Right now, 15 have college money on the table to go somewhere. Everyone has a home and that was my goal and we achieved it a year early."

Anderson considered and would have remained on as coach until after the season.

"Knowing that those players were moving on, it was OK," Anderson said. "To see them still 100 percent together, they'll represent the club well and they have a good coach that's going to step in and help them."

THE ACADEMY will be based out of the ThunderDome, located on West Miles Avenue in Hayden.

Among improvements to the facility will be a full-length indoor field, as well as an outdoor field.

"We're basically going to tear out the old field and put in a full-sized indoor field," Anderson said. "We're going to have the offices and a soccer score going in along with the cafe."

The Academy will be run as a business, with no board of directors and teams will compete in the fall Puget Sound Premier League, based in the Seattle area.

"There's always politics behind youth sports," Anderson said. "We wanted to take the potential to let someone else make decisions. We believe in not having a board - that way, if you run it as a business, you let those people make decisions right away.”

Anderson is also the Post Falls varsity girls coach. Last season, he led the Trojans to their first 5A Inland Empire League championship and second place finish in the state tournament.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Anderson said. “It’s very cool and very scary at the same time.”

Anderson added, while they’ll be based out of the dome, the facility is open to any club that wants to use the space.

For further information, visit www.theacademyidaho.com.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].