Soccer Club Announces Goalie Development Commitment & Hiring Of USL Championship Coach Nate Walzer

The Charlotte Independence Soccer Club, one of the nation’s leading youth soccer development academies, today announced a major, enhanced commitment to developing exceptional goalkeepers. The announcement reinforces the Club’s commitment to the critical position and provides the region’s young goalkeepers a national leading academy to develop and reach their full potential.

The Goalkeeping commitment includes three components; a comprehensive skills development curriculum, a cutting-edge sports performance training regimen, and a major commitment to goalkeeper-dedicated instructional personnel with stellar credentials.

Charlotte Independence Soccer Club Technical Director Dave Carton stated, “It’s critical that we have the very best goalkeepers developing in and graduating from our Club. This requires a holistic and consistent approach that builds great goalkeepers, starting with our youngest, beginning-level players, all the way up to our USL Academy, Girls ECNL and Boys ECNL, nationally ranked teams. With that said, we’re very excited to announce our first move with the hiring of Nate Walzer.”

Nate Walzer, the goalkeeper coach for the Charlotte Independence USL Championship men’s professional team, will be joining the youth Club in an far-reaching role. He will provide oversight and direction for the Boys goalkeeping program. Walzer brings twelve (12) years of professional and collegiate coaching experience and significant accomplishments to the Independence Soccer Club. In his college coaching career, Walzer developed and coached eleven (11) collegiate All- Americans, including two goalkeepers. His teams qualified for the NCAA national championship tournament two times and qualified four times for the NAIA national championship tournament. Walzer’s teams made it to the tourney Final Four, Elite Eight or the Sweet Sixteen 4 times in national championship events.

Walzer also has 6 years of experience coaching with leading youth academies. In 2016 Walzer was named the Oregon Youth Soccer Coach of the Year. He will maintain his responsibilities with the first team as he assists the youth Club players on their pathway to the first team.

IndependenceSoccer.club Walzer stated, “I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of hundreds of young goalies. I look forward to working with our team to implement the Independence Way to train and develop our goalkeepers, throughout all levels of play. This will be integrated into each players’ Individual Development Plan, ensuring each young goalkeeper reaches their full potential.”

The curriculum and training regimen is designed to develop national level goalkeepers that aspire to play collegiately and professionally. The skills development and sports performance training will begin at early ages and entry-level skills and will continue to advance each goalkeeper’s abilities, as they mature and move up the Independence development pathways. The curriculum will be implemented within all of Club’s Boys and Girls programs, both National and Local, illustrating a pathway for the very youngest goalkeepers in the academy, all the way to our USL Pro and WPSL.

Carton concluded, “The goalkeeping position is a vital piece of a competitive program and our club is committed to providing an industry leading goalkeeping program, as an integral part of our player pathway. The measures we are taking with our new goalkeeping structure communicates a strong, industry-leading message to our community. This is an extraordinary commitment we are making to the development of our goalkeepers, at the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club.”

Walzer starts his new role immediately and will work with Technical Director Dave Carton.

IndependenceSoccer.club About Nate Walzer Nate Walzer is a highly accomplished soccer coach and former player. Nate currently leads the goalkeeping development for the Charlotte Independence USL Championship team and now will oversee the boys goalkeeper development at the team’s affiliated youth club, the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club.

Prior to joining the Charlotte Independence, Nate coached for 12 years at the collegiate and professional levels, with a continuous increase in levels of competition, while coaching at Concordia University, then Limestone College and followed by North Carolina State University. Nate also invested in young players lives while coaching for 6 years at highly accomplished youth academies including NCFC, Northeast United SC and the youth academy.

Nate has helped develop and coach eleven collegiate All-Americans and two All-ACC selections, including two goalkeepers. Nate’s teams have had tremendous success in collegiate national championships including finals, semi- finals, quarter finals and sweet sixteen appearances.

While Nate was a player, he led his University of Rio Grande team for four years. During his play at Rio Grande, the team was the National runner-up in 2008, made it to the second round in 2007 and made it to the quarter finals in 2006. Nate was named to the NAIA National Tournament All-Tournament team in 2008.

Nate also is highly credentialed as a coach and well educated in the classroom. He holds a bachelors degree, in Exercise & Sports Science, and a masters degree in Business Administration, both from the University of Rio Grande. Nate’s impressive list of coaching credentials include; NSCAA Advanced Coaching diploma, NSCAA Advanced National Goalkeeper diploma, USSF C license, and a NSCA Personal Trainer license.

About the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club

The Charlotte Independence Soccer Club is one of the nation’s most successful soccer development clubs and the leading soccer development academy in the greater Charlotte region. With rec leagues, local competitive teams, regional competitive teams and nationally ranked elite level teams, the Club is a great place for any skill level of youth soccer player. The Independence Way of soccer development has successfully produced over 500 collegiate players, 16 professional and US National team players, and thousands of varsity high school players. The Club’s elite teams compete on a national stage with consistent success, winning national championships and successfully competing against the best competition in the U.S. Each year the Club introduces over 6500 kids to the game of soccer through its’ extensive network of camps and rec leagues throughout the region. Grounding in the 5 C’s of cultural values (Character, Commitment, Competition, Communication, Community), the Club works tirelessly to deliver an outstanding experience for all of its’ players, parents, staff and game officials.

You can find more information about the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club at www.independencesoccer.club and follow us @

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