Youth movement: sports programs are much more than summer-time fun for aspiring youth athletes.

• Author: Coon, John

On a small field tucked away just off of a bustling State Street in Sandy, a group of kids are engaging in an impromptu soccer game. This isn't any ordinary game between friends at a park on a warm summer day. TV cameras are observing the action and James Milner, one of the top players from English Premier League power Liverpool FC, is participating with the kids.

It's all part of the festivities celebrating the beginnings of Liverpool entering the Utah youth sports scene. LFC International Academy Utah, a soccer academy using curriculum designed by Liverpool FC, is establishing a full-fledged academy in Utah. This is not simply another local youth club team branding itself after a more famous namesake. LFC Utah is sparing no energy in its efforts to reshape youth soccer. "I thought there were some things we could do better," says LFC Utah CEO Wayne Scholes. "I wanted to see things improve. And it wasn't that there aren't great people in Utah involved in soccer. My issue, really, is that there are great people involved in soccer in Utah--I just don't think they necessarily had the right opportunities. So our thought was that we could bring something here that would really raise the game and really help build soccer in Utah. It is a loved sport here. There are so many people who watch soccer and play soccer."

Soccer complexes are already in the planning stages for St. George and the Salt Lake Valley. LFC Utah's complex in St. George is scheduled to be completed by summer 2018 and will be funded largely by private investors. Salt Lake will have a finished complex by the end of 2018. Each soccer complex will feature two full-sized indoor fields and six to eight outdoor fields. They will also be designed to accommodate future growth. LFC Utah already has 55 boys' and girls' teams under its umbrella, covering age groups ranging from U6 to U19.

A third complex will open in a yet-to-be-determined location in Northern Utah. The goal is to use these complexes to more effectively train and mold young soccer players to better position them to pursue opportunities within the sport.

"We will have at least three locations in Utah to be able to provide the right level of training and facilities for our kids so that we're not always worried about if we can get a field or can find an indoor training facility," Scholes says. "It's tough to find when you're a soccer team here in Utah. We want to make sure that those facilities are there because, again, if you're serious about this, you got to...