Q&A with Crossfire Premier FC player Brandon Zimmerman

On rejoining Crossfire Premier after graduating from U.S. Soccer’s Residency Program:

Brandon Zimmerman: “When I started out I joined Crossfire a little over a year before I came to Residency. And it was a lot different being scouted then because they’d bring you into a lot more camps and you’d be involved with ODP (Olympic Development Program) and with your regional team, and eventually I got seen. I spent two years in Residency under John Hackworth, which was a great experience. Then I graduated in December and I had some free time before I started college in April, so I trained with the Development Academy league team Crossfire for about three months. Right away I noticed a big difference in the mentality of the club.”

On playing at Santa Clara:

BZ: “I’m at Santa Clara right now, I started in April, committed last fall and that’s been a great experience as well. You could say both Residency and the Academy program has prepared me for that. I’ve been talking to Santa Clara for a long while and I ended up going on my visit and turned out to be a great place for me.” 

On the similarities and differences with the Under-17 Residency and the Development Academy:

“I think the Academy program has taken up the essentials of Residency, where you’re training every day and then a game every week which is the most important thing obviously because it’s soccer.  I can’t speak for the other teams, but Crossfire is getting involved with agility and weights and then you have your training uniforms, which are all things that we see down in Residency. It’s turning players into good professionals and getting them ready for the next level, because that’s exactly what we need right now.”

On his thoughts of being a part of U.S. Soccer:

“I just want to say that U.S. Soccer is definitely taking the right steps and making players more professional and putting them in the professional atmosphere because that’s what’s most important. It’s also giving players a lot more opportunities to get seen because there are teams all over and you come to Showcases like this and every player is getting seen and if you’re good enough you’re going to be there. Before, despite best efforts, not every player got seen and this gives players a lot better opportunity.”