It’s certainly not the first of its type, but Colorado Rush director Tim Schultz is very optimistic about the partnership between the Rush organization and French professional club Auxerre.

While a number of leading European clubs have made arrangements of one type or another with American youth clubs, Schultz is adamant that the French club’s interest is simply in having a chance to introduce leading American players into their system, after taking a sufficient look-see.

The arrangement calls for Rush clubs in Colorado, Texas and Virginia receive payment which will help underwrite the operating expenses of the club for its teams competing in the USSF Development Academy. Other than the wearing of a uniform patch for the teams in that competition, Schultz said the only other interest the French club has is a chance to see their leading prospects on the Auxerre training ground.

“That’s all they want out of us, to help identify young players and get them over there so they can see them play,” Schultz said. “So far the relationship has been fantastic. We’ve been dealing with their youth academy director and the head coach, not their marketing director. It’s so different from what some of the other relationships are with our academies and overseas clubs.”

Schultz agreed that a number of other arrangements with American youth clubs have been more about commercial ventures than player development or opportunity.

“If you pick the top 20 clubs around the world, I don’t think a relationship really gives them guarantees they will get a certain player,” Schultz said. “If they want a player, they will buy them anyway. If Man United sees a player here and wants them for instance, well we don’t own that player. It will be the player and his family who makes that decision anyway.”

While the presence of European professional scouts at major tournaments is not a new occurrence, the interest in young American players from overseas is tempered by the predisposition of most American families to want their sons to go to college, a desire they typically are unable or unwilling to separate from whatever hopes they have for their athletic careers. Even if a player and his family agree that a European professional development program is a better soccer option for a young American player from ages 18-22 than the college game, fear of the stigma of not being in college with their peers during those years, and the value of a full or (more likely) partial scholarship to university, end up being stiff competition to the pro clubs in the player’s decision-making process.

In the first such trip since the partnership was announced, Rush forward and UCLA verbal commitment Zach Foxhoven will be going to train in January at Auxerre. Notre Dame’s Jeb Brovsky, also a Rush alum, will train with the French side as well. Both players will be extra careful to follow NCAA guidelines in maintaining their amateur status during the trip (for instance players have to pay their own travel expenses), but clearly Auxerre is looking at these players for a reason.

Foxhoven, a standout for the club in the USSF Developmental Academy League, and one of the top recruits of the 2010 graduating class, is excited about the trip, but taking it in stride.

“This is my first time to to Europe and play. I’m looking at it as a really good experience and I’m hoping to learn as much as I can when I go,” he said. “(Going pro) is what my overall goal is. If the opportunity is there I want to take it, but it’s a matter of how do you go pro, and most players here go through college. That just seems to be the way it’s done here.”

The Rush deal with Auxerre was negotiated by Jereome Du Bontin, who had arranged a similar setup for Rush and Chicago Magic when he was chairman of another French club, AS Monaco. That sponsorship ended earlier this year when Du Bontin resigned his post with Monaco.

Schultz said the relationship between the clubs can be mutually beneficial, but noted just adapting “the European way” won’t work for an American club.

“European clubs need to embrace the clubs here and take them under their wings, but we can give them idea and they can give us ideas,” he said. “For us to try and implement their system here would be ludicrous. Our players have a different mentality than the French or English player. We have different priorities, not to just place them the upper tiers of soccer, but an interest in the player as a whole person. Now, can we take ideas from them? Absolutely, but they can take ideas from us too. I think we lead the world in physiology and information technology for instance.”

Schultz added that his club would strive to make sure prospective players and their families were given the best information and counsel about their options