As our 2012-13 season winds down, I want to take the time to pass on some information which you might find interesting. I am committed to keeping our membership better informed of upcoming events and how the club works, so this practice of sending periodic communications will continue at least through the next year. I believe that with increased knowledge, our members will offer the club more and better ideas and will have a greater willingness to participate in the future.
Club
Performance
This past season, Emerald City FC truly added to the
positive momentum we have been building. In almost all of the areas that we use
to evaluate our club’s annual performance, we have shown very strong results.
On the field, our teams performed tremendously: a full one half of our
teams reached the quarterfinals or beyond in their Washington Cup divisions with
the M95 Green, F96 Green, and F99 Green teams winning it all! This is truly a
big deal as Cup champions receive an automatic entry to the US Club Soccer
regional tournament in June and Cup finalists will receive an invitation to play
in the Santa Clara Invitational tournament or the Mustang Stampede showcase
tournaments where they will represent Emerald City FC and compete against some
of the best teams in the nation. The fact is that we are very proud of all of
our teams as each has shown tremendous improvement throughout the year giving
further validation that we are developing players in accordance with our mission
statement.
Another metric which we use is club growth. Since
May of last year, we have increased the upper club (U11-U18) by 16 percent and
participation in our Development program has dramatically increased by 93
percent. Based upon the number of players at tryouts for the U11 and U12 age
groups, we expect to see our growth rate to continue into the upcoming season.
While the numbers are impressive by themselves, we are most encouraged by these
positive metrics because they illustrate that our player development philosophy
is resonating with families in Seattle.
Innovative
Programs
Yet, as our success continues, we are not content to
rest on our laurels. Many of you may have recently seen in the Ballard blog and
the Seattle Times that Emerald City FC had announced a partnership with the city
of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation to begin a recreational league
that would be run out of the city’s community centers. Since this announcement,
the city unexpectedly decided to delay the program’s implementation until a more
thorough evaluation could be done. While it is disappointing that we will not
be implementing all facets of this program as early as expected, we fully
believe that the city will eventually realize that the many benefits of the
program are too great to pass up.
There is one very positive aspect from the community
center program which we will be able to implement immediately and from which we
will continue to reap benefits: we hired a wonderful coach, Brad Agoos
(‘A’-license and former head coach for Seattle University), as our Director of
Community Soccer and head coach of two of our club teams. So, while the overall
program has not yet gotten off of the ground, it still illustrates that we are
committed to improving opportunities for kids, are continually looking for ways
to improve our club, and are open to ideas that are not constrained by
conventional thinking.
Personnel
We are excited to announce the hiring of Todd
Schilperoort, a highly experienced ‘A’-licensed coach who was most recently the
technical director at another local club. Todd will be coaching two of our
upper club teams and two development teams for the 2013-14 season. With Todd
and Brad, that brings our complement of US Soccer Federation ‘A’ licensed
coaches to eight and gives further credence to the fact that our club has one of
the best and most qualified coaching staffs in the Pacific Northwest. Over 60
percent of our coaches have USSF ‘A’ or ‘B’ licenses (or their international
equivalent).
Governance
From a club governance perspective, our board has
accomplished several objectives which will improve our club, including:
- Updated our club bylaws to be more consistent with the way that we operate and have changed our membership criteria to include Emerald City FC alumni and their families as non-voting members
- Clarified board member roles and responsibilities so that we can be more effective and efficient in our duties
- Recruited key volunteers to work with the board on many key projects and programs
- Responsibly handled the club’s finances to end the year “in the black”
- Refined a coaching education program which will help to improve the ability of our coaches to teach
- Hired Ruth Nicholson, CPF, MPA to coordinate our scheduling and operations activities.
Current and Upcoming
Events
Tryouts:
As most of you know, tryouts are currently taking
place. These tryouts have been advertised on our website for several weeks and
the coaches have been advising their players about them and what to expect.
I’d recommend that you go to https://emeraldcityfc.org/tryouts/tryout-schedule-and-registration/
for more information and to register for tryouts. Registration is free to
returning Emerald City FC players. Players new to the club will pay a nominal
fee. Coaches will offer positions to players within 48 hours of the conclusion
of each team’s tryout. For those players accepting their offer, team formation
meetings will take place the following week on Thursday night.
Secondly, our Development program has kicked off its
Year Around signups and its registration for the Mid-May/June Tournament
season. The Year Around program offers our younger players the opportunity to
sign up for a one-month Tournament season in addition to the regular fall and
spring “Dev” leagues, and to do so at a discounted price. The Mid-May/June
Tournament season begins on May 16th and is a stand-alone 4-week
program with twice weekly training that culminates in a local tournament. Many
of our current Dev players use this as a continuation of their spring Dev
season, but get to experience the fun and competition of a tournament too. For
those players interested, there is information available on our website at https://emeraldcityfc.org/ecfc-development-teams
.
Awards
Night:
The club will have its annual Awards Night from
4:30-8:30p on Sunday, May 19th at the Shoreline Conference Center,
18560 1st Ave NE, Shoreline. This is a fun event where the club and its coaches
get to recognize the achievements of teams, individual members, and the key
volunteers who have provided critical support throughout the year. It will
begin with a picnic social followed by a presentation in the theater of the
community center. All Emerald City FC members, from the Development teams to
our WPSL team, their parents, and alumni are encouraged to attend.
Emerald City
Poker Shootout:
On Saturday, June 1st, we will host our
second annual Emerald City Poker Shootout, a social event and fundraiser which
benefits the club’s scholarship program. This event is a Texas Hold ‘Em poker
tournament in which players can win some tremendous prizes by placing in the
tournament or by periodic door prize drawings throughout the evening. The $100
entry fee to the event provides free food, drinks, and a stack of chips with
which you can play—no further money is necessary! (However, since it is a
fundraising event, we welcome any additional donations and encourage you to be
generous!) Players must be 21 years of age. For novice players, we will have
knowledgeable dealers and cheat sheets which will help you to play well. In
fact, in the several years that I have run the tournament, beginners have
reached the final table in almost all of them! To help many of our busy parents
for the evening, we also will offer childcare to allow those of you with smaller
children to still participate. The cost is $20 per child. So, for less than
the cost of a babysitter, your kids will be supervised by our F96 girls’ team
while having pizza, soft drinks, and several wonderful activities, from the
Arena Sports Fun Zone bouncy houses to a movie to some soccer time on the indoor
fields. It will be a lot of fun for everyone and I highly encourage you to
register early as the space will be limited.
Emerald City FC
Women’s Premier Soccer League team:
On June 2nd, our Women’s Premier Soccer
League team will begin their home schedule with a game against the Westside
Timbers at Rainier Beach High School stadium at 3:00p. This year there will be
five home games for which season ticket packages are available. These ticket
packages have been priced to be very affordable, so we’d encourage as many of
our members and their families to participate. For those of you who do not know
much about our WPSL team, it is an Emerald City FC team comprised mainly of
college-age players from the US and around the world. The team’s focus is
player development which will better prepare our players for their college
season or the continuation of their careers on the professional level. In the
process, they will compete for a national championship in a league that is the
highest amateur level available. Our team is very competitive and last year’s
team sent two players on to play in the professional leagues in Europe. The
soccer is excellent and these young ladies are wonderful role models to our
players and ambassadors for the game. Come out and support the team!
Board
Elections:
Lastly, our election for the Emerald City board of
directors is also coming up. This is a crucial event for the club as the board
of directors is charged with handling the club’s strategic, financial, and legal
direction as well as supporting the club’s coaching and operations staff. The
board is made up primarily of parents who want to contribute. This year, we
have four positions for which we will be looking for candidates. Three of those
four positions carry a two-year term, while the fourth is the Vice President of
Membership which is a one-year term. Please consider taking on one of these
unique leadership roles. We invite you to come and talk with one of the current
board members or to attend our next upcoming board meeting at Arena Sports
Magnuson on Monday, May 13th at 7:00pm. We will be requesting
statements from candidates to be posted on our website, with the formal election
tak ing place in June. Results of the election will be announced at the Annual
General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday, June 9th. Serving the club as a
board member is an extremely rewarding venture. I highly encourage you to
run.
In closing, I must emphasize one more aspect which
often gets forgotten: Emerald City FC is your club. You have a stake
in its success as does each of us. While the board, our coaches, our
operational staff, and our volunteers have worked hard to provide the programs,
activities, and events to fit the needs of our members and to help bring our
community together, we also need you participate. Please actively join in on
team activities, club activities, or simply communicate your ideas, thoughts,
and concerns, so that we can continue to make this club into what you want it to
be.
Emerald City FC exists to develop each of our players to his or her fullest potential, competing at the highest possible level while demonstrating exemplary teamwork, sportsmanship, and a passion for the game.
