| Soccer families,
As an organization, our Club has always strived to create a safe and inclusive environment that allows every child to realize their potential through the sport of soccer. Our goal is to provide a fun environment conducive to positive learning, providing developmental pathways for all players, and delivering positive coaching that focuses on continued education of coaches, players and parents.
In support of these goals, we continue to make investments in our coaches and staff, while searching for partnerships at the local and regional levels that aid in your player development. As you know, we recently have announced several partnerships with different leagues, and after a number of discussions with the Chicago Fire, we agreed to conclude our affiliation with the Chicago Fire Football Club.
We understand this may come as a surprise to many, but both sides feel this is in the best interests of each organization. After coming to this decision, we’ve had several positive discussions with the Fire around their continued support of our organization as well as soccer in Central Illinois. Similarly, we appreciate the support and guidance that we have received from the Chicago Fire Football Club over the last several years and will continue to use them as a resource to advance soccer in Illinois – as well as root them on in MLS.
While this news may seem disappointing at first, we believe this is a chance for our Club to create our own unique identity – building our own brand of soccer in Central Illinois.
Each of your families has helped to establish Central Illinois as a force in soccer, and we are privileged to serve your players and family. With our focus firmly on our future, we are excited to share that as of May 26th, we will be known as FC Central Illinois! We will be rolling out our new logo, colors and team uniforms next week at our all-Club meeting.
ALL CLUB MEETING
We know you probably have a lot of questions, and we plan to share many more details at an all-Club meeting on May 18th, from 6-7PM outside at the Corn Crib in Normal. We will discuss several topics including our new identity, new staff and coaches, changes to the training plans and schedules for next season, as well as new structures within both the PCSL recreational and the Travel teams.
We will also share details on the ECNL and Eclipse partnerships, updates on future fields and facilities plans, and much more. This is a great time to hear directly from our new Sporting Director, Mike Matkovich, as well as meet key members of the staff including Brendon Boucaud (New Director of Coaching), Gabe Carreno(Director of Methodology), and Natalie Freeman (Director of Operations).
This meeting will be full of information and help you answer many questions for next year, so please try to attend. If you have questions you would like us to address at this meeting, please feel free to reply to this email with any questions you may have. In order to help us plan accordingly, please let us know if you are planning to attend by responding to the poll question below.
We are excited about this new chapter for our Club and look forward to the continued development of our players and soccer in Central Illinois.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out at any time. |
