Looking Back On How San Diego Surf Soccer Club Started – All-Star Teams to Elite Soccer Club
Uncovering the Facts of Youth Soccer in America – A New Series on SoccerNation: Spotlight on San Diego Surf Soccer Club. Always being forward thinking and understanding that elite youth soccer players needed to be challenged to develop, the SD Surf SC was one of the pioneers in competitive soccer in North County. Well respected across the country for player development and building championship teams, SD Surf SC is a founding member in the USSF Development Academy and ECNL. Turning back time, here is a look at how the club started.
San Diego Surf Soccer Club’s is one of the oldest clubs in the Southern California area and its history reflects the growth of the competitive youth soccer movement in coastal, north San Diego County. Today, SD Surf SC has over 70 teams and over 1,200 players. The club also has a successful affiliate program with six clubs participating; Anaheim Surf, Hawaii Surf, Inland Empire Surf, Murrieta Surf, San Clemente Surf and Utah Surf. All together, nearly 4,000 youth soccer players proudly wear the Surf SC logo on their jersey.
The history of most youth soccer clubs is shrouded in mystery and lore. Prior to the days of technology tracking every movement, most youth clubs were started in a parent’s garage and propelled forward by volunteers who were devoted to their children’s success. Few clubs have complete records, if any records of their launch. SoccerNation’s new series uncovers the past and reveals how today’s most successful youth clubs started.
As the newly appointed historian for San Diego Surf SC, Erika Soares has recently completed extensive research on the club’s origins. The perfect person for the job of uncovering the history of SD Surf SC, Erika’s entire family has been passionately involved with the soccer club for decades. A proud soccer mom herself, her daughter Paige Linden plays for the Surf SC GU13 EGSL team. New England Revolution’s Defender of the Year is her brother AJ Soares who is a Surf SC Alum. Her father Steve Soares served as club President in 2003 and his wife Lynn Soares was the club’s Treasurer from 1999 to 2012. For the Soares family, being ingrained in the fabric of the beautiful game is their legacy.
Diane Scavuzzo interviewed Erika Soares to discover the storied past of the highly successful SD Surf SC.
Diane Scavuzzo: San Diego Surf SC is a well known club that has won nine national championships yet few people know the history of the club. How was unraveling the past?
Erika Soares: It was fascinating. It is amazing how few people really know how the club began. Surf has always been a pioneer in youth soccer. I did my best to piece together this info from my research and tons of conversations with people who were involved at the time.
Diane Scavuzzo: How did the club start?
Erika Soares: Well it started as the “Best of the Best” … just like the Surf Cup slogan. It really was launched as a club for All Star players with North County’s neighboring clubs sending their best players — but let me back up a bit and explain.
Diane Scavuzzo: When was this?
Erika Soares: Back in the early 1970s soccer was just starting to grow in San Diego and the towns in the North County, such as Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, Leucadia, and Solana Beach each had their own youth soccer teams.
Diane Scavuzzo: Were these community recreational soccer teams?
Erika Soares: Yes, and the teams played each other in the new San Dieguito Soccer League.
Diane Scavuzzo: Turn Back Time to the days before competitive soccer. It is almost hard to imagine.
Erika Soares: Remember, we are back in the late 70’s — and one of the first efforts to organize a more competitive youth soccer team was by a teacher and soccer coach at Skyline Elementary School. His name was Mr. Kirsten, and he recruited elite players. After holding tryouts — which were unheard of back then — he created an All-Star team, but his elite team didn’t have any competition in the league.
Diane Scavuzzo: That would be very tough for those players.
Erika Soares: Yes. Bill Cox along with James and Ellie Waldal understood that better players wanted to play other players who took soccer seriously. Cox and Ellie Waldal created a ‘club within a league’. These teams were made up of All Star players and not neighborhood kids rostered by geography.
It was a revolutionary idea for “All-Star” teams to travel to other areas of San Diego, La Jolla, Poway and Escondido to compete against other soccer teams.
Diane Scavuzzo: The general mindset in the 70’s was to roster the best players evenly to provide for equal opportunity?
Erika Soares: Exactly. The new ‘club’ program was called San Dieguito Surf Soccer League. Kicked off in 1977, it was like an elite bracket in the recreational San Dieguito Soccer League.
Cox and Waldal encouraged others from the league to select their best players by tryout. The idea back then was simple – bringing together the best players would enable the games to be more fun and less lopsided, and allow for more player development opportunities.
Diane Scavuzzo: So Surf SC started first as an All-Star bracket? What age players?
Erika Soares: The inaugural season had two age groups; BU12 and BU9. Cox became the first president of the All-Star teams and the founding board members were Cox, Waldal with Jim Macintosh, Bill Baity, Betsy Kennedy and Linda Saik. The Earl Warren Middle School was the home field. The coaches were volunteers and referees were paid a stipend.
Diane Scavuzzo: When did Surf become a soccer club?
Erika Soares: Just two years later, in 1979. Cox and Waldal, along with a group of parents who had children playing within the San Dieguito Youth Soccer League believed there was enough talent within their league to create a competitive soccer club that would consist of teams strong enough to compete at the AAA level.
The other founding members of the club were Bryan Thompson, Peter Murphy, Mike Finley, Roy Raines, Liz Schmidt and Jacqueline Baity-Burt. The chairman was Ellie Waldal, one of the first females ever to be a chairperson of a youth soccer organization.
Diane Scavuzzo: So the elite level of All Star teams morphed into a club of its own and Surf SC was born. Was it called Surf SC?
Erika Soares: The new club was called San Dieguito Surf Soccer Club and represented the highest level of youth soccer competition from the Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, Rancho Santa Fe and Olivenhain areas.
The Surf was the AAA designated club for the San Dieguito League. Surf teams represented the league at the highest level of competition in the county. The other the teams in San Dieguito played against each other and only the Surf teams traveled, competing against other AAA teams in the Presidio Soccer League.
Diane Scavuzzo: In 1980, what did it mean to play AAA competition?
Erika Soares: The soccer league was divided into three classes – Single A was recreational, AA was competitive and AAA was for traveling teams.
Diane Scavuzzo: How many teams did Surf SC have?
Erika Soares: The inaugural 1979-1980 season consisted of five boys’ teams: U10, U12, U14, U16, U19.
Diane Scavuzzo: How much did it cost to join Surf SC?
Erika Soares: Registration fees were only $50.
Diane Scavuzzo: When did Surf SC add girl’s teams?
Erika Soares: The first girls’ team — a U16 — was added around 1981 – it really is hard to get confirmation on these old dates.
Diane Scavuzzo: When did the club first hold what is today is known as the Surf Cup?
Erika Soares: The San Dieguito Surf Club hosted their first tournament in 1981 and it was called ‘The San Dieguito Surf Invitational Tournament’. Thirty-eight boys’ teams played in that tournament and Mike Finley was the director. It was a few years later that Mike Connerley took over as tournament director and the event became known as the “Best of the Best”.
Diane Scavuzzo: What was the club logo?
Erika Soares: The logo was a dolphin jumping over a wave with a soccer ball beneath. The club colors were blue and yellow and the first uniforms were collared jerseys with vertical yellow and blue stripes and blue shorts.
Today’s Surf logo has stars representing each of the National Championship won by the club! And, each time a team wins another championship, the club adds a star.
Diane Scavuzzo: When did Colin Chesters join the club and become the Director of Coaching?
Erika Soares: In 1994 Colin became the DOC. Did you know Colin played professional soccer in England before coming to America? Former Surf president John Mullen helped bring Colin to the club in 1993.
Diane Scavuzzo: When did the name of the club finally become the San Diego Surf Soccer Club?
Erika Soares: In 1999, we changed our name to the San Diego Surf Soccer Club to reflect players from all over the county and not just the San Dieguito area. This is when Nike became a sponsor of the Club. The next year, in 2000, the Surf SC GU17s were crowned National Champions.
Diane Scavuzzo: Did you enjoy unraveling the past? What was your favorite find?
Erika Soares: I loved it – it took a lot of time but it was a lot of fun. I met some amazing people who helped shape the landscape of youth soccer, as we know it today. Surf SC deserves to know its history and be proud of what the club has done for youth soccer.
Now we have six affiliate youth soccer clubs and have won one ECNL and six national US Youth Soccer championships since 2000 plus Surf’s GU16s Red Bull Girls National League Championship in 2007 and the BU20’s US Youth Soccer National Championship victory in 1997.
Tracing the history of the club is a work in progress. I would love to meet anyone who has more information to add to the story. I would love to get more pictures and memorabilia. Please contact me by email.
One of my favorite finds was the “Mission Statement” from the original bylaws. I think it shows how forward-thinking the club has always been!
‘To promote the highest level of competitive youth soccer within the San Dieguito area and administer the Club’s program of competitive soccer. To the extent feasible, the Club will provide an opportunity for all interested youth in the area to participate in the program.’ (San Dieguito Surf By-laws, 1979)
