San Diego Surf Soccer Club Welcomes New Affiliate in Washington
San Diego Surf Soccer Club may be headquartered in America’s eight largest city but its reach is far and wide extending as north now to Seattle, Washington and south to Hawaii. Always looking to further the development of elite youth soccer players, Surf SC’s affiliate program provides great guidance for other youth soccer clubs. San Diego Surf SC has over 70 teams and over 1,200 players. Altogether, with the successful affiliate program, nearly 4,000 youth soccer players proudly wear the Surf SC logo on their jersey.
Surf Soccer Club expanded its affiliate network to Washington state today by signing the dynamic Puget Sound Premier League (PSPL) to a first of its kind partnership.
The Surf Soccer Club affiliate program is a no-cost partnership that aims to invest in ambitious soccer clubs to provide administration tools, professional support and industry relationships to help the club grow and become a more professional and successful soccer organization.
PSPL joins Anaheim, Hawaii, Inland Empire, Murrieta, San Clemente and Utah as Surf Soccer Club’s 7th affiliate.
The PSPL is one of the most progressive competitive youth soccer leagues in the nation, constantly evolving to provide world-class service to its member clubs and opportunities to its members’ players. To that end, in December 2012 PSPL created its academy program, which places its best players from across all member clubs into teams, which then train independently from their host clubs.
The PSPL hired PSPL Academy Director Eddie Henderson in January 2014 to oversee the developmental training of these teams. The former outdoor and indoor soccer pro, national team member and current US Soccer Development Academy Youth National teams scout is one of the nation’s most well respected youth soccer coaches. A former San Diego Sockers player, he is also a national US Club id2 scout and a former longtime USSF Region IV ODP coach. He joined the PSPL from Heat FC, where he was the Director of Coaching and ran the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) program.
“I am excited about the opportunity to create another special development pathway for competitive soccer players,” Henderson said. “Partnering with Surf SC gives my players a richer development environment – where they get more opportunities to test themselves against top players and learn from a wider spectrum of top-caliber coaches.”
These teams will compete with the Surf SC name, against some of the best competition in the nation at marquee tournaments such as Surf Cup, Surf College Cup, Avalanche and Santa Clara Invitational.
Historically, PSPL Academy teams have fared well against stiff southern California competition, losing in the semi-finals of the Blues Cup to Surf ECNL, and recently watching its Girls U18 and U16 teams go undefeated at the NORCAL Showcase on Nov. 22-23. The GU18s scored 12 goals and conceded one in four games, including defeating a top-ten northern California team.
This partnership between club and league is the first of its kind in the nation, and is a natural between two organizations that both share the same vision to constantly, actively evolve to meet the changing needs of its members and partners. PSPL President Stanley Holmes is enthusiastic on his league’s decision to partner with Surf Soccer Club and said, “Our leagues and academy program have been constantly growing because we believe in creating value for our players, their families, and our member clubs. We’re big believers in collaboration, innovation and partnering to help raise professional standards and create new opportunities — on the field and off.”
The Surf SC affiliate network has grown steadily since its inception in 2012, thanks to continued investment in its affiliate partners.
“Surf Soccer Club built its affiliate network using a developmental philosophy, much like how we train our players on the pitch,” said Surf’s VP of Affiliates Bryan Thistle.
“The support we provide includes access to our easy-to-use online Parent Portal software suite to help club admins easily track and manage registration payments,” continued Thistle. “The affiliate partnership also includes taking advantage of our great relationship with Soccer.com to provide premium Nike uniforms directly to club parents at the best possible prices, our relationship with Nike to provide coaching gear and tournament support, Surf SC’s marketing/communication services, and much more.”
“All of this is provided to Surf DC affiliates at zero annual per player costs to the club. Our goal is to remain highly selective and grow the affiliate network slowly and build a nationwide network of the most professional clubs in each regional area,” said Thistle.
If your club is interested in joining the Surf SC affiliate network, you can contact Bryan by email.
