The Power Of Strategic Partnerships in Youth Soccer – Albion SC and Eastside FC
SoccerToday News is pleased to feature the youth soccer news series with San Diego’s Albion Soccer Club. Every Tuesday is Albion Tuesday. Technical Director Noah Gins and Albion Soccer Club will be featured in a new column every week with information on player development and what is happening at his elite youth soccer club.
Albion SC’s powerful and strategic partnerships with Washington’s Eastside FC is explored. Creating a successful and sustainable youth soccer club takes more than great coaches, it also requires intelligent alliances that can further player opportunities.
Powerful partnerships in the youth soccer club market make intelligent business sense and can benefit players enormously. Club partnerships are the new strategic approach to success and Albion SC and Eastside FC’s relationship is a great example.
Forward thinking and committed to providing excellent player development and opportunities for Albion SC’s players, Noah Gins speaks out on the benefits of strategic partnering in today’s competitive youth soccer environment. Albion SC has a highly impressive roster of coaches and the clubs leaders have all received the Cal South Coach of the Year award. Noah Gins in 2011, Noah Kooiman in 2012, and Wayne Crowe in for 2013. Establishing powerful partnerships with other top clubs can create cornerstones of innovation. The key, according to Gins, is to find the right partnerships that reflect a shared vision for player development and where both partners mutually benefit.
“The partnership with Eastside FC is a very strategic one and involves more than just two clubs sharing ideas. The youth soccer club’s president, Tim Bauman, is one of the most dynamic individuals I have met in the industry and together we are creating new programs that will enhance the landscape of youth soccer,” said Gins, Albion SC Technical Director.
According to Gins, “Eastside FC is located in Washington and as a club, is dominating youth soccer in their area. We continue to see Eastside FC teams perform well in the region. Over the years, we have shared some great rivalries within age groups and competed against them for Regional and National titles.”
“The partnership between our two youth soccer clubs has produced some incredible opportunities for individual players and teams. We anticipate some very exciting projects in the year ahead that will benefit both clubs and all our players,” said Gins.
Eastside FC’s Bauman agrees and said, “Partnership with Albion SC began with and is built on the respect we have for Noah Gins. He has built a world class youth soccer club in one of the country’s most competitive soccer environments. Albion SC is based on a solid soccer system, an adaptive business model and, most importantly, a willingness to innovate in all areas of his Club’s work.”
“Eastside FC is built on a similar model so our partnership benefits from a sharing of work product and lessons learned. For example, we are very impressed and anxious to learn more about Albion SC’s highly successful tournaments including the recent Junior Development Showcase and the well known Albion Cup National Soccer Showcase held in San Diego from July 18th to the 21st this year. We always send a large number of teams to compete in the Showcase each year and it is a very well run and professional tournament.”
Eastside FC is a successful and progressive youth soccer club in Washington State. Their G98 team won the US Youth Soccer National Championship last year; this was the first championship by a Washington club since 1996. Expanding their soccer facilities, Eastside FC is building their fifth soccer field and an Eastside FC Clubhouse at their soccer complex. The Clubhouse will be equipped with wireless video from cameras located around the fields and with workstations for player/coach to review on field performance – providing similar player development analysis as high level EPL Academies.
Eastside FC prides itself on their three-phase soccer curriculum supported by player “elective” programs including Speed, Agility and Athletic Movement training; Coerver based soccer skills training; and player position-specific training. According to Bauman, “Eastside FC looks to develop the ‘whole’ player and focuses on training players who have success on the soccer field as well as in the classroom and who are also great community stewards.”
Preparing players to be successful on and off the field and with an eye on being properly prepared for college is a strong bond both Albion SC and Eastside FC share.
