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[Link, Fort Mill Times, Thursday, May 19, 2005]

New soccer club starting in Tega Cay

By Mac Banks Fort Mill Times
(Published May 19, 2005)

TEGA CAY -- A new soccer club is developing in Tega Cay to add to the growing sport.
The Tega Cay Soccer Club, a challenge soccer program, is being offered by the Tega Cay Parks and Recreation.

The program is a step up from the recreational level and will offered to players aged 11-18.

"We are bringing into the community two different levels of soccer," said Charlie Funderburk, director of Tega Cay Parks and Recreation.

Funderburk said he is trying to give players an opportunity to stay and play for local club teams, instead of going to Charlotte.

Jim Finnerty, Fort Mill High's girls soccer coach, will be the director of coaching for the organization. Finnerty helped guide the girls team to a 26-2 record this season and an appearance in the state championship game last week.

Finnerty has been an assistant coach at the college level and has worked with youth soccer players for 10 years. He is a USSF D licensed coach, and also has his NSCAA advance regional license.

Finnerty has played at the professional level. He is a two-time All-American, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in West Seneca, his home town, and at Fredonia State where he played college soccer. During his two years at Fredonia, the team was 35-6-1, ranked number one in the nation for 24 weeks.

Finnerty said he would like an eight-team league to start with and eventually have around 14 teams.

Finnerty said he hopes the success of Fort Mill High's soccer program will help promote the new league.

"If the program gets going, that type of reputation will help out," he said.

Finnerty said he already has five coaches committed to helping in the league and he has another 13 interested.

The season would run August through November and February through May.

[Link, Tega Cay Parks and Recreation Web Site]

Tega Cay Parks & Recreation is proud to announce that in addition to recreation soccer,we will now be offering a challenge soccer program. The recreational program will now have experienced, licensed coaches working with area players, coaches, and parents. When recreational players move on to the next level, they can stay in their own community. The challenge program will be under the same umbrella and will have a mission the community will be comfortable with. Families will not have to travel outside of the community to find the competitive soccer that will prepare their children for all levels (high school, college, etc.). Jim Finnerty will be the Director of Coaching for the Tega Cay Soccer Club. He is currently the head Varsity Girls’ coach at Ft. Mill High School. He is a USSF D licensed coach, and also has his NSCAA Advanced Regional License and NSCAA Regional License. During his three years at Ft. Mill High School, the girls have posted a 50-13-1 record. Jim has played at the professional level and has received every individual award a college player can receive. He was a two time All-American. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame at Fredonia State where he played his college ball and while he was there, Fredonia State was 35-6-1 and ranked #1 for 24 weeks. He brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding to not only the Tega Cay Soccer Club, but the recreational program as well. The aim of the Tega Cay Soccer club is to promote an appreciation for the sport by providing progressively higher levels of competition within a safe, supportive, and fun teaching environment. At the recreational level, our purpose is to instill in our youth players a sense of enthusiasm, self-confidence, and teamwork by emphasizing the game’s basic fundamentals. At the more competitive community league levels, our purpose is the further develop our players as “students of the game”, reinforcing the more advanced coaching. The newly developed Tega Cay Soccer Club will hold tryouts on May 23 from 7:15-8:30 PM for U11-U14 girls. On May 24 from 7:15-8:30 PM there will be tryouts for the U11-U14 boys. On May 25, we will hold tryouts for U15-U18 girls from 7:15 PM-8:30 PM and U15-U18 boys from 8 PM-9:30 PM. All tryouts will be at Turner Field in Tega Cay. If you should have any questions regarding tryouts or the Tega Cay Soccer Club, please contact Jim Finnerty at jim101719@yahoo.com.

[Link, Northside Soccer Club, Letter from President]

A Letter From the President

Greetings Northside Members,

As you are aware Northside has been working through some challenges in preparing for the 2005 - 2006 season. Every year there have been challenges we have had to face, but this year has been especially difficult due to the fact that members and friends have had to make tough decisions regarding their affiliation with this club. Even though this is not an unusual event in the life of most clubs, it is something we wanted to avoid. One thing we have in common is a love for the game and a desire to see kids learn to love the game as we do and to play it better than we did.

So where do we go from here? That has been the question the leadership of Northside has been dealing with over the last several weeks. As we evaluated where Northside has come from in a little over 4 years it was obvious that many things had been done well to have grown from 4 teams to 20 teams. We have gone from no tournament championships to over 12 this year, from no impact on the state level to having a State Championship team and several quarter and semi-finalists. There is no doubt in my mind that Northside has contributed to the current success of the Fort Mill and Northwestern high school soccer programs when you consider that 6 Northside coaches are involved and a large number of the players are Northside "kids". The Tega Cay recreational program has had 2 Northside coaches, the Steele Creek recreational program had Northside coaches, and coaches have been available to other local rec programs. This success was in no small part due to the hard and often thankless work of many who have served as coaches, board members, and team managers.

On the other side, with growth comes growing pains, and in the process of trying to handle this rapid growth organizationally we had to focus on growing coaching staff and operational staff. In the process we made mistakes and we lost some focus. We stopped seeing the trees for the forest. In other words, in focusing on handling the growth of the club we in some ways neglected our customers and coaches. We allowed decisions and practices that did not fit with our mission and in the process created some confusion and frustration.

As a result the board has made decisions that will impact how we will operate as a club going forward. In brief summary here are some of the decisions.
1) John Agnew was elected in by the Board with Bill Tooley's resignation in April. It was John and the Board's understanding that he would not only finish Bill's term but continue with the new term in June. Due to personal reasons, as stated in his e-mail he has decided not to start the new term. He will instead work with the club in helping with our budgeting and finances, areas in which he is talented and has already contributed greatly.
2) With the opening of the President's position I was asked to step in. In April I had already let the board know that I was not going to seek another term as VP. Four years was long enough. In light of that Efrain Tirado was elected in April to be the VP starting June 1. After prayerful consideration, discussion with board members and a few Northside parents I have accepted the role of President. This was not something I had anticipated and this is a challenging task at this point in the life of the club. However, I believe in the mission of this club and firmly believe Northside was, is and can continue to be a positive influence not only to soccer in this area but, in the lives of hundreds of kids. I have had a child play on Charlotte Eagles, Charlotte United, Discoveries and Northside, and I am confident that Northside Soccer Club has offered the best value in the area. No club overall has had better coaches and trainers than Northside.
3) Refocus. One of my first statements to the board was that we had to refocus to gain back those things that we lost. You will hear more about this in the weeks and months to come but I will summarize the main points:
a) Focus on our vision and mission and assure that all club and coaching level decisions are consistent with our mission.
b) Focus on our customers - the parents. Refocus on the "trees in the forest" by;
§ Communicating our vision/mission and the resulting practices and procedures
§ Understand our families needs and expectations and work hard to consistently meet and exceed them
§ Seek and solicit input from parents on what we are doing well and what we need to do better at
§ Gain a wider base of parental involvement in the club
§ Work closely with our team managers to solicit feedback and to use them as the conduit for club information, mission, and policies
c) Our coaches are "our face" to our customers; therefore, we will work diligently to find good coaches, to communicate with them, seek their input, and treat them with equity. We will work to constructively assist them in becoming better at coaching and being examples of our club's values.

I could go on, but if you are still reading you are probably a minority. So where do we go from here? Well… here is where I need your help if you believe this club has something to offer.
1) Leadership Involvement: We need people who are willing to invest significant and critical time by being on the Board. These positions are critical and provide opportunity for you to be at the forefront of guiding this club. Due to terms expiring we have the following openings - Treasurer, Secretary, and Registrar.
2) Task Involvement: I need people who will step-up in other critical positions in the club such as Team Manager, Fund raising for scholarships, Newsletter editor and team results writer, uniform and club apparel coordinator, and field coordinator.
3) Feedback: On our website www.northsidesoccer.net under Forms is a "Parental Feedback" form. If you would take the time to fill this out it would be extremely helpful to the leadership team.
4) Tryouts: Our ability to fill teams will be very much dependant on getting your kids and your friends kids to tryouts during the week of May 23rd. See our www.northsidesoccer.net for particulars. Please register online before tryouts. Look under "Forms" for "Online Registration". Also equally important, we need volunteers to assist at the tryouts with welcoming, bringing your laptop to help register players, set-up and take-down, etc… We will need the same type of help for the team meetings the following week.
5) Coaches: Lou is working hard at lining up good coaches and so far it is looking very promising. We will let you know more as contracts are signed.
6) Fields: Probably one of our biggest challenges is practice fields in Fort Mill area. We have a couple options we are looking at but nothing has been locked up yet. We will have several fields in Rock Hill to use for practice and games.

That is enough for now. If you have any questions, feel free to email me a president@northsidesoccer.net. I am looking forward with great anticipation as we take this next chapter in the life of NSC. Your involvement and input would be greatly appreciated.

See you at the fields,


Bob Blaschke

If I'm not mistaken, Hurst66 [a famous Fort Mill/Tega Cay[*] poster] is a former president of a club in this area, so I understand his silence. But does anyone else have any insight into this incredible fragmentation of this area's soccer clubs, and any speculation on what it might do to either club or other teams in the future?

[* Despite propaganda, Tega Cay does not mean “Beautiful Peninsula” but rather "You Can't Afford to Live Here".]

I would hazzard a guess that area is not big enough for three clubs. (DSC, Northside and Tega Cay).

whast the scoop Hurst?

I spent enough energy over the past 12 months trying to get the leaders of these three fine clubs to work together.

I wish Discoveries, Northside and Tega Cay all the best.

Is the area big enough for three clubs?....I think all three can survive. Each will probably produce one or two very competitive teams that will make some noise come state cup time. The area is growing and York County will have six schools in 4A in 2006 - 2007 (Fort Mill, Northwestern, Rock Hill, South Pointe, Clover and York). Indian Land is growing rapidly and Fort Mill will have a second high school by 2008.

I used to live in the Rock Hill area for many years. The are is not big enough right now for three clubs. It could work if they would all work together. I can tell the Northside people can spin it anyway they want, but they need new leadership. Thier DOC Lou Pantuasco has screwed things up is concerned about everything but the development of the kids. People do not trust him. I also understand that Northside wants desperatly to merge with the Discoveries Club. In fact I was told Lou went to the President of Discoveries and talked about merging. A merger will never happen as long as this Lou guy is in charge. If there was a change in the DOC, there would be more positive talks. Their has been many players, parents, and coaches leave Northside because of the leadership or lack of recently. One coach is Jim Finnerty. He left and will do an outstanding job with this new club. He is in it for all the right reasons. He is also a class guy. Northside people, get off the ship it is sinking. You can't spin things much longer.

So what's happening in Hartsville now? That is certainly a bastion of "good soccer".

Cola Fan,
Only reporting what was told to me by a reliable source close to this. I have no interest one way or the other. Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

scsoccerman: What "Cola Fan" did to you was what is called an unreasoned attack. This is closely related to the old yet reliable "your momma" style of attack. The hallmarks of such an attack are that they have nothing to do with what you say, but instead focus on some inane feature of your post. In this case it was your location tag of "Hartsville." Of course, the locale from which you are posting has nothing to do with the validity of your message -- you could be Anson Dorrance or Bruce Arena summering in Hartsville for all we know.

Other angles of attack, given features of your message, might include:

• Look you johnny-come-lately "3359", you obviously haven't been on this message board long enough to understand anything...
• How typical of a 19th post; I find your ignorance amazing...
• Your use of "man" in your screenname shows you to be a typical ethnocentric chauvinistic anglo-saxon male...
• ...and so on...

Okay, more seriously.

I would think that Jim Finnerty would be a huge loss for Northside given his accomplishments with the U16G Blast and of course the Fort Mill girls high school program.