Where do you start?
It started with a vision. You attract amazing people and work very, very, very hard! You sacrifice, sacrifice more and sacrifice more. You lose games, lose more games and keep losing games. Sound like something you want to be a part of? All we gotta say is… Thank You 2016!
The Journey
We didn’t even know where we were going to be training our teams at one point this year. Fields are so scarce here in the San Fernando Valley that you are lucky to have some room, especially after daylight savings hour change comes around. Our staff kept pushing and finding ways to make it happen. Little by little, we began to see progress and learn how to manage the field situation for our teams. When you want something so bad, you find a way to make it happen!
You can make excuses, or you can find a way to make it happen. #OleSC finds a way to make it happen!
Spring League
Spring league came around and both of our 2005 teams (White & Red) decide to join the West Coast Elite Spring League. Not sure of where our teams would be coming into our the league, both Coach Franklin, as well as Coach Gary, knew this would be the perfect opportunity to really develop their teams. Guess what, they both end up in the final and Coach Gary’s B05R ends up winning the league!
Battle Scars
Our youngest team early part of 2016 played in the Glendale Soccer League in the Spring versus boys that we 1, 2, some even 3 years older than them. The season was tough, it was very tough to see our players get outplayed every game. One thing that they didn’t do, they did not give up! They battled and after each game, our coaches told them how proud we were of their effort and their style of play. Little did the players know that the league was preparing them for the rest of the year.
B09 Warriors
The B09 Warriors were made and Coach Chuy took over this team in the Spring. Winning the most tournaments and trophies for any of our club teams, Coach Chuy is the most decorated coach on staff. Chuy and his team play awesome soccer and train extremely hard every week to make sure they stay on top! What an amazing year for the B09 team. In 2017, they will be playing their first year in CSL.
Summer 2016
What does a first-year club and first-year club team do? Stay local and compete against teams in your local parks right? WRONG!! You get out there and make a name for yourself! You go out there and compete against the best clubs to really see what type of character you have as a club. As a first year club, our B07R team went to Manchester City Cup in Oceanside and made it to the final. Keep in mind, this type of tournament is a Flight 1 level tournament competing against some of the most elite players in all of Southern California. Coach Walter and the B07R team were automatically qualified for Surf Cup 2016 (Invite Only) for making the final. Surf Cup is one of the most prestigious tournaments in all of the United States with teams from all over the nation as well as teams from Mexico coming to play.
Again, we want to say, Thank You 2016! Our teams are fortunate enough to have amazing coaches and great families that see the long term vision. Like attracts like, we know that. Just like misery attracts misery….quality attracts quality!
More Summer Fun
#OleSC was fortunate enough to attract Coach Edgar Martinez (B07W) & Coach David (B08). The two teams were also brand new and ready to compete. In the summer, these 2 teams decide to attend the same tournament in Thousand Oaks. This is a tournament that Real So Cal level teams attend and expect to win. Not this time around, our coaches had their boys prepared!
Sure enough, both Coach Edgar and Coach David take their teams to the finals of their age bracket and come home victorious with the trophies! The B07W team finishes their final and rushes over to watch the end of the B08 final versus Real So Cal. What an amazing feeling and fun group of families that got to experience something like that. It was one of the best things to see and little by little the club world was getting a glimpse of who #OleSC was.
Ready for CSL
After a great start to the year, 5 of our 6 teams at that time were ready to start the Coast Soccer League season. The teams that competed were B05 (2), B07 (2) & our B08 team. After the crazy mess of finding a home field, we were fortunate enough to lock in Poly High School as our home field for the 2016 season. Let’s not start on how much of a headache it was to make the switch here, from payments to explaining the move to our own parents. Let’s just say it wasn’t easy but it was necessary!
This past season was lots of fun and our coaches are extremely proud of our players and their effort they put into their first CSL season as a club. All teams showed some attractive soccer and a style that not too many focus on at the youth level. Winning is one thing, developing and playing a system is another.
2 CSL Champs Crowned
Both of our B07 teams were crowned champions of their brackets and will be moving on to Silver and Silver Elite level brackets next CSL season. It has been a pleasure to watch these teams compete and show some great skills this past year. This is only the beginning…
Thank You 2016!
This roller coaster ride of 2016 has been lots of fun. It has also been long, painful, strenuous, rewarding and much, much more. At the end of the day, it was ALL WORTH IT! #OleSC is proud of being who we are and building something the way we are doing it. Our grassroots approach has been a path not many think of taking. This is NOT the easy way to do things, but we felt the best way for our teams.
Our club is a reflection of the people that are part of it. 2016 was proof that amazing things can happen if you work hard enough and surround yourself with like-minded individuals hungry to be part of the journey. It is not always trophies and finals. It is the process of getting your parents, players, and coaches thinking that way. Thank you 2016, thank you for kicking our butt. Thank you for making us come closer and for allowing us to be the change we wish to see in this world. 2016 was fantastic and 2017 will be even better!