Milwaukee United Soccer Club gives urban players the chance they deserve
 | posted by AnnGaff, a Women Talk Sports blogger About AnnGaff: Chief Technical Officer, Women Talk Sports. I competed in Track & Field and Cross-Country in college at the University of Nebraska and competed professionally in Track & Field (3000m Steeplechase) fr...more |
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Scott Viar is on a mission. When working with the Queen City Football Club in Buffalo, NY, he realized that none of the 45 potential players he'd found for the club had gone to a Buffalo public high school. "The people's game" had become "the domain of the well-to-do and fairly well-to-do," and Viar wanted to do something about it. While many clubs have begun programs to counteract this trend for young players, nothing had yet been done for those players already in the game reaching for higher levels. He put together a vision statement for a new Milwaukee United Soccer Club that concluded with the goal to:
Develop an elite-level amateur women's soccer club (starting with a team in the Women's Premier Soccer League) that will play IN THE CITY and be stocked talent-wise BY THE CITY.
According to the club's brochure,
Milwaukee WPSL will recruit current and former college soccer players with Milwaukee-area ties, with the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County being the primary and secondary pools from which talent will be drawn. Potential players will have exhibited a history of scholarship and community service in addition to soccer ability, with these factors and others given appropriate weight in selecting the proper mixture of talent.
The club is still in the formative stages as they raise funds to enter the WPSL and operate the club for 2010 and beyond. Viar plans to continue recruiting for the inaugural team this fall and plans to have 36 players chosen for the 2010 team by early December.
Viar is certainly following Ghandi's advice, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
What can you do to help?
You can actually own a piece of the team! Much as one would do with supporting public television or a charitable organization, the good people of Milwaukee can show their support for women's soccer and Milwaukee WPSL by becoming a member of the organization. Milwaukee WPSL offers three levels of membership:
Silver Membership: $25/year. Member receives certificate of membership, a monthly e-newsletter, weekly updates from the organization, and two tickets for the club's annual Blue/Green pre-season match.
Gold Membership: $50/year. Member receives all benefits of the Silver membership package plus: official members' t-shirt, two tickets for any WPSL home game, and a meet-and-greet with Milwaukee WPSL players following the Blue/Green match.
Platinum Membership: $100/year. Member receives all benefits of the Gold membership package plus: certificate of ownership, voting privileges, season ticket good for all home matches, and access to invite-only events of the club.
Our plan is to hand a number of business-related decisions of major consequence (kit designs; whether to build a facility; raising membership rates; selecting a board; hiring/retaining a coach and other senior officials) over to the member/owners to weigh in upon in two stages. First, member/owners will be able to offer suggestions/nominations to us, which will be digested and pared down into a reasonable number of options. At that point, a poll will be posted on the club's official website with those options and a time span in which votes can be cast. Majority will rule except in instances where it is stated ahead of time that the poll is advisory in nature. In those cases, the polling results more than likely will influence what the final decision on a matter may be, but will not in itself be said decision. INVOLVEMENT IS HEAVILY ENCOURAGED AND WELCOMED!
To Contact Milwaukee United Soccer Club:
E-mail: [email protected]
Check out their Facebook Page and become a fan
Follow @milwaukeeunited on Twitter
Visit their website: http://milwaukeeunitedsc.com/
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