Best Time of Year – Soccer Camps and Tournaments

Mavericks in Action

With the excitement of the Olympics and an epic match for the Women’s soccer gold medal set between Brazil and the US, let’s not forget where it all starts. Youth soccer fans know that this is the best time of the year because it is the time when teams start practicing full-time again and are going to tournaments. I just spent the last week with my oldest daughter’s soccer team (Mavericks Thunder, U14 Girls Class 1) at our summer camp in Berkeley. After taking about 6 weeks off of practice during the summer (in which most of the girls took at least one other soccer camp) the girls were a bit rusty. However, in just two days they were back at it full speed, playing hard and showing off their improved form and technique. There is nothing like playing soccer five hours a day to put you back into “game ready” form. As for me, I was having a hard time running by the week’s end and I was barely doing half of the activities. We finished the camp on Friday with a trip to Stinson Beach and a bit of sand soccer. The team really enjoyed the day at the beach and in the afternoon we let them hang out and swim in the very cold water. Most of the team stayed for an early dinner on the beach with their families and everyone had a great time.

The next day the team was off to Davis for our first fall tournament, the Davis Shootout. There were 6 teams entered in our age group, so we played two games on Saturday and one on Sunday. It turned out to be a rather elite tournament, with 3 of the other 5 teams ranked in the top 10 of the state. Even though we weren’t at the level of our competitors, our girls played hard and held their own on the field. The coaching director for our club showed up on the last day and congratulated the girls on their play and improvement over the last year, which helped ease the sting of losing all three games. It was a very well run tournament, with amazing grass fields, so I think next year there will be many more teams participating.

As for the big game on Thursday, I have a wager with my friend, Roberto, in Brazil and I am sticking with the US. Look for the best game yet from the US, with the final being US 3, Brazil 2. This game will also be a great showcase for the women (on both sides) who will be playing in the WPS next summer. Go team USA.

 

August 5th Interview with Lorrie Fair and Tony DiCicco

Lorrie Fair

Never underestimate the power of the internet. While I was on vacation in San Diego on Monday, I got a call to inquire if I was interested in interviewing Lorrie Fair and Tony DiCicco for my blog after the match between the U-20 National Women’s team and the Chelsea Ladies Football Club. Normally I don’t conduct business on a rare family vacation, but for this opportunity I was willing to make an exception. It was only last year that I first met Lorrie when she agreed to be a guest coach for my daughter’s U-13 soccer team and she did a fantastic job with our girls. As for Tony, he is one of the leaders in women’s soccer in the US and current head coach of the Boston Breakers. Here is the interview, minutes after the US won a tight match 2-1.

Q: Describe the match.

L: It was a close match. The US squad was more fit and that showed up in the second half with our team giving away too many balls. In the end it could have gone either way and I am proud of how well our team played.

T: The game could have gone either way, but I believe the right outcome occurred. The speed was good for Chelsea and I felt that we really played well in the second half. After games against Arsenal and Everton, it was good to see us finish up strong, especially since we were using three players that haven’t yet entered college.

Q: What does this match signify?

T: This game will really help the US team player development. I am trying to expose our players through these matches to women who have grown up watching soccer as part of their culture and have a sense about the game that we have yet to capture in the U.S.

L: I think these matches are great for building the global female soccer market. I would like to see more matches between the US and England female soccer clubs. There is a lot of talented youth here in England and these matches can inspire them and demonstrate how important women’s soccer is to the country.

Q: Provide an overview of US women’s chances in the Olympics?

L: They have a great chance to win, but as usual, it is a tough competition.

T: We have an excellent Olympic team that should do well in China. I am excited about some of the players I am working with now that will challenge for positions on the national team in the upcoming years and make our national team even stronger.

Q: Talk about the Women’s Professional Soccer League? Lorrie – will you be on a team next year?

L: I am fully in support of the WPS and am excited about its start. As for playing, I don’t have any plans to do so with the league and right now I have a torn ACL and really couldn’t play anywhere until next October or November. I enjoy what I am doing here now with the Chelsea Football Club, which has been great to me. Besides, I am getting a bit old (laughs) relative to other players.

T: I think the league will be incredibly important for women’s soccer in the US. It will be an exciting league with some of the best players in the world. The competition will be wonderful for development of US players and should promote the game world-wide. I can’t wait for the season to begin.

Tony DiCicco

Q: Speaking of the league, Tony – how do you balance your various duties?

T: Well they work together. Even though I am spending a lot of time right now with the U-20 National team, the role allows me to spend time scouting potential players for the Boston Breakers and also focus on player development, which will be very important in the WPS.

Q: Lorrie – tell us a bit more about your role with the Chelsea Ladies.

L: I am raising the profile of women’s soccer in England. We are fighting a culture that doesn’t think that women should play football, but there are many talented female players that just need more support. For example, many teams only train twice a week right now and we would like to get it to the point where the teams can practice as much as is necessary. I have been down this road before in France and there has been a significant change in the last few years. Also, I want to make sure that our team can compete for the championship so it isn’t Arsenal winning each year.

Q: Finally, how do you think the WPS will affect women’s soccer in Europe?

L: I think it will drive the best players to go to the US and that will build interest in women’s soccer in the local countries. Over time, I hope that England will open it borders to foreign players so that the worldwide game improves and the play in England improves.

T: I don’t think it will have a great affect on the quality of play in the European leagues. We are only talking about 35 players coming from a dozen or so countries to the US so the impact will be felt more in the US, which will get to see some fantastic players on a weekly basis.

 

SF Business Times Article

Bay Area could score women’s pro soccer

San Francisco Business Times – by Eric Young

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/07/21/story11.html 

Spencer Brown View Larger

With a professional women’s soccer league launching next year, Scott Kucirek wants to get into the game.

 

Kucirek, co-founder of online real estate brokerage ZipRealty Inc., hopes to operate a Bay Area franchise of the Women’s Professional Soccer league scheduled to begin play in spring 2009.

 

Kucirek has lined up about one-third of the $3 million he needs to buy a franchise and cover other startup costs. He’s in discussions with two universities — California State University, East Bay and Santa Clara University — to try to secure a deal for a home field. The Piedmont resident has been working full-time since March to line up additional investors, anxious to take part in a venture that is picking up where a previous women’s pro league failed.

 

Women’s Professional Soccer is the successor to the Women’s United Soccer Association. That league operated from 2001 to 2003 with players like Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy. The WUSA fielded eight teams, including the San Jose CyberRays, by capitalizing on excitement after the U.S. women’s team won the 1999 World Cup. WUSA investors pulled the plug on the league after losing millions of dollars amid low TV ratings and slumping attendance.

 

With a new business plan and a new lineup of investors, WPS is scheduled to begin play in April 2009 with teams in Los Angeles, Dallas, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York and Chicago. The league would like to add an eighth team to play next year and plans to add a Philadelphia team in 2010.

 

WPS league offices are in San Francisco, but there is no team in the Bay Area. WPS commissioner Tonya Antonucci said, “we’d very much like to have a team in the Bay Area. … There’s a gaping hole for us on the West Coast.”

 

Kucirek is under a deadline. The league will start drafting players in September. That means Kucirek needs to have an investor group in place by August to be eligible to participate in the draft for the 2009 season.

 

Upstart sports leagues are long on excitement and entrepreneurial spirit. But as investments they can be short on profits. That can make it difficult to round up investors, even though the $3 million price tag for a Bay Area franchise is relatively small potatoes in a region that has plenty of wealthy residents.

 

Despite the challenge, Kucirek, 41, said he was drawn to launch a local franchise in part because of personal ties to the sport. He coaches his two daughters in a local soccer league.

 

But he also sees it as a viable business opportunity. Unlike the short-lived WUSA, the new league plans to stay afloat by keeping a cap on expenses, lowering revenue expectations for investors and broadening the league’s fan base.

 

WPS, for example, struck a deal with the marketing arm of Major League Soccer, the 13-year-old men’s pro soccer league. The deal will help the women’s league avoid the cost of rounding up sponsors on its own.

 

WPS also wants to expand its appeal beyond the core fan base of parents and soccer-playing daughters to include lesbian and gay fans, Latinos and young men.

 

“The league’s focus is on building it out and taking it slow,” Kucirek said.

 

Kucirek, a believer in the connective power of the web, thinks the Internet can help spread the word about the league once it is operating. Web social networks like Facebook, Myspace and others can unite fans and act as media outlets for the league, which might not get much coverage from mainstream newspapers and TV stations in the early years.

 

Kucirek helped start ZipRealty in 1999. The company went public in 2004. The online brokerage service had revenue of $103.8 million last year. He resigned as ZipRealty president in 2005 and joined Prudential California Realty as general manager. Early this year he quit, focusing full time on his hopes of starting a Bay Area women’s soccer club.

 

“This is not about making money, but I think the impact of what it will do for my daughters and other women will be tremendous.”

 

Getting a Bit of Press

July 9 Piedmont Post Story

Thanks to your efforts, the word is slowly getting out. Last Wednesday the Piedmont Post ran a nice article on our efforts to bring a WPS team to the area. Unfortunately, the paper doesn’t have a website and I have not been able to get a soft copy from the author. However, the article was very favorable and did provide contact info. I have included a couple photos of the paper. If you would like to view the article, e-mail me and I will get you a copy.

Today at 4:00 p.m. the S.F. Business Times is sending a photographer over to take a couple action shots and plans to run a brief overview story in its next edition. I also have established contact with the Chronicle and the Mercury News. With time running out to get the investor group together, it is key to spread the word as much as possible. Please continue to tell everyone you know about what we are doing and don’t hesitate to suggest other blogs we should link with. Together we can get this done.

 

Chicago on My Mind

Peter Wilt

Yesterday was an unusual day involving Chicago. First, I was lucky enough to get to talk with Peter Wilt who is the President, CEO and Governor of the Chicago Red Stars. He provided me an overview of the key issues facing starting a professional soccer team and emphasized getting the right people in every position. Under Peter’s leadership Chicago has done an amazing job of hiring talented people and also using social media to get the word out about their team. We wrapped the call with him inviting me out to Chicago, which I plan to do once I get our ownership group settled in this area.

In other Chicago news, the Oakland A’s did it again. Rich Harden was shipped to the Chicago Cubs last night along with Chad Gaudin in exchange for right handed pitcher Sean Gallagher, infielder Eric Patterson, outfielder Matt Murton and catching prospect Josh Donaldson. You can never doubt Billy Beane on trades, but this one looks a bit strange. Sean will pitch on Friday against the Angels, so everyone will get a good look at him right away. Let’s all hope this works out.

Finally, a nice story about WPS expansion appeared in USA today. Check it out – the league again is talking about a SF team. Let’s make it happen.

 

Brandi and Rug Soccer

SF Intl Childrens Games

On July 3rd I was attending a kick-off event in Palo Alto for the International Children’s Games held in San Francisco. This is the 42nd time this event has been held, but only the second time in the United States. I was fortunate to meet with Brad Solso, the CEO and Scott McRoberts, the COO of the event. Both of these men were very dedicated and passionate about the games which will run this weekend in SF and have over 1200 youth participants from 6 continents. If you have some free time, I encourage you to attend this wonderful event. I included one of their advertising photos because I think it really does a nice job of capturing the passion and commitment youth athletes have for the sports they play.

The host was Pejman Nozad, a founding member of Amidzad Partners. He had arranged for a meet and greet with Brandi Chastain and other local supporters of the event at Medallion Rug Company on University Avenue in Palo Alto. It was a fun event with Brandi signing autographs for people while a group of adults and kids played soccer on fine rugs in the store (haven’t seen that before). It was clear watching Brandi in action that a key to the success of the WPS will be making sure all the players in the league take the time and make the effort to connect with their fans and supporters. Brandi and I had a nice chat and agreed to meet in the next couple of weeks to discuss her involvement in the team.

After the event, I went home to my kids and prepared for a fun 4th of July weekend. We are fortunate to have a local parade in Piedmont and our street hosts a block party, so the celebration went on until midnight. After the relaxing weekend, we are back on the hunt for our lead investor. More news to come.

 

Hellos and Goodbyes

It has been an interesting week of meeting new people and saying goodbye to others. Last week I met with Jeff L’Hote from the WPS for dinner and we discussed funding strategies. I was introduced to a local entrepreneur, Frank K. who is an avid soccer enthusiast. Frank was found by a league contact and was intrigued by the possibility of being part of a Bay Area women’s pro soccer team. He wanted to meet me to see what I had done and to discuss a potential working relationship. We hit it off immediately and enjoyed conversation about Bay Area soccer, our families and the Euro championships (he accurately predicted a Spain victory). I updated Frank on where we were at in the ownership arena and we decided to share info and meet again. We each have a couple people we are working on for a lead investor, but agreed time is running short for 2009.

I also spent time with Tom Sutton of Sutton Soccer while my daughter and some of her fellow Mavericks Thunder players got a practice session in. Tom has spent a few years refining his indoor training facility in Alameda and it works very well. He has been trying to raise money to expand his concept and we were exploring opportunities to work together.

I also got some help from Glenn Van Straatum, the head of the Bay Oaks Class I soccer club who e-mailed the 500 or so coaches in the Jack London league a brief overview of what we are trying to do. I have received about 5 e-mails in the last few days from interested people. In either case, getting the word out to the larger soccer community will be critical for the team’s success.

On a sad note, I said goodbye to a new friend, Amanda Vandervort. Amanda was hired by the Chicago Red Stars to head their online marketing. She started her job on July 1st and we weren’t able to connect for one last lunch before her departure. I met Amanda early in my project by e-mailing her after reading her blog. We had a couple lunches and e-mailed each other constantly about the league. She even agreed to be a guest coach for our Thunder girls and did a great job. I am happy for her, because Peter Wilt and his group in Chicago are doing things right. From hiring great people to using new media (see Peter’s blog), I feel this team will be the leader in the league.

Until next time have a safe and fun 4th of July.

Scott

 

Doing the Nearly Impossible

Hello NorCal soccer community. My name is Scott Kucirek and I and a few friends are on a mission to bring a Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) team to Northern California for the 2009 season. Our journey started March 1, 2008, when after nearly a year of talking about how Northern California would be the ideal location for a professional women’s soccer team, I decided to dedicate my full time attention (i.e. not work at a paying job) to make this dream become a reality. It had been almost a decade since I started a company (ZipRealty) , so I knew what needed to be done. However, before I start any adventure, I check to make sure it passes the Edwin Land test:

“Don’t undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.”

Well, with 7 teams already signed on for the 2009 season and just one year to kick-off, this project met the nearly impossible criterion. As for manifestly important, it goes without saying that establishing a team that will unite the entire female soccer community and provide positive role models for girls of all ages seemed extremely socially responsible. With the Land test passed and support from friends and family, the journey began.

Although our team got a late start, in the last 100 days we have made significant progress. We have reached an agreement with a stadium (subject for another post), put financial and investor documents together, enlisted a top notch law firm (ReedSmith) and top 20 PR firm (Allison&Partners), and have talked weekly with WPS league officials (who have been wonderful). In addition, we have garnered support from Marlene Bjornsurd (CEO of Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative and former GM of the CyberRays) and Jerry Zanelli (commissioner of the Women’s Premier Soccer League and owner of the California Storm).

Right now we have one focus – put an ownership group together and submit a Letter of Intent with the WPS league in July to be accepted for the 2009 season. We have just started reaching out to people to assemble the ownership group and this is where we need your help. If you know anyone who is passionate about women’s soccer, has a strong business/sports background, has access to capital, and wants to be part of this incredible journey, send them our way. We are so close to making this dream a reality and know that just a little more effort will get us there. This blog is just part of the ongoing communication we will establish with the community to make sure everyone who wants to be part of this mission is included.

Until next time,

Scott

 

Women’s Professional Soccer in NorCal

Welcome to NorCal Women’s Soccer a blog dedicated to bringing a professional women’s team to the San Francisco Bay Area. The site will update the effort to secure a franchise and encourage the movement to launch a new team in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) League for the inaugural 2009 season.