Dear Crossfire Family,
I hope that your child has had a great start to the 2006-2007 season. As I write this letter, Crossfire teams are having great success across the board. To highlight one area, in the WSYSA State League, Crossfire boys’ team lead four of the five Premier 1 Divisions with the remaining team in second place. On the girls’ side we are in first place in two of the four divisions with one team in second place. No other club in the state is enjoying this type of success!
This past year has been very exciting for our club, distinguished by so many great accomplishments on the field by our players. The highlight is Crossfire Lombard’s girls winning the Far West Regionals and placing third in the United States. On the boys side, our Coaching Director Bernie James U17’s, following last years win at the prestigious 2005 NIKE Manchester United Cup and quarter-finalist placing at the World Championships, have been invited to be an inaugural member of the Red Bull National 17 League. The League kicks off on November 17, 2006 in Raleigh, NC. Only 16 teams in the country are participating in what will be the youth equivalent of the Champions’ League. Crossfire has been guaranteed membership in this elite League for the next four years and will also garner a spot in the girls’ league upon it’s formation. Crossfire is the only Club in the Northwest to be involved!
Other national achievements have continued to flow our way. We had four teams representing the Northwest division at the 2006 Super Y-League National Championships this month in Tampa, FL.: Bernie’s BU15’s, Peter Hattrup’s GU14’s and GU15’s, and Porter Lombard’s GU16’s. I’m proud to announce that Peter Hattrup’s GU15’s are the 2006 Super Y League National Champions for their age group. Porter’s girls were also honored by being invited to the inaugural Girls NIKE Friendlies in Los Angeles, CA this past September. In April our Boys U16s won their group in Dallas Cup beating the Trinidad and Tobago National Team. The club also won two more State Cup Championships.
As many of you know Crossfire player Preston Zimmerman has signed a professional contract with Hamburg SV of the German Bundesliga. He is also a regular member of the United States U-20 National Team. Three more of our players, Ellis McLoughlin, Danny Wenzel, and Brandon Zimmerman are at the U17 National Team Residency program in Florida training for the 2007 Youth World Cup in Korea. Louis Schott, D’Andre Yedlin, and Derrick Horner on the boys side, as well as Lucretia Lee and Kate Bennett on the girls side have all been invited to US Soccer National ODP Camps. In addition, Anthony Arena, Julian Harnasch, Nick James, Alexander Klein, Fernando Monge, Kyle Montgomery and Taylor Mueller all represented Crossfire on Super Y-League National All-Star teams that played in Europe this past summer. The club continues to be represented very well on the Washington State, Region IV, and Super Y League ODP Teams, with over 50 players participating at that level.
There can be no doubt that Crossfire has established itself as the top club in the Northwest and has gained strong respect throughout the nation as shown by our top 5 rating nationally as a Super Y League Club and our being named by Soccer America one of the Top Twenty Boys’ Clubs in the United States.
At the board level many more exciting things are happening. We continue to develop our relationship with NIKE enjoying the many opportunities given to us as a NIKE Premier Club. An example was being able to offer a very successful and unique summer camp hosted by the famed Juventus club from the Serie A League in Italy. We are one of two clubs in the United States given this opportunity. We are also working closely with our parent organization, LWYSA, to help develop new fields that are expected to come on line at 60 Acres.
Crossfire was proud to have added a girls’ Coaching Director, Dick McCormick, who brings to the club a vast degree of experience and new ideas. His addition gives us five former Seattle Sounder head or assistant coaches in our organization. We believe this to be an unparalleled number for any club in the country. We have also added the position of Associate Coaching Director – College Placement, which was filled by Sean Henderson. This will give our players access to the best resources possible as they seek opportunities to continue their soccer pursuits in college. We are also kicking off our new Crossfire Academy, which will provide one more avenue for our players to develop their soccer abilities.
Internally, we added two names familiar to all of you, Celeste Bordeaux and Connie Nelson, to work as our Crossfire Administrators in the LWSYA offices. They both bring to positions a wealth of experience and their impact has been invaluable. Internally, Barry O’Brien and his team of tech wizards has been working hard on some significant improvements to our website, which was already rated one of the top five soccer websites in the country! LWYSA Operations Director, Curt Bateman, continues to steadfastly maneuver through the halls of King County to help guide the 60 Acres South project to fruition. On the field front, Crossfire players are now practicing daily on the new artificial turf fields at Marymoor Park. This gives us, for the first time, regular practice spots during the challenging October period when 60 Acres is closed and high school football is still active.
As exciting as all this news is, our board believes the best is yet to come. I am proud of all the work our core group of volunteers has accomplished and look forward to seeing this group expanded in order to reach the many new goals and challenges set before us. I welcome anyone interested in being a part of our Crossfire team and encourage you to contact other board members, the Crossfire office, or me if you are interested in being involved. Please remember that your work and ideas directly translate to our children’s success on the field.
Sincerely,
Brian Klein
President
Crossfire Premier Soccer Club
