By JAY WILSON
The very successful spring season of the recreational division of the Crusaders Soccer Club (CSC) ended on May 5 and registration for the fall season is now open through July 15 for all boys and girls born between 2004 and 2015. The fall recreational season runs for 11 weeks; Saturday, Sept. 7 through Nov. 16.
CSC is expecting more than 1,100 soccer players and 100 teams for the recreational fall season. Every team needs a coach to conduct the once-a-week practice and to coach the 11 Saturday games. There is a $50 registration discount for one player on a team when the parent, guardian or another qualified adult volunteers to coach the team. Coaches are always needed to ensure every child has an opportunity to play. Visit crusaderssoccer.org for more information and to register your child for the CSC fall recreation division season.
Coach clinics: Rene Miramontes, the CSC director of coaching, has scheduled two free clinics for recreational division coaches in August.
“We want to give all our volunteer recreational coaches as much help as we can so they may continue to provide quality coaching and so the players continue to love the game,” he said. Rick Flores, the manager of recreational soccer for Cal South, along with Coach Miramontes, will be conducting the first clinic on Aug. 10 on the fields at Pershing Middle School. The second clinic will be in the classroom on Aug. 24.
Recreational Division Soccer Camp: Boys and girls born between 2006 and 2010 are invited to attend the Crusaders Soccer Club’s three-day soccer camp for recreational division players July 30-Aug. 1. The camp will be held at the artificial turf fields at Pershing Middle School from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. each day. The camp will be conducted by professional soccer coaches affiliated with the CSC’s competitive division. The cost is $150. More information and registration at crusaderssoccer.org.
Player clinics for CSC recreational players: Coach Miramontes is scheduling free Friday clinics for registered CSC players in July and August. Details at crusaderssoccer.org.
CSC Competitive Division: In addition to the recreational division, the CSC has a very successful competitive division. All the professional coaches of the CSC’s Academy and Premier teams are finalizing their team rosters for the 2019-2020 soccer season. Nearly 400 skilled soccer players will be participating at the competitive level. Go to the CSC website for more information on the competitive division.
Rebranding Crusaders Soccer: CSC would like to thank David Reyes, president of the Carousel Agency, and Heath Ivie, a highly skilled software engineer, for their donation of time and expertise to design and implement the CSC rebranding as the club closes in on their 50th anniversary in 2021.
In addition to the new logo and color scheme, Reyes and Ivie have created an outstanding website and developed a new social media platform. As part of the rebranding of the CSC, the crimson and grey uniform shirts introduced this spring as home and away jerseys will be continued for the fall season as well.
This is all possible because of the sponsorship by Soccer Loco, the leading soccer equipment store in San Diego (soccerloco.com). John Lococo, the president of Soccer Loco, suggested the home and away jersey use the two new primary colors for the CSC and contributed to the purchase of the new uniforms. Soccer Loco is continuing as the main sponsor for the recreational and the competitive divisions programs of CSC. Soccer Loco is also contributing the practice T-shirts for our recreational and competitive divisions.
3v3 tournament: On Sunday, June 2, the Crusaders Soccer Club hosted its annual 3v3 tournament. The two large artificial fields at Pershing Middle School were turned into 18 fields. Each of the 120 participating teams from throughout San Diego County could have three to five players per team with three players on the field at any one time. The first game began at 8 a.m. and the last game was at 4:15 p.m. The Crusaders Soccer Club won three of the divisions: Boys and Girls 2012, and Boys 2005.
— Jay Wilson is a volunteer organizer for the Crusader Soccer Club.