NorthStar Soccer, Inc.
501C3 Non Profit Corporation
Mission Statement:
To utilize soccer as a vehicle to teach and reinfoce the lessons and rewards associated with the pursuit of excellence.
NorthStar is much more than a collection of teams wearing the same uniforms. Almost all the management for NorthStar Soccer is done by NorthStar volunteers, the exception being the administrative work for the Michigan State Premier Soccer Program or MSPSP.
NorthStar History
NorthStar was founded in 1994 on the belief that working for something greater and beyond themselves gives young people a tremendous life experience. NorthStar provides an unparalleled standard of excellence for players who wish to play at the highest level of the game and for players willing to commit to the concepts of hard work, self-sacrifice, and community service in pursuit of their soccer dreams. We want those players who not only eat, sleep, and breathe the sport, but those who are prepared to conduct themselves in a manner which brings honor to their club, their community, and themselves.
Parents and Volunteers
NorthStar is as strong as its volunteer base; we ask that every parent contribute what time they can to the quest for excellence. There are many and varied tasks that have been clearly identified and many that can be done by committing a reasonable amount of volunteer time. The tasks vary from banner carrier to uniform coordinator with many fun and exciting jobs in between! All of these tasks are designed to enhance the quality experience of the NorthStar players.
NorthStar is blessed by long-term volunteers - many who no longer have girls in the program or perhaps never had girls in the program. Without them this program would not be able to create what it does for our players. These volunteers fill in a number of unseen functions that are critical to our club’s success - Linda Rea - Nancy Korbel - Jamie Wheelock - Marilyn Vlach - Jim Lumley - Sue Doherty - Ron Budros - Veronica and John Moyer - and many more!
Head Coach and Directors
Darrell Rogers, NorthStar Head Coach, serves as our President and Director. He is a former collegiate player and is a nationally certified soccer coach (USSF "C" license through the United States Soccer Federation) with extensive experience coaching premier-level girls’ soccer from U12 through U19 and college. He is also a registered coach and member of the NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Athletic Association). As co-founder of Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer, he has coached players who have gone on to outstanding college careers and US National Team membership. Coach Rogers was the 1999 Michigan State Youth Soccer Association (MSYSA) Girls Coach of the Year.
Jim Furstenberg serves as our Vice-President, Secretary, and Director. Jim manages our corporate records and administration, assisting the President and directors as necessary. He serves as the Michigan State Premier Soccer Program team liaison and as the lead director of the NorthStar Special Olympics program. Jim is a nationally-certified coach(NSCAA National Diploma) and a registered coach-member of NSCAA. He was the 2005 Michigan State Youth Soccer Association Girls Coach of the Year. He has coached players who have gone on to outstanding college careers. Jim is also the club web-site administrator.
Marilyn Vlach serves as our volunteer Treasurer and accomplishes those tasks assigned to her in accordance with our Bylaws, and state and national governments She manages our finances, budget preparation and adherence, and attends board meetings.
Reggie Rix serves as a Director and Club Academy Director. He is a registered coach-member of the NSCAA and holds a NSCAA National Youth Diploma. He acts as the lead technical director of the NorthStar Academy and is the Grand Valley Soccer Association (GVSA) team liaison. Other duties include registration manager for the Great Lakes College Showcase (GLCS).
Steve Taylor serves as Director and Club Goal keeper and Fitness trainer. He is a registered coach-member of the NSCAA and holds a NSCAA Advanced National Diploma. He is involved in NorthStar’s marketing/promotion/sponsorship and runs the medical needs for the Great Lakes College Showcase.
NorthStar Opportunities
Community Service. Each NorthStar team participates in team-based community service projects. Teams have helped raise money for many causes, staffed countless volunteer events, participated in Adopt-a-Family, Toys for Tots, and many other valuable causes. This service is an essential part of the NorthStar mission of the pursuit of excellence. We believe and promote the concept of “To whom much is given, much is asked.”
NorthStar Special Olympics - In 2007 a partnership was created with Northern Michigan Special Olympics to bring the joy of the game of soccer to special needs athletes. We held our first event at the Just for Kicks Sports facility on January 30, and it was a great success. NorthStar coaches and, more importantly, NorthStar players staffed the event and were touched and amazed by the experience. We plan to create a summer event to bring together Special Olympics athletes/teams from around the region to share the fun times, while providing a deep and powerful experience for all the young women in our charge.
NorthStar Academy Camps - Academy Summer and Winter camps were created in 1995 to do two things:
1. Provide a fun venue for younger, non-NorthStar players to interact with positive role models in the form of the older NorthStar players who act as coaches and mentors for the six week event.
2. Provide technical training for these younger players within the short-sided game model of player development.
During these camp sessions, a NorthStar coach meets briefly with the parents in attendance and explains the evening’s topic, its importance, and how the parents can reinforce the learning. Many of the young girls who attended camp as 8-12 year olds now serve as NorthStar player staff as 16-18 year olds!
NorthStar Buddies was started nine years ago to match up older NorthStar players with younger players. Every NorthStar player has a NorthStar Buddy assigned to her and they meet at the annual NorthStar all-team picnic in August. We expect older players to initiate contact with their buddies throughout the year. Some “buddies” go to each other’s practices and games, some IM and email with their buddies, and for some younger players it’s just a friendly, older face they can cheer for at high school games or say hi to at the mall. We believe that mentoring starts at home, and this program helps that happen.
All-NorthStar Picnic takes place in mid-August and is a big potluck party where all the teams (players, coaches, parents, siblings, etc.) come together and break bread and socialize. After we eat (food is ALWAYS first!), a short program highlighting the “State of NorthStar” is presented. The parents then meet face-to-face with their daughters’ coaches for team meetings to talk about the upcoming fall season and take care of organizational details. While the parents and coaches are meeting, the NorthStar Buddies meet and share phone numbers, etc. This is followed immediately by a fun soccer activity which the oldest NorthStar team plans and executes. This event has traditionally been held at Bowers Harbor Park.
The NorthStar Winter Banquet is held the first Sunday evening in March and, once again, brings all the teams, parents and coaches together for a potluck dinner – breaking bread together once more. An organized program begins with a short “State of NorthStar” talk and continues with the awarding of the NorthStar club-wide recognitions:
-Commitment to Excellence Award which goes to the parent volunteer most representative of the NorthStar mission
-Educational Excellence Award which goes to the NorthStar team with the highest average team GPA.
Following these presentations, the graduating seniors speak briefly about their NorthStar experience, and finally we enjoy the year in review by watching team slide shows with each team’s players receiving their annual NorthStar year pins. These are the only individual player awards other than special gifts for the graduating seniors.
Intra-Club Play We have revived a tradition started in the late 90s of winter intra-club league play. We rent open JFK time (Just for Kicks Sports complex) and create NorthStar teams of mixed ages to play a weekly schedule. This is another part of our mentoring program, and it allows the younger players to show and improve their skills against their older NorthStar sisters. This event creates a safe, yet demanding and competitively intense, match opportunity for NorthStar players; an opportunity that we have found difficult to duplicate in normal indoor league play against boys or older girls.
Terry Porter Scholarship- Upon the death of the mother of one of our newly selected players, the Terry Porter Scholarship was set up for the purpose of collecting and distributing funds to families to ensure that no one would be denied participation with NorthStar due to finances. NorthStar parent volunteers review the scholarship policy and administer the awards.
Preparation for College Since its inception, NorthStar has provided mentoring and assistance for players desiring to play at the college and university level. The NorthStar coaches have worked hard to build a large network of college coaches throughout the country who look to NorthStar players to help build their collegiate programs. Team plans are specifically designed to travel to tournaments, camps, and special showcase events that allow NorthStar players to demonstrate their talents.
In addition, we provide a guide, written by a NorthStar parent and graduate, on the selection process; older teams are provided “College Selection” worksheets to help guide them.
As a result, since our first graduating class in 2000 we have helped more than 60 players achieve their soccer dreams of playing in college. From big NCAA Division I programs, like Purdue and Michigan State, to small NAIA and Division III schools, NorthStar has sent players who have not only succeeded in school and soccer but in many cases won school, league, and even national honors athletically and academically. NorthStar players have succeeded in soccer programs all across the country from Whitman College in Washington State to Keene State University in New Hampshire; from University of Minnesota and North Dakota State to University of Tennessee (Martin) and Lipscomb University (Knoxville). Many other out-of-state schools have discovered the quality of NorthStar players, among them, the University of South Dakota, Indiana University/Purdue University (Indianapolis), Ohio Wesleyan, Indiana Concordia and Concordia of St. Paul, and The College of the South.
A number of in-state schools have taken NorthStar players and enjoy a close relationship with NorthStar, among them, Northern Michigan University, Ferris State University, Eastern Michigan University, University of Detroit, Grand Valley State University, Kalamazoo College, Albion College, Hope College, Aquinas College, and Olivet College. The University of Michigan Women’s Club team has won two National Club Championships while fielding NorthStar graduates and Western Michigan Women’s club team was reorganized and captained by a NorthStar grad.
NorthStar Alumni Night. A winter gathering of past NorthStar players (typically around the holiday season when most players are home) provides an evening for past NorthStar players to reconnect with their teammates, coaches and friends! - Some of whom they have not seen for years!
Great Lakes College Showcase. As women’s soccer expands so rapidly in the US and Canada and becomes so much more competitive, it is sometimes difficult for NorthStar teams to get accepted into the premier college showcases around the country. As a “micro-club,” NorthStar has difficulty establishing itself as a national presence – although we work very hard to do so – that is enjoyed by the Michigan Hawks and Vardar. Our success at the MSYSA State Cup has helped – three different NorthStar teams have advanced to quarter finals and two to semi-finals – but the clubs and leagues who primarily run these events often look for club-wide accomplishments across all age groups. Therefore, in 2004 we decided to create a premier event right here in northern Michigan.
The Great Lakes College Showcase began in 2005 with the mission to bring together college and university soccer coaches and recruiters from the Great Lakes region and the top older female soccer players who desire to play college soccer. The showcase has grown by 30% since its inception; this growth is anticipated to continue in 2008. NorthStar has created a web-site and an infrastructure of volunteers to run this premier level event. Testimonials from college coaches regarding the quality of the event and from players who have received scholarship offers as a result of attending GLSC are received after each showcase.
Pre-Season College matches. Due to the reputation of NorthStar and the draw of the region for pre-season camps, top level colleges from across the nation hold pre-season camps here and play matches prior to their college seasons. The games, played at either the Coast Guard fields or at the Keystone Soccer Complex the past three years, have featured the University of Virginia, University of Michigan, Notre Dame and Oakland University. In 2006 this event expanded to three matches featuring two top Division I and three Division II women’s soccer programs. We hope to expand this event in future years to bring more national awareness to the region.
NorthStar Reserves NorthStar is selective but never exclusive. Every player not selected for a NorthStar roster is offered a chance to be a member of a NorthStar team as a reserve player. If a player wants the NorthStar experience or simply wants to prove us wrong in our selection process, she is not only welcomed but encouraged to do so; this has been policy since the inception of NorthStar.
Until recently it was often a registration hassle to make this policy a reality – to allow a player to pursue her soccer dreams – but now the registration process has been simplified to allow reserve players. With NorthStar’s membership in the US Club Soccer organization, the mechanism exists to allow us to officially register the reserve players on a NorthStar team. We refer to this as NorthStar Reserves. They train with their NorthStar team and participate in all NorthStar events. At some ages and in some situations, they may also be able to compete in league and tournament games. If these players also want to participate on a recreational team with Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer, Petoskey Youth Soccer Association, or other regional clubs, they are encouraged to do so.
There are a number of great stories that tell of NorthStar reserve players who were moved off reserve onto the regular roster mid-season or mid-year. Many reserve players have been selected to a NorthStar team following the next tryout process. One famous reserve player refused to believe she was not chosen; she insisted on being a reserve and eventually was selected to and made a captain of her NorthStar team. She was recruited and played NCAA Division I soccer on an athletic scholarship and named captain of her university team her junior year.
NorthStar Affiliations
NorthStar Soccer Inc is a Club is a self-standing, Michigan Corporation with 501©(3) non-profit status granted by the IRS. NorthStar has iit's own bylaws and governing policies that are in accordance with a recognized Michigan corporation. NorthStar Soccer Inc is a “director and volunteer” run soccer club.
NorthStar’s direct "soccer" affiliation is as a charter member (club number 17 out of 5,000) of US Club Soccer, which is a member of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the top governing body of soccer in America.
NorthStar is also a division of Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer (TBAYS), and is only recognized by Michigan State Youth Soccer Association (MSYSA) as a club via its “sponsorship” (MSYSA wording) through TBAYS.
Soccer Organizations
Throughout the world there are three types of soccer organizations: Clubs, Leagues and Associations.
Associations can be of clubs (US Club Soccer) or leagues (Football Association – FA England) or other associations (Union of European Football Associations - UEFA).
Clubs exist primarily to either develop players (youth and national clubs) or make money (professional clubs)…sometimes both.
Leagues exist to provide either clubs or non-club (recreational) players a structure within which to play. NorthStar, although a division of TBAYS, a league, plays in the Michigan State Premier Soccer Program, which is also a member league of MSYSA.
US Club Soccer was founded based on the following reality: leagues do not develop players, the clubs do. So it was proposed that there be some recognition of this fact and representation of this responsibility at the national level. The friction that can arise between clubs and leagues in Northern Michigan exists throughout the US. When clubs only had official status at the whim of leagues and conflicts in mission arose, the clubs were completely dominated and over-ruled by the leagues. This often had a negative impact on the clubs abilities to focus on player development.
|
