Western United Soccer Club

WUSC Classic Soccer Teams

We are pleased to announce that for the Fall 2021 Season we will have four Revolution, Classic Soccer Teams.
They will be:

U15 Revolution (2007 birthdates or later)- Please note this team will compete in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 as U15 and older only have club soccer seasons opposite of the School seasons. We will compete in friendlies and tournaments in Fall 2021, but the main season is Spring 2022.

U13 Revolution (2009 birthdates or later)
U12 Girls Revolution (2010 birthdates or later)
U11 Revolution (2011 birthdates or later)

Girls are very welcome to try out for any team, we have had several girls on teams competing in the boys division and they have done well! But, we are pleased to offer a girls team for the upcoming season and beyond!

Tryout Dates are as follows:

Saturday, June 5th, 2021- 10am-Noon- Registration will be open at 9:30am. All age groups will tryout at the same time. We will have everyone check-in and then send you to the appropriate coach. Tryouts will be held at Mountain Island Charter School, which is located at 13440 Lucia Riverbend Highway, Mt. Holly, NC 28120. Field 2 is the check-in location, that is the field with the track around it directly in front of the school.

Wednesday, June 9th, 2021- 6:15pm-8pm- Registration will be open at 6pm. All age groups will report to Field 2 at Mountain Island Charter School for tryouts.

Please e-mail us at [email protected] if you intend to tryout, please include your athletes name, birth year, team you intend to tryout for and also shirt size please!

Please read through all of the information in our Classic Soccer tab here on the website and contact us with any questions at [email protected]

wusc covid return to activity.pdf
western united soccer club-pandemic consent form.pdf
western united soccer club-revolution tryout registration.pdf

Our U15 Western United Soccer Club Revolution (2007 Birthdates or later) will be coached by Robert Price and Ben McDermott. Coaches Price and McDermott are returning for their 5th Season leading the Revolution. U15 means continued full field 11 v 11 competition, an additional 10 minutes of match time, totaling 80 minutes per match and the team is looking to build upon their successful 2021 spring season. We look forward to great things from this team again this fall. They are fun to watch!

Coach Robert Price- Coach Price began his coaching career 15 years ago at Providence Day coaching Basketball and is currently in his fourth season as the Head Varsity Basketball Coach for Mountain Island Charter School, which has been a consistent highly ranked team that has made deep playoff runs. Coach Prices teams have produced multiple players that have gone to play college ball. Price began coaching soccer with Western United Soccer Club in 2011 when his son Manny turned 3 and was old enough to play. He took over the U-4 program, adding song and structure, and has matriculated with Manny each year while also coaching daughter Maya. Five years ago along with Coach Ben McDermott, they created the Revolution; a challenge soccer team offering greater competition, with more practice time and a focus on the fall season, allowing young athletes to play other seasonal sports. The four years as Coach of the Revolution has been especially gratifying as the Revolution have finished top 2 in their division and have made ourselves well known to other teams in tournaments. In addition, the Revolution has become a Family. Coach Price also finds times to coach with Mountain Island Lacrosse, Mountain Island Optimist Club lower school Basketball and Coul-oak Softball. Price has been married for 20+ years to a wonderful and supportive wife Cara and has two young athletes of his own, Manny and Maya.

Coach Ben McDermott- Coach McDermott was born and raised in Charlotte, NC, and played his youth soccer with Western United years ago. He loves this organization and thrilled his children are able to play in the same great organization he enjoyed as a kid. He has been coaching with Western United since 2012 when his oldest son, Ben Jr. began his soccer career.   Coach McDermott has two other WUSC athletes, Max and Jake, and continues to help coach their teams at the younger age levels. He also coaches baseball for Coul-Oak Little League in the Spring and loves to support and volunteer for our local sports organizations.

Our U13 Western United Soccer Club Revolution (2009 Birthdates or later) will be coached by Donny Rollins and Ian Byrne. Coach Rollins is not only the Director of Coaching for Western United Soccer Club, but is returning for the fourth season with our U13 Revolution. The U13 Revolution will look to build upon their last three seasons. This team started off three years ago as a U11 team with mostly 8 and 9 year olds and held their own in the first season. With a few new faces the last two seasons, they have been extremely competitive in a division that includes some solid teams. They also recorded a tournament championship in the 2020 Dick's Sporting Goods tourney here in Charlotte! This year with a more seasoned team, they are looking to challenge for their division and additional tournament titles!

Coach Donny Rollins- Coach Rollins is quite simply a soccer fanatic. He has been involved in playing and coaching soccer his entire life. Coach Rollins is our Director of Coaching for Western United Soccer Club and coached rec soccer in our U4, U6, and U8 divisions between 2014-2017. Since then, he has led our U11 WUSC Revolution team and returns for his fourth season with the Revolution. Coach Rollins has had an extensive playing and coaching career. Coach Rollins grew up in Florida where he played for Cape Coral High School before moving on to play in college at the College of Boca Raton. While there from 1985-1988, Coach Rollins was part of the NAIA National Championship team in 1987 and a member of the State Cup Champions in 1988. After college, Coach Rollins spent three years continuing to play soccer, one with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers practice squad and then playing semi-pro soccer in Vero Beach. He continued to work in the soccer industry at Soccer Madness stores in South Florida and at one time even owned his own soccer specific t-shirt line called Ridi Rojo. He also coached a U11 Select Team in Boca Raton, the Saint Andrews middle school team and the Spanish River High School JV team in the early nineties. His love for soccer continued and he was led back into coaching with us as his son became involved in soccer.

Coach Ian Byrne- Coach Byrne began playing soccer at age 5, and continued actively playing through his freshman season of club soccer at Wake Forest University, when a knee injury ended his competition days. He has been coaching with WUSC since 2013, when his oldest son, Sean, began with the organization. He first coached one team per season, and then moved to two teams when his younger son, Jackson, also began playing. Coach Byrne and Sean were both eager to jump on board when WUSC formed the younger U11 Revolution in its inaugural season, and are excited for another fun-filled year. Coach Byrne enjoys supporting all local youth athletics, also coaching and serving on the Board of CoulOak Little League, as well as helping coach MIOC basketball.

Our U12 Girls Western United Soccer Club Revolution (2010 birthdates or later) will be coached by Geoff Spencer. This is a brand new team for this upcoming season. We are thrilled to be able to offer our talented young ladies a chance to have their own team and look forward to seeing great things from them!

Coach Geoff Spencer- Coach Spencer has been the President of Western United Soccer Club since November of 2015 and has overseen the expansion of our Rec League and our Revolution Classic Soccer Program. Coach Spencer holds a US Soccer license for U12 and under and is working on completing courses to earn a US Soccer "D" License. In addition to serving as President of WUSC, Coach Spencer is also the Director of Classic soccer for WUSC. Coach Spencer has coached at various age levels with WUSC since the 2014 season. Coach Spencer is an avid sports fan, that grew up playing soccer, basketball, baseball and golf. Coach Spencer played Varsity basketball and golf through High School. He has enjoyed coaching multiple sports for his kids, including baseball for Coul-Oak and basketball for Upward Basketball in the past, but his three kids all have developed a love for the beautiful game of football (soccer here in the US) and the family spends a lot of time on the pitch and watching football on TV. His oldest, Jordan, is a member of the U15 Revolution and enjoys playing with the club. His younger kids, Jillian and Jonathan have been playing for WUSC since they were 3 and 2 respectively and have played for their dad multiple seasons. Coach Spencer is looking forward to seeing this brand new team come together and achieve great things!

Our U11 Western United Soccer Club Revolution (2011 birthdates or later) will be coached by Ben McDermott and Kevin Garrison. Coach McDermott is the assistant coach for our U15 Revolution team. Coach Garrison has been coaching for WUSC in our rec leagues for 5 years and looks forward to joining the Revolution! This is a brand new team this season and we look forward to this team continuing the tradition and quality soccer of our older teams!

Coach Ben McDermott- Coach McDermott was born and raised in Charlotte, NC, and played his youth soccer with Western United years ago. He loves this organization and thrilled his children are able to play in the same great organization he enjoyed as a kid. He has been coaching with Western United since 2012 when his oldest son, Ben Jr. began his soccer career.   Coach McDermott has two other WUSC athletes, Max and Jake, and continues to help coach their teams at the younger age levels. He also coaches baseball for Coul-Oak Little League in the Spring and loves to support and volunteer for our local sports organizations.

Coach Kevin Garrison- info coming soon!

Classic Soccer

NCYSA- North Carolina Youth Soccer Association- Mission Statement for Classic Soccer.
It is the mission of the NCYSA Classic program to provide an environment to foster soccer competition at the highest level: age appropriate development of players who demonstrate talent and commitment with the desire to excel; and an appropriate level of team competition and the values of good sportsmanship to all who participate.

Note about Classic Soccer- Classic Soccer has been referred to as Select, Challenge, Travel Soccer. If you hear or have heard these terms before, they essentially are referring to the same thing. The official label by NYCSA is Classic Soccer.

Western United Classic Soccer
For Western United Soccer Club, (WUSC), our Classic program "WUSC Revolution" allows us to give players that are ready to move beyond rec soccer to continue to develop their games, while playing competitive soccer against talent from the Greater Charlotte and Western North Carolina areas in addition to teams from all around the Southeast when we travel to tournaments. In the past few seasons, we have competed against teams from all around Charlotte, and from Waxhaw to Asheville during the regular season. We also have attended two tournaments each season, traveling to tournaments in Raleigh/Durham, Greenville, SC, Myrtle Beach, SC and around the greater Charlotte area as well. We typically play one local tournament and one tournament out of town.

In addition to the opportunity to improve play and compete, our program has developed a family atmosphere. Our kids are not only teammates but have gotten to become good friends and so have the families that support the players. In addition, we offer this opportunity at a fraction of the cost of other larger programs in the Charlotte area. We look forward to seeing you soon at tryouts and also as part of our Revolution family!

Important Things to Know
1) Classic Soccer is a commitment. This is not rec soccer, you are part of a competitive team. We train as a team and play as a team and every piece of the team is important. When you commit, you should expect to attend all practices and games. It is hard for coaches to train players and build gameplans if players miss practices and/or games. Additionally, playing time is determined by the coaches and usually aligns with effort and productivity. Our teams will begin training in late summer to prepare for the season and the season starts in late August and goes until late November. During the preseason, we may practice up to 3 times a week, during the season, practice will be 2 times a week. We do understand sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, but we ask that if something does arise, speak to your coach as soon as possible so they understand the situation and can plan around it.

2) We do not know what teams will be in our division or where they are located. This doesn't just pertain to our club, this is statewide and impacts all Classic Teams. Once all participating clubs have submitted their intent to play and list their Classic Teams, NCYSA pools everyone together and divides the teams by geographical region. Being in a large market like Charlotte, most of the teams for us are typically located in the Greater Charlotte Area, but we could see teams in our division from Greensboro/High Point all the way over to Asheville/Western North Carolina. We have no control over who is put in our division. During the scheduling period, our Administration and Coaches work as hard as possible to create a balanced and fair schedule with the other clubs in our division. A typical regular season is 10-12 games and we try to split home and away as evenly as possible.

3) Game Days- Games are typically played on Saturday's or Sunday's for the most part. If there needed to be a makeup game due to weather, etc. it is possible that a Friday night could be utilized. Game times are based on field availability and availability of the opposing club. Many classic teams have coaches that coach multiple teams and therefore are juggling schedules for multiple teams/games over each weekend.

4)Training- Our training for our teams will be at Shuffletown Park or Mountain Island Charter School.

5) Home Games- Our home games will be held at MICS- Mountain Island Charter School. Our backup field is Shuffletown Park.

6) U15 Rules- U15 matches extend to 40 minutes per Half, an increase of 5 minutes per half over U14. Other rules remain the same as U13 plus. Halftime is a maximum of 15 minutes. Max roster size is 22, only allowed to dress 18. Coaches will determine final roster size.

7) U13 Rules- U13 is the first year that players are allowed to head the ball. While most players have had some experience heading a ball on their own, it is not allowed either in training or games at the Rec or Classic level prior to U13 soccer. This will be an adjustment but adds another element to the game for our players to learn and perfect and adds additional strategy, especially on set pieces. U13 Classic Soccer is 11 v 11 on a larger field than our younger teams play on. This adds to the fact that our players need to build their speed and stamina, as there will be more area for them to cover and greater space for playmaking. Another change at the U13 level is the ball size. The ball size goes up to a size 5 (a regulation sized soccer ball). Games are 35 minute halves (an increase of 5 minutes per half from U12 and lower.) Halftime is a maximum of 15 minutes. Maximum roster size allowed is 22, only 18 can dress for games (per NCYSA rules). Our coaches will determine the number of players that make the roster.

7) U11 and U12 Rules- No headers are allowed in this division, either in training or in games. U11 and U12 Classic Soccer are played on a smaller than regulation field and is 9 v 9. Ball size is Size 4, one size down from regulation soccer balls. Games are 30 minute halves with a maximum 15 minute halftime. Maximum roster size is 16 (per NCYSA rules). Our coaches will determine the number of players that make the roster.

8) Parent Expectations- WUSC expects that our parents will support and encourage our players, will let our coaches coach the games and will respect the decisions made by the referees. NCYSA calls for parents of each club to remain in their teams own half of the field. For example, if WUSC's bench is on the left side of the field, the parents from our club will only sit in that end of the field. Parents are directly across the field from their teams bench. Parents are not allowed behind goals or on the players (bench) side of the field.

9) What is included in the cost for your player?- Your players fee will cover two uniforms for your player, registration fees for two tournaments, administrative costs such as referee fees (refs are paid by the teams for each game they referee, not NCYSA), etc. You will be responsible for any travel costs to games, hotels and food at tournaments etc. There will be no additional costs to play for your players though once you have paid the team fee unless we choose to play additional tournaments outside of the two included.

10) What do I need to provide for my player?- You will need to provide soccer cleats, shin guards, and the appropriate size ball for your player.

11) What is the cost for my player?- Club Fees are $350 per player. Once you are notified that your player has been chosen for the team, you will have ten days to submit payment for the season.

12) Is there anything else needed after team selection?- Yes, our registrar will need to verify your child's birth certificate in order to ensure they qualify to be on the team. You will also need to sign a liability waiver.

Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any other questions. Thanks!