Developing Players Building Character
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Mission Statement
The purpose of the Citadel FC Operation is to provide the premier
level player in Northeast Indiana the opportunity to play at a
highly competitive level both in and out of the state. The Citadel
FC Operation's goal is to create a strong work ethic under the
direction of trained and qualified coaches, where players are
given the opportunity to excel physically and mentally and where
they have the opportunity to demonstrate their excellence against
premier teams in league and tournament competition in and
around the Midwest.
The purpose of the Citadel FC Operation is to provide the premier
level player in Northeast Indiana the opportunity to play at a
highly competitive level both in and out of the state. The Citadel
FC Operation's goal is to create a strong work ethic under the
direction of trained and qualified coaches, where players are
given the opportunity to excel physically and mentally and where
they have the opportunity to demonstrate their excellence against
premier teams in league and tournament competition in and
around the Midwest.
Fort Wayne Soccer History
1970's-United Commercial Travelers (UCT) recreational soccer program was
initiated by Jim Roemke, it was a league organized primarily to allow kids a place
to play soccer. Kids of different age groups could be placed on the same team, for
example one parent remembers that his 7 and 12-year-old kids were allowed to
play on the same team.
In 1976, Terry Stefankiewicz, Ken Watson, and Klemons, intending to give
everyone a chance to play soccer, formed the Pepsi League as a recreational
league. The first President of the League was Doris Dalman, and as a rec league
everyone got to play in 1/2 the games. The first spring games were played at
Jefferson Middle School on the east side, and Homestead High School on the west
side. It began with 250 kids during the first season, and initially games were only
played in spring. Each year Pepsi provided t-shirts that read Dr. Pepper or Pepsi
on it, along with some minor monetary funding. In 1980, the Pepsi League
changed to a spring AND fall format, and added both indoor soccer and a summer
camp to their format.
During the years between 1976 and 1983, two additional leagues formed within
Allen County – St. Joe Soccer League and Fort Wayne Girls Soccer League. St. Joe
was designed to provide coed recreational soccer and originated by Jim Byers for
play in the NE side of town and began playing at Concordia Seminary and was
sanctioned by SAY in the early years. The FWGS was initially set up to provide
both recreational and travel soccer for girls only.
In 1982, it was felt that a more competitive environment was needed to prepare
players for the high school game. It was suggested that the Pepsi League utilize
a tryout system for a separate division, the first tryouts were held at Canterbury
Middle School on a Saturday with Greg Mauch and John Bierbaum as player
evaluators. Pretty good morning turnout, and very small turnout in the afternoon
– only ½ a dozen or so turned out in the later session. The decision was made
that everyone who “tried out” made a teams, which defeated the original design
plan. The program went ahead, but it only lasted one season, which didn't’t work
out as well as everyone had hoped.
In 1983, the Fort Wayne Youth Select Soccer League was formed to provide for
slightly higher competition levels, led by John Bierbaum and a group of
assistants. The goal of the league was centered on city soccer and providing a
better environment for players in preparing for high school play. The club was
widely called the McDonalds League, mainly because McDonalds provided a
$2,000 contribution yearly from their advertising budget. Most in the community
saw this as a natural addition to the soccer environment in town rather than a
competitor to Pepsi and/or St. Joe. The first season, McDonald’s put together a
tournament team to play in the White River Games (later known as the Hoosier
Games). League play began that fall, with both a City and Travel division.
In 1984, discussions began to rename the Pepsi League with the name of Three
Rivers Youth Soccer Association.
In 1985, Trysa was formed to administer all of the leagues that chose to become
a member of the organization. Its main goal at the time was to provide for
administrators of all of the different leagues, and to enhance the purchasing
power of all of the groups who chose to join it. It was hoped that all of the
soccer organizations would join, and everyone (Pepsi League, Fort Wayne Girls
League, Huntertown, FWYSSL, & UCT) except the St. Joe Soccer League did join).
FWYSSL left after only one year since they felt that the umbrella organization
duplicated what they were doing on their own and the purchasing power never
really became a reality.
During the initial years, the TRYSA organization provided many services to the
members under its umbrella. TRYSA arranged with the schools and parks to
maintain the soccer fields and provide for the goals (a practice they still do well),
TRYSA ran the registration process for all of the different clubs (always done by
mail), and arranged for sponsorships to help defray the costs of the paid office
staff. Back in those good old days, the registration fee was only $26. For that
amount, players all received socks, shorts, and a jersey – and all practice and
game balls were provided for free also. TRYSA ran a summer soccer camp,
bringing in instructors from England and providing camp housing and facilities
through Concordia Seminary. Because of the large size of TRYSA’s membership,
there was a lack of certified referees available to do youth games – so TRYSA also
provided for the certification and licensing of referees to alleviate the shortage.
With their ability to provide several different levels of soccer within one
organization, TRYSA was able to assign referees in such a way that they hoped
the cream rose to the top games.
Each of the clubs who were members of TRYSA kept their own philosophies, if you
wanted to be rec – fine. If you wanted to form teams through tryouts, fine. The
goal was not to change the clubs, but to enhance their ability to grow. Each club
was awarded a board position within TRYSA, and voting rights were based upon
the number of players each club represented – obviously these numbers were
closely watched so that accurate voting could take place when inevitable conflicts
arose through differing agendas.
Over the years, TRYSA became the generic name for the Pepsi League after the
local Pepsi distributor decided to stop funding the league; and TRYSA continued to
include the FWGS league - and continues today to offer coed and girl divisions of
recreational soccer under the TRYSA name. Today this program plays their games
at both Hefner Fields on the east side of Fort Wayne, and Indian Trails park on
the west side of town.
During the early 1990’s, FWYSSL continued to grow with the travel division
hosting 8 – 10 teams and the city division having 18 teams in four zones –
including a southern zone. In the fall of 1993, a vote was taken to have a
separate name for the travel division – and the name Dragon FC was chosen.
That winter there was some parental dissent about the name, and in the spring
of 1994 the name was changed to the current Citadel FC. During this change, the
city division became known as the “Select League” under FWYSSL.
The travel side of TRYSA/FWGS (the Challengers) joined FWYSSL as part of Citadel
in 1996. This was after TRYSA decided that they wanted to concentrate on their
recreational side only. TRYSA had a girl’s travel division, and at the time
Citadel/FWYSSL only provided travel soccer for the boys. The movement of 8
teams to Citadel was completed, and Citadel has provided for a girls division ever
since.
Today, Citadel FC has developed into twenty teams, both boys and girls, that
compete at the highest levels which includes MRL, ISL, GIRLS, CISL and NISL. In
2009, recognizing the importance of these teams, the organization was
redesigned in an effort to streamline the responsibilities focusing on specific areas
to provide players with the best overall opportunities for growth. As a result,
Citadel FC contains four Directors to oversee these target areas; Carlos Cruz,
Director of Coaching and Development; Matt Hein, Youth Director of Coaching;
Paco Castillo, Director of Coaching Boys; Jozsef Feher, Director of Coaching Girls.
1970's-United Commercial Travelers (UCT) recreational soccer program was
initiated by Jim Roemke, it was a league organized primarily to allow kids a place
to play soccer. Kids of different age groups could be placed on the same team, for
example one parent remembers that his 7 and 12-year-old kids were allowed to
play on the same team.
In 1976, Terry Stefankiewicz, Ken Watson, and Klemons, intending to give
everyone a chance to play soccer, formed the Pepsi League as a recreational
league. The first President of the League was Doris Dalman, and as a rec league
everyone got to play in 1/2 the games. The first spring games were played at
Jefferson Middle School on the east side, and Homestead High School on the west
side. It began with 250 kids during the first season, and initially games were only
played in spring. Each year Pepsi provided t-shirts that read Dr. Pepper or Pepsi
on it, along with some minor monetary funding. In 1980, the Pepsi League
changed to a spring AND fall format, and added both indoor soccer and a summer
camp to their format.
During the years between 1976 and 1983, two additional leagues formed within
Allen County – St. Joe Soccer League and Fort Wayne Girls Soccer League. St. Joe
was designed to provide coed recreational soccer and originated by Jim Byers for
play in the NE side of town and began playing at Concordia Seminary and was
sanctioned by SAY in the early years. The FWGS was initially set up to provide
both recreational and travel soccer for girls only.
In 1982, it was felt that a more competitive environment was needed to prepare
players for the high school game. It was suggested that the Pepsi League utilize
a tryout system for a separate division, the first tryouts were held at Canterbury
Middle School on a Saturday with Greg Mauch and John Bierbaum as player
evaluators. Pretty good morning turnout, and very small turnout in the afternoon
– only ½ a dozen or so turned out in the later session. The decision was made
that everyone who “tried out” made a teams, which defeated the original design
plan. The program went ahead, but it only lasted one season, which didn't’t work
out as well as everyone had hoped.
In 1983, the Fort Wayne Youth Select Soccer League was formed to provide for
slightly higher competition levels, led by John Bierbaum and a group of
assistants. The goal of the league was centered on city soccer and providing a
better environment for players in preparing for high school play. The club was
widely called the McDonalds League, mainly because McDonalds provided a
$2,000 contribution yearly from their advertising budget. Most in the community
saw this as a natural addition to the soccer environment in town rather than a
competitor to Pepsi and/or St. Joe. The first season, McDonald’s put together a
tournament team to play in the White River Games (later known as the Hoosier
Games). League play began that fall, with both a City and Travel division.
In 1984, discussions began to rename the Pepsi League with the name of Three
Rivers Youth Soccer Association.
In 1985, Trysa was formed to administer all of the leagues that chose to become
a member of the organization. Its main goal at the time was to provide for
administrators of all of the different leagues, and to enhance the purchasing
power of all of the groups who chose to join it. It was hoped that all of the
soccer organizations would join, and everyone (Pepsi League, Fort Wayne Girls
League, Huntertown, FWYSSL, & UCT) except the St. Joe Soccer League did join).
FWYSSL left after only one year since they felt that the umbrella organization
duplicated what they were doing on their own and the purchasing power never
really became a reality.
During the initial years, the TRYSA organization provided many services to the
members under its umbrella. TRYSA arranged with the schools and parks to
maintain the soccer fields and provide for the goals (a practice they still do well),
TRYSA ran the registration process for all of the different clubs (always done by
mail), and arranged for sponsorships to help defray the costs of the paid office
staff. Back in those good old days, the registration fee was only $26. For that
amount, players all received socks, shorts, and a jersey – and all practice and
game balls were provided for free also. TRYSA ran a summer soccer camp,
bringing in instructors from England and providing camp housing and facilities
through Concordia Seminary. Because of the large size of TRYSA’s membership,
there was a lack of certified referees available to do youth games – so TRYSA also
provided for the certification and licensing of referees to alleviate the shortage.
With their ability to provide several different levels of soccer within one
organization, TRYSA was able to assign referees in such a way that they hoped
the cream rose to the top games.
Each of the clubs who were members of TRYSA kept their own philosophies, if you
wanted to be rec – fine. If you wanted to form teams through tryouts, fine. The
goal was not to change the clubs, but to enhance their ability to grow. Each club
was awarded a board position within TRYSA, and voting rights were based upon
the number of players each club represented – obviously these numbers were
closely watched so that accurate voting could take place when inevitable conflicts
arose through differing agendas.
Over the years, TRYSA became the generic name for the Pepsi League after the
local Pepsi distributor decided to stop funding the league; and TRYSA continued to
include the FWGS league - and continues today to offer coed and girl divisions of
recreational soccer under the TRYSA name. Today this program plays their games
at both Hefner Fields on the east side of Fort Wayne, and Indian Trails park on
the west side of town.
During the early 1990’s, FWYSSL continued to grow with the travel division
hosting 8 – 10 teams and the city division having 18 teams in four zones –
including a southern zone. In the fall of 1993, a vote was taken to have a
separate name for the travel division – and the name Dragon FC was chosen.
That winter there was some parental dissent about the name, and in the spring
of 1994 the name was changed to the current Citadel FC. During this change, the
city division became known as the “Select League” under FWYSSL.
The travel side of TRYSA/FWGS (the Challengers) joined FWYSSL as part of Citadel
in 1996. This was after TRYSA decided that they wanted to concentrate on their
recreational side only. TRYSA had a girl’s travel division, and at the time
Citadel/FWYSSL only provided travel soccer for the boys. The movement of 8
teams to Citadel was completed, and Citadel has provided for a girls division ever
since.
Today, Citadel FC has developed into twenty teams, both boys and girls, that
compete at the highest levels which includes MRL, ISL, GIRLS, CISL and NISL. In
2009, recognizing the importance of these teams, the organization was
redesigned in an effort to streamline the responsibilities focusing on specific areas
to provide players with the best overall opportunities for growth. As a result,
Citadel FC contains four Directors to oversee these target areas; Carlos Cruz,
Director of Coaching and Development; Matt Hein, Youth Director of Coaching;
Paco Castillo, Director of Coaching Boys; Jozsef Feher, Director of Coaching Girls.
Citadel FC P.O. Box 8163 Fort Wayne, IN 46898
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DaMarcus Beasley