The two clubs join together to form the San Diego Soccer Club

San Diego Soccer News: PQ Premier and F.C. San Diego Sockers Merge to form San Diego Soccer Club  

Big news in San Diego's youth soccer world.   PQ Premier (PQ) and FC San Diego Sockers (FCSD) announced today they are joining forces to become the San Diego Soccer Club

(SDSC) beginning in the 2011 season.   The newly organized board of directors was also announced and is a blend of leaders from both organizations led by Sally Grigoriev, the new President.  

The competitive side of the youth soccer program will fully merge their current 74 teams. The club will continue to be led by their combined current Directors of Coaching (DOC). Seamus McFadden and Brian Quinn will combine to lead the boys program and Raffi Ruotolo and Peter Stogsdill will join forces to lead the girls teams.  The two club’s recreational soccer programs will maintain focus on developing talent and love for the game within their respective communities.  Jim Flowers will continue to oversee the RBYSA Recreational soccer program and Haydn Mitchell will oversee the PQ Recreational soccer program.  While the recreational programs will remain separate, they will be operating under the same banner and find many opportunities where the clubs can work together to enhance the soccer experience of our players and their families.

SN spoke with the president of the newly formed club, Grigoriev, and she explained the logic behind the merger.  “It all started between the directors of coaching.  How can we raise the level of soccer for our kids?" said Grigoriev. “Individually, each of the clubs were trying to do the same thing, why wouldn’t we combine to do it better together?”  Grigoriev continued by saying  "The board of both clubs worked through this carefully." 

“We are truly thrilled about the new direction and future of the San Diego Soccer Club.  We are excited about the exceptional developmental opportunities we can now offer all the young players and how our soccer youth will benefit from the knowledge and training passed to them from Brian, Peter, Raffi and our coaching staff”, said Seamus McFadden.  “There has been encouragement to move in this direction from many members, the surrounding communities and from all levels of both organizations, and we are glad we made this happen”.

In a time when many new smaller clubs are forming throughout San Diego, this merger is about taking two established, stronger, larger clubs with similar philosophies and putting them together with the intent of providing a more comprehensive program for soccer players of all ability levels.   At the upper end, the program will provide the opportunity for players to stay near home and develop into top level players that move onto college and professional ranks.  Teams will be competing at the highest levels of soccer.  At the same time, the developmental side of the program it will give players the opportunity to stay within a system designed to make the most of a player’s ability without having to travel all over San Diego County.

Grigoriev said "San Diego Soccer Club will be a place where players can stay within the same club, regardless of whether or not they want to play recreational soccer or at the premier level.  SDSC will offer every level of soccer and will form teams that are able to compete at the highest level.  Our goal is to have a premier team in every age group.  SDSC offers clinics on every skill development; a player could attend a clinic almost every day, if they wanted.”

The new club will sport the unique colors of navy and orange…with a new, really cool logo to be revealed soon.  The new club is also working on a moniker that fans can yell on the field – it is a bit of a tongue twister and flat to root San Diego Soccer Club.  Maybe kids can scream “GO SDSC” but time will tell if the club will acquire a field friendly nick name. For 2010 both PQ Premier and F.C. San Diego Sockers teams finish this current season with their current names and colors.

For some soccer enthusiast, the merger of these two clubs is is big news.  There is always speculation circulating around any merger and Southern California soccer is no stranger to the flurry of confusion that can arise before such announcements.  While chatting with the new club's president, it quickly became apparent that this seasoned soccer professional can handle it all the hushed turmoil with grace and ease. 

Grigoriev is an impressive leader with a strong business background and an equally strong belief that a soccer club should be run as a professional business.  Grigoriev’s business background includes running high level complex operations with 14 global manufacturing plants $2 billion budgets.  When talking to Grigoriev, one is reminded that running a soccer club, while requiring expertise and finesse, simply does not have any many moving parts and multi-national corporations.   With a mind for making the best deal for her customers (the parents and players) as possible, Grigoriev has already Nike, Adidas and Puma competing in an auction to provide uniforms for SDSC.  In an arena where RFP (Request For Proposals) are not the norm, Grigoriev’s approach is driven by her commitment to providing quality for her players.  Grigoriev sees her role as President clearly.  The club’s customers are the players and their families.  It is her job to give them the best experience possible and to inspire deep passion and love for the game of soccer. 

Grigoriev wants to “Create a love of soccer, a lifetime love for the game" and believes that "soccer needs to be promoted more deeply and with more loyalty.” 

Soccer is becoming more popular as a youth sport with an increased number of players participating.  When asked what hinders the popularity of soccer in America, Grigoriev responded “The people who decide what families do for fun are the parents … parents need to decide to do soccer instead of football, baseball or basketball as the sport.”  It is almost as if we are all watching soccer grow up in America and that soon we will have a generation of parents who played the sport while they were young.  Grigoriev said “Not a lot of the parents ever played soccer when they were growing up, I know I didn't and there isn’t that understanding of the game that comes from childhood experiences.  Soccer is not ingrained in our culture, it is not as sustainable on its own, yet.” She compared recreational soccer to little league baseball; the parents who volunteer in baseball have experience and are often excited to coach their children.  In recreational soccer, you often end up with parents who have never played the sport before and are unfamiliar with the game.” 

According to Grigoriev goals for SDSC are "First, our goal is for all members feel that we are communicating well, taking into account the needs of our members. Then, we want to have a very successful tryout process to retain the teams we have now and get more going forward."

The San Diego Soccer Club will continue to offer three of the best tournaments in Southern California; “Pegasus Cup” in July 2011, “San Diego Premier Classic” in August 2011 and the upcoming “San Diego President Cup”, January 15 and 16, 2011. www.sdpresidentscup.com

To learn more about the newly formed San Diego Soccer Club, PQ Premier and F.C. San Diego Sockers go to www.pqsoccer.com or www.fcsandiego.com.  For additional information you can contact a SDSC representative at grigoriev@fcsandiego.com