The 21st century was about to dawn, and George Cook and Peter Kim could not believe the state of Vermont soccer.
Both men, now 29, had grown up in soccer hotbeds – Cook playing for Connecticut's famed Oakwood Club, Kim for the large, Buffalo-based Amherst SC – and remained in Vermont after college because they had good jobs and loved the locale. Youth soccer was a different story.
Things were so bad, Vermont teams regularly lost to fellow Region I minnows Maine and Rhode Island.
Like gung-ho soccer people everywhere, Cook and Kim organized clinics, camps, leagues and eventually a club.
Capital Soccer's mission was to raise Vermont soccer to the next level, but its founders knew they could not suddenly impose a soccer culture where there was none.
Vermonters tend to do things their own way, and soccer was no exception. Most teen-agers were three-sport athletes, bucking the national trend toward specialization. There was no tradition, in any sport, of filling a club with players from a wide area; Vermonters are famously town-oriented. With outdoor fields unusable six months of the year, and indoor sites monopolized by hockey and basketball, training was difficult. Organizing a high-level youth soccer program seemed a daunting task.
Cook and Kim decided on a three-pronged approach.
"We wanted a challenging, creative, yet supportive environment," says Cook, who earned his master's degree in educational leadership at the University of Vermont. "Young players need to be placed in uncomfortable situations; that's how they improve. They need to see new ideas all the time, in order to grow. But support is important, too. It drives us nuts to see uneducated coaches, people who don't understand different age and ability levels and genders."
Cook and Kim brought together the best coaches they could find, then encouraged them to aim high.
"We're demanding bosses," Cook says. "We know what young players can accomplish. At the NSCAA convention this year in Philadelphia, we saw 9-year-olds from Delco – our kids couldn't carry their water. To get there, our kids have to learn to solve problems. We want our coaches to be problem-solvers, so they can teach their kids to do the same. Peter and I are lifelong learners, and we want our coaches to always try new activities, too."
Word is gradually getting out in the small state, which ranks 49th in population at 608,000 and whose largest city, Burlington, has 39,000 residents.
"Everyone knows everything," Cook says, "and people tell other people, 'You can trust these guys.' "
The first winter, 28 teams played in the 5-plus-a-keeper indoor league at Norwich University. This year there are 100. Clinic attendance has tripled, to 150. The first year Capital Soccer fielded premier teams, there were two. There are six this year. (The club also sponsors two adult teams.)
"The Colorado Rush might not think much of those numbers," Cook says, "but we've got 1,500 players, in a town [Montpelier, the state capital] with a population of 8,000."
"Young players need to be placed in uncomfortable situations; that's how they improve. They need to see new ideas all the time, in order to grow."
– George Cook, Capital Soccer Club co-founder
Most players come from sparsely populated central Vermont, although some travel from as far as Burlington in the west, and the New Hampshire border to the east.
To help prime the coaching pump, Capital Soccer has established a collaborative program with Montpelier High School, where Cook and Kim co-coach the girls varsity team. Students spend 100 hours in an internship program, running training sessions, officiating matches, devising league schedules and helping with team administration.
They write daily journal entries and meet regularly with a faculty adviser. After presenting their experience to a panel, they receive a grade and full credit from the high school.
Unlike the Colorado Rush, or other large clubs, Capital Soccer has so far been unable to land national sponsors. Six local businesses, including a dry cleaners, coffee shop and electrician, pony up $500 each. (Local hockey clubs charge sponsors up to $25,000.) The club charges players $450 a year, which covers uniforms, training expenses, and league and tournament fees.
"It's an uphill battle," Cook says. "It will take years of continuously bringing players along. Right now, our two girls high school All-Americans don't play club ball in Vermont. One goes to Boston; the other, believe it or not, plays with a team out of Virginia.
"If we want them to stay here, we'll have to draw all the best players in the state. It will take a long time for the 4- and 5-year-olds we're training to come through the pipeline. But we're in it for the long haul."
There is a good side to not yet being the Colorado Rush of Vermont, Cook says.
"Older, established clubs don't see a lot of change in their players," he notes. "In just three years, though, we've seen a tremendous amount of growth. Every day we see our kids learn something new."
by Soccer America Youth Soccer Letter Executive Editor Dan Woog
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