Celtic Soccer Club's holistic approach
good for kids, good for the game
By Patrick Z. McGavin
PALATINE — The architectural space of Palatine High School juts in every conceivable direction. The hum of activity surrounding the 37th annual Celtic Cup is marked by bodies in a constant and balletic state of motion outlining a density of faces and people, from young children to older teenagers.
It is the Sunday before Labor Day and blisteringly hot for the athletes here. But the defining sense is far more ecstatic. This is their moment.
Everything is of a single piece and intertwined. No matter where you turn, high level soccer is played. Balls fly through the air as players weave and dance around each other. It is almost too much of a good thing with so many players and styles of play to consider. One thing is clear — it is thrilling to take it all in.
A point that stands out is the organizational complexity of the operation. More than 5,000 players divided among 434 teams representing six states are competing here. It does not just happen in a vacuum. As Academy Award winner Orson Welles famously observed: a poet needs a pen, a painter a brush but a filmmaker an army.
So does a major soccer tournament which uses its corps of volunteers to serve a legion of players, coaches, officials, college recruiters and spectators. The drive of the Palatine Celtic Soccer Club is self-evident and radiates at the Celtic Cup, its signature event.
"We ... make sure the kids are in a good program," says Jennifer DeFranco, the board president of the organization. "We have our own personal passion, and the other parents can feel that."
The genesis of the club dates to 1968. Two soccer enthusiasts and transplanted Scotsmen — Bill Hughes and Jimmy Kinsella — provided the first structural coaching for aspiring players. They helped popularize the game during a time when soccer was thought of as fairly exotic and foreign and had nowhere near the foothold in the culture that it does today.
The two men named the club after a cherished hometown program, the Glasgow Celtic. The homegrown, grassroots nature of the new club proved crucial in connecting to the wider community.
As soccer took hold in the public imagination and witnessed an exponential growth, Celtic Soccer Club had the hierarchal structure in place to meet quickly shifting demands.
"Everything is part of something bigger,” DeFranco said. “And that's what makes it so great: the level of community involvement, the passion of the coaches, the alumni, and our network of volunteers."
The program has become an intrinsic part of the community and a key factor in the highly competitive play of the boys and girls programs at both Palatine and Fremd high schools. (Players who attend Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates are also connected to the program). Many players from the Fremd boys team that finished third in the Class 3A state tournament last fall came up through the Celtic program.
Connected with the Palatine Park District, Celtic Soccer Club offers instruction, training and skill development for boys and girls from ages 6-18, and children can be introduced to the sport as early as age 3.
In its main programs, the club serves 800 youths in its recreational house program, and 500 more don its green and white colors for the travel program.
What is clear is that a connective thread binds together a great many people.
"Celtic has been awesome," said Jenna Simios, a senior at Fremd who plays in the U18 division. "I've been playing since I was in first or second grade. All the coaches have always been so supportive of the team and the players.
"Half of our team goes to Palatine, the other to Fremd. But when we come back together, it's like we never left."
The Fremd and Palatine boys and girls teams vie for the Jimmy Kinsella Trophy during their in-season rivalry games.
Paul Clapson, the director of coaching for the travel program, has an interesting perspective. A native of Kent, in south London, he spent his formative years in Florida and competed professionally across the globe. He toiled in Iceland when a back injury prematurely ended his playing career.
It was then he began mulling a career in coaching. As chance would have it, his wife was a native of Palatine.
Clapson just began his third year directing the program.
"It's about the kids," he said.
With parents investing in the program, Clapson said it is vital the club understand its educational and instructional imperatives. He called it part of the club's educational mission: finding the right balance between teaching soccer skills and emphasizing a well-rounded and balanced life.
"This is the [teaching] direction we're heading in, and we're starting to see more benefits and feedback from parents," Clapson said.
The club has excelled because of its very precise understanding of its role and larger place, says technical director Brian Colicchia.
"When I joined the program six years ago, one of the things that I really liked is that we're a community club and we know [that]. We're not trying to compete with the larger clubs who are trying to pull in players from all different areas.
"We're not interested in just recruiting the next best thing and throwing aside the player we've been working with before. We're perfectly happy saying we want to develop you, and we want you to stay with us. If you're too good for us, we'll give you the chance to go somewhere else, and we have also done that.
"We found our niche."
The Celtic Soccer Club has become an ambassador for soccer with an accommodating policy that invites athletes from varied sports to enjoy the game.
With research strongly showing greater personal, intellectual and athletic benefits from playing multiple sports, Colicchia says the program wants to broaden possibilities.
"Because we're a community club, we're not forcing demands on them that a club that trains three-or-four days a week might do," he said. "We give them the opportunity to go out and do multiple things. We have tennis players, basketball players, golfers and volleyball players. We have players who are able to develop in other aspects of their lives and not just soccer."
With an estimated 10,000 people attending the 2015 Celtic Cup, the numbers tell only a partial story. As much as any other sport, soccer is predicated on access to physical space and facilities. The massive tournament illustrates the interconnected relationship of the club to the park district, village and surrounding communities.
Celtic is a fully vested partner, and the club’s tournaments, sponsorships and field rentals help subsidize its beautifully appointed turf fields adjacent to Palatine High School. It deepens the emotional engagement between the club and the city.
Culturally, the players understand the connection between playing and wanting to give back.
"I've been playing Celtic for 10 years," said Halle Tyska, a Fremd senior who plays for the U18 side. "I coach for the younger kids, and they're probably going to be just like me and grow up and be part of the U18 group."
The Celtic Cup signifies beginnings, the start of a new season, at the same time it acknowledges the past. From players to coaches to the executive staff, the Celtic Soccer Club illustrates a connecting bond passed on through time.
"In Chicago, one of our biggest strengths is our history and how long we've been around, what kind of teams we've produced and what we're trying to get out of these kids," Clapson said.
"Even when I joined the program to now, the game has grown tremendously. People are starting to learn it's not necessarily about winning every game every week. It's about them developing as a player and a person. We probably take it more seriously than the kids.”
good for kids, good for the game
By Patrick Z. McGavin
PALATINE — The architectural space of Palatine High School juts in every conceivable direction. The hum of activity surrounding the 37th annual Celtic Cup is marked by bodies in a constant and balletic state of motion outlining a density of faces and people, from young children to older teenagers.
It is the Sunday before Labor Day and blisteringly hot for the athletes here. But the defining sense is far more ecstatic. This is their moment.
Everything is of a single piece and intertwined. No matter where you turn, high level soccer is played. Balls fly through the air as players weave and dance around each other. It is almost too much of a good thing with so many players and styles of play to consider. One thing is clear — it is thrilling to take it all in.
A point that stands out is the organizational complexity of the operation. More than 5,000 players divided among 434 teams representing six states are competing here. It does not just happen in a vacuum. As Academy Award winner Orson Welles famously observed: a poet needs a pen, a painter a brush but a filmmaker an army.
So does a major soccer tournament which uses its corps of volunteers to serve a legion of players, coaches, officials, college recruiters and spectators. The drive of the Palatine Celtic Soccer Club is self-evident and radiates at the Celtic Cup, its signature event.
"We ... make sure the kids are in a good program," says Jennifer DeFranco, the board president of the organization. "We have our own personal passion, and the other parents can feel that."
The genesis of the club dates to 1968. Two soccer enthusiasts and transplanted Scotsmen — Bill Hughes and Jimmy Kinsella — provided the first structural coaching for aspiring players. They helped popularize the game during a time when soccer was thought of as fairly exotic and foreign and had nowhere near the foothold in the culture that it does today.
The two men named the club after a cherished hometown program, the Glasgow Celtic. The homegrown, grassroots nature of the new club proved crucial in connecting to the wider community.
As soccer took hold in the public imagination and witnessed an exponential growth, Celtic Soccer Club had the hierarchal structure in place to meet quickly shifting demands.
"Everything is part of something bigger,” DeFranco said. “And that's what makes it so great: the level of community involvement, the passion of the coaches, the alumni, and our network of volunteers."
The program has become an intrinsic part of the community and a key factor in the highly competitive play of the boys and girls programs at both Palatine and Fremd high schools. (Players who attend Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates are also connected to the program). Many players from the Fremd boys team that finished third in the Class 3A state tournament last fall came up through the Celtic program.
Connected with the Palatine Park District, Celtic Soccer Club offers instruction, training and skill development for boys and girls from ages 6-18, and children can be introduced to the sport as early as age 3.
In its main programs, the club serves 800 youths in its recreational house program, and 500 more don its green and white colors for the travel program.
What is clear is that a connective thread binds together a great many people.
"Celtic has been awesome," said Jenna Simios, a senior at Fremd who plays in the U18 division. "I've been playing since I was in first or second grade. All the coaches have always been so supportive of the team and the players.
"Half of our team goes to Palatine, the other to Fremd. But when we come back together, it's like we never left."
The Fremd and Palatine boys and girls teams vie for the Jimmy Kinsella Trophy during their in-season rivalry games.
Paul Clapson, the director of coaching for the travel program, has an interesting perspective. A native of Kent, in south London, he spent his formative years in Florida and competed professionally across the globe. He toiled in Iceland when a back injury prematurely ended his playing career.
It was then he began mulling a career in coaching. As chance would have it, his wife was a native of Palatine.
Clapson just began his third year directing the program.
"It's about the kids," he said.
With parents investing in the program, Clapson said it is vital the club understand its educational and instructional imperatives. He called it part of the club's educational mission: finding the right balance between teaching soccer skills and emphasizing a well-rounded and balanced life.
"This is the [teaching] direction we're heading in, and we're starting to see more benefits and feedback from parents," Clapson said.
The club has excelled because of its very precise understanding of its role and larger place, says technical director Brian Colicchia.
"When I joined the program six years ago, one of the things that I really liked is that we're a community club and we know [that]. We're not trying to compete with the larger clubs who are trying to pull in players from all different areas.
"We're not interested in just recruiting the next best thing and throwing aside the player we've been working with before. We're perfectly happy saying we want to develop you, and we want you to stay with us. If you're too good for us, we'll give you the chance to go somewhere else, and we have also done that.
"We found our niche."
The Celtic Soccer Club has become an ambassador for soccer with an accommodating policy that invites athletes from varied sports to enjoy the game.
With research strongly showing greater personal, intellectual and athletic benefits from playing multiple sports, Colicchia says the program wants to broaden possibilities.
"Because we're a community club, we're not forcing demands on them that a club that trains three-or-four days a week might do," he said. "We give them the opportunity to go out and do multiple things. We have tennis players, basketball players, golfers and volleyball players. We have players who are able to develop in other aspects of their lives and not just soccer."
With an estimated 10,000 people attending the 2015 Celtic Cup, the numbers tell only a partial story. As much as any other sport, soccer is predicated on access to physical space and facilities. The massive tournament illustrates the interconnected relationship of the club to the park district, village and surrounding communities.
Celtic is a fully vested partner, and the club’s tournaments, sponsorships and field rentals help subsidize its beautifully appointed turf fields adjacent to Palatine High School. It deepens the emotional engagement between the club and the city.
Culturally, the players understand the connection between playing and wanting to give back.
"I've been playing Celtic for 10 years," said Halle Tyska, a Fremd senior who plays for the U18 side. "I coach for the younger kids, and they're probably going to be just like me and grow up and be part of the U18 group."
The Celtic Cup signifies beginnings, the start of a new season, at the same time it acknowledges the past. From players to coaches to the executive staff, the Celtic Soccer Club illustrates a connecting bond passed on through time.
"In Chicago, one of our biggest strengths is our history and how long we've been around, what kind of teams we've produced and what we're trying to get out of these kids," Clapson said.
"Even when I joined the program to now, the game has grown tremendously. People are starting to learn it's not necessarily about winning every game every week. It's about them developing as a player and a person. We probably take it more seriously than the kids.”