The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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MYSC moving soccer forward
Travel teams, new soccer complex, better instruction all helping
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 15, 2008
Not so long ago, it used to be a lot tougher to be a young soccer player in Milan.
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There were fewer fields. There was less top-flight instruction. Players looking to join a serious travel team had to look outside the community.
But thanks in large part to the hard work done by the Milan Youth Soccer Club, those issues are changing. The MYSC is now preparing for its biggest fall season yet, with approximately 150 players enrolled in Milan's "house program" and another 100 playing for Milan's travel teams.
"Soccer's just becoming more well-known as a sport, and it has really grown around this area," MYSC president Rita Vershun said last week. "We're doing a lot to try and develop our better players."
One of the main methods the MYSC is doing that is by expanding the travel team program, which will have its 2008-2009 tryouts June 16 and 23. MYSC teams play in the Western Suburban Soccer League, playing against some of the best youth soccer players in southeast Michigan.
"In the past, players would have gone to Ann Arbor to join a team," Vershun said. "Our goal is to keep them playing here."
The better the travel competition, Vershun said, the more it will help "develop the high school program. That's what we want it to feed into."
In fact, in addition to its youth soccer programs, MYSC doubles as the booster club for the Milan High School varsity programs.
Those double objectives help explain why MYSC has continued its development of a Milan soccer complex between Milan High School and Symons Elementary School. Two full size fields are completed, with work continuing on a permanent concessions building, restrooms and other amenities. The next phase for the complex will involve building a handful of fields devoted to youth soccer.
"Right now, we're kind of spread out, with games at Wilson Park and Sanford Road," Vershun said. "The plan is to have all our soccer in one location."
To help develop the players who might use those current and future facilities, MYSC has held camps and clinics featuring a number of area soccer professionals, including members of the Detroit Ignition professional indoor soccer club, Best Soccer, Five-Star Goalkeeping and others.
"Having professionals like the Ignition come in really gets the kids excited about soccer," Vershun said.
MYSC also offers a well-attended tot soccer program and referee training.
As a self-sufficient nonprofit, volunteer organization, MYSC raises funds throughout the year. Current fundraisers include a voucher book good for drive-in move tickets at Compuware Arena and a three-digit raffle offering purchasers a chance to win $75 between June 1 and June 30.
Registration for the fall house programs will begin in June. For more information on the MYSC, visit www.milansoccer.net.
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