A Note From Our Club Technical Director
By: Everett Palache

I hope this message finds everyone in the club doing well!

We are quickly approaching the spring season, so we will compete more regularly while also going through the tryout process. As a competitive, high-performance club, we are constantly evaluating our talent and working to prepare players for the next step in their soccer journey. Some players are preparing for high school, some for college, and some for our pre-professional USL environment. Meanwhile, the young players are getting ready for the following Fall season.

During this time of internal and external competition, the fans (parents, family, and friends) must be aware of their behavior on the sidelines. Also, we must be mindful of our language on the sideline when describing other players. Every year, parents (fans) speak negatively about players on their team or players from the other team. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but adults must be good examples of what is appropriate when working with or around young people. With that in mind, please take a moment and reflect on what you want for your kid and those your son or daughter associates with on their teams. What example will you set this spring season as an ambassador and leader in appropriate sideline behavior?

The other issue we hear about every year is the treatment of referees. Being a referee in youth sports today is extremely difficult; if you have not heard, there is a shortage. We have a shortage because the few brave, committed, and humble people willing to referee a game are driven out by abusive fans (parents) and players. There are few guarantees in life, but we can guarantee you will attend a game this Spring, and you will feel the referee is not doing a good job. When this happens, remember all the valuable lessons your child can learn at that moment. They can learn to be resilient; they can learn how to communicate to win the referee over to earn a call later in the game, and they can learn how to deal with adversity and channel their energy to be better at the moment. These are the lessons the coaching staff is trying to teach, and we hope you can support us by being a good example this Spring and in all seasons.

Overall, we have seen significant improvement over the years and received compliments from all levels of the club about the behavior of our families on the sidelines. We have also seen our old and new staff join the cause to be better examples of appropriate behavior on the sideline. No one is perfect, but we want to be an organization striving for perfection in this area because our adult members' actions set the tone for the learning environment we create for the kids. Thank you to everyone who has committed to changing their behavior and those who have spoken up to remind others who have lost their way about how we want to act as Cleveland Force Soccer Club members. Without you, we would not have seen growth and the creation of the best environment in Northeast Ohio on and off the field.

Juniors Academy & Juniors Elite

Training & In-House Leagues

Cleveland Force SC Juniors Elite is northeast Ohio's premier pre-club development program. The program will run seasonally (fall, winter, spring). Participants in the program will receive (1) training night per week, as well as, 6-8 competitive league games per season.

We encourage all our future Juniors Elite players to first experience our Juniors Academy program for ages 5 - 8.

For more info about the Juniors Elite program, please reach out to Coach Mike Surniak: Michael@Force-Sports.com

The Cleveland Force

USL LEAGUE 2

2024 schedule is out now!

Mark your calendars and follow @clevforceusl for more season details coming soon!

2024 USL Academy Cup

March 14 - 17, 2024

Good luck to our U20 & U13 USL Academy Boys who are heading to Tampa, Florida for the 2024 USL Academy Cup!

High Performance & Competitive Tiers

By: CFSC Directors

Girls ECNL:

Our U15 - U19 ECNL girls began the year diligently preparing for their upcoming league season.  In early January our 2008 and 05/06 ECNL teams traveled to Lakewood Ranch, Florida for the ECNL Winter Showcase.  Both teams enjoyed the weather and the top notch competition.  Our teams continued their competition in February attending the Penn Fusion Showcase, Ohio Elite Showcase and Beading Showcase. Our HS aged ECNL teams continue their full slate in terms of exposure over the next couple of weeks.

Some of the events/showcases that we will be traveling to include:

• ECNL Spring Showcase (3/1-3/3)
• Jefferson Cup (3/15-3/17)
• ECNL North Carolina (5/31-6/2)
• ECNL Playoffs (Late June/Early July)

A couple of recent college commitments include:

• Hannah Pachan - 2007 ECNL - Virginia Tech
• Reagan Pentz - 2007 ECNL - Vanderbilt University
• Alyssa Gimmel - 2007 ECNL - University of New Hampshire
• Grace Paczko - 05/06 ECNL - Duquesne University
• Brooklyn Steiner - 05/06 ECNL - Lynn University

We look forward to the upcoming spring season to keep the momentum going!

Girls ECNL Tennessee - December 2023

Boys ECNL:

We are so thankful for the amount of exposure to collegiate scouts we receive at each ECNL event! Our 06/05, 07, 08 and 09 ECNL Boys teams traveled south in December to compete at ECNL Boys South Carolina Winter Event.  While there our 06/05 quite the audience of scouts watching:

Game 1: 57 colleges; 35% D1; 12% D2; 53% D3

Game 2: 48 colleges; 40% D1; 17% D2; 42% D3

Game 3: 26 colleges; 42% D1; 19 % D2; 38% D3

Coaches who contacted us thought the best game of the entire tournament was our game vs Charlotte Independence!

Our 07 boys saw 49 scouts over their three games (with 52% of scouts from D1 programs) including their first game of the weekend as they took CESA Triumph, the #1 ranked team in Southeast US at the South Carolina event.

In early February our Cleveland Force 06/05, 07 & 08 ECNL Boys teams headed to Lakewood Ranch, FL to compete in the ECNL Boys Winter Event!  Our 06/05 team once again had great attendance the first 2 days and had the best game of the tournament in a 4-4 draw against defending National Champions Richmond United!



Game 1: 42 Colleges; 35% D1; 7 % D2; 57% D3

Game 2: 41 Colleges; 36% D1; 9.7 % D2; 48% D3

Game 3: 12 Colleges; 33% D1; 0 D2; 66% D3

Special shoutout to Gavin Crane (2007) for being invited to the Continental Tire ECNL Selection Game! Gavin was the only Goalkeeper in the game that had a shutout half for the Selection Game. The West Team he was on won the game over the East 4-1. Check out the video below to hear what Gavin had to say about his experience.

Girls ECNL U13-U14:

The months of December, January, and thus far in February have been excellent for both the 2011 and 2010 ECNL groups. With many players participating in the USL Youth (formerly Super Y), we saw our 2011's secure a National Championship, and our 2010's lose narrowly in the final. Along with USL Youth competition, our teams have also played friendlies against United Futbol Academy ECNL (GA), Michigan Hawks ECNL x2, Indy Premier GA, and Pacesetter RL. We still have fixtures against CAU Force, Beadling GA (PA), and our boys program on the docket before we embark on our spring season. Gaining exposure to, competing with, and winning against some of the aforementioned teams has been great. We have competed against, challenged, and/or gotten results against teams ranked as high as #03 in the country in recent months -- so the future is very bright! 

The spring season will be exciting and challenging for both groups. We are sitting in a place where both teams have a great chance to qualify for the ECNL Champions League Playoffs. We will also be attending the Jefferson Cup in Richmond, VA as well as ECNL South Carolina. The goal for both teams is to finish top two in the conference in order to qualify for the ECNL Champions League Playoffs. 

We are looking forward to a lot of fun, development, and competition in the months to come. 

Boys U15-U19 ECNL-RL / GLA Director:

Our HS Boys GLA and ECNL-RL teams continue to prepare for the competitive season ahead while prioritizing the training environment in addition to friendly competition and a series of showcases and events. 

Our HS GLA teams just returned from the Ft. Wayne United FC Showcase, and our 2008 & 2009 ECNL-RL teams competed in the Del Sol Presidents’ Day tournament in Phoenix, Arizona and both teams came out on top, winning each of their divisions!

Our 2005/06 and 2007 ECNL-RL teams had a very successful weekend at the ECNL-RL Florida Showcase. Both teams displayed outstanding moments of our style of play in the attacking phase in addition to strong defensive performances. The combined record for the weekend was 2W-1L-3T with 11 goals scored and only 4 conceded. Kyle Bennett was selected to participate in the Continental Tire ECNL-RL selection game during this event. 

Lastly, our coaches selected team captains during the month of January. As outlined in our "Guiding Principles of a CFSC Captain,” the leadership styles CFSC looks for team captains to embody are transformational and servant. The objective is to create an environment of accountability, service, and care. CFSC captains are ambassadors of the club representing the club itself, teammates, family and friends in all environments on and off the field. Our 2024-2023 team captains are as follows: 

Girls ECNL-RL:

ECNL-RL - St Louis, MO - December 2023

Over all a good weekend for the teams. Managers were great at having everything we needed and helping out with pre, post, and during games. Two highlights were both on Day 1---05/06 group had a great game against the host. Team played well and had a commanding game. At the end of the day, the 08s with their DP goalkeeper took a 1-0 halftime lead, and scored two more on set pieces to win their first game. 

All heart award goes to the 08 team and Coach Attila. This group did not have a full squad, and lost S.Thompson midway through first with meniscus injury. In the second game, G.Marino injured and went. home. The team played with 1 sub in the final game, and battled. 

We saw a lot of coaches and had some great conversations. Those that did not attend, also knew about us and we have been following up with emails. Dave did a great job with 05/06s keeping up with all the coaches that attended and passing on information. I covered the 07s game because their manager could not attend. 

After the game we talked about the next few weeks, and would like to connect about practices. The 07s and 05/06 group need a few more over the holidays to get ready for our Florida event. This weekend we have league games with Pittsburgh and WNY Flash. We are working through a little roster situations because of this weekend. We appreciate all the help and support from the club and looking forward to getting back on the practice field!

ECNL-RL - Florida - Sanford, FL 2024

The 05/06 and 2007 groups went to Florida at the beginning of January and competed against some great competition. The event saw the teams tested on the field, and we came home ready to work on new things and continue to build off of the work from 2023. The success of St.Louis and Florida has led to many of the girls being in a great place in their searches to find the best college for their future. We are proud of the work they are putting in and looking forward to league play in March and April. 

Girls U9-U10 Competitive & High Performance:

Our coaching staff is expanding along with the program and player pools. These girls are continuing to work hard at trainings and are all making steady progress in preparation for spring. Many teams are being challenged playing against boys and/or playing an age group up. We are excited about the upcoming spring season and having teams competing at all levels of league play. The program and player pools are building and growing weekly. We have added 15 extra training only players at Force Richmond who are dedicated to improving their skills. We have also started to incorporate some Junior Elite girls to guest training with the older girls to help prepare them for the upcoming 2024-2025 season.

CFSC Player Spotlight

Meet The Russell Family!

The Force Effect Podcast

Episode 5: Off The Field Growth

Check out our newest Force Effect Podcast Episode 6, sharing a few details about Off The Field Growth!

COLLEGE RECRUITMENT

By: Steve Brdarski, College Recruitment Director