A Note From Our Club Technical Director
By: Everett Palache

Hello All,

I hope this message finds you doing well!

We have started the 2023 season well. We have teams competing in the top leagues in our region and have established our mission of providing soccer players with a club structure that empowers hardworking, responsible, and humble athletes who approach goals positively on and off the field.

Completing the player pathway from U6 to U23 makes Cleveland Force unique in Northeast Ohio. No other club can provide soccer athletes training programs and competitive leagues from U6 - U23 to help players develop mentally and physically. Adding the men's and women's USL platforms offers a youth player the highest-level club destination possible in Northeast Ohio in one club. Also, Cleveland Force is the only club that can provide boys and girls ECNL and GLA.

The unique opportunity challenges you every day you go to training. Our U14 - U19 male and female players can aspire to play in the USL Academy League, allowing them to compete against other USL professional franchises and local college programs. Every day a player competes, they can be seen by a professional or college scout. Unique to our female players, they can train and play with boys. Which for top female players is a goal all have on their goal sheet. Moreover, the club's ambition to build relationships with the domestic professional league, MLS, and relationships with clubs overseas allows players to live and experience their dream of being a professional player.

The winter of 2023 will be another milestone for Cleveland Force with how we work to live our vision. Our vision is to develop & challenge players from start to finish by being the innovators in the education of soccer development in Northeast Ohio through the integration of coach development, player development, parent education, and League Platforms.

This winter, we will introduce training programs more specific to the player's needs. In the past, athletes would go to outside trainers to get particular training like speed, foot skills, or striking. I am sure many of us who grew up playing soccer remember the days of going to a small training facility in a shopping plaza or a gym to do skill work or shooting. Now Cleveland Force, by integrating TOCA and our Cleveland Force Curriculum, we can provide specific skill training, striking, "speed & skill," and athletic development (AOE) based on player observation and coach feedback. The alternative is to go to a random skill development trainer who does not know who you are in your training or game environment. This is unique because the development plan is connected to what Cleveland Force Coaches and Directors see in training and games; from what I have learned from traveling to professional clubs around the country and world, our new approach is similar to what you will see in professional clubs.

We aim to continue to provide our members unique opportunities to increase their comfort with the ball and improve their athletic potential. We believe this will lead to greater success for the individual, their teams, and the club. Most importantly, we want to provide youth players more enjoyment and fulfillment because they will be better at the game.

We are blessed to have great members who believe in our philosophy. We have learned we are not a club for everyone because of the competitive nature we work to create. Still, we work every day to develop a culture of inclusion. We want to include every level of soccer: top, middle, and bottom. This is important because it allows male and female youth players to become professional players, coaches, or fans passionate about the game we love.

Thank you, everyone, for all your support over the years!

Juniors Academy & Juniors Elite

By: Mike Mey & Mike Surniak

Juniors Academy:

The Junior Academy programs are kicking in motion this Fall season with clinics and training sessions involving many new and returning athletes and families. Our In-House league games are starting up alongside our youth instructional clinics.

Thank you to all of our families that have entrusted CFCS to develop your child’s skill and knowledge in the sport of soccer.

We will be offering more programming starting this winter and encourage all younger siblings to give it a try! Check out our Training Program webpage for all offerings for ages 5 - 12!

Come experience Juniors Academy with our FREE clinics

Tuesday, October 24 

6:00-7:00pm at Force Rocky River

Wednesday, October 25

5:30-6:30pm at Force Richmond

Friday, October 27

6:00-7:00pm at Force Richmond

Wednesday, November 1

5:30-6:30pm at Soccer Sportsplex

Thursday, November 2

5:30-6:30pm at Force Eastlake

Friday, November 3

6:00-7:00pm at Force Rocky River

The USL Academy U20 Boys has gone 1-2-1 in their last four games, substantially outshooting every opponent, but really struggling to convert our opportunities.

Leo Morana has been a standout during this stretch. He registered a goal in each of the first three games and 6 total. Keep up the excellent play Leo!

- Bill Lawrence - USL Academy Boys Director

Upcoming USL Academy Boys Schedule

• October 8th - Home vs Louisville City FC
• October 15th - Away vs Louisville City FC
• October 17th - Home vs Indy Eleven
  

As we wrapped up the summer sessions with Our USL Academy U20 Girls team, we all look forward to the next USL season and the expansion of our conference to include more clubs.  An emphasis will be placed this upcoming year on avoiding any conflicts with our ECNL season while allowing the USL season to wrap up a little bit earlier than it did this past year.  We have 2 of our USL Academy players that have been training with our boy’s USL Academy this fall and are benefiting from the increased demands that the boy’s game has to offer.

- Rob Miller - USL Academy Girls Director

Congratulations to our Mens USL League 2 team on finishing the 2023 season with a 5W-3L-4T record placing them second in the Valley Division and making our first USL 2 Playoff appearance in just our second season in the league! This team was extremely fun to watch scoring 27 goals in the regular season. We are already counting down the days until the 2024 season! #chrip #ClevForceUSL

Our inaugural season in the USL W League was a really positive experience.  We fielded the youngest team in our conference by a massive margin.  We were able to introduce many of our USL Academy players into the league and they were able to gain valuable experience against some of the best players and competition around.  We are already looking forward to next summer and the start of the USL W season!

- Rob Miller - USL W League Head Coach

High Performance & Competitive Tiers

By: CFSC Directors

Girls ECNL:

Our 2010, 2011 ECNL girl’s teams have been back at it since mid August and started their ECNL season on 9/10.  The girls have been training hard and have had a chance to play friendly matches against Century United GA and Beadling GA to get them prepared for the season.  Now that we have hit mid September, the competitive schedule really ramps up and the game fixtures are heavy.  The teams have looked really good in their friendly games and we anticipate an exciting fall season. 

Our U15-19 ECNL girls are busy with their respective HS seasons and we wish them all the best of luck throughout the season!  The class of 2025 has had a busy last couple of weeks with campus visits allowed now by the NCAA for their class.  Congratulations to Hannah Pachan On her recent commitment to Virginia Tech, this is a massive achievement for Hannah! 

Girls ECNL U13-U14:

This past weekend, we officially kicked off ECNL play. While this is exciting for all groups, it is particularly exciting for our 2011G ECNL team, as it is their first ever ECNL match. Both teams performed extremely well and look promising for the upcoming fall season.

Our fall season is are very busy, with the following schedule

• September 16-17 - Ohio Premier Invitational
• September 23-24 - ECNL away conference games at Tennessee SC and FC Alliance
• September 29 - October 1 - ECNL Showcase event in St. Louis, MO
• October 7-8 - ECNL home games v. Pittsburgh Riverhounds and WNY Flash
• October 14-15 - ECNL home games v. Ohio Elite and Racing Louisville
  

Boys U13-U14 ECNL / ECNL-RL / GLA Director

We are looking forward to the start of the season and seeing teams implementing their defensive principles that were worked on in preseason. All teams started their seasons this past weekend. U13/U14 ECNL Columbus/Cincinnati, U13/U14 ECNL-RL Rochester, and U14 GLA Pro Football Hall of Fame. U14 GLA is a brand new team, started off season with a win and tie in their first games as a team.

We have league games throughout the month of September. The ECNL teams will go to the ECNL St. Louis event at the end of the month. 

Girls ECNL-RL:

This past weekend, kicked off our first week of league games for the 2010s and 2011s RL. Both teams have been working hard for the past 4 weeks to get prepared for the fall season. We have been lucky to have some of the 09s who have been training and playing with us. Individual Development Plans have been set for each family, and we are working towards our goals and dreams in every session/game.

Upcoming events: OP Invitational , League games in TN, and looking forward to our upcoming Leadership Event the first week of October.

We are very proud of the work and congrats to our ECNL All Regional League – Ohio Valley from last season:

• Isabella Leffel
• Kaleigh Ramer
• Anna Fugarino
• Paige Nosse
• Skyler Rooks
• Annabella Stoehr
• Hailee Smith
• Katerina Tsarouhas
  

Coach Spotlight - Abby Richter

Abby joined the Force last year, and immediately helped the club with youth development and working this past summer with the W League team. Abby will be coaching the two oldest ECNL-RL teams (05/06 RL and 07 RL teams) and has already started to help the teams with a college information session last month for the girls.

Abby is currently in her second season as Head Women’s Soccer Coach at Case Western Reserve, and the team is undefeated this year (last year the team made it to the College Cup Final).

Abby's daughter Grace also plays for our Cleveland Force 2011 Girls Blue team!

Boys & Girls U11-U12 High Performance:

In the U11 - U12 HP Program, we have added Coach Nick Howitt to the staff. We are thrilled to have him join the Cleveland Force family. Coach Nick will primarily be on the boy's side of the club.

Coach Nick joins us for San Diego County with his wife, April, and son, Harry (2). When you have the chance to meet him, you will notice his English accent, which we love, as he is originally from London, England. Coach Nick is a Manchester United fan and has a passion for soccer. After graduating from University in England, he permanently moved to the United States in 2009. Taking a Director position at Challenger Sports, overseeing their Soccer programming. He took a club coaching role in Carlsbad just north of San Diego, CA, at a Club now called City SC.

We are blessed to have Coach Nick's experience and perspective as we continue to adapt our training and game methodology to compete against and place players at the highest levels. He has several coaching licenses from both the UK and the USA. Like many professional coaches, he is excited to keep learning and growing. At City SC, Coach Nick served as the Head of Player Development. City SC has a club infrastructure similar to Cleveland Force and was part of an MLS Next program. He oversaw a large group of players and coaches. He helped build the most competitive program in San Diego and one of Southern California's top boy's programs.

An accomplishment recently achieved by Coach Nick before leaving California was that his 2011 and 2012 teams reached the pinnacle of the US Soccer pyramid and were ranked #1 in the USA for their age group. When he left CA in mid-June, his 2012 was still ranked #1. While he is proud of his team's on-field success over the years, he is most proud of the boys themselves, seeing them mature into great players and even better Boys! 

His coaching philosophy aligns with what we have been building and will add value as we continue to grow our staff. His coaching philosophy is built around a few key things: wanting to ignite a lifelong passion for the Sport, create a winning and healthy team culture, Improve Game IQ, and give the player an excellent technical skill set to go onto bigger and better things after their time with him/club. Like Cleveland Force, he is a big believer that winning is a by-product of doing the right things each week and not the only Goal. He focuses on the boys' development as Players and the Team. He sees his coaching style as "Firm but Fair." He states, "I think we have to be firm to push the players to be the most competitive, to reach their potential and beyond, but I also understand they are young, learning, and the game should be FUN!" As I stated at the start of this paragraph, his coaching philosophy and ours at Cleveland Force align.



We have enjoyed the start of the season with Coach Nick being a part of the Cleveland Force coaching family. We look forward to seeing his role grow with the club in the coming weeks, months, and years.

Rheem - The new degree of comfort.

The Force Effect Podcast

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CLE Sports PT & Performance: Load Management

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High School Supplemental Tryouts

October 28 / 29, 2023