The Origins
The founders of ECSC are all residents of Ellis County and saw an opportunity in its unique fusion of twentieth century rural tradition and twenty first century residential expansion to build something unprecedented to the great State of Texas. ECSC is a regional soccer club that can benefit the entire soccer community from the recreational to select, and through the professional level, serving the residents of an entire county, as opposed to a single municipality.
In its simplest terms, ECSC is a select soccer club for youth, based in Ellis County with the long-term vision of creating a regional soccer community of players, parents, coaches, administrators, volunteers and supporters from the recreational through the professional level.
Growing up as soccer players in Ellis County, Austin Guest, his brother Corbett, and Brent Stapleton faced a number of obstacles from the late 70’s through the early 80’s. Those obstacles began at the recreational level as goalposts were placed in pastures by good hearted and well- meaning coaches, whose only sports and coaching experience came from the coach-centered paradigm of sports such as American football and baseball. They stood in lines, waiting their turns, receiving skills instruction outside of the appropriate player-centered activities approach we know to use today. When the time for select soccer came, they were forced to drive as far Plano several times a week for both training and games. Obviously, this placed a tremendous burden on them and their parents in terms of money, mileage, and time. All three went on to play at the collegiate and or USL level, before moving into coaching themselves. As high school coaches, Austin and Brent saw the frustration in their players as they made similar decisions to drive great distances to help continue their development. That frustration led many to give up year-round soccer in their high school years, and in doing so, limit their development and opportunities beyond high school.
The Light Bulb Switches On
After working with transplanted Ellis County resident, Steve Rose (from Worcester, England) on the collegiate coaching staff at Southwestern A/G University, the group hatched an idea in the spring of 2004. Utilize the new growth in the traditional Ellis County community to build a regional club. This is the same approach that has developed the great players in Europe, and in doing so provide an avenue for the homegrown Ellis County soccer talent to continue their development close to home, through games and activities in a player-centered context. The club will create a system that ties players together through shared coaching goals and philosophies from their recreational years to select, on through high school, and into the collegiate arena, linking all of these groups together through a shared interest in a PDL/future professional team.
How the Heck Do You Do That?
Start with quality coaches who know how to develop players and put the players’ best interest before their own. Begin with a few teams, and build from there. Start gathering corporate sponsorships for a PDL franchise and . Build up a group of supportive parents and volunteers and educate them on how to help develop the club and facilitate, rather that hinder, the improvement and “soccer passion” in their own children. Construct facilities.
Sound like a lot to bite off? Well, it is, but most great ventures in life start with an ambitious idea, and small plans yield small results. Not too many years ago, Mia Hamm was a fourteen-year-old girl playing on a boys’ team in Wichita Falls, and even fewer years ago, Freddy Adu’s family won a lottery that gave them the chance to immigrate to the US…