Game On!

ON A TYPICAL FALL weekend morning, Brownsburg Park in Upper Makefield Township is filled with hundreds of boys and girls playing soccer and parents cheering from the sidelines. This is a familiar site for community members who’ve had children play this sport from a young age and progress in the game through their teen years. Patriot FC is the intramural and competitive soccer club for Upper Makefield Township and its surrounding towns with 1,200 participants.

Originally called the Upper Makefield Newtown Soccer Club, this small local youth soccer club was formed in 1680. Back then, games would be organized in public parks and played mostly during the fall season. The organization evolved somewhat over the years, but underwent major changes after Gary Roberts moved to the area and joined the club with his young sons in the mid-2000s.

EXPERT LEADERSHIP

Roberts had played college-level soccer and used his knowledge of the game to help with coaching, training, and eventually running the travel program. He brought in Gavin Flannigan as the director of coaching and player development in 2010 to help recruit professional trainers and take the club to the next level. With the support of the members, the organization was rebranded to Patriot FC with the name reflecting the historic nature of Washington Crossing. Roberts’ vision and creation of certain teams created buzz in the soccer community and quickly attracted more members.

“The organization has become the best at technical development,” says Roberts, former Patriot FC president and current head of player pathways. “We do nothing with regard to winning until kids are age 15. I don’t coach a game with winning in mind. I don’t drive myself on results. What I drive myself on is making kids better and keeping them playing till they graduate high school.”

KICKOFF TIME

Patriot FC is a nonprofit organization, and its programs are geared toward different levels of interest for players. There are intramural teams that are most popular among younger kids but are available for all ages.  There are also full-year competitive travel teams that involve tryouts, training twice a week, and travel for tournaments.

“We have a myriad of programs that allow kids to play at the level that is most appropriate for their interest and ability,” says current Patriot FC Board President Rich Thomson, who became involved with the club 20 years ago when his daughters started to play. “Since we are a smaller club relative to others in the area, we can be more personal. Each of the teams has more freedom to play in the right league, division, or tournament versus taking a one-size-fits-all approach. It allows them to target the development of those kids and do events that make sense for where they are in their soccer journey.”

The club has grown in many ways over the years. Initially, there were no fields with lights, but the organization purchased portable lights to play at Washington Crossing Park and eventually partnered with Council Rock North High School and George School to hold most of its training on those fields.

Roberts also invested in hiring professional or experienced head coaches for teams at the competitive level. Parents can still volunteer as board members, assistant coaches, or managers on the competitive teams and lead the intramural ones.

PARENTS WHO PITCH IN

Patriot FC Board Director of Operations Aaron Falcone helps with the strategic growth of the club and is involved as a parent coach. “Being a part of kids’ lives and influencing them in a positive way is a privilege and is special,” he says. “It’s really cool being able to teach them something and watch them execute it in a game from a soccer perspective. When they get off the field and are smiling ear to ear that they know they did the thing, it’s very cool.”

Jaime Marks Corvino is the manager for her son’s team and team manager/parent coach for her daughter’s team. She says she and another mom are only a few of the female coaches in the organization, so it’s important for them to set an example of how women can be in leadership positions in soccer. Corvino finds the entire experience of parent coaching to be very rewarding.

“For us, it was a building a culture early on that the girls all support each other, and that if we’re going to be competitive, it will be with other teams, not each other,” she says.

“We’re going to always raise each other up. The reward is seeing that culture come to fruition.”

A WIN FOR THE COMMUNITY

Leaders of Patriot FC say the organization is a great asset to the community because it’s important to have the ability to play a sport near where you live. The club also provides an outlet for kids who don’t participate on their school district’s teams.

For many, the social aspect of the group has become important to both players and parents. Corvino says when she moved to Upper Makefield Township she wanted to join a club that was local to her hometown. In her experience, being part of a team sport brings families together.

“Kids come and go at a lot of other area clubs, but at Patriot FC, my kids have been blessed with teams that have grown together and gotten better together, which is awesome,” she says.

One of Falcone’s goals is for kids to build friendships and make memories in the community. “That’s the foundation of success that’s going to keep them in the sport long term,” he says.

PAYING IT FORWARD

Patriot FC continues to see momentum and growth by attracting new talent—from both the player and trainer side. Some former players are now paid coaches, including Roberts’ 25-year-old son, Sam Roberts. Sam says one of the best memories of his soccer experience was his teammates becoming his best friends. He became a coach for the club after graduating from Penn State and hopes to instill the lessons he learned as a player to his teams.

“The No. 1 lesson I learned from playing in this club was teamwork and that it’s not about ‘me,’ it’s about ‘we,’” he says. “My dad helped instill that message in our family, and it translated to his coaching style on the field as well. Everything I do in my life now, I view as teamwork, whether it be at work, in my personal relationships, or as a coach.”

For more than two decades, Gary Roberts has been helping the club grow and flourish. Although he loves every aspect of the game, he says his bond with the players is the highlight. “The greatest thing ever is seeing the players progress,” he says. “I have coached over 500 kids over the years, and I still communicate with them. I get calls from my high schoolers when they make varsity, and my college athletes call me all the time. I love being with the kids. They keep me going.”

BY DARI KOTZKER