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Chairman's Letter
The Importance of Volunteers
As they have for 30-plus autumns, our valiant volunteers secured field permits, distributed uniforms and enabled thousands of youngsters to play soccer. But we could be doing so much more--from communications to scholarships--to meet the needs of members and the broader community. 
DC Stoddert Soccer Puts Children First
CHAIRMAN’S LETTER
Our 30th Anniversary Year
By David Repka, 02/15/07
By now, most of our players and parents have probably noticed the logo on our latest jersey. Below the familiar DC Stoddert Soccer emblem is the simple addition "Est. 1977." That little addition marks 2007 as the 30th Anniversary of DC Stoddert Soccer. Thirty years is quite an achievement for a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization. For thirty years, the club has, somehow, someway, served the children of the Washington, D.C. metro area and has helped to build the game of soccer in our community.
I am certainly not an historian for this organization. And I was not around at the beginning (I am not quite that old, yet!). But I do know that the club was born in the era of the "soccer boom", inspired by the arrival of Pele who played for the New York Cosmos from 1975 to 1977. Len Oliver, our Director of Coaching and resident inductee in the US Soccer Hall of Fame, will tell me that soccer was always here in America—in the urban immigrant communities of cities like New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis—and that the so-called "boom" of the ’70s is a misnomer. But, with suitable apologies to Len, it seems clear to me that the ’70s marked the advent of soccer as a preferred participation sport for children. The simplicity of the game and the low cost of entry are hallmarks that contribute to the sport’s worldwide popularity. Certainly, in the spirit of the times, the founders of DC Stoddert Soccer must have appreciated soccer’s inclusiveness and vast potential to engage kids city-wide.
The club was born at the Stoddert Park in 1977, with a small initial membership of several area families. Hence the name. But from there we have only grown. Some years ago, the "DC" was added to the official name and logo, reflecting what had become our much wider scope of participation. In 2007, there will be more than 4,200 kids, ages 5 to 19, playing on about 300 teams in the DC Stoddert Recreational League, and another 450 playing on 35 DC Stoddert Travel teams entered in the National Capital Soccer League (NCSL), the Washington Area Girls Soccer League (WAGS) and the Old Dominion Soccer League (ODSL). We now play games at almost 20 sites around the city and Maryland suburbs. Thirty years has been quite a period of growth, and that history is a testament to several generations of volunteers who have made it happen. I look forward this year to many communications and events celebrating and recounting the experiences of our veterans from those 30 years. While not every step has been fun or successful, we somehow have made it to a very impressive milestone.
More broadly, in those same 30 years, the Washington, D.C. metro area has become what is arguably the most vibrant soccer community in America—with huge levels of participation in youth recreational programs in the city and suburbs, travel leagues that are among the best in the country, top-notch collegiate soccer programs, thriving adult, Latino, and embassy leagues and a flagship Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in D.C. United. DC Stoddert Soccer is very proud to be an important part of making this Soccertown, USA. I wish everybody a Happy Anniversary. To celebrate, let’s all go out to a soccer game—anywhere! We have never had so many opportunities!
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