Fort Wayne Fever: Club-building from the ground up

by Robert Ziegler 3/9/2007



(Above: Fort Wayne Fever players Emilie Huser (right) and Sarah Killion are 2 of the club's most-recognized players. The pair are pictured at the club-owned training facility).


First in a series on club development examples

I’ve said before that the main difference between soccer clubs in the U.S. and those overseas is often about 100 years. The idea being that those clubs, however big they may be now, were built from the ground up, as an outgrowth of the community where they were started.  

In America, the model for professional clubs (teams really, not clubs) has been to drop them down from the sky and hope soccer-starved fans would support them.

While there are signs that this method may be starting to take root in some larger American cities, there is still no substitute for true club-building, and a good model for THAT is available in the heartland of the U.S., in the town of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Now before I go on, I have to admit that Fort Wayne holds a special place in my heart. My fondest childhood memories are of the years my family lived in Fort Wayne. I later worked at a newspaper there, and it was there my first son was born.

I even had my first soccer experience there. At age 6 or 7 I was introduced to this strange new game, playing in Jeff Carrier’s backyard with neighbor kids Eric Hesterman, Mark Knuth and Brent and Brian Smith (yes, my memory is way too good on insignificant matters). I particularly recall the interesting rule that you were allowed to punch the ball with your fist, as long as that punch resulted in a goal (and this was 15 years before Maradona and the “hand of god”).

So while there are surely other examples of what is going on in Fort Wayne, I doubt there are many, if any, that are better than this city of 250,000 (twice that if you include the metropolitan area).

Partnership spawns progressive club

“What’s going on” is a club called the Fort Wayne Fever. The club has taken shape largely over the past 10 years, through the vision of former MISL and Lasalle University player Bobby Poursanidis and Scottish-born businessman Tom Lapsley. Over time the club has helped setup a large outdoor complex, 2 indoor facilities including a full-length indoor field known as “The Dome,” and an extensive training and competitive program led by Poursanidis and fellow directors of coaching Alan Bodenstein, Matt Chura and Bronn Pfeiffer.

While the Fever’s competitive exploits may pale in comparison to larger Midwestern clubs like Chicago Magic, Sockers FC, Eclipse Select and Michigan Hawks & Wolves, it is developing a solid reputation for player development that reflects the stated commitment and vision of the club.

“In the long run, if we can help players make the next level and reach their goal in college or pro soccer, we feel like we’re doing our job,” Poursanidis said. “It’s rewarding to see them grow up as better soccer players.”

When Poursanidis first got involved in coaching in Fort Wayne, he coached a pair of young brothers, Jamar and DaMarcus Beasley. Both in those players and in the community, he saw potential, but recognized some fundamental building blocks would have to be put in place.

“I had been playing here for 4 years so I was able to become part of the community. When I got involved with coaching, I wanted to help try to find ways to develop players and give them exposure to the larger world of soccer,” The Beasley boys were really young and you could see potential in them, but there were some things missing at that time in the area. There was no continuity with development.

“As my camps grew from 100 kids to about 1,100 or 1,200, here and over in ohio and back in Philadelphia, I met Tom Lapsley. His dream was to have a professional team here someday, and a club that could develop kids and give them opportunities to get exposure and possibly go overseason. My vision was to put together a true indoor soccer facility and in 1998 we brought it to life.”

Facilities make big difference

The founding of the Plex, a 45,000 square feet facility with 2 indoor fields, allowed teams to have a training center through the winter. Over time, an even more impressive 17-field outdoor complex was established by area college IPFW, to be managed by the Plex staff. More recently the organization assumed operational control of an indoor driving range and converted it to a full-length indoor soccer field known as The Dome, to complete the training ground triumvirate for the club.

Lapsley, a Rangers supporter who moved to the U.S. in 1980, said the idea was to give playing prospects a chance at real development without having to travel out of the area.

“Development of better soccer facilities was needed. We had to make due with basics, including non-soccer facilities like a barn or indoor tennis courts. What we could offer was limited by the type of facility were able to play in,”Lapsley recalled. “Every time we traveled we played in good facilities, so in the mid-90s, Bobby and I wanted to try and develop a good facility for our kids to play in.

“From there we were able to bring in more capable coaches and our players were getting better. We wanted to create a higher level. There wasn’t the demographics you need for a professional team, but the (Premier Development League – college summer league run by United Soccer Leagues) worked well for this market,” Lapsley continued. “That worked together with our youth program and that’s where we came up with the Fort Wayne Fever Academy. It allows kids to grow from a young age with a high profile focus on soccer. The focus is always on making the players better, but in a way where they don’t need to go to Chicago or Detroit or Indianapolis, but still have their best chance at the best college programs or maybe playing professionally.”

Lapsley said it is important that the soccer end of things be given priority, but noted the business has to be run properly for soccer to benefit.

“You have to develop something fiscally capable of supporting the mission,” he said. “Here the support comes from parents, sponsorships, income from the facilities – (he noted pay for adult leagues and youth tournaments help fund those). With a burgeoning group of soccer players in the community you can create a revenue base that allows us to support good facilities and allows the kids to play in the kind of environment you see in major cities. It wasn’t like, this is my dream to build this, but more like, this is what was needed.”

A real club environment

Along with the structure and business model, both Poursanidis and Lapsley said they wanted to help create a proper club culture to promote the game.

“Being from Thessalonica, Greece, I grew up watching a club called PAOK. At birth I was bleeding PAOK. My partner bleeds Rangers,” he said. “To create that here will take time, but it has to start somewhere. We want them to be proud and represent the club and the community when they put the jersey on.

“The big difference between us and what you get overseas is that the top clubs are so rich they are able to trickle money down and create these incredible academies to produce great players either for the 1st team or to sell,” Poursanidis continued. “For us, it has to work differently. We’d love one day where you don’t have to pay but we can’t do that yet. We are trying to deliver them to the next level however.”

As far as the actual developing of players, Pousanidis said the competitive result has to be deemphasized, something that can be a tough sell to the parents helping bankroll the effort.

“I’m back with 11s and 12s and the biggest task at hand is educating parents. We have to get the message out that winning means each kid being successful in terms of his or her own self-development,” he said. “It’s imperative I do the right things for these kids at this age. That means explaining to them about playing, making sure they try to do things so they are playing and not just playing kickball. They have to understand that developmentally it’s more important for them to understand than just to win. It’s not that we don’t try to win, but they need to understand how to play. I don’t remember what I suppose were many losses my team had when I was, 11, 12 or 13, because I was learning how to play.

“It’s not always easy though. You hear parents asking ‘Why did you not play these guys, we were so close to winning.’ But you have to keep with it and if you do, most of them will start to support it and buy in when they see the improvement in the players. Can we do this all across the board in this country? I don’t know. Some coaches get the taste of winning, and it turns out it was more about them than for the kids. We want to be different that way.”

The club program includes 11 year olds playing up 2-3 years in a local league, skill-development courses for players 6-10, and even motor skills development for players younger than that.

“We push them in developing their footwork and then work on confidence,” Poursanidis said. “We want them to go out and try this in games, to work on simple things, 1v1 attacking and even combination play.”

Poursanidis smiled about a 6-year old at the club who is playing regularly with his 11-year old brother and showing tremendous potential, sparking memories of young DaMarcus Beasley, who used to hang around his older brother Jamar in his formative years (both went on to play professionally).

“That’s just the kind of thing we want to create,” he said. “Players learn from watching. We tell parents the best investment they can make is to get Fox Soccer Channel or Gol TV. They see what other players do, either in person or on TV, and they pick that up, It’s a great tool of learning.”

Playing talent serves as proof

Increasingly, the club is producing its own top players. PJ Wilson came through the club ranks and is now playing regularly at New Mexico. Emilie Huser has played on regional and national teams while Sarah Killion is also a promising Region II player (playing up 2 years for the club team).

From a parent’s perspective, Emilie Huser’s mother Amy said the club provided everything needed for an aspiring player.

“When Amy was 10 and ready to move from rec to travel, we had a conversation with Matt Chura and they just seemed to have an approach more focused on individual development for the player,” Huser said. “His attention to technical training set an obvious foundation for her and others and has served her well through this part of her development. She was able to practice more frequently, stay involved through the winter months because of the facilities, and maintain a level of fitness.

“We knew she could play pretty well, but we were looking for the best environment for her to get better,” she continued. “They’ve made a good effort to share the vision with parents. Fort Wayne Soccer can be a bit of a bubble, but it’s important people recognize there is a world out there they maybe didn’t recognize before. With the right steps, we can be as good as the other, bigger markets. Fever has taken soccer to a whole new level in this community, for which we’re grateful.”