SOCCER: NSC Montana joins club scene
If the newest soccer club in the Flathead Valley gets its way, it will soon be home to the best young soccer players from Libby to Polson.
The Flathead Soccer Club (FSC) and Director of Coaching Nate Evans have collaborated with a youth club in Portland to create NSC Montana, an organization that plans to assemble the region’s premier talent to play in elite tournaments for a three-month season each summer.
“It’s my job to help our club grow and be as successful as possible,” Evans, who is also the head boys soccer coach at Flathead High School, said.
“We have this opportunity to do this new thing that hasn’t ever been done and, also, to offer things to kids that want to play at the next level and want get that training and travel.”
NSC Montana held its first informational meeting in early January, a meeting that Evans said attracted more than 60 parents of local players.
In 2016, the club will offer four teams — under-12 and under-13 squads for both boys and girls. Tryouts will be held Feb. 29 and March 1 at Kidsports in Kalispell, but the deadline to register for those tryouts in Jan. 31.
To register, families should contact Evans at doc@flatheadsoccer.com.
The club will be affiliated with the Northwest Soccer Club out of Portland, Oregon, an 18-month-old organization run by Evans’ former teammate at Rocky Mountain College, Nic Heffernan. Through the affiliation, NSC Montana plans to bring in coaches from Portland for clinics and be able to occasionally send its teams to Portland for additional training.
NSC Montana expects its teams to be comprised of players who will play for the club in addition full-season teams in the area, including FSC, the Flathead Rapids, the Polson Football Club and the Kootenai Rapids (Libby). Evans said NSC Montana’s teams would practice once a week, a schedule that he says will not interfere with players’ other club commitments. Training for the 2016 teams will be held weekly March 4-May 20 at Kidsports.
NSC Montana plans to differentiate itself from the other valley clubs by competing in higher level tournaments, including the 2016 Real Colorado Cup May 26-30.
Evans also trumpeted a recruiting service NSC Montana will be offering to its players, at an additional, discounted cost, called STUDENTathleteWorld. The NSC club in Portland is already using the service.
“I’m trying to do my best and to offer as many things as we can to help this club grow and help kids in Montana,” Evans said.
“The ones that want to play at the (college) level, they get overlooked a lot of times. They don’t go to bigger tournaments, nobody comes here to see them.
“Now we can offer all of those things to help them get on a fair playing field if they do want to play in college.”
More information on NSC Montana is available by contacting Evans at doc@flatheadsoccer.com.