To All FC 1974 Members, 

During these unprecedented times, our thoughts are with you and your families. We look forward to getting back on the field for trainings and games, however the safety of our members remains our highest priority. At this stage we are under the Governor’s Stay At Home Order until the end of May, after that, there is a high degree of uncertainty as to what will happen on June 1. Like everyone else, we can only speculate, however we will continue with the at-home virtual training sessions as long as needed and are committed to on field programming as soon as we are allowed. We will explore all possible playing opportunities once we have a clear path forward and have made the decision to move our Libertyville Cup to July 10-12 and our FC 1974 College Showcase to July 17-19. Once we are able to return to play, we will follow all CDC and State guidelines. In addition, once we have a clear indication as to when we can begin training and we are able to ascertain what we can do and what we are able to provide to our members, we will then be able to determine the amount of credit offered. The spring credit will be used to offset 2020/2021 player fees or families can choose to donate their credit to the club as a tax exempt donation as we are a 501(c)3 not-for-profit.

Tentative Spring/Summer Plan: 

June 26-28 - Rockford Puri Champions Cup

July 10-12 - Libertyville Cup and Chicago Inter Showcase 

July 17-19 - FC 1974 College Showcase 

July 24-26 - Rockford Puri College Showcase 

Ongoing IYSA Competition for spring MWC teams

2020/2021 Tryout and Registration Process

We take incredible pride that so many of you have grown up in this club and worn the FC 1974 badge for a number of years. We are comfortable that these long-standing relationships allow us to knowingly and knowledgeably create teams without conducting our traditional in person tryouts. All current players will be offered and guaranteed a roster spot within the club. The goal of our staff is to maintain the roster continuity as much as possible and roll players over from the 2019/2020 season to the 2020/2021 season with their existing teams. We feel that consistency and continuity in our players lives is of utmost importance. Rosters may change due to current player development over the last 8 months, current players not returning or the addition of players pushing rosters beyond current limits.  We do realize there are players that are looking to push themselves to the next level within their age group and with this in mind, we will make sure that all coaches and directors communicate throughout the rostering process.  We will continue to monitor the development of all players and at the end of the fall season, teams and players will be evaluated.  At this point, movement between levels may be slightly more prevalent this year due to the Covid-19 crisis. Our goal is to place players at the most appropriate training environment and playing level in order to maximize their own individual development plan. We hope this change from our traditional tryouts will make our players transition back to the field a little easier. We thank you for your continued support and understanding navigating these tough times.

Players from outside the FC 1974 family will be given the opportunity to apply for an open position with our club or can decide to wait and tryout with our club once we return to the field.  These players will be able to submit an application, videos and their soccer resume to the club so we can help place them at appropriate levels. Players wishing to tryout in person will be able to join an existing practice within their age group once we are able to return to the field.  To ensure sessions are not overcrowded our staff will limit the number of outside players that can attend a given training session.

Important Dates:

May 8-15, player registration will be open and current players can reserve their spot in the club for 2020/2021 year, the registration fee is $50, which will be applied towards the membership fee. This $50 (non-refundable) must be paid at the time of registration in order to guarantee a roster spot. Program Details and Calendar of Events will be posted on the website at this time.

May 9-20, players from outside the club can apply for a roster spot in the club and will be considered for open positions within the club. This application will be posted at that time.

May 23, teams will be announced and emails will be sent.

May 26, player acceptance deadline.  The initial payment being reduced to $150. There will be no walk-in registration, all information will be uploaded into the acceptance registration software.

Player Packages and Tournament Fees

In an effort to lessen the financial burden of soccer for families, we are removing some events from the player packages for the 2020/2021 year. These will vary from age to age, but for the Senior Teams, we will leave the Showcase events on the playing calendars, and teams will be able to attend and pay for these events ala carte at that time.  This decision was made to help reduce the initial cost of player fees and keeping in mind the uncertainty of when large gathering events will be allowed. We will return our preferred packaging of events for the 2021/2022 year.

Playing Uniforms

Soccer 2000 is working on a new process that will assist in player sizing in lieu of trying on uniforms. More information will be announced soon on this. 

This year is a uniform purchase year which means all players will be required to purchase a new uniform kit. However, in further effort to minimize costs for families, we will be moving some of the uniform pieces to the optional section of the purchase obligation. 

New Initiatives for 2020/2021 Season

~ Additional weekly technical training session for Elite teams u13 and older for the fall and spring seasons
~ Additional weekly Google Classroom at home session for all teams for the fall and spring seasons

Coaching Assignments:

We always do our best to have the coaching assignments set up before player registration but may have to hold off on making final decisions until we have a better idea of what June and July will bring and what our team formation will be.  There are several factors that go into coaching assignments and we often use the beginning portion of the spring season to help us make educated decisions about coaching assignments for the following season.  We appreciate your patience as we navigate through this unique time and will do our best to answer any coaching questions you may have in order for you to make the best decision for your player and your family.