History

There are many in our community that could do a much more adequate job explaining the history of the Jerseyville Strykers Soccer Club. If you are one of those "if the know," I strongly encourage you to comment to this posting. I think we would all be interested in the specific details.
Here is what I do know . . . .

The Club was established in 1991 by a few men in the community to serve two basic purposes: 1) to grow the soccer players in Jerseyville; and 2) to promote strong Christian character traits in those players as they play the game. These purposes were carried out in two formats: traveling teams and summer camp. For many years, Stryker players were able to travel to local areas and enjoyed a certain level of success. The teams were typically hand-picked and would fluctuate each year. Again . . . . this part of the history is vague to me because I was not necessarily around to play or to coach any of the players.

Where I come on to the scene would be in 1999 when I helped with the summer camp. For the next two years I was one of the camp coaches, helping with the youngest age groups. When my oldest son began playing for the Parks and Recreation Department, I decided to coach. Stryker teams were practically at a stalemate. I heard about the Carlinville Kickoff Classic and the fact that Jerseyville teams would send one or two Stryker teams there. I called my previous Park and Rec. team and took them as my first co-ed Stryker team. At that point, I became passionate about helping the Jerseyville Strykers Soccer Club grow into the best soccer organization in this area.
In 2005, I had a conversation with the Coordinators about the future of the Stryker program. We agreed that I should take it over because I not only had two of my own boys playing for the teams, but I also firmly believed in the Stryker's purposes. [By the way, I will have another post about that specific topic very soon.] I was a little over ambitious and in that year's Carlinville tournament, I coached two teams. Yes, I was crazy for that. The 2006 Stryker Camp was a transition year where I began to take the reins of the program. I began to add coaches and teamsand opportunities for play. I am proud of the fact that there are now five strong teams and six committed coaches.
Yes, I've left out a lot of details for you to fill in. Now it is your turn. I can't wait to read what you say.

Welcome to the Jerseyville Strykers Blog

Hello and welcome to the Jerseyville Stryker Soccer Club's blog.

There is always a little hesitation when using today's technology to highlight a group's accomplishments or recognize a player's skills. So please allow me to establish a few basic ground rules for this blog. First of all, I will be filtering all comments before they will be allowed to be visible to the mass public. Secondly, we all need to agree to limit the amount of person information shared. With that in mind, if and when a team or child needs to be recognized, I will do my best to only mention first names or division/team names. Thirdly, the PRIMARY purpose of this blog is to share information about the organization and the opportunities that are available.

With that, welcome. Explore and enjoy!