Ela Soccer Club

 As the 2007/2008 soccer season was winding down, the U18 boys cranked it up and competed in the State Cup Finals June 7 and 8th. They kicked their way into the finals with some impressive wins against these top state elite teams:

Opponent             Score

Eclipse Select         3-2

Galaxy Blue            4-0

FC Chicago            4-3

The team took second in the final game against FC United. Coach Matty Hamnett has been the team trainer since the majority of the juniors were 13 years old. Almost all of the players have come through the Ela program. Expect this young team to rally again next year. Although six have now graduated high school, the remaining team is strong and ready for another successful year.

According to Got Soccer’s rankings, the U18 team is ranked 4th in the state and 23rd in Region II. From June 20th to June 22nd, the remaining U-17 (Juniors and Sophomore) team participated in a college Showcase Tournament in Kalamazoo Michigan, coming away with the 1st place trophy.

Congratulations to the team and coach Matty for an outstanding season!

2007/2008 High School Seniors
Reid Bergstrom         LZHS
Bobby Gas              Carmel
Zac Khoshbin           LZHS
Edwin Lagunas         Carmel
Justin Pennino          LZHS
Erich Rojek              LZHS

2007/2008 High School Juniors
Ryan Duffey            Stevenson
Ryan Loris               Stevenson
Andy Lynch             LZHS
Brad McCurley          LZHS
Mike Osmera            Warren
Jeff Owens              LZHS
Brady Rein               LZHS
Jake Schauer           LZHS
Drew Wycoff           Carmel

2007/2008 High School Sophomores
Brett Harper             LZHS

Recently Ela Soccer entered into an agreement with Woody’s Restaurants to provide concessions at Heritage Oaks Fields.  The concession stand is located between all the fields, near the parking lot, at Heritage Oaks.  Woody’s provides many services at the concession stand to our program, with a percentage of the revenue generated to be returned to the club.   Some of the items sold at the concession stand include:

• Pizza
• Hot Dogs
• Pretzels
• Nachos
• Gatorade
• Water
• Bratwurst
• Polish Sausage
• Gum and Candy
• Ice Cream

The concession stand also provides ample space for team parties, birthday parties, and team meetings.  Woody’s also has a token program, which greatly benefits Ela Soccer.  Instead of our parents purchasing snacks at a local store for the team after the game, parents would purchase tokens from Woody’s to hand out to the team for items at the concession stand.  Download token program form.

Proceeds from the concession stand will be used to fund important Ela Soccer programs such as field development and maintenance, and marketing of our club.  Most importantly though, programs such as this continue to assist Ela in keeping our fees down as much as possible.

As always, we here at Ela thank you for your continued support of our program.

Sincerely,

Mike Montemayor
Vice President Travel
Ela Soccer Club

 The primary purpose of the program is to develop sources of funding for the club, separate from fundraising events primarily involving members from the club, like the Ela dance.  In exchange for cash contributions to Ela, the limited number of corporate partners will be afforded enhanced exposure on our web site as well as exposure on all Ela printed and electronic material that goes out to the club.  The partners will also be allowed to provide promotional offers for discounted goods and services or other items of benefit to our members through direct mailings.  The marketing partnerships will be a win-win arrangement for both Ela and the partner in that our members will be receiving discounted goods/services, Ela will be getting more exposure in our community through press releases and co-branding by the sponsors, and of course, Ela will be receiving much needed cash on a predictable basis year in and year out.  The partners benefit from increased exposure to the community through our members, by having the Ela name associated with their company and by the potential increase in business traffic from our members. 

For the Corporate Marketing Partnership Program to be successful it requires your support.  As I said in my first letter to the club it is important that we support our business sponsors so that they see a benefit from their contributions.  Like all of you we get a significant amount of “junk mail” at home.  To differentiate the offerings from our partners, the mailings will be co-branded with the Ela logo to identify them.  Please take the time to open them and at least determine if the services offered are of value to you or others you know.  The content and frequency of the promotional offers will be reviewed and approved by our fundraising committee before going out to the club.  However, if you get something you don’t like, let us know about it and we will work with our partners to adjust their offerings.  If you do find something useful, please remind the corporate sponsor that you are spending your money with them because of their support for the club.  The partnership program is a work in progress and your input is valued.

The importance of corporate funding to the club cannot be understated.  Beginning this fiscal year the club is for the first time being asked to pay to use many of the fields we have used for free in the past.  Costs for gasoline, fertilizer, labor, water, etc. are rising significantly and directly impact our operating budget.  Without funding programs like our Corporate Marketing Partnership Program 100% of these costs will need to get passed along to our members as fee increases.  Our goal with our various corporate funding programs is to raise enough money to limit the effects of these cost increases to a minimum while still improving the quality of our program year in and year out.  
 

Steve Morell
President
Ela Soccer Club  
 

We are proud to announce the opening of the new Heritage Oaks Fields.  These fields will be home to our Little Kickers Program as well as the Academy Fields, U-10 boy’s and girl’s and U-9 girl’s fields.  This park also boasts plenty of parking and a concession stand operated by Woody’s!  Bring the whole family for a fun afternoon. 

While visiting our fields please take note of the posted rules.  These villages are letting us use their parks; please respect them. One of our biggest complaints is the trash left behind.  Please be courteous and pick up after the game.  The Director of Parks and Recreation for Lake Zurich has asked us to be aware of the construction at Staples Park.  While at Countryside East or Buffalo Creek fields, please keep children off of the equipment and away from the construction.

 On March 29^th, many volunteers came out to stripe our 19 fields.  It was cold, wet and very muddy, but they prevailed.  Thanks to them our fields are ready to go. How does the saying go?  “Many hands make light work”, this was very true that day.  I can not thank them enough for giving up a day during their spring break to help with this task.

 I hope you all have a safe and fun soccer season.

 Dale Winkelmann
Director of Fields

All I can say is wow!  This year’s dance and silent auction was a huge success thanks to your support and generous giving.  I was blown away by the amount of fun and generosity displayed Saturday night by the one hundred and fifty or so members and guests that came out to support Ela Soccer Club.  At one point I stepped back to take it all in and all I could see was the dance floor awash in bodies with fists pumping to Bon Jovi’s “Shot Through the Heart”.  If only the kids could have seen us.   So again thank you for your support.

 Everyone has been asking how much money was raised.  We have been tallying all the numbers since Sunday morning and after deducting all of the expenses it looks like we raised over $23,000!  This includes raffle ticket sales, auction items and cash donations by companies and or individuals.  We are still evaluating next year’s budget but early indicators make it clear we will need every bit of the money raised to help offset the club’s rising expenses, specifically for field maintenance, for the upcoming year.     

Congratulations to our raffle and door prize winners.  Jenny Stomberg was the lucky winner of the Wii donated by Best Buy in Deer Park and Lisa McNair was the lucky winner of the Ipod Touch donated by CPAP Filters and Supply.  Lynne Bernardoni won (2) tickets to the Chicgao Fire vs. LA Galaxy Game.  ESC hopes you enjoy them.       

 Acknowledgement needs to be given to the many people that worked so hard to make this event a success.  First I would like to thank all of the travel teams’ parents that donated so many of the wonderfully creative baskets.  A lot of time and effort went into these and it showed.  I want to specifically thank Kelly Naughtrip, Frank Porto and Gary Wohler for their donor solicitation efforts.  I also want to thank Jackie Marais and Jan Janus for volunteering to work the event while the rest of us enjoyed ourselves.  Most importantly I want to especially thank Sandy Dickerhofe, Dina Wohler and Sherri Morell for the countless hours they put in soliciting donations, selling raffle tickets, putting together the gift bags, making the programs, putting together the picture presentation (with help from Steve Dickerhofe), assembling baskets and then finally looking after the various details during the event.  The quality of the evening is a reflection of quality and dedication of these fine ladies. 

I thank you all once again for your continued support.  I am looking forward to a fun-filled, safe and successful 2008 season and to seeing everyone again at next year’s dance and silent auction.

Kindest Regards,  

Steve Morell
President
Ela Soccer Club