Ela Soccer Club

Ela Elite soccer is expanding and looking for talented, committed boys and girls from U15 to U18.

 The Ela Elite philosophy is to assemble dedicated student athletes into top level teams and to expose and actively market the players on those teams to collegiate soccer programs. Players are exposed by playing at national college showcase tournaments and are marketed before, during and after the tournaments by our coaching staff, through their numerous nationwide relationships with college soccer programs.  Our coaching staff prepares the players and parents for the recruiting process by helping them understand the academic and the athletic requirements of the process.  Our coaches lay the ground work for our student athletes to play soccer at the colleges of their choice.  With the groundwork laid the responsibility to complete the collegiate journey lies with the student athlete. The Ela Elite philosophy emphasizes discipline, hard work, integrity, responsibility and honesty as the fundamental building blocks to success in soccer and in life. We also believe our players should enjoy their high school experience including participation on their high school soccer teams.  Accordingly, Ela Elite is not a year round program. Our players train and play their games in the high school offseason and return to their school as team leaders with improved skills, tactics, confidence and most of all, experience gained from the high caliber of competition. In our first college recruiting year we have placed seven players in college programs. These players have received a combined total of $700,000 in college scholarships.

Examples of our success include our U17 girl’s team ranked 13^th in the country by nationalsocceranking.com. They competed in the National and Midwest Regional Leagues, and also added championships in the KISS, Palatine Celtic and Metro College Showcase tournaments this season. Our first year U18 girl’s team also had success, making it to the finals of the FC Milwaukee and Metro College Showcase tournaments, plus the semi’s of the NSR Gold Cup. 

 The inspiration behind Ela Elite is Illinois Youth Soccer Association’s 2007 coach of the year Tom Chmela who has successfully led the U17 Elite girls to national prominence.  Indiana University’s First Team All-American Robert Meschbach who led our U23 men to a USASA national championship this past year shares coaching duties with Tom.

  If you believe you have the qualities emphasized in the Ela Elite program and have a desire to play soccer in college please introduce yourself to us by coming to our tryouts. If you would like to learn more about the Ela Elite curriculum you may contact Tom Chmela at (847) 909-9729.

Congratulations to the following players on being named Captains for their varsity teams this year:

•  Megan LeBaron-Sr-Grayslake Central-(2^nd year as Captain)
• Natalie Saunders-Sr-Niles North-(2^nd year as Captain)
• Kelsey Armour-Jr-Warren-(2^nd year as Captain)
• Liz Perrenott, Kelly Schoen, Maddie Ogrinc-Sr’s-Carmel-Tri-captains
• Kim Carroll, Michelle Rowley-Sr’s-Mundelein
• Katie Budd-Sr-Antioch

Ela Elite is  is dedicated to the most outstanding and committed youth soccer players. An aggressive travel schedule along with focused and rigorous training are the hallmarks of the program.

Read about Elite's Road to the 2007 Nationals

91/92 ELA Elite

• Ranked 3rd Nationally : Top 3 finish 2007/2008 National League
• 2003 & 2004 State Cup Champions
• 2005 State Cup Runner up
• 2003 & 2004 Coast 2 Coast National Tournament Runner Up
• 2005 Coast 2 Coast National Tournament Champions
• 2003 & 2004 Powerhouse Classic Champions
• 2004 WAGS Flight Cup Champions, Washington DC
• (2005 Rained Out)
• 2006 WAGS Semi Finalist
• 2005 Raleigh Shoot Out Champions, North Carolina
• 2006 Raleigh Shoot Out Runner Up
• 2005 NISL Premier Champions Fall & Spring
• 2006 NISL Premier Champions Fall 2005 & 2006 Thomas Murray Memorial Champions, Carmel, In
• 2005 Milwaukee FC Tournament Champions
• 2005 Surf Cup 3rd Place, San Diego, CA
• 2006 Surf Cup Quarter finalist, San Diego, CA
• 2005 & 2006 Cheeky Girls Midwest Tournament Champions
• 2006 Metro College Showcase Champions, St. Louis, Mo.
• Midwest Regional League Premier Division
• 2006 Regionals - National Tournament Qualifier
• Champion 2007 Regional II Regional
• Qualifier inaugural 2007/2008 National League
• Champion 2007 Metro College Showcase Champions, St. Louis, Mo.
• Finalist 2008 Presidents Day Tournament, Phoenix, AZ
• Top 3 finish 2007/2008 National League
• Qualifier 2008/2009 National League

90/91 ELA Elite

• 2008 Milwaukee FC Tournament 2nd Place - Gold Division 
• Semi-Finalists at the NSR Gold Cup - Naperville Illinois

89/90 ELA Elite

• 2005 Milwaukee FC Tournament 2nd Place
• 2005 & 2006 Metro FC (St. Louis, Mo.) College Showcase Gold Division Champions
• 2006 NISL Fall Premier Division Champions
• 2007 Score at the Shore ( 3-1 ) Tampa, Fl.

U23 Men's Division

• 2009 Illinois State Champions
• 2008 USASA National Cup - First Place U23