- April 18, 2024
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“What is our focus here? To turn out professional soccer players?” Rob Bowling, Leisure Services Advisory Board member and Seabreeze High School coach
Soccer is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, especially after the success of the U.S. women’s team in the World Cup. But in Ormond Beach, the numbers of youth playing in the city leagues are dropping.
In the city’s competitive soccer for kids, there were 195 residents taking part in 2011 and 79 in 2014. In fall recreational soccer, there were 456 residents in 2011 and 378 in 2014.
At the Nov. 11 Leisure Services Advisory Board meeting, Aidan Davison, of Port Orange, presented a proposal to oversee the local program and build it up by offering professional training.
The board did not take any action and will not be making a recommendation to the City Commission.
Davison is a former 30-year professional soccer player who played and coached in the English Premier League. He now owns Aidan Davison Soccer Solutions and has lived in Volusia County for seven years.
He offered to take over the entire program, or leave recreational soccer to the city and only run the competitive, also called “academy,” level.
Attending the meeting with Davison was Ormond Beach resident Bill Self, who drives his daughter to Port Orange to take part in a higher level of completion.
“I want to stay and play in Ormond Beach,” he said. “(Davison) can bring kids to a higher level. I’m not asking you to replace recreational soccer.”
He said he would like the city to give Davison the same deals it offers to Pride Football and Pop Warner Football, which pay little to play at the Sports Complex.
Pop Warner and Pride are nonprofits, and Davison’s company would be for-profit.
Davison said that because of his background, he can bring high quality, professional coaches to the area. Another bonus, he said, is that his league would be sponsored by Lotto, a sportswear company in Ormond Beach.
He said his goal would be to provide training that would enable young people to eventually play at the college and even professional level. Players would stand a better chance at getting scholarships.
“Kids want to get to the next level,” he said.
He said parents are taking children to Port Orange and Palm Coast where more professional soccer clubs are available.
He said it’s important that young people, even at the recreational level, get proper training so they don’t develop bad habits that are hard to break later.
Eventually, he said, the program would draw high quality teams from out-of-state for tournaments which would benefit the local economy.
Board member Rob Bowling, who coaches soccer at Seabreeze High School, said what Davison said about professional training is correct, but he questioned if that is the city’s goal.
“What is our focus here? To turn out professional soccer players?” he asked. “We have to figure out what we want.”
He also said students get soccer training at the high school level and Seabreeze High School draws big crowds.
“The kids pull on that Seabreeze jersey with a lot of pride,” he said.
Board Chairman Doug Wigley said they were not getting complaints from parents and the advisory board is a recreation-based committee.
He told Davison that he was free to rent a field at the Sports Complex for his own operation.
Wigley said he believes the participation numbers will come back up. He pointed out that other sports have been down in recent years.
Other board members said that when soccer becomes serious, it’s a 12-month endeavor and the children don’t have an opportunity to take part in other sports.
Leisure Services Director Robert Carolin, the city liaison who does not vote on the board, was not in favor of making a change.
“We’ve always kept a community feel,” he said. “If we go to the next level we lose that.”
A couple of days after the meeting, Davison said he was stunned that the city would not want a “highly licensed coach to educate the local children.”
“Clearly, the City of Ormond wants the next generation of soccer player to be coached by volunteer parents who have none or little coaching licensing,” he wrote in an email. “It leaves me baffled and sad for the future of the game.”
