Welcome to the January Edition of the Affiliate Newsletter!
As you say hello to 2026, let's take a minute to reflect on your accomplishments in 2025. It's essential to understand your past to prepare for the future effectively. This helps us grow mentally and physically.
This month, your Affiliate Newsletter focuses on off-season fitness. See what our coaches have shared below in The Modern Player. Also in this month's issue is our first Affiliate Club Spotlight: Falls SC! Most importantly, we are already gearing up for Summer! We are offering our biggest promotion of the year on January 15th. We have a one-day sale for all of our Summer Camps. See below for details!
Thank you for being part of our Affiliate family, and please enjoy this month’s issue.
— CJ Seemuller, Senior Youth Coordinator
Making the Most of Your Off-Season
By: Dan Abel
Staying fit during the off-season is a challenge. It can be very easy to become a couch potato and lose motivation to keep the progress you’ve made during the season. Staying on top of a training regime while also learning about the tactical side of the game is important to keeping the progress from the hard work of a season.
Things to do in the offseason
Training 3-4 times a week for an hour is a great start to maintaining fitness during the off-season. It does not have to be just running every day, either. Strength training, dedicated agility work, or a stretching regimen to work on flexibility are all good ways to mix up the activity you are doing to keep you engaged and motivated. Rest and recovery days are just as important, too. Having to sit out due to overuse injuries would obviously be detrimental to maintaining your fitness level.
Training by yourself during the offseason is a perfect chance to work on technical skills. It gives you a chance to get touches to work on ball mastery and other skills like finishing in a pressure-free environment. Getting touches on the ball is always better than letting your ball collect dust in your room. If you struggle to train by yourself, getting your friends together and playing pickup in the park is a fun way to get more touches on the ball.
Playing another sport in your offseason is also a great way to not only stay fit but continue developing athletic skills in a competitive environment. Playing another sport also helps prevent player burnout. The whole point of sports is for you to enjoy them and have fun. Going into new, interesting environments that provide chances to develop new skills can prevent you from becoming bored with the beautiful game.
Setting clear and attainable goals for your training is also important in your off-season. Some examples could be, “I want to be able to Maradona in both directions before next season,” or "I want to be able to dribble faster with the ball and not lose control.” Setting a goal for yourself can help motivate you to actually get up and train. By having a goal, you can see the progress you are making to attain it instead of randomly going out and not having a clear vision of what you’d like to work on.
Watching soccer during the offseason is a great way to stay engaged with the tactical side of the game. Sometimes it’s hard to learn much about how to move and what to do in a certain situation without pressure and a coach giving feedback. Watching the game on TV and listening to the commentary can give a player ideas on what to do in their own matches.
Club Spotlight: Falls SC
By Coach Lucas Milazzo & Coach Juan V Flores
As part of our ongoing spotlights across the Philadelphia Union Youth affiliate network, we spent time with Falls Soccer Club to learn more about who they are, what drives them, and what makes their community unique. Falls SC has been a long-standing presence in the local soccer landscape, and we’re excited to share their voice directly with you.
Below, you’ll hear their story in their own words, from origins and culture to growth, partnership, and vision for the future.
What was the original inspiration or "spark" that led to the founding of the club?
Falls Soccer Club was formed in the 1998/99 season to provide a local opportunity for the youth of Falls Township to play soccer. Falls Township was opening the then brand-new Falls Township Community Park and its 10 athletic fields. With the facility and amenities to host a local soccer club, a group of local civilian community members took charge of the fledgling club and began the process of registering it with the state governing body (EPYSA) and ICSL. The rest, as they say, is history.
How would you describe the core mission that drives everything you do at Falls SC?
Our Core mission at Falls Soccer Club is to provide high-quality soccer training in a safe, fun, and family-centered atmosphere. We want our players to not only learn the game of soccer, but also learn key life skills such as team building, leadership, working together through adversity, and winning with dignity.
How do the colors and design of the team's logo reflect the identity of the club and the community it represents?
The original logo was styled on the clubs of Europe at that time in the shape of a shield and bore the colors (red and black) predominantly used by most of the big clubs in Europe and South America. Over the years, the Club has seen two changes to the original logo. The first logo change (early 2000s) moved to a circular badge, keeping the red and black colors, and introduced the words Bucks County, PA to the logo. The next change came under Kevin Shaw and introduced the orange outline (and brought back the shield) to pay homage to the Township of Falls colors, and dropped the Bucks County, PA.
Growth & Success
In your opinion, what has been the single most important factor behind the club's success so far?
Our volunteers, especially our volunteer board members, are the most important factor in our club’s success. Without our dedicated families and board members, our club could not exist, never mind have the success that it has had over the years. Many board members are not only volunteers in running the club's everyday tasks, but are also volunteer coaches, some for more than one team. Every week, they show up, essentially working a part-time job, making sure our players and families have the best experience we can offer.
Looking back at the club's journey, what specific milestones or achievements are you most proud of?
We are immensely proud of all our teams and players, but we’ve had two teams that have seen more success than any others. The 2006 Lions & 2011 Lady Lions. The 2006 Lions were EDP Mid Atlantic 1 Champions, State Cup Semi-Finalists & had many tournament wins. The 2011 Lady Lions are our first-ever USYS National team & have recently been on a tournament winning streak in 2025, winning EDP Fall Classic, ISE Columbus Cup, Penn Fusion Classic, & Phila Union Mother’s Day Classic.
A big milestone for our club was adding the Philadelphia Union trainers to our weekly programming. From Union Rec at U4-U7, to Travel training sessions and Full Time Union Coaches, the trainers have provided quality sessions, their innate love for the game, and a real connection not only with our players but our volunteer coaches as well. Our volunteer coaches have had the benefit of learning from the trainers, improving their own sessions and tactics, and making us a better club overall. For us, this milestone was a step forward to being able to offer better soccer training while still maintaining our family-focused approach.
Affiliation & Strategy
Could you share the story behind becoming a Philadelphia Union affiliate and how that partnership has impacted the club?
In 2020, the club’s contract was ending with another training group. Our Director of Coaching, David McGillivary, had previous connections with Union Youth leadership & we began discussions on becoming a Philadelphia Union Affiliate Club. Since then, we have worked with the Union to incorporate their training in our travel and intramural programs, as well as utilize our technical visits to provide coach education and information on Player Pathway Programs. We have had many players participate in PPP, UDP & Summer Select teams, which has helped them grow as players by getting that extra training throughout the year.
The partnership with the Philadelphia Union has been instrumental in helping us grow as a club. Outside the benefit of their trainers and sessions, the opportunities they offer our players & families continue to grow and help inspire our players to love the game of soccer. Clinics, Camps, higher-level training opportunities, Union game opportunities, technical visits, and Coach education all help us offer not only more programming, but better-quality programming as well.
Being a community-based club run by volunteers, we really value our relationship with the Union Youth leadership. Their willingness to work with us to get the right trainers for our teams, the right programming for our players, and to provide sound advice when we need it has created a true partnership for our club, and we appreciate their willingness to work with a small club like ours.
Looking Ahead
What is your long-term vision for Falls SC, and how do you see the club’s influence on the soccer community expanding in the coming years?
Our long-term vision for Falls SC is to maintain our family-focused atmosphere while improving our program offerings to better support the growth of our players and families. We hope to incorporate more coach education for travel and intramural coaches, more clinics and skill sessions for all players, and more soccer-focused fun for the community.
We really want to focus on establishing a solid female program for our club. We think it is immensely important for girls to not only have a place to play where fun and family are the focus, but also that they feel supported and encouraged to be strong in their soccer journey. This starts with solid coaching, and we have seen great growth with our 2017 Phoenix in their first year, thanks to Union trainer Lisa Cotter. She took them under her wing and showed them how fun soccer can be. We hope we can continue this with our Pre-Travel girls and more future girls’ teams, with the help of the Union trainers.
Is there any other part of the Falls SC story or its culture that you feel is important for people to know?
Falls SC is a club where families can be involved and truly make a difference in the club. From our volunteer coaches to our volunteer board members, we are a community of families who pull together to create this safe space for our children to thrive in. From intramural to travel, we want to see success for our players, not just in the score line, but in small victories on and off the field. We won’t always be perfect, but we are always looking to improve and grow to be the best we can be. That success begins with our family of volunteers, and we are thankful for every one of them.
Falls Soccer Club represents what our affiliate network is all about: community-led soccer, a commitment to player growth, and the belief that the game brings out the best in people. We’re grateful for their partnership and for the families, coaches, and volunteers who make their work possible every day.
Thank you to Falls SC for sharing their story and for continuing to build the game. We look forward to supporting your journey and celebrating the next chapter together.
Coaching for the Coaches! See this month's Training Session below.
By: Dan Abel & Andrew Bennett
Contact Tyler Fenstermacher to obtain your Discount Code!
Did you know that being a member of an Affiliate Club means that you receive discounts on Philadelphia Union Youth Programming?
- Find your club's membership level below.
- Request your Discount Code from Tyler.
- Register for an upcoming program!
‼️NOTE: Member Discount Codes cannot be combined with our One-Day 50% OFF promotion.
