Members of Melbourne United Soccer Club and Rockledge Soccer Club:

As the 2013-2014 soccer season comes to an end, we would like to thank all of our coaches, trainers, volunteers and club members for a very successful season. It is rewarding for us to see so many local youth grow into amazing athletes and, more importantly, fine young adults.

Being part of the local sports community, we have noticed how much the soccer culture is changing in our area and across Florida. Not only have we seen the merger of community-based clubs throughout the state, but also we have witnessed the strong push to bring professional soccer to central Florida. The addition of Orlando City as a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise is certainly exciting. Coupled with our athletes getting stronger, our coaches investing in their professional development, and the level of competition strengthening across the board, the soccer landscape is certainly bearing witness to dramatic change.

On the local level, the Brevard Soccer Alliance is our collective response. For the upcoming 2014-2015 season, U13-U19 competitive teams will play in a kit with the BSA logo but younger competitive teams and all recreational teams still play for their local clubs like Melbourne United Tsunami and Rockledge Steelers. Brevard Soccer Alliance is a true merger of clubs, but it is designed to be more collaborative in that each local club is governed by a separate board who then sends two representatives to the BSA board, akin to the US Senate, thus maintaining community ties and representation.

Beginning with the 2014-2015 season, the Brevard Soccer Alliance and its local clubs will field dozens of competitive teams and will have hundreds more playing recreational soccer. In all, we expect that BSA will have in total more than 1100 youth players competing at six different locations throughout Brevard County. One other exciting change is the introduction of a U9 academy program across Brevard County to replace U9 competitive. In the U9 academy program, the focus shifts to developing players interested in exploring the path that leads to competitive soccer.

As we head into tryouts on May 29-31, it is always a time of uncertainty for players and parents who wonder what opportunities await for next year. This year, the goal of BSA is to form one strong state cup team in each age group (U13-U19) as well as both a north and a south region cup team. The Directors of Coaching have worked together to assemble a slate of top-notch coaches. That list will be published on this website in the days ahead and will consist of current coaches from Melbourne United and Rockledge but also some who are new to the club. We have also addressed many specific tryout-related questions (playing up, team formation, training venues, etc.) in an FAQ page on this website. For the first time, we allow players to pre-register for tryouts in order to minimize the time it takes to collect player information on the field. Please click here to register. As always, there is no fee to attend tryouts.

There is already quite a buzz in the community about the opportunities that BSA will offer, so we hope that you will similarly be excited and participate in this first official season of the Brevard Soccer Alliance. If you have questions about BSA or tryouts that aren't addressed on the website, then please do contact us by email at[email protected] or phone at 321-209-3244.

We thank all of you for your support and encouragement in make the Brevard Soccer Alliance a reality, and we look forward to seeing you at tryouts.

Sincerely,

Robert Baldwin, President, and Meaghan Lucas, Vice President

Brevard Soccer Alliance