United as One Club: CRYSC & WSC Join Forces in 2022
Posted by: Rapids Youth Soccer
Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club and Westminster Soccer Unite
Expanding Opportunities for CRYSC and WSC Athletes, Coaches, and Members in the North Region
Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club (CRYSC) and Westminster Soccer (WSC) are excited to announce to our memberships and the Colorado soccer community that our clubs have joined forces to create the best possible youth soccer experience for North Denver suburb athletes, coaches, and members in 2022 and beyond. United as One Club under the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club banner, CRYSC and WSC will be able to offer a broader range of opportunities for athletes to enjoy the sport of soccer and take their game to the next level, while continuing to provide the one-of-a-kind, local experiences that our members have come to expect.
“I’ve been thoroughly impressed with WSC for many years – its leadership and culture complement CRYSC’s desires and intentions to improve youth soccer experiences and bring customer service to the forefront across the Front Range of Colorado. With over 30 years combined experience in youth soccer from the leaders of WSC and CRYSC in these neighborhoods, I have no doubt that Paul Mulvany as the incoming Regional Technical Director for Rapids North and Aaron Smith as the incoming Regional Manager for Rapids North will lead the organization into the next chapter of growth and success,” said Aaron Nagel, Executive Director for Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club.
The Rapids “North Region” includes Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn, Broomfield, Brighton, Arvada, Longmont, and Louisville. With the full staff of CRYSC and WSC joining together to strengthen the region, our families and teams can expect continuity at the recreational level with Westminster rec programming staying as is, new competitive pathways available to players as they develop, and exciting local elite pathways that can lead all the way to the professional game. Coaches will benefit significantly from our combined resources, with more access to education events (80+ in 2022), gear, field space, indoor training facilities, and elite-level coaching roles.
“This merger between Westminster Soccer and Rapids Youth Soccer is a progressive and exciting time for our competitive membership. It will serve to further enhance our club community, whilst also maintaining the culture and vision we’ve come to pride ourselves on. More importantly, every player, at every level, will be provided a pathway to maximize their skills and achieve their individual ambitions. Westy Soccer players, coaches, and parents will benefit from the Rapids Youth Soccer Clubs’ world class strategy and have access to their high level services. Our local community club feel will not change, but the services and resources available to all members will dramatically increase. Rapids North has a similar ethos, vision, and culture to ours which makes the merger a natural transition for myself, our coaching staff, and all competitive players. We are truly fired up and excited for what lies ahead,” said Paul Mulvany, Executive Director for Westminster Soccer.
The unified vision of CRYSC and WSC is to raise the quality of soccer experiences for everyone in the North Region. From athletes to parents to coaches, our integrated club intends to offer the best youth soccer opportunities in Colorado. We look forward to serving you as #OneClubOneCommunity!
How Will This Impact and Improve Your Experience?
The new, united club, Rapids North will serve players across the Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn, Broomfield, Brighton, Arvada, Longmont, and Louisville area. Serving players from Three-years-old to 18-years-old, from beginner to advanced, the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club will provide one of the most comprehensive player experiences and pathways in the nation, all locally driven through community-based programming.
01.
More Opportunities for Players
This merger affords players from both clubs, recreational to elite, to have access to greater development and programming options than if the two clubs would remain independent on their own.
02.
Coach and Staff Development
This merger provides greater resources to take coach education and staff development to higher levels which neither club would otherwise have access to on their own, giving players a better playing experience.
03.
Benefits of Scale
There will be some valuable administrative and organizational efficiencies that result from combining the two organizations, which allows us to reinvest back into the player experience.
04.
Long-Term Strategic Projects
The combined club has more opportunities to undertake strategic projects in the future, ranging from development of playing facilities and complexes to providing more scholarships and greater access to the game for our players.
Westminster Town Hall Information:
If you have questions and want to hear directly from our staff, please join us at one of our planned Town Halls:
- In-Person Town Hall | Sunday, March 6th @ Community Room in Westminster City Park Recreation Center
- 9U-12U | 5:00 – 5:45 PM
- 13U-14U | 6:00 – 6:45 PM
- 15U-19U | 7:00 – 7:45 PM
- Virtual Town Hall | March 9th or 10th
- Age group times TBA
Direct Benefits for our Members:
- Build more robust in-house leagues and camps providing opportunities to play more teams of similar ability while staying close to home and supporting the growth of soccer in Colorado.
- Give players of similar ability more opportunities to play with other players of similar ability, ultimately providing a better development and enjoyment opportunity.
- Give players in the transitional years of 8U/9U/10U more opportunities to meet players from across the region and play in regional and national level tournaments, as desired.
- Provide coaches with more coaching education opportunities and coaching tools to support their role of developing a foundation for players in their primary years of soccer.
- Provide a streamlined member experience utilizing PlayMetrics to simplify communications for parents, coaches, and staff.
- Provide our coaches with the coaching equipment they need to be successful both at training and at games.
- Create more meaningful in-house training opportunities including robust friendlies, pick-up/street soccer environments, and competitive kickarounds.
- Host more in-house winter leagues and tournaments for players to continue to develop their game with a large and active player pool year-round.
- Build stronger state-level teams with a greater opportunity to play in regional and national events by leveraging the pool of players in the region.
- Provide stronger pathways for players at all ages, genders, and levels with the opportunity to develop in appropriate environments and progress as they desire and when the time is right.
- Access to Colorado and the nation’s most decorated pathways, including ECNL boys and girls, Elite Development Squads, United Futsal, WPSL, MLS Next, Rapids II, and Rapids MLS.
- An emerging elite pathway program called Elite Development Squads, which develops players that are on the cusp of reaching their desired goals through collaboration with top players from all CRYSC regions.
- Futsal is an important pathway for CRYSC development, with a push to community-based futsal opportunities and national competition.
- Local access to Elite opportunities with a majority of all elite programming and games playing out of Regis University.
- At CRYSC, we have a saying, “the coach is the club”. The more we can develop the coaches, the better experiences our players will have.
- In 2022, CRYSC will host over 80 coach education courses, which can be viewed publicly here.
- Through our partnership with DU Center for Performance Excellence and our own in-house Director of Mental Performance, we provide our coaches with the tools they need to be successful in teaching and developing each player’s mental performance.
- In 2020, Rapids Youth Soccer launched RISE, the Rapids Integrated System of Excellence, a session generator built directly into our website that helps develop coaches at all age and all levels within the Rapids style of play.
- We provide all our coaches the gear they need to hold successful and productive training sessions, with access to top-quality CRYSC branded gear for both volunteer and contract coaches.
- Through the merger, we are able to provide more staff positions and provide more focused jobs to our staff, which ultimately will provide a better customer service experience for our players, coaches, and members.
- Communication is one of the most, if not the most important action we can be good at and is at the forefront of management at CRYSC. It is our goal to not only constantly improve our communication but provide you with the necessary tools you need as members and coaches to improve your communication.
- Through the merger, we are able to look into capital projects whether with the City of Westminster or through private entities. Your access to year-round experiences is one of our main priorities.
- We focus heavily on building our website so you have the communication you need to answer most of your questions. We look at the website as a hub for our community, with robust information on programs, locations, dates, tournaments, camps, and anything else you may be looking for.
- Collaboration on facilities throughout the year, giving more players access to facilities year-round including opportunities to develop other indoor and outdoor facilities.
- Access to nearly 100 full-sized soccer fields in Colorado.
- Provide more opportunities for players to participate in winter training at The Eddy and grow futsal in Colorado with additional regional-based programming.
- Recreational Players
-
- Build more robust in-house leagues and camps providing opportunities to play more teams of similar ability while staying close to home and supporting the growth of soccer in Colorado.
- Give players of similar ability more opportunities to play with other players of similar ability, ultimately providing a better development and enjoyment opportunity.
- Give players in the transitional years of 8U/9U/10U more opportunities to meet players from across the region and play in regional and national level tournaments, as desired.
- Provide coaches with more coaching education opportunities and coaching tools to support their role of developing a foundation for players in their primary years of soccer.
- Provide a streamlined member experience utilizing PlayMetrics to simplify communications for parents, coaches, and staff.
- Provide our coaches with the coaching equipment they need to be successful both at training and at games.
- Competitive Players
-
- Create more meaningful in-house training opportunities including robust friendlies, pick-up/street soccer environments, and competitive kickarounds.
- Host more in-house winter leagues and tournaments for players to continue to develop their game with a large and active player pool year-round.
- Build stronger state-level teams with a greater opportunity to play in regional and national events by leveraging the pool of players in the region.
- Provide stronger pathways for players at all ages, genders, and levels with the opportunity to develop in appropriate environments and progress as they desire and when the time is right.
- Elite Players
-
- Access to Colorado and the nation’s most decorated pathways, including ECNL boys and girls, Elite Development Squads, United Futsal, WPSL, MLS Next, Rapids II, and Rapids MLS.
- An emerging elite pathway program called Elite Development Squads, which develops players that are on the cusp of reaching their desired goals through collaboration with top players from all CRYSC regions.
- Futsal is an important pathway for CRYSC development, with a push to community-based futsal opportunities and national competition.
- Local access to Elite opportunities with a majority of all elite programming and games playing out of Regis University.
- Coaches
-
- At CRYSC, we have a saying, “the coach is the club”. The more we can develop the coaches, the better experiences our players will have.
- In 2022, CRYSC will host over 80 coach education courses, which can be viewed publicly here.
- Through our partnership with DU Center for Performance Excellence and our own in-house Director of Mental Performance, we provide our coaches with the tools they need to be successful in teaching and developing each player’s mental performance.
- In 2020, Rapids Youth Soccer launched RISE, the Rapids Integrated System of Excellence, a session generator built directly into our website that helps develop coaches at all age and all levels within the Rapids style of play.
- We provide all our coaches the gear they need to hold successful and productive training sessions, with access to top-quality CRYSC branded gear for both volunteer and contract coaches.
- Staff & Customer Experience
-
- Through the merger, we are able to provide more staff positions and provide more focused jobs to our staff, which ultimately will provide a better customer service experience for our players, coaches, and members.
- Communication is one of the most, if not the most important action we can be good at and is at the forefront of management at CRYSC. It is our goal to not only constantly improve our communication but provide you with the necessary tools you need as members and coaches to improve your communication.
- Through the merger, we are able to look into capital projects whether with the City of Westminster or through private entities. Your access to year-round experiences is one of our main priorities.
- We focus heavily on building our website so you have the communication you need to answer most of your questions. We look at the website as a hub for our community, with robust information on programs, locations, dates, tournaments, camps, and anything else you may be looking for.
- Facilities
-
- Collaboration on facilities throughout the year, giving more players access to facilities year-round including opportunities to develop other indoor and outdoor facilities.
- Access to nearly 100 full-sized soccer fields in Colorado.
- Provide more opportunities for players to participate in winter training at The Eddy and grow futsal in Colorado with additional regional-based programming.
Strategic Partners:
Rapids Youth Soccer will shortly announce a new partnership with Regis University as the location that will become the club’s ‘hub’ for Elite programming; WPSL, ECNL, EDS, Futsal. Regis offers access to high-quality training facilities as well as a central location for our membership. This new partnership makes Elite programming more accessible for our North families than ever before.
The City of Westminster remains a strong partner for WSC and both recreational and competitive families in Westminster and around Westminster. Their collaboration and support is a cornerstone to the current and future success of WSC and Rapids North. City of Westminster’s support for this merger provides us the opportunity to not only further develop the current players in Westminster, but their partnership will allow us to reach more children in and around Westminster for years to come.
How Will the North Region Player Pathway Look in 2022?
All Westminster Soccer Club recreational members will continue to operate under the Westminster Soccer Club and City of Westminster banner, with management and best practices provided by Rapids Youth Soccer and the current WSC staff. Players will have the opportunity to progress along the recreational pathway for as long as they desire. If/when they desire to progress into more advanced opportunities, players will join the Rapids North region for their competitive experiences.
Projected Rapids North Team Levels in Fall of 2022:
With the merger of CRYSC and WSC, Rapids North will retain the most robust pathway for youth soccer experiences in the North Denver suburbs. Uniting these two clubs will provide a player pathway for every level of player, something the North Denver area has lacked for many years, helping to keep players local with a vision to perform well across the state and nation.
North Region Park and Field Map:
The proximity of each club provides synergies in the player experience as well, with a majority of local parks no more than 10 minutes apart. By keeping local recreational hubs and creating synergies amongst the competitive locations, our coaches and staff will have better opportunities to be around our teams and provide support to our players and coaches, in addition to providing players the opportunity to train alongside players in their age groups.
- Trail Winds Park | 13385 Holly St, Thornton, CO 80241
- Big Dry Creek Park | 1700 W 128th Ave, Westminster, CO 80234
- Westfield Village Park | 11550 Wolff St, Westminster, CO 80031
- Northwest Open Space | 2100 W 112th Ave, Northglenn, CO 80234
- Westminster Park Recreation Center | 10455 Sheridan Boulevard, Westminster, CO 80020
- Squires Park | 3450 W 99th Ave, Westminster, CO 80031
- Westminster Sports Center | 6051 W 95th Ave, Westminster, CO 80031
- Regis University (Elite) | 3333 Regis Blvd, Denver, CO 80221
Meet the 2022 North Region Staff:
Paul Mulvany
Aaron Smith
Kayla Corona Grimsley
Rich Dell
Xavi Rico
Kyle Lineberger
Greg Borchers
Clint Shade
Nick Tallman
Dawn Jenks
Sherri Cirbo
Lilly Merklinger
Timeline of Implementation:
More Details On The Merger | Q&A
Why is this happening and what is the rationale behind this merger?
- More Opportunities for Players: The driving force behind the merger lies in the opportunity for players from both clubs to have access to greater development and programming options than if the two clubs would remain independent, on their own. These options range from elite player opportunities such as boys and girls who will have access to ECNL or boys who will have access to MLS Next, ranging to the recreational base where we will have significantly more options based on our scale to create creative programming options to enhance the player experience. The player experience is first and foremost the design behind the merger.
- Coach and Staff Development: We believe our coaches and staff drive the player experience. This merger provides greater resources to take coach education and staff development to higher levels, which neither club would otherwise have access to on their own. Better people means a better player experience and this merger gives us the opportunity to develop, retain and attract the quality of personnel that provides the player experience we all desire.
- Benefits of Scale: There will be some valuable administrative and organizational efficiencies that result from combining the two organizations. For example, consolidating office space will result in cost savings. These savings can be reinvested back into the organization, resulting in a more efficient structure that serves members in several important ways: (1) allowing our coaches and directors to be closer to the player experience by reducing some of their administrative duties that burden a good bit of their time today, and (2) more resources from leadership and administrative standpoint that allows staff to perform at a higher level than before due to having more bandwidth to give more attention to their core duties.
- Long-term Strategic Projects: Another benefit of the combined club is the potential to create resources to undertake strategic projects in the future, ranging from the development of playing facilities and complexes to providing more scholarships to give greater access to the game for our players.
These examples are an illustration of the rationale behind the merger. Note, the common denominator in all of these benefits lies in the enhancement of the player experience. Our players are the core of the thought process behind the combination, and the experience of our players and families will continue to be the focus as the combined club moves forward.
How will leadership and governance work for the merged club?
Aaron Nagel, the current Executive Director of Rapids Youth Soccer, will continue to be the Executive Director of the entire CRYSC organization. Paul Mulvany will be the Rapids North Technical Director, with Aaron Smith as the Rapids North Regional Manager. Both individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and over 30 years combined experience working in the North area. All current staff for both organizations will be retained with the objective of the financial synergies to bring on additional staff to support both competitive and recreational programs.
Why are we the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club, specifically, Rapids North?
With the current structures in place, we believe the combined entity is better served by being part of the MLS-affiliated youth soccer club and the attendant umbrella benefits that result from being part of the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club system.
What are the benefits to players and coaches in becoming Rapids Youth Soccer?
- More Opportunities For Players: This merger affords player from both clubs, recreational to elite, to have access to greater development and programming options than if the two clubs would remain independent on their own.
- Coach and Staff Development: This merger provides greater resources to take coach education and staff development to higher levels, giving players a better playing experience.
- Benefits of Scale: There will be some valuable administrative and organizational efficiencies that result from combining the two organizations, which allows us to reinvest back into the player experience.
- Long-Term Strategic Projects: The combined club has more opportunities to undertake strategic projects in the future, ranging from the development of playing facilities and complexes to providing greater access to the game for our players.
How will team formation work?
Players will be evaluated throughout the spring season for elite-level opportunities in conjunction with their team coach and staff director.
We will look to serve the individual players based on their ability levels and desires. We will achieve this by evaluating the best placement of each individual within each club and combining groups of players of similar and likeability to set each player and team up for the most success.
Click here to view the projected competitive boys teams for the fall 22/spring 23 season
Click here to view the projected competitive girls teams for the fall 22/spring 23 season
Will my child’s coach or practice location change in the fall season?
Recreational training locations will not change. Over time, we will look for opportunities where some recreational teams will play inter-league, with teams from WSC playing against Rapids North or vice versa at their home locations.
With the close proximity of all parks, we will look to create training hubs and game locations for age groups and genders within the competitive program, providing better community, performance, and culture collaboration amongst players and coaches within specific age groups and genders.
Will I need a new uniform?
- Competitive Players: Every competitive player will receive a gift card to Soccer.com to purchase the required game day items (home jersey, home shorts, home socks, away jersey, away shorts, away socks) and one training top. The amount is TBA as we work through the details with Soccer.com.
- Recreational Players: Westminster players that remain in the Westminster recreational program will stay in the same uniform kit. Any recreational players that move into the Rapids North recreational league will need to purchase the basic rec kit via Soccer.com.
Will registration fees change?
Registration fees will not change from current practices, other than to align the two organizations in the fall of ’22. Fees will increase for certain groups here and there every season based on field rental costs and other increases in operating the organization in line with current practices. With current inflation and costs of doing business, we believe the merger of WSC and CRYSC will continue to allow the organization to keep costs low.
Can I still coach my child’s team?
Volunteer recreational coaches are highly valued and will continue coaching their teams in the same fashion as if the two clubs remained separate. Competitive and contract-level coaches will be evaluated yearly in line with current practices.
Will there be a new website?
The current WSC website will remain as is with the content focused only on local recreational programming.
All other content will be integrated into the CRYSC website.
Where will the combined office be located?
The Rapids North staff will join the Westminster staff at their location starting in the spring.
Will we still continue to have access to scholarships?
Yes, CRYSC offers a robust scholarship program for both our recreational and competitive programs. The application for the fall ’22 season will open in May. Click here to view the scholarship page!
Will there be opportunities to learn more?
Of course! We are planning on hosting a virtual and in-person town hall where everyone will be invited to come and hear from our staff and help answer any questions. Please review the town halls below to pick the one that fits your schedule best.
- In-Person Town Hall | Sunday, March 6th @ Community Room in Westminster City Park Recreation Center
- 9U-12U: 5:00 – 5:45 PM
- 13U-14U: 6:00 – 6:45 PM
- 15U-19U: 7:00 – 7:45 PM
- Virtual Town Hall | March 9th or 10th
- Age group times TBA
Who can I contact with additional questions?
- For Westminster Members: Paul Mulvany: paulm@westminstersoccer.net
- For Rapids North Members: Aaron Smith: aaron.smith@rapidsyouthsoccer.org
Do I need to do anything right now?
There is nothing that you need to do differently than if the clubs remained separate on their own. Enjoy the spring season and then:
- For recreational players, look for registration for the fall season to open May 1st.
- If you have a competitive player, register for player placement (Intent to Play) on April 1st.
