Hancock Soccer
Association is a Recreational Soccer League and was founded in 1970
by Joseph Herring and Patrick Collins. The first fall season had
about 280 boys ages 8 through 12 playing on organized teams. They
played teams from other communities in northwestern Ohio. Home
matches were played on a field located behind First Presbyterian
Church on South Main Street.
Today, Hancock
Soccer Association has about 1,300 boys and girls ages 4 through 18
playing spring and fall seasons in the Recreational League and on
competitive teams. The U-12 through U-19 recreational teams also play
inter-league matches with Black Swamp Soccer League (BSSL) opponents.
The BSSL is a USYSA registered recreational league and their teams
are from various Hancock County communities near Findlay. The
competitive teams participate in the Northwest Ohio Youth Soccer
League (NWOYSL). Competitive teams also usually participate in one to
three tournaments per season.
HSA is a
self-sustaining non-profit organization. All soccer equipment (goals,
nets, corner flags, equipment shed, field painting tools, etc) are
owned and maintained by the organization. The City of Findlay allows
the organization to use the green space of Emory Adams Park for its
home soccer fields. The City of Findlay does all the mowing, thus
eliminating high overhead costs for the organization. This allows HSA
to be able to have a fee structure that is one of the lowest in the
state for recreational soccer players, and consequently makes playing
soccer affordable to all area children's families - regardless of
income levels.
1995 marked the 25th
Anniversary of Hancock Soccer Association and several changes. The
HSA Board of Directors began to investigate the possibility of
joining the US Youth Soccer Association (USYSA). Rising costs of
liability insurance, the training programs available through US Youth
Soccer, and other factors were cited as reasons that it would be in
the best interest of the association and its players to join USYSA.
The First Annual Fall Classic Recreational Tournament for HSA and
BSSL teams was organized and conducted in the fall season. Age
divisions participating in this new recreational only tournament were
U-10 through U-19. The sole purpose of this tournament was to provide
funds for a newly created Hancock College Scholarship program. This
scholarship program was founded to recognize area graduating high
school seniors who were former HSA participants and to assist them in
their future academic endeavors. Thus, HSA entered into a new era of
not only making available the best soccer program for area youth, but
also of playing an active role in the local community academic
affairs. Representatives of the Findlay travel teams approached HSA
in March of this year with a verbal request to join HSA. Merger
negotiations, meetings, and discussions between the travel teams and
HSA continued throughout the rest of year.
1996 was a year of
many milestones and saw a major restructuring of HSA. All
recreational players in the U-10 and above divisions were registered
with Ohio Youth Soccer Association - North (OYSAN) and HSA officially
became a member of USYSA and affiliated with the United States Soccer
Federation (USSF). Merger negotiations continued with the travel
soccer teams. On July 17 the travel teams coaches submitted a formal
letter of application requesting to join HSA. The HSA Board voted to
allow the travel teams to become a part of HSA on a trial basis for
the fall 1996 season. Six boys teams U-9 through U-14 and 4 girls
teams U-11 through U-18 joined the Association. The teams
participated in the NWOYSL. All matches (recreational and
competitive) began to be officiated by USSF Certified Referees only.
All recreational divisions U-12 and above began inter-league
competition with the BSSL teams. Declining numbers in HSA
recreational player enrollments necessitated this in order to give
the participants more teams to compete with. The first Hancock Soccer
College Scholarships were awarded to three graduating high school
seniors this year also.
Final negotiations
of the travel teams merger into HSA were completed in 1997 and the
travel teams officially became a part of HSA, known as the
competitive division of Hancock Soccer Association and named Findlay
Soccer Club - HSA. The HSA Constitution and Bylaws were amended to
reflect the merger of the two formerly separate entities. Several new
Board positions were created as a result of the restructure. The new
HSA Constitution and Bylaws were unanimously approved by the HSA
membership, and went into effect January 1, 1998. The Third Annual
HSA Fall Classic Recreational Tournament was restructured in 1997.
The BSSL began to host a fall recreational tournament in Van Buren
for age divisions U-8 through U-10. It was decided by mutual
agreement between the two organizations that HSA would support the
Van Buren Tournament and the BSSL would continue to support the HSA
Fall Classic Tournament. All HSA U-10 recreational teams began to
participate in the Van Buren tournament and the HSA tournament format
was changed from U-10 through U-19 age divisions to U-12 through U-19
age divisions.
The first open
tryouts for Fall 1998 - Spring 1999 competitive teams aged U-9 and
above was held in June of 1998 at Emory Adams Park. There was a very
large turnout of potential new competitive soccer players at these
tryouts and several new competitive teams were formed.
HSA continues to
evolve and grow to meet the soccer needs of the Findlay area youth.
Many changes over the past few years have taken place regarding the
sizes of teams, play structure, and field sizes as USYSA introduced
"small sided" concepts, rules, and regulations for its
membership. Small sided soccer has been the "norm" in
European and other countries for several decades. Over the past few
years, USYSA has been attempting to catch up with the rest of the
world soccer community regarding the structure of youth soccer
programs. HSA has done it's part as a USYSA member by implementing
the USYSA small sided play formats.
Contact
