Greg Meyer (President 1994-2012)

How long have you been with the Bolingbrook Soccer Club (BSC)?

I was involved with the club from 1990 -2014 (24 years)

Role(s) in the club?

I started out as director of equipment in 1990.  At the time my daughter, Megan was five and my wife suggested that I should go get more information on the soccer the club.  So, I attended a board meeting before the start of the fall season in 1990.  At that meeting, they were looking for someone to help with uniforms.  My involvement began with me separating uniforms with the Director of Equipment at that time, Greg Woods.  That was a life changing step for my family and me.

Don Kapp was president before I started my tenure as president.  I was VP for about 2 years while Don was president.  It should be note that at that time in the club’s history, all of the board members filled multiple roles as the board consisted of only a small number of people.  All the board members overlapped and covered other duties, than those of their title, within the BSC.  Then after those two years, I ran for president in 1994.  I served as the BSC president for 17 years.  Then the last two years, (2012-2014) I served as the executive VP of the BSC.

The BSC started out at Indian Boundary Park that is located off Boughton Road.  Seeing a need for more fields, the BSC board approached the Bolingbrook Park District with our “Field of Dreams” idea.  We wanted a place assigned to soccer specifically.  There was a growing demand for soccer and we did not have spring soccer, but wanted to start a spring soccer program.  The BSC worked with the Bolingbrook Park District, the Bolingbrook Athletic Council (BAC) and Village of Bolingbrook officials starting in 1996 to find a space for new soccer fields.  Finally, in 2002, our main fields at Lily Cache Sports Fields complex were opened and ready to host its first spring soccer season.  These were some of the first fields in the area to have field lights.  At that time other soccer clubs teams were calling us to use our fields.  In 2006, the west fields and concession building was built and ready to field more games.

What was your impression of the club before you joined and you became a board member?

I joined the club because I had heard good things about the club and its organization.  In 1990, the BSC was a relatively small club.  There was no spring recreational soccer, only fall recreational soccer.  There were no girls competitive travel teams and very few boys competitive travel teams

In 1990, five years old players were playing 11V11 with a full size goal.  This was not helpful for young children to learn soccer skills.  We had to think of modifying our approach to the games.  Josh Paszkiewicz, who was one of our coaches, introduced the club to the idea of small-sided games based on the age group.  This approach also included modifying field and goal sizes to provide more touches on the ball for every player in the “game”.

In 1996, spring soccer was started with 250 boys and girls.  The program was on “probation” until the BAC assessed the success of the program.  The program was approved as a permanent program for the BSC at the end of 1996.  The following year we had over 500 boys and girls playing spring soccer.

After the west fields were built, we had an initiative to start a program for boys and girls four years of age. The program was called Little Kickers (the name was later changed to Mini Soccers).  The Mini Soccers program is a great step to introduce soccer to 4 year old players and start new parents in coaching.

The Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) was introduced to the club in 2007. Tom Cecola, Director of Coaching at that time, and me were instrumental in working with PCA and bringing the “We Honor the Game” attitude to the BSC.

In the late 1990^s, we would host the Northern Illinois Soccer League (NISL) boys seeding tournament at Indian Boundary and Balstrode Parks.  The BSC then had the initiative to host its own soccer tournament.  The first Bolingbrook Soccer Club tournament had 80 teams on a Labor Day weekend.  We named the tournament, The Labor Day Soccer Festival.  The tournament has grown to over 200 teams with teams coming from several states to play.  The tournament is a lot of hard work and a success through the cooperation of the Village of Bolingbrook, the Bolingbrook Park District, the Bolingbrook Police and Fire Department personnel and many volunteers.   

What vision do you have for the club?

One of my biggest focuses was to expand the club and to start a spring season (back then, we only had fall soccer).  Soon after, we had another idea to also expand further and have a winter season.  We started by playing winter recreational soccer at the Annerino Center in the gym. After a few years the program was stopped.  It was restarted about five years ago at the Step Ahead Soccer facility.

We also worked very hard to improve the uniforms and the ordering process.  We started out the program with reversible red and white uniforms.  The Goal of the BSC for me was to ensure that every player was having fun.  It was more about enjoying the great game of soccer than winning or losing.

Any other comments?

I have a funny story that happened a long time ago.  There was an occasion where Steve Baker and I had to go to Midway Airport late at night to pick up the uniforms before the start of the season.  If we had not we would not have had the uniforms for the first game of the season.  My family (Eileen, Megan and Heather) and Steve ended up sorting the uniforms out on our driveway the next day.

In summary, I want to say that my involvement with the BSC was more a family affair than a task.  Both of my daughters played recreational, travel and high school soccer.   Eileen and I coached together on several occasions.  Then when Heather started playing, Eileen and some of the other player’s moms began coaching Heather’s teams.  I am looking forward to coaching my granddaughter in about 4 or 5 years.