WENATCHEE, WA — Wenatchee Fire FC youth soccer recently announced a merger with Cashmere Youth Soccer. Now the new entity is further organizing local soccer by aligning with Wenatchee FC adult club of the Evergreen Premier League (EPLWA.) The Fire youth will adopt the name and crest of Wenatchee FC.

“The merger is happening with the desire to create an alignment with our community youth soccer all the way up to our semi-professional organization,” says Javier Reyna, one of Wenatchee FC’s founding owners. “Our mission is to provide opportunities for our youth to aspire to join an organized club from an early age and have the opportunity to play soccer at a semi-professional level or higher.”

Wenatchee Fire FC President-elect Janine Bakken describes the larger vision. “One of the major initiatives we’ve been working on for the last several years is to vertically align and bring together the various soccer entities in the Wenatchee Valley. The goal being to implement the model identified as the most effective for youth development by our country’s governing bodies for the sport; USSF, USYS and US Club Soccer. The model is a template for organizing and assuring that every player, youth and adult, has the ability to play at whatever level they are capable for as long as they are capable and have the desire to play. The alignment with WFC is another step in the process of our Club’s intent to comply with national standards for organization and creating a clear long term development path for the players we serve.”

“This will help both our clubs in that we can work together and use each others resources to provide a better experience to our communities,” says Reyna. “With our merger, we hope to continue to support the growth of soccer within North Central Washington as well as creating stability and balance to both of our organizations.”

Reyna says that Wenatchee Fire youth clubs will become “Wenatchee FC Youth.” They will continue to provide high level service and professionalism with their current management and board members under the new name and crest.

Wenatchee FC was founded in 2013 and joined the Evergreen Premier League (EPLWA) as an adult men’s team for the debut season in 2014. The EPLWA is an elite amateur men’s competition that has teams in Bellingham, Bremerton, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver and Yakima. The league is recognized as being part of the fourth division in American soccer, behind MLS, NASL and USL Pro. The term “semi-pro” is used to describe the professional manner in which EPLWA clubs seek to operate. Wenatchee FC will join the Spokane Shadow as the other Evergreen Premier League club with an aligned youth system. The Shadow not only won the first league title last season, but thanks to their youth club support they also lead the EPLWA in attendance at first team matches.

Mike Osborn, Director of Coaching for Wenatchee Fire FC, is excited about the new opportunities for youth and adults. “The benefits of our alignment with WFC are numerous,” he says. “Here are a just a few: It gives our youth players a flagship team to identify with and rally behind; It gives us a platform to link all levels in the Valley from recreational to college under one banner; it increases awareness and visibility of our players around the state and serves as a model for others across the nation; it integrates our leadership structure, strengthening our ability to overcome common misconceptions and create more opportunities for all players of all abilities; allows for the leveraging of resources with regard to equipment, scheduling, coaching and administration; provides increased visibility of the sport in the Valley and need for community partnerships to help resource the vast majority of participants that are severely under-served.”

Ultimately, the goal is to create a soccer pathway where good players become great and good people become great citizens. “Our commitment is to use soccer as a platform for promoting the pursuit of excellence in the educational, character, physical and psychological development of today’s player,” Osborn says. “By creating a healthy competitive environment for all players we strive to teach all who participate how to set and work toward goals individually and collectively, modeling and instilling the qualities of leadership, teamwork, commitment, perseverance, loyalty and sportsmanship. Players will learn how to overcome adversity, exercise self-discipline, practice humility, gratitude and service to others. The end result being that every player is equipped to make significant contributions as a part of a team, both on the field and where they happen to live their lives. In short, our goal is to play a significant role in developing today’s player into tomorrow’s game changer.”

Wenatchee FC will announce open tryout dates and the 2015 Evergreen Premier League schedule in the coming months. The Wenatchee FC First Team Men will kick off their EPLWA season in early May. Watch www.WenatcheeFC.com for updates. Like Wenatchee FC at their Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/WenatcheeFC and follow WFC on Twitter at @WenatcheeFC.

WENATCHEE, WA— Wenatchee Football Club is providing opportunities for local players to take their game to the next level. Now the club is helping do the same thing for soccer referees in the Wenatchee Valley.

WFC will field a reserves squad for their Evergreen Premier League side. The Reserves will play matches that will give local referees experience in calling matches. EPLWA matches and Reserves matches will all be played at the Apple Bowl.

“Our Reserves will play friendlies at every EPLWA home game before our first team,” says WFC General Manager Javier Reyna. “We plan for local referees to officiate those games. Then have them stay and watch the first team match referees (who come from around the state) to learn from them.”

Ed Navarro of the Wenatchee Valley Soccer Referee Association is excited about the opportunity.

“Our main goal is to expose our local referee members to a more competitive soccer. Working with Wenatchee FC gives us that opportunity,” says Navarro, who is the Director of Instruction and Assignor for the WVSRA.

“What we hope to accomplish is have more referees upgrade so they can do semi-pro games locally, or wherever they need good referees.”

WENATCHEE, WA—Wenatchee FC of the Evergreen Premier League (EPLWA) is excited to announce that Jamie Richards has been secured as the new head coach of the club for the 2016 season. Further, the Capitals have tabbed Dr. Luke Astell as an assistant coach and Director of Fitness.

“Jamie’s overall soccer experience, passion and previous knowledge about Wenatchee FC made him the best choice for our new head coach,” says WFC General Manager Javier Reyna. “Since he was an assistant with us last year he will be able to continue the program built by Cesar Ceppi.” Ceppi, a native of Brazil, coached the Capitals in 2015.

Richards coached Chelan High School to the 2013 boys soccer state title. He’s also been an assistant in the Wenatchee Valley CC soccer program. “It is an honor to be a part of this program and I am looking forward to an exciting season!” Richards says of his new post.

He also believes being on the WFC sidelines last year is a big advantage for the season to come. “Many things were observed being the assistant coach for Wenatchee FC last year. I know the players very well, as I have been a part of coaching some of them as youth and in high school, even playing with them as young adults. Putting  them in appropriate rolls will be key.”

Capitals supporters are likely curious about the look and style of this year’s team. “That will depend on the players we are given,” says Richards. “I like diversity and being able to adjust by the seat of your pants. Defensive structure is key to a great foundation. Midfield and forward is where the individual creativity will decipher the attack we will use.” Richards does express an overall mantra about how he leads a soccer club.  “Passion, persistence, discipline, work ethic, and perfecting the simplest!  We all, meaning the coaching staff, administration, and players need to expect the most out of each other!”

Wenatchee FC is also happy to announce Luke Astell will be on the sidelines again this year as an assistant to Coach Richards and as Director of Fitness. Astell is co-owner of Mount Stuart Physical Therapy and Balance Point Health Fitness in Leavenworth, Washington. “I was introduced to soccer as a PT with an interest in sports performance. I was asked to look at  movement and address injuries for the local high school team and for my daughter’s team,” says Astell. “Last year was my first year with Wenatchee FC and I look forward to returning this year and working with the team and coach Jamie Richards.”

WENATCHEE, WA— Wenatchee Football Club of the Evergreen Premier League is pleased to announce that their 2015 home matches will be broadcast live on radio via KORE-LP at 99.1 FM.

The Capitals kick off their home season on Sunday night May 3 at 6 PM at Wenatchee Valley Community College against defending EPLWA champions the Spokane Shadow.

“Hosting WFC matches on KORE-LP gives us a chance to add to the overall community oriented nature of our broadcasting mission,” says station General Manager Kelly Hart. “Our goal is to bring programs and events to the local audience that might not get a chance to be aired over commercial, chain driven broadcast stations in the market. WFC is a home-grown team with local followers. Soccer is an exciting sport and KORE-LP is excited to be the local broadcast outlet for WFC in 2015 and beyond.”

Wenatchee FC Co-Founder Javier Reyna says the Capitals are eager to work with KORE-LP. “We are extremely happy to be able to have this opportunity. Wenatchee FC is working hard on reaching everyone in the valley, so last year we decided to do a live video and audio streaming on most of our home games with the help of Sebastian Moraga. We got nice feedback about it so this partnership with KORE-LP will give us a more professional and secure way to reach a larger audience.”

Sebastian Moraga will return as the voice of WFC. “I’m really excited. Being backed by a radio station is going to add a little more weight to the broadcast, it’s going to improve the listeners’ experience, and hopefully, it will help more people in the Valley discover what a great team they have and how much fun this league is,” he says.

Moraga says the collaborations began with local connections and that the team has already been in the studio. “Credit goes to Nevonne McDaniels from the Wenatchee Business Journal who alerted me to this new radio station, to Kelly Hart from KORE-LP, and Javier Reyna from the team,who have been nothing but supportive about this idea. Recently we had our first interview with Kelly, Coach Ceppi and with one of our team’s Brazilian players and it was beautiful! Four people talking soccer in three languages! I look forward to introducing more of our newcomers and our veterans to the listeners of KORE-LP, not just during games but in the days prior, as well.”

About KORE-LP
KORE-LP 99.1 FM, Entiat, Orondo, Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan, Manson. Entiat’s and Wenatchee’s new low powered FM radio station. We are in the process of developing our website including the link to streaming audio and show podcasts from KORE Radio. For information on how how to donate or contribute to KORE as we build a great community radio station go to gofund.me/j2fi8g and contribute to our equipment fund raising campaign. Visit us at www.KORE.fm and on our Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/kore991

About Wenatchee FC
Wenatchee FC helped found the Evergreen Premier League in 2013. The Capitals began play in the league’s inaugural 2014 season. The EPLWA features elite adult male players on hometown clubs. WFC’s mission is to: 1-Establish a solid beginning, provide opportunity and continuity for adult soccer players in North Central Washington who aspire to play at a competitive level. 2-Promote and support the development of soccer through a high quality league and well organized tournaments. 3-Expand the soccer supporter community by creating a fun, family friendly environment. Visit the Capitals online at www.WenatcheeFC.com, www.Facebook.com/WenatcheeFC, and www.Twitter.com/WenatcheeFC.

WENATCHEE, WA — Wenatchee FC of the Evergreen Premier League had been sitting on some pretty big news all week, Finally on Thursday night at Foothills Middle School WFC and Wenatchee Fire Youth Soccer unveiled their plan to align with each other in a move that clears a single club pathway for players from Cashmere to Wenatchee to all of the Valley to go from rec to elite youth to semi-pro under one badge: the green and gold of the “Capitals.”

Friday morning WFC youth coaches Matt Wisen and Neil Oyston got up early to sit in on KW3 103.9 morning radio and share the news with Connor and Mel. They brought t-shirts with the club crest and Oyston played along as the DJ’s asked him to interpret British figures of speech and what they mean there and in America (Oyston is from the Cleveland area of England.)

Finally as the music boomed on in the background the guys were able to talk about the new aligned club. It also seems that Connor didn’t get the news that earlier WFC had dropped “United” from their name. Now he has a shirt to remind him!