Williamsburg Soccer Club Receives Prestigious Nike Premier Club Appreciation Award

 

Last weekend at the first ever Nike Premier Club Summit in New Castle New Hampshire the Williamsburg Soccer Club (WSC) and Director of Coaching, Richard Butler, were awarded the Nike Premier Club Appreciation Award for 2005. The summit was a gathering of the 38 Nike Premier Clubs from across the United States. The three day summit was initiated to discuss youth soccer in the US and to develop relationships between the Nike Premier Clubs. The Nike Premier Clubs are made up of 38 youth soccer clubs that have exclusive contracts with Nike and its soccer sports marketing division in the US.

 

In 2004 it was Richard Butler, Director of Coaching for the WSC, who initiated a first ever meeting of the clubs at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention in Charlotte, NC. “Every year we go to the convention and meet with our Nike people and see some of the Nike club people but never all of them”, said Butler, “My idea in the fall of 2003 was to get everybody around a table at the convention and see where it led us. People were very receptive to the idea and in the end I think we had about 30 clubs represented. My premise behind the idea was to get us all working together, to learn from each other and to lead the youth clubs in the nation. The first ever Nike Premier Club Summit has come out of that and also numerous other initiatives and positive ideas for youth soccer in this country. The summit was fantastic. To have that many soccer people in the same rooms talking soccer and leading the way was phenomenal. Seacoast United did a superb job hosting the event. I’m grateful also to Nike Soccer for awarding the club and myself this prestigious award.”

 

Karen Willoughby, head of Nike Soccer Sports Marketing for youth clubs on the east coast said, “Director of Coaching, Richard Butler, through his organizational mastery led the Premier Clubs to hold their first ever meeting at the 2004 NSCAA Convention, thus paving the way for the 2005 Premier Club Summit in New Hampshire.”

 

For more information on Nike Soccer go to www.NIKESoccer.com.

For more information on the Williamsburg Soccer Club go to www.williamsburgsoccer.com.