Shore Soccer on the Rise

Youth soccer continues to grow in popularity in America, and that is now true for the kids in West Long Branch, Oceanport & Monmouth Beach as well. With the partnership of the Dutchmen and Shore Fire soccer clubs, the future Shore Regional students have a cohesive, local organization where they can play competitive soccer.

According to John Terlecsky, the President of Shore Fire, he wanted to make sure the local kids had an opportunity to play together. “Having grown up in a rich soccer tradition in Ocean Township, my goal as a West Long Branch resident was to have a club for local youth to call home. When we met Wayne Galloway, the Club Director of the Dutchmen, it made sense to work together and give our kids a community-based opportunity with an established pedigree.”

The first two Dutchmen teams – a 2012 and 2014 age team – started in Spring 2021, and both continue excelling despite being such a small club. The Dutchmen mission, according to Wayne Galloway, is to “provide academy training for less.” Galloway is 1 of 56 coaches to obtain the prestigious US Soccer Academy Director’s License, its highest level of license.

“We are incredibly lucky to have someone of Wayne’s stature training all our teams. To watch our players develop their skills, a love for the game, and a competitive spirit is a testament to the Dutchmen training techniques – and Wayne’s ability to teach,”  Terlecsk said.

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From those two teams, the Dutchmen now boast 5 teams spanning the 2012-2017 age groups. Since Galloway trains each team, they are getting a consistent coach and coaching philosophy each session. That foundation is paying dividends, too. All the Dutchmen age groups finished 1st or 2nd in their leagues last Fall.

With all the excitement for the boys, the local girls’ parents asked Courtney Swoope, the Dutchmen “Administrator of Everything”, if a girls program could happen. That inspiration took off when Justin O’Horo, the President of West Long Branch Sports Association, was inspired to build a team with his daughter and friends.

“Since I am on the board with and work so well with Justin and Courtney, I knew we had the right support-system to create a parallel soccer organization. With that energy, we started a 2014 girls team and Shore Fire was born,” according to Terlecsky. What’s been part of the Shore Fire culture has been Rosa Franze and Alex Pickett, who are female trainers that the girls can look up to.

“They both are role models for the girls. They are always positive and optimistic, and the energy they give the girls makes Shore Fire who we are,” said Swoope.

You can find both teams either in West Long Branch or the new turf at Maria Gatta Community Park in Oceanport. “Since the majority of our players are residents in the Shore Regional sending district, it’s amazing to have the opportunity to play where we generally live,” Swoope added.

For Terlecsky, he knows how vital sports are for kids. He also values the community aspect of it, and has gotten to know Oceanport residents like Borough Councilman, Bryan Keeshen, and the 2015 Shore Fire coach, John Faviano because of soccer.

According to Terlecsky, “In general, kids need sports, and especially in today’s world, they need to get off their devices; in the right environment, healthy competition is great for kids. I want to make sure the positives of these experiences that I had growing up in the 80s and 90s in Ocean Township are accessible for our Shore Regional community, because they are timeless.”

For the Dutchmen and Shore Fire players, they are certainly off to a great start!