Out reach

Last week i had the opportunity to address a hundred or so youth soccer leaders at a historic meeting that brought together leaders of the IYSA, NISL, IWSL and YSSL.

It was great to see everyone set aside any personal agendas and come together for the good of the game and endorse new smaller sides for younger age groups consistently throughout all the Leagues. My hats off to Gus Bender, Peter Richardson, Flo Dyson and Bob Berkley.

The meeting gave me a chance to update everyone on the progress of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) and the Chicago team and answer a few questions. It's going to be important to reach out to the youth soccer community to keep them informed and solicit their advice. Towards that end, we are creating an advisory board that will include representation of our various constituencies including the youth soccer community, corporate, governmental and supporters groups.

We're also hosting a series of Town Hall forums to promote and discuss WPS and the new Chicago franchise in WPS. Based on the format of the national Town Halls WPS is conducting, we will have a few people involved in the Chicago team on hand to update audiences on progress with the team and the League, answer questions and solicit advice. The first Chicago WPS Town Hall will be March 8th at 11 am at the IYSA Soccer Expo at the Schaumburg Sports Center.

That forum will feature National Soccer Hall of Famer Julie Foudy, Chicago WPS General Manager Marcia McDermott and me and will be moderated by USA Today Sports Columnist Christine Brennan.

We want to conduct these Town Halls in different locations for different audiences in order tor each as diverse a group as possible. Indoor soccer facilities, youth soccer club houses, soccer pubs and Toyota Park are all likely locations for future Chicago WPS Town Halls. If you are interested in hosting one, please drop me a line at pwilt@chicagoprowomenssoccer.com.