It's been a very interesting off-season for the OPSL, and a good indication of things to come in the next few months!
We are, first and foremost, very excited to welcome FC Spartans into the league. This Vancouver-based team was formed last year under the management of Gary Allen. It brings a quality club able to compete immediately into the OPSL. Also, we welcome back a manager from the original crop of managers in the OPSL, Victor Garcette. Victor, along with Sergio Medel will be in charge each game as the Spartans look to increase the competition for the existing teams in the OPSL .

Another extremely exciting development is our partnership with the Portland Timbers and their Academy/development teams. We will be playing a total of 6 exhibition games against the U18 and U16 teams from the Timbers, under the guidance of Mike Smith and Adam Smith. The U18s competed extremely well against OPSL opposition last season in an unofficial capacity, and it's great for them to get exposure to "adult" soccer and the physicality of it. This year, Adam asked if the U16s could also get a kick in with us, and of course, we're delighted to oblige! Rest assured though, these will not be 'kids' against men. The U16s represent the very best talent in the state, and as we all remember at that age (some longer ago than others!) catching up with them will be one of the biggest challenges our OPSL players will have!

Other news is that we are in the mid-stages of developing our Disciplinary Handbook. It may come as a shock to a lot of you that since our formation in 1996 we have operated without a formal adopted disciplinary handbook! This needed to change and so we have been working on one with members of different clubs, the OASA, and prominent referees in the area on this. We should have it nailed down in time for the Fall 2013 season. 

Lastly is our Board. We have seen club participation dwindle in the decision making of the league over the last 3 to 4 years and the burden of running the league has fallen on a small few people. This also needed to change, and starting with April's Board meeting we will be handing back significant voting and decision making power to the players and clubs involved in our league. Each team will be providing a representative at these mtgs, and we will have more player involvement than before. It is your league, and we need you to have input on how you want it run!

Have a great season everyone, more to come soon.

Simon
Simon DateOPSL President

Soccer fans, we are excited to announce a new chapter in the growing history of the Oregon Premier Soccer League.  Where to begin...

First off, join us in welcoming new President Simon Date.  Before we do, however, we’d like to thank Phil Coates for his service to the league over the course of the past two years and wish him luck in all of his future endeavors.  Now, if you don’t know (or know of) Date, we have to ask "where have you been?"  It’s hard to find anyone more active and present in the local soccer scene than Date, who is ubiquitous as a player, referee, and coach.  We’ll have to track down his full bio to post it here soon, but for the sake of brevity, his current status is as the varsity head girls coach at St. Helens High School.  It should also be mentioned that Date's tenure playing in the OPSL is almost as long as the league itself.

Second, we have closed the chapter on the over 30s era in the OPSL.  Seven years ago, eight teams playing in another league’s over 30 division made a wholesale jump to the OPSL to create a new division.  Having access to better fields and officiating raised the level of play for all of these teams, creating a hotbed of over 30 men’s soccer not previously seen in the region.  The officiating community considered this the second best division of amateur soccer around.  Alas, the division was, in many ways, a victim of its own success.  Few outside teams cared to turn themselves over to this buzz saw, choosing instead to stick to a more recreational soccer existence.  Eventually, as these teams began to age and splinter, talk of turning the division into a “first division” that would welcome younger teams did not fully materialize. It remains to be seen if new life can be breathed into this dialogue again in the future. 

Last but not least, we turn our attention to the open division.  While the over 30 division was a nice dynamic for the league and added a level of infrastructure that previously did not exist, the bread and butter of the OPSL has always been as an incubator for the highest level of amateur soccer in the region.  The focus has returned fully to this mission, which is why we are so excited to announce the addition of the Eugene Metros FC Mundial men’s team, an aspiring Professional Developmental League (PDL) team. 

"We are hoping that this team will be the foundation for a PDL team in the next few years," said Jurgen Ruckaberle, Director of Coaching for EMFC.  "For us it is very exciting to play in a Portland based league to get great competition and join a league that is run for more competitive teams."

Furthermore, it gives us great pride to share that the Timbers Academy U18 squad will join the OPSL on a “guest team” basis.  They will play each team once (instead of twice), and each game against them will count in the points race for the rest of the teams, which are OPSL pillars IPS, Swoosh/Kell’s, PCU, and DNA. 

We are currently finalizing the schedules and they will be posted soon.  We hope to see you out at some of the matches.  Game on, soccer fanatics!