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2007 Recognition
Reception Honoree:
Hunter Soccer Club is one of the oldest non-profit organizations in the Delaware Valley and is one of the original founding members of the Inter-Ccounty Soccer League. Its motto is “Sportsmanship is our practice, Soccer is our game.” The organization began in 1962 as a response to the call for physical fitness from President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Originally called the St. Luke’s Soccer Club, it was made up of a group of St. Luke’s Cub Scouts. Under the leadership of John Hunter, a native born Scotsman, who loved the game of soccer, the children utilized the Abington High School fields where they learned the game of soccer. Mr. Hunter received support from Episcopal Academy when they sent him their discarded shorts, shoes, and equipment. He, along with Hans Peters, helped form the Inter-Ccounty Soccer League some 40 years ago. John Hunter passed away in 1970. His memory was honored by renaming the Club, the Hunter Soccer Club. Over the past 45 years, the Hunter Soccer Club has enabled generations of young people—without , without regard to race, religion, or gender—to to play organized soccer and to benefit from the coaching, training, and guidance of the dozens of volunteers who run the organization. The Club has trained and run organized games forhad thousands of young people, ages 3 and up, play for the club and currently has ovemore thanr 1000 players registered for the 2006-2007 season alone. Hunter tries to blend the teaching of individual skills while at the same timewith instructing team tactics and strategies in the playing of games. There is a great emphasis on team work, comraderycamaraderie, sportsmanship, and discipline; while entertainproviding a backdrop of fun. Activities are available for all boys and girls, regardless of skill level. They range from intramural teams which begin atfor those ages 36 and go through age 1413. There are also travel teams at different levels and in different divisions in the Inter-Ccounty Soccer League for children starting at Under- 10 through to the senior teamUnder 19. (Post College). Hunter also maintains an oOver 30 team, adult leagues, and an adult male team. Since 1980, Hunter has run as well as a summer soccer camp for players of all ages. The summer camp has been in existence since 1980 and dDuring the past twenty-seven years, the camp has gained a highly regarded reputation for its excellence of instruction and remains. The camp is committed to total player development, regardless of age or skill. The coaching staff is unique in that each member must be England FA licensed, BUNAC certified, and/or a professional or semi-professional player, with extensive teaching experience, and the ability to serve as a dynamic role models. Many of these individuals have worked with the Hunter Soccer Club for ovemore than 20 years. Hunter’s current practice facilities are located in PenBbryn Park in Abington Township as well as at Abington Senior and Junior High Schools and Abington Junior High School. Hunter’s hHome fields are located at both theAbington Junior and Senior High Schools, Abington Senior High School, Penn Bbryn Park, and Renninger Park, and Thomas Williams Park in Cheltenham Township., along with Rennieger Park. Hunter’s uniforms are blue and white horizontal stripes, stemming. These stem from the uniforms of what thewere the English Premier League Team , the Queen’s Park Rangers of England. Interestingly, some of these QPR layersQPR players would come to Glenside in the summer for Hunter soccer games, and the early Hunter uniforms came directly from England and were duplicates of theose worn by QPR’s teams. Hunter Soccer Club maintains a unique parental charter that seeks to impress specific parental behaviors with regard to youth teams. The charter emphasizes parental support, a positive attitude, respect, cooperation, timeliness, promptness, and assistance. In 1992, the Hunter Soccer Club established the Jack Walsh Soccer Tournament in honor of its namesake, who was an avid supporter of the cClub, the game, and the children in the community. Mr. Walsh served the Club for over 37 years as an intramural coach, travel coach, intramural coordinator and Club Secretary. The tournament screens and accepts over 120 different teams from Delaware and Montgomery counties to participate in this event. Upon Mr. Walsh’s death in 2002, the tournament was renamed the Jack Walsh Memorial Soccer Tournament. Jack Walsh was from nearby Mt. Airy, PA. In order to further support further our young people in the community,
the Sharon Klein Memorial Scholarship Program was established in
1995. It in order to honors the memory of Sharon Klein, a Hunter
Soccer Club player from Jenkintown, PA who tragically died in a
house fire. The Scholarship is available each year to graduating
high school seniors who have played for the Hunter Soccer Club for
at least the past four consecutive years, who have contributed to
the Club through coaching, refereeing, or like activities, and who
have demonstrated high academic potential. Hunter Soccer Club awards
as many Sharon Klein scholarships each year as there are worthy
candidates. These $1,000.00 awards have been given to students from
Abington, Cheltenham, Bishop McDevitt, LaSalle, St. Basil’s,
Jenkintown, Mt. St. Joseph Academy, and Gwynedd Mercy High SchoolsHigh
Schools. [Back to the Special Events page]
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