Merger between FC Bolts and Boston Breakers Academy/Scorpions was to combine two clubs that had an academy program for boys and girls. Less than six months after the merger, Breakers Academy announced that they are dropping the Scorpions and replacing them with NEFC.

Why did Boston Breakers drop the Scorpions?

Today, the Boston Breakers announce the dissolving of the youth club partnership between Scorpions Soccer Club (now FC Boston) and Boston Breakers Academy.

“It is unfortunate that the partnership is being dissolved,” Boston Breakers general manager Lee Billiard said. “We had high hopes, but the merger of Scorpions and FC Bolts and their creation of FC Boston set them on a different path.”

The partnership was originally formed in December 2013 with a purpose to expand the previous club’s footprint and ultimately led to the insertion of new coaches and additional players.

The partnership will be terminated by the end of 2015. All current Boston Breakers Academy teams under the Scorpions/FC Boston umbrella will transition out of using the Boston Breakers name and logo by the end of the year as well. The Boston Breakers will continue to operate its own college academy and reserve teams as part of the development pathway to the pros.

This is what the Boston Breakers relationship gave the Scorpions:

In the first year of the partnership, Boston Breakers General Manager Lee Billiard will coach the Boston Breakers Academy U17 ECNL team, while Boston Breakers Academy Director Jack Abelson will coach the U15 ECNL team, and Breakers Senior Team Coordinator Stephanie Schafer (Curry College and Wagner College) will take the U17 NPL team.  Boston Breakers Head Coach Lisa Cole will play a vital role for the Boston Breakers Academy as Technical Director. The role of Technical Director will be to provide coach and player education for the program, along with helping to build curriculum content, a sound developmental pathway for players, coaches and also holding some guest sessions across the season.

As the partnership grows, Boston Breakers players will also be a part of the staff, coaching teams at all levels. During the first year of transition, the Boston Breakers professional players will take part in club trainings and camps. Six Boston Breakers professional players will serve as age group mentors to the girls teams. The role will be to see every team and have direct contact with players in the specific age group they are mentoring. Additionally, the Breakers players will attend tryouts to help the staff evaluate players, and over the course of the season, host educational classes with Breakers Academy players in regards to being a student athlete, nutrition, fitness, becoming a pro player, and to give advice on the college recruitment process.

The Scorpions Soccer Club front office staff will remain intact and will work closely with Boston Breakers front office staff to provide families an even greater level of communication and players a very structured development pathway, which starts at U9 and leads though Under 18, to Breakers College Academy, Reserve Team, and ending at the Senior professional team.

It appears that the merger that was supposed to combine both a girls and boys academy program was the reason for Boston Breakers dropping the Scorpions for NEFC. Or it could be the Boston Breakers relationship with Fred Marks?

Breakers Partnership with NEFC

Why are NEFC and the Boston Breakers creating this partnership?

The Boston Breakers are a member of the NWSL, a ten team professional women’s soccer league supported by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). As with most professional soccer clubs in the US, a priority for the Boston Breakers is to have a competitive youth academy structure that supports the college, reserve and professional teams. NEFC has a proven developmental model and a competitive team structure that competes on the national stage. The synergies created by this partnership provide a nationally competitive youth academy under the Breakers organization which also supports NEFC’s mission statement of ‘Developing Players for the Next Level in an Elite Soccer Environment’. This partnership will provide players with the best environment to take advantage of future opportunities as the youth soccer landscape continues to evolve.

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Dear FC Boston Families:

Last summer, FC Greater Boston Bolts and the Boston Breakers Academy/Scorpions agreed to join forces to create the only youth soccer club in the Northeast with both the Development Academy on the boy’s side and the ECNL on the girl’s side. Our long-term goal is to create a super club that can take a player from junior academy (age 8) and develop them all the way until college. We offer programs spanning from junior academy, NEP, NPL and Academy/ECNL levels. The goal is to be the most complete club in the Northeast with the best coaching staff.

Whenever two clubs merge together, there are bound to be growing pains as joining two synergies takes time to blend into one. One hurdle we faced was what to call our new super club which has now been decided. The overall club will be known as FC Boston with the boys being FC Boston Bolts and the girls being FC Boston Scorpions. The Bolts is one of the most recognized brands of youth soccer in the US under the direction of Brian Ainscough. Similarly, Scorpions was the original name of the club that Fred Marks built from the ground up. Over the years it was one of the most recognized names in girls soccer, which is why the board chose to resurrect the name and restore it to its rightful place in girls soccer. We have a new logo and we will debut our new uniforms in early summer.

Our focus will now be on merging and improving our operations as well as using the combined forces of the two clubs to secure and improve our facilities. It is a top priority to secure and retain the best coaches for our players and ensure the best path for development in youth soccer in this area.

On the operations side, we are working to create an organization that is highly proficient and seamlessly delivers good communications to our families. We value our players and their families and will strive to create a great experience for all.

We appreciate your patience and loyalty while we work through this process and look forward to great things in the future for FC Boston!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Price

President

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Jonathan Price fails to address that the ECNL league is likely to be moved to a lower division.

US Soccer Federation to launch a girls’ equivalent of Development Academy. ECNL likely pushed to 2nd tier.

What will be the result of FC Scorpions losing Breakers Academy and ECNL pushed to 2nd tier? Rumor has it that top players are looking to switch clubs. A division 1 women’s college soccer coach summed it up: “It’s the end of an era. The Scorpions are done!”

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