By Steve Lee

The Wesley Chapel Soccer Club is history. Make way for Sporting Tampa Bay FC, a premier soccer club for player development at the competitive level.

“We’re really excited,” said Stuart Campbell, Wesley Chapel’s director of player and coaching development. “It’s a whole new rebrand. It’s a new era.”

Campbell, who after playing professionally in Europe later played for and coached the Tampa Bay Rowdies, said switching to the new program will allow coaches “to really focus on improving the players’ technical ability.”

Nearly 500 players displayed their talents during recent tryouts at Wesley Chapel District Park. Unlike 11-team formats, the players practiced in smaller groups such as 5 v. 5 and 6 v. 6 to allow for more touches on the ball.

“They could literally go for several minutes without touching the ball (under the previous format), so they’d lose interest” Campbell said. “We’ve had great numbers for tryouts.”

Once teams are chosen at the U8-U18 levels in boys and girls divisions, practices for the upcoming competitive season will begin in August. The teams will play in tournaments with the older age groups taking a break from January-March to allow players to compete for their high schools. By next April, teams will compete in Florida Youth Soccer Association tournaments.