afalbe@wm.edu
www.soccercommunity.org

 

Credentials

• Vice President of the NSCAA - on track to be president in 2008
• Former head coach at the College of W&M for 33 years
• Amassed a record of 401-186-64 during his career (.667)
• Just the seventh coach in NCAA Division I history to record 400 career victories
• Throughout the 1990s, the Tribe ranked as one of the top programs in the nation, placing eighth in wins (149) and 13th in winning percentage (.708) and appearing in seven NCAA Tournaments
• Albert's teams have put together 29 consecutive winning seasons (a W&M record) and 25-straight campaigns of 10 wins or more
• Albert, who holds an "A" USSF full badge from the Football Association of England, has been named CAA Coach of the Year a conference-record four times (1987, 1992, 1994 and 1996), and earned the South Atlantic Region's top honor in 1992 and 1998
• On the international level, Albert served as head coach for the United States soccer team in the Maccabiah Games, or "Jewish Olympics," in 1981 and in 1985, when his team won a silver medal

Soccer Community Partnerships of America™ (SCPA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization created to accomplish a simple, yet profound purpose: To more broadly share with underserved communities throughout the United States the world's greatest and most democratic sport: SOCCER.

The United States, ironically, is still considered the last frontier in the global expansion of our sport. Soccer here has emerged largely along social and economic lines, typically in the cul-de-sacs of suburbia where the financial wherewithal exists to pay for training, equipment and play within the American soccer club system. As a result, the sport has bypassed far too many underserved neighborhoods throughout the country.

The basic tools for fixing this problem already exist. Among the many strengths of American Soccer are the well-organized and efficient infrastructures functioning at each meaningful level of the game. Organizations - from AYSO and USYSA, to high schools and colleges, all the way up to the professional ranks - have excellent administrative structures, talent pools, and distributive reach.

SCPA has been set up for the sole purpose of harnessing these great and unique American soccer advantages and utilizing them to more broadly benefit the hundreds of underserved communities in proximity to these existing soccer organizations throughout the country.

SCPA is creating an organizational and resource management structure to inspire, educate and promote the building of broader ties and relationships between the soccer "haves" and "have-nots" in the USA. As a part of that effort, SCPA is actively constructing this web-based resource center from which soccer organizations can learn how clubs similar to theirs in size and community characteristics have effectively created, tailored and implemented successful local programs.

SCPA is asking that every soccer program in America consider joining its ranks as an affiliated member. In joining SCPA, an organization is making a commitment to create ties from its own infrastructure to new and underserved communities, and to aid in the training of new players and coaches. The ultimate goal is a partnership in each community between those with soccer skills and resources, and the local boys and girls who need those skills and resources to build better lives.