Northern Mass. Clubs Announce Merger

NESS and Aztec To Form One Super-club

March 8, 2008

By Nick Williams

AMESBURY, Mass. – In a long-anticipated move, two Northern Massachusetts clubs – Aztec Soccer and New England Soccer School – officially merged operations this week, announcing the formation of one super-club, New England Aztec, complete with a new logo and an affiliation with England’s Everton FC and its youth academy training system.

New England Aztec will have 27 teams competing in the MAPLE and MASC leagues this spring, with that number set to increase to up to 34 the next year, and will offer youth, community and coaching programs for all ages.

“With our merger our staff becomes stronger and our ability to impact more players under one organization is greater,” said Mike Kersker, Aztec president and now president of NE Aztec. “With this merger we are able to be something for everyone. This gives us the ability to offer a club, community partnership, coaches mentoring program, youth and adult clinics, camps, referee training for our younger players, an advanced college mentoring program, and the ability for the public to bring their children to watch our Amateur games both WPSL and NPSL at our own home field.”

Home field will be Amesbury Sports Park and Soccer ETC in Beverly. The WPSL women's team and NPSL men's team will play its first season at ASP this coming summer, while the PASL men will return to Soccer ETC. The merger gives the club a total of nine outdoor fields and three indoor facilities.

The merger, anticipated for some time but taking awhile for the final details to get ironed out, also was a move based as much in practicality as it was in logistics.

“The major reason [for the merger] was philosophically our clubs matched up and logistically it’s perfect,” said Brian Kelly, former technical director of the NESS boys program who will serve in a similar capacity with NE Aztec. “Beverly is about 20 miles south of Amesbury and it really completes a geographical sphere of influence that will now extend and increase.

“[The purpose of the merger] is to develop players better, and to develop more players. Instead of fighting over the same players and territory, we’ll consolidate into one club in Northern Mass. That’s what we want to do.”

Kelley said the new club will be able to offer area players and teams an opportunity to reach their fullest potential in a way no other club from this part of the state has ever done before. The organization will operate out of a type of pyramid structure, with conceivably able to play their way from under-11 all the way to the highest level of adult amateur soccer in the US with NE Aztec.

Representatives of Aztec, NESS, and Everton were on hand at the official announcement this Wednesday to talk about aspects of the new organization with families from both clubs.

“We just had Tosh Farrell, one of Wayne Rooney’s former coaches, out last week where he had a chance to run sessions for three of our teams, the 14, 13 and 12 boys,” Kersker said. “I am on the phone with them getting advice on any topic at anytime, which is amazing to me. Everton are respected worldwide as one of the best player development academies in the world. It is a phenomenal opportunity for all families and players involved.”

The presence of Everton, which has developed such stars as Rooney and once featured former Revolution striker Joe-Max Moore, is designed to help influence player and coach curriculums while providing international opportunities for the new club. This includes opportunities for area players to go overseas and train with Everton youth teams and for coaches to learn the tricks of the trade from one of the biggest teams in England.

“The great thing about the Everton Academy is they’re one of the most established clubs in the world but they’re not here to take us over,” Kelly said. “They want to work with us and help out. Eventually, our people will travel to Everton to learn from their coaches, exchange ideas, that type of thing. We want to have more educated coaches -- in terms of quantity, that is.”

Aztec’s NPSL and WPSL teams will remain intact with Dushawne Simpson, technical director of the Aztec girls program and head coach of the Aztec NPSL & WPSL teams, continuing that role with NE Aztec.

Simpson also led the Aztec PASL men's team to the 2005 PASL National Championship in what is now the official developmental league for the MISL. The PASL men are slated to return in the winter of 2008-09 after taking a hiatus this past season so the organizations could focus on ironing out the details of the merger.

The club plans to launch a brand new website, www.neaztec.com as well as an e-newslestter in the weeks ahead. Both of the old clubs’ sites (www.aztecsoccer.com and www.nesoccerschool.net) will remain active while the new website is finished.

“You can expect us to continue to impact players of all levels both boys and girls,” Kersker said. “Both NESS and AZTEC have been an educational soccer community for players, families and coaches and with this merger our community has expanded and given us a bigger base of families, players and coaches that can carry on a legacy through the NEA organization of teaching, learning, executing, enjoying and playing the greatest game on earth.”

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