In an exciting finish to the Fall 2010 season, capped by a flurry of entries in the First Annual BRYC Recreational Soccer photo competition, Jennifer Bell (mother of goalie Jacob, right) walks away with season honors with her submission of six stunning photos from the final game of the U10 Boys Team Titans’ season, a hard-fought 2-1 victory.  After seeing some of her early season work on a team web site she created for Titans’ Coaches Stuart Young and Anthony Pagano, including the team roster, practice and game calendar, and hundreds of photos from each of their first several games,  the webmaster hoped to see more. 

The six photos in the gallery below are truly professional quality and have earned Jennifer a coveted BRYC fleece jacket, the same as that worn by our All Star Coaches but emblazoned with the title "Official Photographer".  It’s not quite a Cadillac Escalade or a LCD television but it’s the least (and the best) the webmaster could do and stay within budget. 

Every team should be so lucky to have such an interested and involved parent...who capped the team’s season with a sleep-over no less.  Congratulations to the Titans on a great season, and to Jennifer, for capturing it with some magnificent action photos.

September 17 -- About four years ago BRYC became one of the first local clubs to offer U4 Developmental Soccer within its Recreational Soccer program.  A handful of boys and girls play with...

The Fairfax County Parks Department has just completed artificial turf and light installation on one of three soccer fields at Pine Ridge Park on Woodburn Road in Annandale (near the Fairfax Hospital).  Because of the shortage of turf fields in the area, the county’s Department of Community and Recreation Services, which allocates athletic fields, has a policy giving youth groups priority for synthetic fields from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays when the demand is highest.  They have allocated BRYC Recreational Soccer each Saturday, to complement the time BRYC is allocated at Wakefield Park.  BRYC is grateful for the field allocation which will allow games to be played even when rain might close other fields this fall.  BRYC innaugurated play on September 18 with Coach Dave Patecell’s U19 Girls, followed by SFL action for Coach Andy Dimond’s U16 Boys (team pictured below after their 1-0 victory over Fairfax) and Coach John Kelleher’s U19 Boys who fought to a 2-2 tie vs. Vienna. 

Because of the county’s priority policy, the Fairfax Women’s Soccer Association (FWSA) who’ve played soccer at Pine Ridge Park on Saturdays for 20 years, is losing one of the three fields on which they have played and which they maintained as a grass field under an "Adopt-a-Field" agreement with the county.  As long time friends and supporters of FWSA (including partnerning on the turf installation at Wakefield Park), BRYC is attempting to work with the organization to accommodate their needs at nearby Winterset Park.

Formal dedication of the park’s new facilities came on October 16 when, with a game going on behind them, members of Coach Megan Kipp’s U14 Girls squad, the Nightmares, joined dignitaries in the field’s opening ceremony.  Pictured from left to right are Nightmares players Morgan P. and Melissa F., Project Manager Eric Brunner from the Fairfax County Park Authority, Mason District Park Authority Board Member Frank Vajda, Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Sharon Bulova, former Head Commissioner of the Fairfax Women’s Soccer Association Ruth Walton, Rose Purple, Chairman of the Pine Ridge Park Association, and Nightmares players Connie K., Julia M., and Erin S.  

Coaches Mohammed Onibudo, Hoang Nguyen, Amha Shiferaw and Jimmy Kairuki worked "overtime" this summer, taking a group of six U7 (now U8) boys to the Mid-Atlantic Classic (MAC) Soccer Fest in Poolesville MD in late June.  In the U7B Recreation Division the Golden Jets bested the field, including the runners-up Gators and Piranhas, to earn their way into the Northesast Regional KickIt 3v3 Championships in Lancaster PA in early August. 

After stubbing their toe in their first match against a powerful Quicksilver, the Golden Jets came back strong, winning their last three games against the Destroyers, the Blast Juniors and the Destroyers again, to take championship honors in the tournament’s U7B Silver Division, earning the right to compete at the National KickIt 3v3 Championships in Orlando FL in January. 

Congratulations to the boys and their coaches on a summer well-spent in preparation for the BRYC fall season ahead.  Coach Shiferaw has become the U8B League Director.  The other three will be back on the pitch.  Let the competition beware!