CASL to Celebrate 40th Anniversary

CASL to Celebrate Club’s 40^th Anniversary

CASL has been a staple in Wake County since 1974. When many of us return from the holiday break, it will be a special year for CASL. For the duration of 2014, CASL will celebrate its 40^th year of providing the highest quality instructional and competitive youth soccer opportunities to youth in the greater Wake County area, which began in 1974 when six local passionate soccer community members joined forces to create the first local youth soccer club. The recognition of this landmark anniversary is in large part to the thousands of CASL players, families, coaches, and staff who came before us to make this club a national leader and innovator in youth soccer.

Since 1974, CASL has continued to live its mission of providing positive and high-quality soccer opportunities that range from recreational to elite soccer development. Player success is documented in the resounding number of our athletes who go on to be student-athletes at the college level, while others find their way to the highest level of competition on U.S. National Team rosters. Other times, success is defined by the number of CASL participants who continue to play the game of soccer for fun, to be healthy and active, or for the camaraderie of playing a team sport. Over the years, teams have left their mark bringing home State, Regional, and National Titles as well as competing in International competition. The club’s most recent accomplishments came when CASL was named as a Top 10 Youth Club for both boys and girls by  Soccer America in 2012 and named as a top 10 Elite Clubs National League Club in 2013.

The mission of CASL is to provide positive and high-quality instructional and competitive youth soccer opportunities at all levels of play that enhance character, community and the love of the game for a diverse membership of children ages 4-18 and their families across Wake County and to serve as a community partner to improving the quality of life in Wake County. During this 40^th Anniversary celebration, CASL will highlight and share ways that we bring our mission to life, and we ask that you share your stories or pictures with us (#CASL40) of living the CASL mission. Whether you or your team wins a game, shows sportsmanship, wins a tournament, or engages in community service, we want to know about it. If you see coaches teaching life lessons through soccer, or you catch a coach in the midst of an instructional session, we want to know about. There are countless other ways to demonstrate our mission on and off the field, and we challenge you to take this year-long journey with us as we show our community what CASL is all about.

As a club, we will be highlighting various ways that we are living our mission through individual, team, and club soccer accomplishments, through stories of on- and off-field successes, and through community relations efforts that show we are truly a community partner in improving the quality of life in Wake County. We will kick-off our commitment to the community with the CASL Play 4Kay

4v4 charity soccer event on January 11. 100% of proceeds from this single day soccer event will benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. 

We’ll also be encouraging CASL players, teams, parents, and families to join us in some community relations efforts throughout the year including volunteering at InterFaith Food Shuttle and other community organizations, hosting various drives throughout the year (toy, food, school supply), sending heroes overseas a holiday card, or participating in community events among many other opportunities. We’ll also be spotlighting our very own soccer community outreach initiatives and the opportunities that youth in our community are getting through these efforts.

It should be a fun year of reflection, recognition, celebration, and engagement at CASL, and we cannot wait for you to be a part of it.