Club History
How did we get here? Clubs of America Inc. (Dba: Doradus Futbol Club)
The Doradus Futbol Club philosophy of youth player soccer development began in 1996 with an emphasis on teaching young players in America the game of soccer with ideas, vision and knowledge based on the International game. The original intent was to provide coaching systems on youth teams with professional coaches whom have played the game at the Professional Level or College Level. Ideas, concepts, systems, and the philosophy of such programs as AJAX (Holland), The Coerver System and Tauichi (Bolivia) were the corner stone of this youth development plan. This philosophy was developed and promoted by Mr. Clyde Watson and Mr. Brian Robertson, as early as 1996 under the foundation of the then called Team America Premier Program (TAP).
1996: The birth of the Team America Premier Program (TAP) actually occurred during a meeting held by Coaches, Managers, and Club administrators from within the TAP Family. During this meeting at the Fairfax Sportsplex in 1996, the founders agreed to the development of a Team America Premier Program. In attendance were Mr. Bob Groff (Manager TASC Santos U-15), Mrs. Karen Gejdenson (Manager Gunston TAP U-17), Gloria Harris (Manager Gunston TAP Bandits U-11), Jamil Feryardi (Manager/Assistant – TASC U-13), Clyde Watson (Coach TASC U-17 & Gunston U-13), Brian Robertson, Coach Roby (Coach TASC Santos U-15 & Gunston TAP Bandits U-11). These Teams soon fully migrated to the Gunston Soccer Club under the direction of Fox Parker (GSC President), and formed the new innovative Team America Premier Program. The intent was a non-profit organization separate from the former TASC - Team America Soccer Club program. Several other Satellite teams also migrated to Gunston as part of the new TAP Program.
1996 – 2000: During these years, the TAP philosophy of play was further developed and promoted by Mr. Clyde Watson. The program was mainly hosted under the Gunston Soccer Club. Clyde Watson became the visionary behind this new philosophy and style of play. TAP teams were being developed and organized under GSC. There were many other satellite Team America Premier teams associated with the Clyde Watson philosophy and formed within other Clubs in the Washington Metropolitan Area that eventually became part of the TAP family. In addition, there were a wide spread number of clinics and coaching programs developed from the Team America Premier style of play and promoted to groups of players around the VA/DC area. During this period, the Clyde Watson Soccer Academy residential camp at Catholic University each summer would enhance and directly promote the Team America Premier philosophy and new style of play – “Possession Soccer”. International Coaches, such as former AJAX International Youth Player Director Mr. Yhan Pruin; National Team Coaches such as Mr. August Wooter (Suriname, Trinidad) and other Professional staff coaches were part of the coaching staff during these soccer camps. The TAP style of play was most noticeable by all the club systems in the metropolitan area given its success. Around the year 2000, Mr. Clyde Watson and Mr. Brian Robertson began to introduce many new coaches and new ideas to the TAP Futbol Club program. Several new coaches and trainers whom were former College players, National Team Players or Professional Players were added to the program.
After the year 2000: The Team America Premier Program was designed to organized teams under the TAP vision. This vision and dream was in line with the original plan to teach children the game of soccer unlike any other program in the area. All of the earlier philosophy, ideas, tactics, techniques and skill development used in the previous years were re-introduced. In addition, new ways of coaching, new and stronger connection with AJAX (Holland) and Tauchi (Bolivia) were reinforced in the program. An agreement between Clyde Watson and Brian Robertson; called for a plan to design and build a new and independent soccer club. However, given the dynamics of creating soccer organizations in the Northern Virginia area during this time, the Team America Premier Program was forced again to settle and remain as a sub-system within another established soccer club - the Gunston Soccer Club. The choice to remain in the Gunston soccer club would support the teams in TAP with fields and registration to the various leagues and especially the NCSL. However the Team America Premier Program would still function as an independent Premier sub-system, managed and maintained by the TAP members. Mr. Watson and Mr. Robertson drafted this new Club Plan and began to organize the group. Mr. Robertson was tasked with developing the Team America Premier Program By-Laws – a six month project. Brian also designed and created the new TAP Logo, which was to reflect an American theme and different from the former associated TASC Club logo. Over the years, the overall group continued to develop the TAP Programming. The TAP group, which consisted of Clyde Watson, Bob Groff, Karen Gejdenson, Jamil Feryardi, Brian Robertson and Gloria Harris began to hold TAP meetings every Friday for 3 years. Other members of Gunston Soccer Club and other clubs were being introduced to the group (i.e. Mark Charland, Ray Baumannn, and Fox Parker). A TAP program plan was being designed and a board of directors was organized over the years. TAP continued to produce high level youth soccer development as well as organizing the teams under the Team America Premier Program and registered as part of the Gunston Soccer Club.
In late 2001: The TAP Program organized a Board of Trusties which included Mark Charland – Chairman, Brian Robertson – Vice Chairman, Jamil Feyardi – Asst Vice Chairman, Clyde Watson – Coaching Director, Anna Grello – Treasurer, Gloria Harris – Secretary, Rose Beddo – Tournament Director, Ray Baumann – Fields/Facilities, and Thomas Miller – Public Relations.
This Board meet once a week to continue the development of the TAP Futbol Club Premier program. While all teams still had to register in the Gunston Soccer Club for resources such as fields and access to leagues; the TAP program provided the main support to player development, team development, coaching philosophy and day-to-day administration of TAP Teams at no additional charge. The majority of this was Voluntary work. The TAP BY-Laws had to be rewritten as TAP Policy and Procedures, so as not to conflict with the Gunston By-Laws, the Gunston Athletic Institute and the GSC 501 C (3) Tax exemption. Nevertheless, TAP was satisfied to function under the umbrella of GSC to meet its current needs. There was no official sanctioning of the TAP Program by the Gunston Soccer Club Board of Directors, nor the Gunston Athletic Institute. In the later years of 2001-2003, the TAP Futbol Club Premier Board of Trusties had a difficult time managing, servicing, and administering the program to teams that they had no real control over, since these teams technically belonged to Gunston Soccer Club per their NCSL / WAGS Registrations. This quasi operation needed re-organizing to better serve the emerging Team America Premier program and the growing Premier Soccer community.
In mid-2003, there was an attempt to re-group the TAP program by implementing Mr. Clyde Watson as Club Director and and Mrs. Carolyn Menchel as Club Administrator. The intent was to get the program moving forward and functioning at full capacity, while the re-organization of the Board of Trustees could be accomplished. Members of the Board of Trustees would continue to lend support to the program during this reorganization stage. The ultimately goal was to reorganize the program, and eventually evolve into an independent fully functional soccer club. TAP still continued to provide services to the teams and players.
However, the focus had changed with greater attention being devoted to parents with special request for specialized training and support for their individual teams. TAP no longer focused on club building but providing short term programs to meet player/parent needs. A series of new programs for Winter and Spring training combined training sessions for the teams and Winter Ball Masters program were introduced. A TAP fee was also introduced. Outside of the standard support from Gunston Soccer Club, TAP teams still needed to reach out to the TAP Program for the additional soccer services, not provided by GSC. Team America Premier was still not an independent Soccer Club, but a program supplying soccer services to groups of teams.
2004: After careful review of the TAP Program, Mr. Watson and Mr. Robertson had reached a tentative agreement to rebuild the TAP Futbol Club philosophy of soccer and return to the idea of creating a TAP Futbol Club in Northern Virginia - the next stage of evolution. Early in 2004, several meetings, discussions, and communications on the building of the Team America Premier Futbol Club had being conducted. A new reorganized plan for an independent TAP Fitbal Club seemed to be evolving. However, unforeseen circumstances caused this process to halt. The overwhelming demands on Mr. Watson and his involvement with the Women’s Professional Soccer League and International Soccer commitments required his undivided attention. This severely limited his availability to be fully involved with the Team America Premier Futbol Club effort.
Therefore, in an effort to fulfill the earlier dream of a true premier soccer club in the Region, Mr. Brian Robertson (President of TAP Futbol Club) independently surged forward to continue building the TAP Futbol Club and Premier Soccer Club in Northern Virginia. He designed a plan and the club building process continued. The end result was TAP Futbol Club (Barca Futebol Clube) in Northern Virginia servicing youth soccer players in the community. The realization of a true Premier Soccer Development Program. A community service striving to provide children the opportunity to excel in both academics and higher level soccer development.
