Soccer Is Broken In Lakewood: My Open Letter Of Resignation

My name is Ted Nagel, and I am the current Vice President of the Lakewood Soccer Association (LSA). Effective immediately, I tender my resignation to the Board of LSA. There are a number of reasons why I am doing this, and also, why I am doing it publicly. I will explain my reasoning below and end with a challenge to the people who are currently in positions of trust related to soccer in Lakewood.

First, I will discuss history, as I know it, although I have only been here for six years. Lakewood currently has two soccer organizations: The Lakewood Soccer Association (LSA) and the Ohio Rangers Futbal Club (ORFC). LSA has been operating for more than 30 years in Lakewood. They run the majority of the Recreational Level soccer and the Travel Level soccer in Lakewood. ORFC was created due to philosophical differences with LSA about 8 years ago, give or take. ORFC was started by the Lakewood High School Coach at the time, who has since moved on. Because the original teams and coaches of ORFC broke away from LSA, there was resentment. ORFC was begun as a Club Level organization, which is the highest level of play in NE Ohio. Under the original terms of agreement, ORFC would stay at the Club Level and LSA would stay at the Rec and Travel levels.

Switch to recent history. ORFC has applied to the Lakewood Board of Education Rec Department to be the city’s official soccer program. They now have a higher priority for fields and have decided that they will now have Recreational Level soccer and Travel Level soccer. Obviously, this puts them in direct competition with LSA for the same set of players. The organizations no longer operate under any agreement.

My analysis is that this is a horrible situation for the soccer families in Lakewood. If you ask anyone on either side of this situation, they will agree, probably to a person, that this unhealthy competition is hurting both the enjoyment and the development of soccer players in Lakewood. Limited resources are being squandered. High School Coaches do not have access to both sets of coaches or players, to give personalized training and set their training methodology at a young age. There isn’t a single adult from either organization that will not say that they are putting the kids of Lakewood first and in their hearts, they truly believe it. But nothing has changed in at least the 6 years that I have been watching to fix this obviously broken situation.

As a result, and because I may now have been here long enough to be part of the problem, I take myself from this situation by resigning from LSA. BUT, I also challenge every adult in both organizations: If you believe that the future of your respective organization is more important than the future of fixing soccer in Lakewood, I hope that you follow me to the bench. There is a lot of young blood in both organizations, who look on and want to help. Get out of the way and let them solve this.

My fervent wish is that we have one soccer organization in Lakewood, not plagued by the history of conflict currently despoiling our kids’ love of this game.

Ted Nagel moved here with his wife (who grew up here) and family after retiring from the Army. He is a volunteer in the community primarily with sports but also through the Lakewood Congregational Church.

Ted Nagel

Moved here with my wife (who grew up here) and family after retiring from the Army. Volunteer in the community primarily with sports but also through the Lakewood Congregational Church.

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Volume 12, Issue 2, Posted 5:45 PM, 01.19.2016