Club Highlight: Phoenix Surf

We sat down with Phoenix Surf’s Executive Director, Joe Remblance to learn more about how Surf has helped her club, players, coaches, and administrators and their upcoming season goals:

What is the greatest value add of being part of the Surf Nation Community?

The greatest value add of being a part of the Surf Nation Community has to be the Network of Peers. There’s also its Brand Recognition, Marketing and Advertising Support, and Access to Resources. But it’s this network of peers that really strengthens a club, its programs and support. We can amplify regional programs together; we can support one another in tournaments or camps and we can provide lessons learned to one another to help each other grow and develop. All of this, of course, allows us to provide better development opportunities to our youth athletes.

As we are now fully into the Spring season what are some of the Clubs KPI’s you have set for the Club towards the end of the 23/24 season?

1. On-Field Performance: As we come to the close of the season, we are looking for our teams to provide their Win/Loss Ratio and their objective areas of development. This will help us identify opportunities in the off-season to develop the team and also position them appropriately in leagues for next year.

2. Financial Performance: This time, every year, we review our Revenues & Expenses, as well as our Assets & Liabilities. It allows us to set a budget for the next year and plan our resources adequately. It often indicates that we need to activate additional areas of funding to cover specific expenses and forces us to put plans in place, far enough in advance so that we can meet expectations.

3. Facilities: Quality of training facilities for youth players. Fields is probably our #1 complaint, issue and need today. We currently secure fields in (3) primary locations in the Phoenix metropolitan area: Central Phoenix, West Valley and Northwest Phoenix. We have been actively seeking fields in our home community where we can create long-lasting partnerships and truly create that community impact our club was built upon. We have identified (2) opportunities in the West Valley of Phoenix and are working to submit a proposal in mid-April.

4. Community Engagement: This past year saw a lot of turmoil in the unity of our club and so we focused a lot of our resources into building a solid foundation for our club once again. In maturing that process, we feel it’s important to engage our community and offer opportunities to Services or Events that support youth athletes in their families. Our goal is to host at least 1 community event/month. We just had our first Nutrition Seminar in April and will be launching a Member Services Program for our club in May. We are also working on a partnership with Special Olympics that we are very excited about.

How is the Club taking advantage of all the support, programming and opportunities provided by Surf Nation?

Surf Summit this year was amazing. We brought home a book of notes and initiatives that we learned from so many of the other clubs and presenters. We also picked up some additional friends and have been collaborating on a Golf Ball Drop with Kansas City Surf and discussing Regional and National League Support with Pima County and El Paso Surf. We are strategizing about how to leverage some of the lessons learned at Surf Summit to grow the “Best of the Best” girls’ program. The support and network capabilities are truly powerful and we are very appreciative.

How are you currently investing in Coach development?

At this time, Phoenix Surf is focused on utilizing the US Soccer training provided by our state association. We ask all of our coaches to obtain their Grassroots certification, at minimum, and we pay for these classes and certification. We also identify some of our more experienced coaches as candidates for their D License and pay for their class training and on-field testing requirements. Knowing the power of collaboration, we created a Coaches chat where many coaches share and coordinate resources, player needs and even additional training needs and we do host Coaches meetings several times a year. In the 24/25 season, we will be looking for a Director of Coaching that can help our program grow exponentially.

As you gear up for Tryouts, why Phoenix Surf? What separates you from the other Clubs in the area that makes Phoenix Surf the premium destination for the 24/25 season.

Geographical Location: The West Valley of Phoenix primarily has small, non-affiliated clubs. They are unable to provide player development, pathways and opportunities for youth as they age. And the West Valley is one of the fastest growing markets in the United States.

Performance and Success: We are uniquely positioned as a mid-market club today – many of our teams are highly ranked in the State, Region and even Nationally without National League Platforms (but only for the moment, that’s a KPI for next year!). This allows us some modicum of flexibility right now. We can offer high-level teams and development opportunities for a more reasonable price. This, too, will allow us to grow our base even further so that when we are approved into these National Platforms, we are a solid performer!

Community Engagement and Social Responsibility: Our club feels strongly that athletes are developed both on and off the pitch. Our Community Engagement initiatives are meant to teach and foster the heart of giving back to our community, how to engage and enjoy the vast diversity our community has to offer and provide role models for our athletes. We are working hard to breed these behaviors into our club’s culture and make it a part of our DNA. We want our athletes to be the “best of the best” both on and off the field.