Sky Blue and Jersey Blues FC Enter Partnership

Added by Steven Farkas on December 19, 2012.

Sky Blue and Jersey Blues FC have announced that they will enter into a partnership between the two clubs.  The relationship will see the Blues WPSL Elite team operating as a reserve team for the Sky Blue professional team. Alongside this, Blues Head Coach Erwin van Bennekom will join Sky Blue FC as Assistant Coach, working with Head Coach Jim Gabarra.

The partnership will be reinforced by the WPSL Elite team being named the Jersey Sky Blues, with the WPSL team retaining the Jersey Blues Magic name. The partnership offers the best local soccer players the opportunity to progress, train and play with and against established international players, while some player movement between the teams with limited professional rosters is also expected.

A key component of the partnership is that no Jersey Blue players will be paid for playing on the team, keeping the team NCAA compliant, and allowing the best collegiate players the chance to play.

“This partnership is a terrific endeavor for both organizations,” said Thomas Hofstetter, President and CEO of Sky Blue FC. “Sky Blue FC are very excited to have Jersey Blues as our reserve team in 2013. The reserve team is an extremely important component for our professional team.”

Once the WPSL Millburn Magic announced they would change their name to Jersey Blues FC and play in the Elite League, it seemed that this would quickly become the next step in building a feeder system to Sky Blue FC considering both clubs are owned by New Jersey Soccer Group, which also runs the Sky Blue soccer school which provides training to youth girls teams in New Jersey as well as fielding Summer Select teams.

Since Jersey Blues operates a U20 National Adult league team, a WPSL team, and a WPSL Elite team, Sky Blue will now be able, through this partnership, to bring players up from age 17 until they are ready to play on Sky Blue FC in the National Women’s Soccer League as a professional player.

To that end, the Jersey Blues FC will be holding open tryouts for all team levels within the club on Saturday, December 22^nd from 2pm to 4pm at Millburn High School.  Go to this link to register and tryout: http://www.jerseybluesfc.com/#!tryouts/c14v5