Twin Valley Soccer Club History
The history of the Twin Valley Soccer Club is rooted in the achievements of what would be the Twin Valley High School’s most successful boys soccer team to date. In 1973 and 1974, the Twin Valley High School boys soccer team won the District III Championships, starting Berks County’s reputation as one of the Commonwealth’s soccer powerhouses. From 1973-1983, 8 of the 10 District III champions were from Berks County. Berks County’s support of soccer was acknowledged by the PIAA in 1973 when Reading Municipal Stadium (now First Energy Stadium) would be host to the Commonwealth’s first state championships.
Due to the heightened interest of boys soccer within the community and within the nation, Don and Marion Roth, Millie Nelson, Ron Lammey, Rick Favinger, Tony Gentile, Bob Lilley founded the Twin Valley Soccer Club in 1973 as a vehicle for the high school’s talented team to play club soccer and also as a way to encourage younger children to participate in the sport. The hope was that by having a strong youth program, the community would continue to have talented high school teams. Added to this was the idea to teach the children the game of soccer at a young age so that some of them would return to the area and coach future generations of Twin Valley Soccer players.
In 1973 the Twin Valley Soccer Club competed in its first season within the Reading Berks Junior Soccer League, fielding two teams; a U19 (under 19years of age) boys team and a U12 (under 12 years of age) boys team. The U19 boys team was comprised of the high school’s successful squad and the U12 team consisted of 33 children including a four-year-old Eric Everett. Everett would play U12 for Twin Valley Soccer Club for eight years and would be a subject of many of the teams memorable moments: at age 7 Everett’s team was shorthanded on the field by three players, but went on to win the game 8 -1 with Everett scoring all eight goals, including one using a bicycle kick. From its founding throughout the 1980’s, the Twin Valley Soccer Club saw its enrollment explode as the club added an intramural program along with girls soccer teams. In the 1980’s most young ladies that wanted to participate in soccer would play on a boys team and age groups were combined.
In the 1990’s the club expanded further by acquiring the right to use property located in Caernarvon Township for its home games. The fields would later be re-named and dedicated the Zack Saint Memorial Fields. In 2010 over 450 children participated in the various teams and leagues as a Twin Valley Soccer Club member. The level of competition ranged from four-year-olds participating in the club’s Saturday intramural games at the West Nantmeal fields to U17 girls representing Twin Valley Soccer Club in the RBJSL.
Throughout the club’s esteemed history, it has always remained true to the vision that its founders had in 1973. As one of the club’s four founders, Tony Gentile, said, “I guess what we [the founders of the club] had in common was that we loved soccer – when you have a passion for something it’s easy to want to get kids involved. You want them to feel what you feel –just for the love of the game.” Today, as in 1973, Twin Valley Soccer Club is flourishing through the passion and the love of the game that has become the pride of Twin Valley families for over four decades.