ROCKINGHAM — The interest and growth of soccer in Richmond County, coupled with the current hiatus caused by the coronavirus, led one local soccer fan to help bring a higher-level of the sport to local youth.
J.R. Cottle, owner of Hwy 55 in Rockingham and a high school soccer official, missed seeing kids in the area not playing organized sports because of the pandemic. To fix that, he took it upon himself to establish two Athletic Club of the Sandhills soccer teams in Richmond County.
Founded in 1986 and known as ACS, the travel soccer program based in Moore County develops players between the ages of four and 18. The two teams that Cottle helped kickstart in Richmond County are both U10 teams, one for boys and one for girls.
“With local Parks and Rec not offering any fall soccer programs, we felt a need to give the kids some normalcy,” Cottle said. “My kids have been playing club soccer for about two years now and before that played soccer at ACS.
“We loved the program and the commitment from Julio Penalillo and the ACS staff to provide great training and teaching of the game,” he added. “The organization of the club is great and it has a great infrastructure to develop players from a young age.”
Penaillo, who is the Director of Soccer for ACS, carries a lot of credibility on his resume in developing local soccer talent. He was a former Peruvian National Team player who holds a national C license. During his professional career, which spanned from 1994 to 2002, Penalillo played for clubs in Canada, Chile and Peru.
As a coach, Penalillo has spent time coaching in the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) Virginia, as well as the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club.
Tasked with coaching the two new Richmond County teams are Kyle Baker (boys’ U10) and Rick Dunn (girls’ U10).
To help the new coaches get acclimated to the program and get their teams ready for competition, Penalillo spent Sunday with Baker’s squad, hosting a training session in the form of a one-day free clinic.
“The whole idea of this is to get back to getting the kids active,” Cottle said. “Also, there is so much football around here that soccer takes a back seat.
“We have some really talented players in the area and in order to continue to do that, and get even better, we need kids to get the proper training at an earlier age,” he continued. “These new teams will hopefully get some of our local kids playing at a higher level of soccer.”
Cottle said the season will “hopefully begin this Saturday,” but noted some final touches needed to be put on the schedule.
The season typically runs nine practice weeks with six or seven game days. The cost per player for U10 through the high school level is $95 and includes two soccer jerseys.
For registration information, visit acsandhills.com/recreationsoccer.
