FeedsIndoor soccer gains steam
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Dominic Scicluna addresses players during a recent practice.Benching a player is most always a difficult situation for a coach.
When the player is your younger brother and the principal owner of the team, it’s really tough.
Detroit Waza Flo Pro coach/player Dominic Scicluna had to prepare himself for three hours of indoor soccer last week as he sat on the boards before practice. In addition, he had to determine the lineup for the weekend match against visiting 1790 Cincinnati.
A player he was considering benching was his younger brother, and team owner, Mario Scicluna.
The day’s practice was about so much more than soccer.
For the greater part of four decades, the name Scicluna has been synonymous with soccer in Michigan. The late Paul Scicluna, Dominic and Mario’s uncle, dedicated his life to the advancement of the game. He helped found YMCA programs in Livonia, club powerhouses the Michigan Hawks and Wolves, and the longest tenured pro soccer program in state history (1990-2001), the Detroit Rockers.
Dominic, 36, Mario, 34 and their youngest brother Tino, 32, have added several chapters to the family legacy. It’s only appropriate that their joint venture, Waza FC, remains a family operation.
“I don’t think the three of us would have continued to take soccer as seriously as we do today if it wasn’t for him (Paul),” said Tino, who plays for the Detroit Ignition of the Xtreme Soccer League, is head men’s coach at Madonna University, and co-director of Rochester-based Waza FC East. “On the flip side, soccer has changed a lot and the way that we operate and handle the game is very different than the way he did.”
In 1997, the brothers began training teams and individuals in what they call “Waza” style. Waza – Japanese for technique – stresses sound fundamentals and encourages creativity.
“We try to allow kids their individual freedoms and creativity with a high demand of technical skill, hard work and discipline,” said Mario Scicluna. “The key is creative play once they have the technical foundation.”
The first Waza FC team began in 1999. Ten years later, and the grassroots club is 59 teams strong with players as young as 3 and as old as 50. The Waza Flo Pro squad joined the professional ranks this year as members of the newly formed Professional Arena Soccer League.
“Basically, we have four five-year developmental cycles – 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 and 18 and up – and older rec leagues,” said Scicluna. “Each feed off of each other and the professional team is the capstone to our pyramid.”
A player could now enter the Waza system at age 3, succeed to the point of playing professionally, and never leave the club. The concept is unheard of in American professional sports (imagine the Yankees bankrolling a Little League team which eventually provides their starting rotation), but is similar to the European developmental system.
“In Europe, most clubs are based out of areas and have grassroots all the way up. They started from the top and founded academies underneath them to eventually acts as feeders,” said Gronthik Chatterjee, assistant coach of Waza Flo Pro, and co-director of Waza FC East. “We are one of the few organizations in America that is trying to build something from the base up.”
“We have kids playing with us professionally who we have coached since age 12. That’s unbelievable,” said Scicluna.
But, the players’ development is about so much more than soccer.
“All these kids now have role models to look up to. We’re developing all their skills on the soccer field and also teaching them disciplines that will carry over to the other aspects of their lives.”
The FC connected to Waza doesn’t stand for the traditional “football club.” It’s short for Flo Club. After speaking with the Scicluna brothers, it’s clear that’s but one of many old guard traditions they couldn’t care less about.
Conversations with the brothers – both long-haired to the hip; Mario’s: reddish brown dreadlocks complemented by a Fu Manchu, and Dominic’s: California blond – often start on the subject of soccer, but drift into yoga, spirituality and are laced with various philosophical idioms and the occasional Bob Marley reference.
It takes a special mindset to operate the way the brothers do. As player/head coach of Waza Flo Pro, Dominic could bench Mario (or himself) any given week. Although both have a stake in the team, Mario is officially the principal owner, and could fire Dominic.
“It’s not an easy situation,” said Dominic, who admits battling a sense of entitlement to his and his brother’s roster spots. “Because we’re the ones providing the opportunity you almost say that’s why you are playing, but that’s not why it was created. It was created to provide the opportunity for those who deserve it.
“We live for soccer, to the point that every dollar we have goes toward providing the opportunity for others, but, in that process, I have to also limit someone else’s opportunity based on performance,” even if it’s his own, or his brother’s.
The opportunity Waza provides for players goes beyond playing with Waza Flo Pro. With the Ignition, there’s room for even further advancement.
The XSL is a step up competitively from PASL-Pro. Both leagues have policies against disclosing compensation details, but it’s no mystery the Hantz Group owned Ignition have deeper pockets than Waza Flo Pro.
The Ignition, however, are only allowed a 15-man game day roster with others signed as developmental players, who can’t play in games. Those players can, however, play with Waza.
Darrel Quinn unsuccessfully tried out for the Ignition this season. After not even being kept on as a developmental player, he suited up for Waza Flo Pro for four games. He has since been signed by the Ignition on a 30-day contract.
“Waza gave me the opportunity to play in games and stay fit,” said Quinn.
Daniel Trosper has had a back-and-forth relationship with the Ignition this season. He started the season on a developmental contract, then played two games as a 15-day signee, and is once again signed as a developmental player and playing games with Waza.
“It’s keeping me on the ball, giving me touches, keeping me aware,” said Trosper, who is also director of boys coaching for Livonia-based Waza FC West. “And it does break the tedium” of practice.
Perhaps benefiting the most from the relationship is Ignition backup keeper, Bryan Alenky. Barring an injury to veteran Danny Waltman, Alenky, a rookie signed as a developmental player, is unlikely to log any minutes outside of practice for the Ignition.
“It’s definitely helped from the standpoint of a backup goalie. There’s no doubt,” said Ignition head coach Matt Johnson of the relationship between the clubs. “Bryan’s in a very good scenario in a sense that he’s training with us, but also getting the experience in games with Waza. Your backup goalie, he has to play in enough games to keep him sharp, to keep him motivated.”
The practice of sending their best players to other squads at their detriment isn’t new for Waza. At the youth level, if a player is above his peers in terms of skill, Mario and Chaterjee said they encourage them to tryout for a better club.
“Those players are Waza through and through,” said Chaterjee. “They might be wearing another jersey, but they still have a Waza triangle on their chest. You’re always happy for that player, from a professional standpoint, even if you struggle to replace them and it’s usually those players who want to come back, stay involved, and help with Waza.”
Their focus is about so much more than soccer.
Sunday, Jan 25., game day at Compuware Arena in Plymouth.
With Waza Flo Pro taking on first-place Cincinnati, attendance is sparse. The crowd, consisting mostly of Waza youth clubs who were showcased in 15-minute friendlies before the game, cheers loudest when Dominic is announced during pre-game introductions.
Mario’s name is not called. He’s not in the lineup for the first time all season.
At the beginning of the game, a mentally challenged young boy, maybe 10 or 12, pounds the glass behind the Waza bench to get Dominic’s attention. He smiles wide when Dominic waves.
By halftime, the boy is standing on the team’s bench. Waza dominates previously undefeated Cincinnati, 6-1. Dominic and Trosper find the back of the net and Alenky staves off 27 shots.
The boy joins the team in the locker room after the win. Posing for team pictures and high-fiving everyone in sight. At a moment when it would be understandable to focus on soccer, Dominic thanks the boy during his post-game speech.
The victory was about so much more than soccer.
Pete Cunningham is a freelance writer. He may be reached at petecmail@gmail.com.
