Two soccer clubs, Huntley's Heat United and ALITHSA Arsenal of Algonquin and Lake in the Hills, have announced that they will be creating a joint venture with their high school travel programs.
ALITHSA Arsenal of Algonquin and Lake in the Hills is joining with Huntley’s Heat United to compete in their first year as Arsenal Heat United. The clubs’ members currently play at a number of local high schools, including Dundee-Crown, Hampshire, Huntley, Jacobs and St. Edward’s.
“This joint venture will bring the best players from ALITHSA Arsenal, Heat United & players from the Northwest Suburbs together to compete with the best high school club programs in Chicagoland,” said Heat President John O’Donnell. “This program will allow us to create teams at the elite level but will also aid our developmental teams to challenge and inspire players to get to the next stage.”
“The joint venture makes perfect sense – it will create a true developmental pathway for the younger Heat & Arsenal players,” said ALITHSA President David Schauer. “We will also strengthen the local high school soccer programs and provide true college exposure to our high school players.”
Heat United and ALITHSA Arsenal currently field over 40 travel teams. The clubs have trained dozens of varsity high school players in recent years, many going on to play at the collegiate level.
“I have no doubt that the ALITHSA Arsenal-Heat United joint venture will be a success as we will be matching the best local players with one of the best coaching staffs in Illinois. Few local clubs have one coach with a UEFA or USSF National A or B license; the combined Arsenal Heat United program has three," O'Donnell said.
Arsenal Travel Director Mike Lonigro said three top coaches, Dean Smith, George Mihalopoulos and Rick Ceh, are training not only the state’s best players in the Illinois Youth Soccer Association’s (IYSA) Olympic Development Program (ODP) and are also training the next generation of coaches for the IYSA and the United States Soccer Federation.
With this joint venture and the earlier merger of Heat United with Dundee United, the combined teams will feature many of the best high school players from Algonquin, Dundee, Gilberts, Hampshire, Huntley and Lake in the Hills.
Complete program information will be announced by April 1st. Dates for tryouts will be held in May.
For more information, contact O’Donnell at heatunitedpresident@gmail.com or Lonigro at travel.director@alithsa.org
