Club Background
In 1991 Rodger Itkor and a group of dedicated soccer parents had a vision of forming an all boys soccer club dedicated to helping soccer players get into college. From that concept FC America was born. The club started with three teams, Omni, Bremen & Juventus. The Omni team was comprised of the oldest players; it was the U-18 boy’s team. Its team members were the top players in Central Florida and that year, every player went to play in college and received scholarships. Several of those men went on to become the first FC America alumni to play professionally in the MLS.
In 1993, Ron Zarbaugh became the 2nd President and decided that we needed a tradition and an identity, so the name Omni was chosen to honor those brave players and their parents who desire to be the best. The Omni name actually means “omnipotent” but came from the first team sponsor. Omni Graphics Inc. That same year Ron and George Sasvari created our exclusive program known as “The College Edge”.
In 1997 Roby Stahl, the Director of Coaching convinced Ron that FC America needed a girls program as well. He understood the need for girls to have the same collegiate guidance. It was then that John Fulgham decided to bring the first girls team to FC America. The team was also comprised of some of the best players in the state. Following in the footsteps of Omni, they decided the girls team should have a tradition as well and chose Kumba. Kumba is the African world for “Roar”. Through the original efforts of Roby and John FC America’s Kumba program now enjoys a nationally recognized reputation as a premier girls program.
That same year our U-17 Omni team coached by Ed Cook and our U-17 Kumba team coached by John Fulgham both won our first two State Championships.
2003 was the club’s next great milestone. Tom Traxler was appointed our first full time Director of Coaching and played a key role in our club’s acceptance into the new Club Directors League. At that time FC America was the only Central FL club to be invited to the league. Keith P. Ryan assumed the President’s position from Ron Zarbaugh, who served ably in that role for ten long years, and made changes to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Scott Bates, our first Vice President, worked painstakingly to secure our new fully lit complex at Trotters Park. We also formed an alliance with The Association of Christian Youth Sports, sharing use of Trotters Park.
In 2006, Joe Battista became only the Club’s fourth President since inception, and has continued the success of his predecessors by solidifying FC America’s reputation as “The” Premier Club in Central Florida. We have continued our relationship with the City of Orlando at Trotters Park, and along with our Trotters Partner ACYS built a comprehensive program to recruit and teach our communities’ financially disadvantaged children through our “Soccer Start” program. On the fields our teams have enjoyed unprecedented success, with several of our boys and girls teams becoming forces to be reckoned with, not only at the State level, but Regionally and Nationally as well. In the last year alone FC America teams brought home 20 State and Regional tournament championships to the FC America trophy case.
We have come a long way since the Club was born in 1991. However, during that time we have never strayed from the vision of our founders, and continue to strive to help young men and women use soccer as a vehicle for securing a higher education. Click on to our Alumni page and you will see what we mean.