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The Americus and Sumter County community will have a chance to support another local sports team: The Americus United FC club soccer team. Started recently by Danny Chadd and John Fukunaga, Americus United FC has been competing primarily as a 3v3 soccer team and competed successfully in 3v3 soccer tournaments in five cities this summer: Valdosta, Birmingham, Columbus, Albany and Vidalia.

The club has three age groups: U16, U14 (recreational and competitive) and the Men’s Adult Division. In Birmingham, the U14 team finished in third place and finished as the tournament runner up in Columbus. In Albany, the U14 Competitive Team finished in second place in the Competitive Division and the U14 Recreational Team also finished in second place in their division. The U14 team also had a strong showing in Vidalia, finishing in third place. In Columbus, the U16 team also had a strong showing, as they finished in second place in that 3v3 soccer tournament and the Men’s Adult team finished in third place in Vidalia in the Men’s Adult Division tournament.

Going forward, the plans are to transition to 11v11 soccer starting this fall and to start a travel team that will play year round. “Our program will be a year-round soccer academy playing local matches against other club teams, as well as traveling for competitive soccer tournaments throughout the year,” Fukunaga said. “As soccer coaches, we will help each player develop their soccer acumen to be able to compete at the club level. The development will include physical conditioning, dribbling, offensive and defensive strategy, movement on and off the ball, passing, shooting and overall soccer IQ. In addition, as Christian fathers, we will strive to implement characteristics that we believe every developing young man should have, such as honesty, strong work-ethic, respectfulness, competitiveness, punctuality, cleanliness and sports manners.”

For more information about Americus United FC, contact Coach John Fukunaga at 229-591-5051.