Largo United Soccer Club, Osceola Youth Soccer Association Announce Merger.

Seminole, Florida

On May 9, 2012 Largo United Soccer club (LUSC) and Osceola Youth Soccer Association (OYSA) completed the merger of their respective organizations effective May 15, 2012. Both organizations have begun the transitional processes to restructure operations effective with the 2012-2013 Competitive TryoutPeriod. LUSC will operate its recreational program at the Osceola complex and its competitive program at the Largo complex.

With the merging of the two organizations and their respective assets, resources and field locations, the merger will enable the LUSC and Osceola to grow and expand its geographical service area within Pinellas County.

The new entity shall be recognized as LUSC/Osceola and LUSC/Largo.

The merger assimilates two programs that will create an organization with one competitive program with multiple teams in various age groups and increase the overall number of competitive teams.

This merger will also combine both Recreational Programs located at the Osceola complex and will allow for “in house” league play along with a greater number of travel recreational teams. Expansion of existing tournaments and consideration of the development of a recreational tournament are anticipated benefits in the near future.

The geographical proximity of both organizations and the respective focus of programs, Osceola Recreational Soccer and Largo United toward competitive, made the merger strategic sense for both organizations and their respective player base.

A new color scheme is under development for the combined recreational programs to establish brand identity within the recreational program.

Registration for the combined recreational programs will be held at both locations with dates and time to be announced by June 1st, 2012.

“The merger of our organizations expands our ability to provide a combined growth in our recreational program and access to a staff of licensed coaches”, said Osceola’s Larry Ferrol.

“Whenever you can combine resources, add strengths from two organizations and have each focused on working together in this strategic geographical space the players and parents in our community win”, said Al Sousa, LUSC Executive Director.

“The merger between the two clubs allows us to combine the strengths of both clubs to ensure that the children at all skill levels have the best experience possible playing soccer”, said Arley Bedillion, President, Osceola Youth Soccer Association.