Chuck Hommey: The Director of Operations For FC Frederick Brings Passion To The Job

written by: Zanne Lamb-Hunt

Chuck Hommey was born and raised in the Frederick area until he was Middle School age. He recalls that there were no club teams back when he was playing in his younger days.

“There were some community teams and then there was also a program at the YMCA back then.” He was invited to play on a travel team. He was a goalkeeper and was able to get plenty of practice to hone his craft.

He then moved to the Walkersville area and played soccer for Walkersville High School. He continued to play there and was mentored into the goalkeeper position. He went on to play at West Virginia University.

Chuck came back to the Frederick area and is now a soccer coach with an admitted passion for the job. “I have a love for the game and am very happy to be a part of FC Frederick and want to continue to grow the game and help develop players in this community.”

He became the Director of Operations for FC Frederick in 2010, moving up from his prior positions as Coach and President. “There was a real need to professionalize our services as a club.”

He lives on a farm in Woodsboro with his wife Heather. Their son, Zach, is a Junior at Lock Haven University. Their daughter, Maddie, is a Senior at Walkersville High School. “She’ll be defending Longwood University playing soccer next Fall.”

The Road To Becoming The Director of Operations For FC Frederick

In 2004, the Frederick Excel Soccer Club (for boys), the Frederick United Soccer Club (for girls) and the Frederick Alliance Soccer Academy merged to become FC Frederick, a full service soccer club developed to serve the players’ needs in Frederick County and its surrounding area.

Combining the three soccer organizations meant a huge increase in the management load. “There was a real need to have more oversight. As the Director of Operations, I wear many hats,” said Chuck. And, he’s not kidding!

“I oversee the facilities. I do the scheduling. I have to acquire the facilities and maintain the facilites — which means I’m on a mower or a tractor sometimes.” And then?

“I also work with the County, work with the City and work with private entities to develop fields and then schedule all of that as well. We work with local high schools for turf facilities, and colleges. There’s a lot to manage there.” And, there’s more!

“I’m also the Junior’s Director. I coach several teams as well.”

Why Join FC Frederick?

* We provide soccer training for all ages and soccer development for any level.

* We’re focused on the individual player getting good with the ball, not the wins and losses and what it would take for a team to get a bunch of wins. We really overemphasize that at the younger ages.

* There’s plenty of time to win and we all want to win. But we want to win doing it the right way and developing players so that there’s a lot of good players to play in the Frederick area and for FC Frederick for years to come.

The Biggest Challenge Of Being The Director of Operations

“We have, in any year, 65-70 teams in the Club at various ages. That’s a lot of teams to provide facilities for.

“One of the biggest struggles for myself and as a Club is providing quality facilities. We are very big on developing players and asking them to be really good with the ball.

Chuck continues, “We want them to develop some technical skills that are going to help them later on. We don’t always have the best surfaces in the area.” Meaning? “The grass surfaces are a little bumpy sometimes and things like that.

“So, that’s probably one of the biggest struggles — finding enough facilities and quality facilities. We’re always looking for opportunities to acquire any land that we can or look at things that would help us with that.

“And, having to schedule things all over the place. We’re a Frederick-based organization but we actually have players coming from Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia — we don’t have a home base.

“We’re always in need of quality facilities. If you know anybody that has a 100-acre farm that they’d like to donate to us, we’re listening.”

What Advice Would Chuck Give Himself If He Could Go Back In Time?

Chuck shares that he’d try to do better at scheduling personal time vs Club time. “It’s hard to turn it off. We’re always sort of on — always working. If something pops up, we’re ready to go and ready to deal with anything.”

“We talk all day long and all the way up to the wee hours of the morning when we’re busy. I love what I do and I have a real passion for it. That’s probably why it’s hard to turn it off, too.”

Chuck And FC Frederick Is Making A Difference

Chuck is very community oriented. “In Spring, 2012, we created what’s called The Gold Mile Soccer Program. It’s a free soccer program in the Hillcrest area, working with Frederick County public schools and Hillcrest Elementary for the fields and things.”

He adds, “It’s a free program that has been providing soccer training and soccer opportunities to introduce the game to kids up there — 300 or 400 kids each year! We’re really proud of that.”

Chuck isn’t exaggerating when he says, “We had a huge response to it. Basically, all our coaches and some of our players provide their time for free, come out and work with all these kids all Spring long, four days a week. We do different age groups.”

He candidly admits that he’d be happy if there was ‘no pay to play’ in the FC Frederick but he knows that’s not the reality. It just isn’t possible. But, they all give what they can to help more kids enjoy the game.

Chuck is always ready and eager to welcome new kids and helpful volunteers! Getting in touch is easy!

Go to the website for all sorts of additional information about FC Frederick. Everything you need is right there! Clicking on any of the Programs will bring up a link to the Director of that Program.

E-mails get a timely response! (It will be an exceptionally quick response if you have a 100-acre farm to donate!)

http://fcfrederick.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FCFrederickSoccer

Contents Provided by Frederick Advice Givers Podcast Episode #085: Eric Verdi Interviews Chuck Hommey.