Heat United Soccer Just Getting Warmed Up

When the Heat United Soccer Club formed in 2004, the consensus among its organizers was, in some ways, to apply a hands-on approach to a sport where the use of hands is penalized.

“We started out with all parents coaching,” said Dan Loprieno, Heat United’s vice president of coaching and one of the original organizers of the program started by Tony Silvestri.

Since then, the Huntley-based travel soccer program has transitioned to more seasoned soccer instructors and trainers and, in turn, seen its share of victories. Perhaps none was more significant than the recent selection of its U16 girl team to compete in the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Midwest Regional League’s fall season. Loprieno said the squad was one of only eight Illinois teams to make the MRL cut and that many of the Heat United’s U16 players have been with the program since its inception.

“It’s really a nice feather in the cap for a small club like ours to be playing at that level,” he said. “For us to get a team into the MRL and into some of the tournaments that we have in this sort of time it’s pretty tough to do.”

In the MRL, Loprieno says the Heat United will be competing in a division consisting of two teams from Kansas, three from Missouri and two from Illinois.

“And when I say ‘teams,’ it means some of the best teams in those states, because you have to be approved by state organizers to get into this league,” he said.

But just as the Heat United continues its vertical climb, it’s also expanding, now fielding 18 teams whose players range in age from 8 to 16. Overall, Heat United teams participate in both fall and spring seasons, each with eight to 10 games, and in as many as two tournaments per soccer year.

“Our U16 Girls Red team recently won the Libertyville Tournament” on Columbus Day, Loprieno said.

Additionally, the Heat United’s U11 Boys team competed in the Tri Cities Soccer Association’s Classic Cup.

“That’s a new team for us,” Loprieno said. “This is the first year that we’ve had them and they went there and performed really well.”

As for individual standouts in the program, Madeline Moffett, Emily Hill, Kaylie Tyrrell, and Luke Loprieno were named to the Illinois Olympic Development Program, a development program sponsored by Illinois Youth Soccer Association.

Another sign the Heat United program is growing is the incorporation of an indoor training area in Huntley’s Union Special building this November.

“We’re not really training to win.” Loprieno said. “We’re training to develop soccer players. But when you do that, one of the byproducts is that you win a lot.”

Of course, much of what will happen indoors is simply a continuation of what’s already in place.

“We’ve kind of built (the program) from the ground up to try and be competitive at the club level,” Loprieno said. “There’s a big difference between rec soccer and competitive soccer and then elite soccer, which is where we’re really trying to get our club to. We’ve been fortunate to have great trainers and great kids in the program who have allowed us to do that. It’s a huge commitment by parents and kids alike to play at the level as you can imagine.”