Lemont's Tesla Football Club Recharges for a Spring Resurgence

Some people say that time heals all wounds. The Lemont-based team of Tesla FC would agree with that. After a 0-10 but competitive fall session, the 2006 Tesla Football Club stormed back to its winning ways in the winter campaign. The Tesla boys captured a second place finish at the Westmont Yard Indoor League. After upsetting the favorite, Team Olympic of Plainfield 6-3 in the league semi-final, with no rest between games, a tired but motivated Tesla loss to Chuck Norris Rage in the final 2-7. “This was an important milestone for our team to have such a successful winter term,” said coach and Tesla FC president, Branko Smileski. The Tesla team showed quite an improvement in passing and their formations after coach Branko took over as the team’s primary trainer. “The hard work we have been doing showed up and now we will work harder to prepare for Spring session”, stated the coach. The 2006 team played the highest level of platinum in NISL for the fall session, but have moved down to Silver for the Spring. “With several inexperienced and 2007 players on our roster, we felt the need to slow things down a bit and allow them to strengthen fundamentals and learn our strategy. We are still planning on doing Premier league in the Fall”, said coach Branko, “Premier is where these kids will be prepared for high school and college level of play and that is our goal. We want all of these players to have an opportunity to do whatever they dream of in their future in regards to soccer.” Premier league is the highest level of play in NISL after a team reaches U13, but not every team can reach that level. Coach Branko has ambitious plans for his 2006 team, but will continue developing them through Spring and Summer, so they don’t have another experience like their Fall 2017 session.

It seems Tesla FC has brought soccer pride back to Lemont and are ready to continue their climb. The team’s namesake, the great Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla, would be proud of how this team has recaptured their electricity and is charged for a run through Spring session. Team parents are on board for the ride and anticipate great success for their players.

If you have a player that is ready to reach for a higher level of play call coach Branko at 630-854-3349. Visit the team website at www.teslafc.net or visit them on Facebook.