Black Watch Premier is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization in New York State. Our program originally was established by current Director of Coaching (DOC) and Founder Steve Freeman in January of 1997. Freeman had played competitive youth soccer for Tampa Black Watch in Florida prior to attending Hartwick College (NCAA Division I) in Oneonta, New York. Freeman’s youth career included 5 Tampa Sun Bowl Titles (3 in a row) when the tournament was marked in to the Top 3 in the US, participation in the Region III Player Pool and 3 USYS Region III Championships. Freeman went onto play for the legendary tactician and former US Men’s National “B” Team Head Coach Jim Lennox at perennial national powerhouse Hartwick College. After starting 14 out of 17 matches, Freeman decided to transfer to Siena College (NCAA Division I) to be closer to his family in Albany, New York. Freeman was the first full-scholarship athlete outside of Men’s Basketball at Siena College, and after a successful stint at Siena College, he made the decision to leave school and play professional soccer for the first-year USISL franchise, the Albany Alleycats.

At 20 years old, Freeman started 18 of the 20 matches in their inaugural season as the Alleycats went 9-11-0 at Heritage Park in Colonie, New York. Freeman played alongside of former US Men’s World University Games member and 5-year Major League Soccer veteran Scott Cannon, former National Professional Soccer League standout Jim Hesch, local Capital District all-star and current staff coach Kirk Sinkins and former Major League Soccer and US Men’s National Team Goalkeeper “Scoop” Stanisic. The Alleycats competed on the same pitch as many current and former US National Team and MLS soccer stars like Peter Vermes, Tony Meola, and Giovanni Savarese.

In his second professional season, Freeman was nominated by the coaching staff to captain the team. The team ran out to an impressive 5-1-1 start, but after a midseason coaching change and the departure of Hesch, Todd Hoffard and Ian MacIntyre, current Hartwick Head Coach, the team lost the final 12 out of 13 matches. Freeman continued his professional career for two more seasons with the Alleycats and then played two seasons in the Premier Development League.

During his playing career, Freeman was bitten by the coaching bug and contacted Tampa Black Watch and asked for permission to represent the Club up in the north. Permission was granted and Black Watch Soccer Club, Inc. was born. Operating as a separate entity, Freeman began his dream of providing better soccer opportunities to the youth of the Capital Region of New York.

Black Watch began its inaugural season with two competitive teams on the boys’ side, an Under 12 and an Under 19 team. Within 3 years, the Club had expanded to include a staff of 10 coaches like Kirk Sinkins, Jim Hesch, Todd Hoffard, Joe Pessetto and Ed DuGuay and 8 teams. During that season, Freeman’s Under 14 team, Keelley, gained entrance into the prestigious Nike International Premier Cup which is the world’s Club Under 14 Championship with all continents represented. Keelley was able to advance through the East Regional at FC DELCO and headed to the North American Championships at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Keelley advanced out of its group losing to the Chicago Sockers FC in the semi-finals missing out on advancing to the World Finals in Barcelona, Spain to play the likes of Boca Juniors (ARG), FC Barcelona (ESP) and Arsenal (ENG). This impressive showing plus Freeman’s connection to Nike Soccer as a professional player launched the Club’s relationship with Nike as a Sports Marketing Club and Black Watch has been one of the 40 assets eve r since. In a recent interview with Freeman, he commented, “I am extremely proud of where we have come from, where we have been and where we are going. Nike has been a tremendous partner of ours from the beginning and I am extremely proud to represent the brand. It is truly like family.”

In 2001, Freeman courted the USL and signed on as a Super Y League Club just prior to the League really taking off. As one of the key members, the SYL positioned itself as the United States’ only national youth soccer league with a true national champion at the end of the season. In its first year of competition, Black Watch sent both of its entries, the Under 14 and Under 16 Boys’ teams to Raleigh, North Carolina to compete for the National Title. Both teams finished in the Top 5 of the entire US. Each year since, the club has been proud to send representation to the National Championships. Three teams in 2002, 5 in 2003 and in 2004, the Club expanded to Rhode Island under the direction of Scott Cannon. Cannon quickly ignited soccer mania in Providence and initiated a merge of four elite girls’ programs in Massachusetts to compete on the girls’ side. This new entity became known as the Black Watch Alliance. In 2005 and 2006, Black Watch NY-North and Black Watch Rhode Island sent an unprecedented 8 teams to the SYL National Championships in Tampa, Florida. Also in 2005, Black Watch NY-North and Black Watch Rhode Island combined player pools at the Under 14 boys age group to compete at the US Club Soccer Regionals where the group defeated the PA Classics in the Regional Finals to advance to Nationals in Jacksonville, Florida. The group placed in the Final 4 of the United States. “It was an impressive effort to join forces to compete at the National level,” stated DOC Scott Cannon who led the group in Jacksonville.

Not only has the club been successful on the youth level, the Club fostered elite amateur teams at the Under 20 and Under 23 age groups. Both groups experienced success, and in 2002 and 2003, the Under 23’s led by Tim Albanese, Greg Chevalier and Nick Southworth won back-to-back USASA State Championships and lost in the Regional Finals, the United States’ Final 8. This collection of players launched the current Premier Development League (PDL) Team, the Albany Admirals (formerly the Black Watch Highlanders). Now the Admirals, the franchise is owned and operated by Freeman and his investment group. The Admirals have competed successfully in the PDL since 2003 with their best record coming in 2004 when the group led by former Head Coach Bernie Watt went 12-3-3 with an exhibition loss to the Rochester Rhinos 1-0 at Frank Bailey Stadium on the campus of Union College.

Most recently, Freeman negotiated an affiliation with a group out of the Newburgh, New York market to represent the Club in the Super Y League (SYL) in 2007. DOC Jesse Kolmel and CEO Joe Belsito met with Freeman and CFO Larry Jasenski in the spring of 2006 to take over the Club’s operations in the Hudson Valley Region. In August 2006, Freeman was able to bring SYL to the Hudson Valley with Quickstrike/Black Watch being the organization to provide and manage the program. “I am ecstatic to say the least about the opportunities DOC Kolmel and CEO Belsito bring to the table. The Club will truly have a sound group of business professionals and quality staff instructors to further entrench our program in the Hudson Valley. It is an untapped market with great potential,” stated DOC Freeman.

Not only does Black Watch Premier and its affiliates compete successfully on the Regional and National level, so do its players. In 2005, Paul Gerstenberger (BW NY-North) was selected to play for the Under 18 US Men’s National Team. Gerstenberger started at leftback versus Brazil at the Milk Cup in Ireland (before injury) and started all 4 of the team’s matches at the previous event in Portugal where the team played North Korea, Portugal and Poland. Also, later that year, Dave MacVane Jr. (BW NY-North) was selected for the Residency Program at IM G Academy where the US Under 17 Men’s National Team resides and trains. MacVane Jr. competed at several international events including the team’s trip to Argentina to compete against professional youth teams and the team’s annual event, the Nike Friendlies where they competed against Brazil’s Under 17 National Team. Last year in 2006, Warren Gross (BW NY-North) was selected for the US Under 18 Men’s National Team. Gross has competed at several National Camps in California and Florida to earn a spot on the traveling 18-player roster. Also in 2006, Denzel Ogunyase and Chris Curley (BW NY-North) were selected to the 1990 Super Y League National Team.

Black Watch Premier has positioned itself in the Northeast Region as one of the top Clubs in the Region and even in the entire United States. Black Watch Premier was recognized as one of the Top 11 Clubs in the entire US by SYL and Directors of each of the 125 competing Clubs around the US. “This is a huge honor to be recognized as one of the Top 11 Clubs in the entire SYL which represents many of the top competitive clubs in the US,” stated Freeman. The SYL list of clubs includes other Nike Premier Clubs like FC DELCO, Slammers, Real SoCal, Crossfire and Seacoast United and other prominent clubs like Chicago Magic, Hillsborough United and Atlanta United.