Club History
Anglers FC was founded in 2010 as The Anglers in a unique fashion. Unlike other youth soccer clubs across the United States, it did not involve an investment from big donors, support from a local professional team, or the aspirations of existing club coaches wanting to spin off into their own thing. Rather, it was a father and son, tired of traveling hours to face a single opponent and overwhelmed by the exorbitant price to play on a competitive club team.
Patrick Malfitano and his son Spencer loved playing soccer competitively, but they could no longer sacrifice family time and countless dollars to do so. They began questioning why playing soccer at a decent level had to look the way it always had at youth soccer clubs. Did it have to be so expensive? Did it have to dominate their schedules? Did they really have to travel around the state each season to “find better opponents”? Patrick was sure the answer to all these questions was no.
So, in the fall of 2010, Patrick and Spencer launched the first Anglers team, but it was not without challenges or opposition. Teammates and friends within the local soccer community laughed and said a club designed to be first-and-foremost affordable and family-oriented was simply not possible. It would never work… Even more challenging, a director of another prominent club looked to discredit the validity of The Anglers. But, through it all, the Malfitanos pressed on and fielded the first Anglers team with seventeen elementary-aged boys that fall.
Over the years, The Anglers grew through nothing but word-of-mouth marketing, expanding into middle school and high school teams. The Club would adopt Victory For Christ FC (VFC2) as its name for its high school-aged teams and continued with the Anglers moniker for its middle school and younger teams.
In 2021, Patrick was faced with a pivotal moment in the life of the Club and in the life of his family. With his youngest daughter, Gitta, graduating from high school and moving on from her playing days with VFC2, he was ready to step away from the Club, or perhaps fold it all together.
Since its founding, The Anglers/Victory FC2 had filled a need in the soccer community by providing an alternative to the typical youth club system. Jason Rollins, a father of multiple VFC2 players, was not willing to see his daughters’ chances of playing for a club with the values of Anglers FC disappear, but the responsibilities of a club director was not something he could take on with his role as an athletic director and high school soccer coach. He needed someone with a shared vision. Jason reached out to a coach within his school program, Brendan Campagna, who instantly caught the vision and recognized the need for a club like Anglers FC within the community. Together with Patrick, Brendan and Jason began working on a transition plan for when the Malfitanos stepped away.
Under the Malfitanos’ leadership, The Anglers/Victory FC2 competed for twenty-one seasons over eleven years. A true feat for an idea that would never work…
Anglers FC has expanded its vision in the time since Brendan and Jason took over. The Club continues to provide fall and spring youth soccer teams, but has also created additional programs such as technical sessions, a winter futsal league, church-partnered camps, and Christian mission trip opportunities for players both within AFC and from outside. While Anglers FC has certainly evolved since the transition in 2021, it maintains the original focus with which Patrick began the Club over a decade ago—commitment to honoring family time and making club soccer accessible to all families.
Club History
Anglers FC was founded in 2010 as The Anglers in a unique fashion. Unlike other youth soccer clubs across the United States, it did not involve an investment from big donors, support from a local professional team, or the aspirations of existing club coaches wanting to spin off into their own thing. Rather, it was a father and son, tired of traveling hours to face a single opponent and overwhelmed by the exorbitant price to play on a competitive club team.
Patrick Malfitano and his son Spencer loved playing soccer competitively, but they could no longer sacrifice family time and countless dollars to do so. They began questioning why playing soccer at a decent level had to look the way it always had at youth soccer clubs. Did it have to be so expensive? Did it have to dominate their schedules? Did they really have to travel around the state each season to “find better opponents”? Patrick was sure the answer to all these questions was no.
So, in the fall of 2010, Patrick and Spencer launched the first Anglers team, but it was not without challenges or opposition. Teammates and friends within the local soccer community laughed and said a club designed to be first-and-foremost affordable and family-oriented was simply not possible. It would never work… Even more challenging, a director of another prominent club looked to discredit the validity of The Anglers. But, through it all, the Malfitanos pressed on and fielded the first Anglers team with seventeen elementary-aged boys that fall.
Over the years, The Anglers grew through nothing but word-of-mouth marketing, expanding into middle school and high school teams. The Club would adopt Victory For Christ FC (VFC2) as its name for its high school-aged teams and continued with the Anglers moniker for its middle school and younger teams.
In 2021, Patrick was faced with a pivotal moment in the life of the Club and in the life of his family. With his youngest daughter, Gitta, graduating from high school and moving on from her playing days with VFC2, he was ready to step away from the Club, or perhaps fold it all together.
Since its founding, The Anglers/Victory FC2 had filled a need in the soccer community by providing an alternative to the typical youth club system. Jason Rollins, a father of multiple VFC2 players, was not willing to see his daughters’ chances of playing for a club with the values of Anglers FC disappear, but the responsibilities of a club director was not something he could take on with his role as an athletic director and high school soccer coach. He needed someone with a shared vision. Jason reached out to a coach within his school program, Brendan Campagna, who instantly caught the vision and recognized the need for a club like Anglers FC within the community. Together with Patrick, Brendan and Jason began working on a transition plan for when the Malfitanos stepped away.
Under the Malfitanos’ leadership, The Anglers/Victory FC2 competed for twenty-one seasons over eleven years. A true feat for an idea that would never work…
Anglers FC has expanded its vision in the time since Brendan and Jason took over. The Club continues to provide fall and spring youth soccer teams, but has also created additional programs such as technical sessions, a winter futsal league, church-partnered camps, and Christian mission trip opportunities for players both within AFC and from outside. While Anglers FC has certainly evolved since the transition in 2021, it maintains the original focus with which Patrick began the Club over a decade ago—commitment to honoring family time and making club soccer accessible to all families.