Who are you and what is your role with the club?
My name is Mauricio Sánchez. I am the head coach and Vice President of the newly formed Wenatchee All Stars Football Club in Wenatchee, WA. In reality I wear a lot of hats within the club such as-marketing, community outreach, graphic design, social media, and sales.

When was the club founded and what is its mission?
The All Stars were formed in 2018 and officially became a club in 2020 while competing both in outdoor and indoor tournaments around Washington. The club’s mission is to provide playing opportunities to anyone who loves the game. We focus on building and developing youth by providing free soccer clinics in a way to give back to our communities.

What league(s) do you play in? Is that where you see yourself staying or are you considering "moving up" a league or two someday?
Currently the All Stars compete in the Western Washington Premier League (WWPL) 1st Division. The idea is to build a club that can maintain the highest level of competition regardless of the league we play in. After this season in the WWPL we are open to considering other options of competition but as of now our entire focus in on winning the WWPL this season.

Some teams sell tickets at the gate or kits and scarves; some clubs focus on providing high-quality youth programs to make money - how do you fund your team? And do you have plans on including other methods someday?
This 2021 as our inaugural season, we wanted to bring back some exciting level of soccer to our valley and focus on engaging with our community to build support and a fan base; so we offered free entry to everyone at our home games. We’ve done several “bring a food can” to enter the match, with the intention to donate all collected non-perishable items to COVID affected families.

How did Covid impact your organization last year and what does success in 2021 look like?
2020 was a hard year for everyone including soccer around the world. We struggled finding local sponsors so we had to be creative with funding our team-with jersey and merchandise sales, raffles, car wash, and landscaping work. We are always open to new forms of funding as we are ready to pivot in any direction that will benefit the club and our community.

Is there something important about your club that I might have missed? Tell me.
As we look into the future, we are excited to continue building the club and providing development to our kids and expanding to a possible women’s team in the near future. The Greater Wenatchee area has a lot of hidden talent, waiting to be discovered and we want to continue being the platform for all these athletes to showcase their skills. Wenatchee All Stars FC is a young team with very deep roots in the Washington State competitive world of soccer, from the days of the former Yakima Reds, Wenatchee Fire indoor, Wenatchee FC. We at Wenatchee All Stars FC are very excited to for the future and to continue making strides to building an outstanding organization, great players and uniting communities.

Follow Wenatchee All-Stars on Facebook HERE