About Hunter Soccer Club

Our History

The Hunter Soccer Club crest

Hunter Soccer Club began in 1962 as a response to a call for physical fitness from President John F. Kennedy. Originally called St. Luke's Soccer Club, it was made up of a group of Cub Scouts under the leadership of John Hunter.

John Hunter, a native born Scotsman, came to this country with a love of soccer. He took St. Luke's Cub Scouts and taught them the game of soccer with a volleyball at Abington High School's playing fields.

Mr. Hunter received support from Episcopal Academy when the school sent him its discarded shorts, shoes, and equipment. After some early years teaching soccer to the community children, along with Hans Peters, Mr. Hunter helped form the Intercounty Soccer League (ICSL) some 40 years ago.

For its colors, St. Luke's Soccer Club adopted the royal blue and white colors of St. Luke's school's athletic teams and and for its jersey, the blue and white horizontal stripes. Besides the color scheme of St. Luke's teams, these stripes stem from the uniforms of Queen's Park Rangers (QPR), a famous English professional soccer team. Some QPR players would come to Glenside in the summer for Hunter's soccer camp. As a matter of fact, the early Hunter uniforms actually came from England and were exact duplicates of QPR's teams. That tradition continues today. with the blue and white horizontal stripes that we call the "hoops."

Although there are religious overtones in the original St. Luke's Soccer Club name, the soccer club was and is non-denominational. To this day, Hunter Soccer Club does not discriminate against any of its participants whether coaches or players because of their religious backgrounds, race or gender. Hunter is a non-profit corporation and consists of volunteers trying to help the youth of our community.

In 1970, John Hunter passed away and to honor the memory of its founder, St. Luke's Soccer Club became Hunter Soccer Club.

After 50 years, Hunter Soccer Club continues to be a strong, vibrant, community-oriented organization that helps teach children of all ages the “beautiful game” of soccer.

Our Core Values

Hunter Soccer Club strongly believes in 'community club' values. These include:

Affordability. HSC is not a 'pay-to-play' club. We believe that our soccer programs should be reasonably priced while offering a high quality player and parent experience. Additionally, HSC provides assistance to families that cannot pay for club fees due to financial hardship.
Access. HSC offers soccer programs to players of all ages and skill levels. Our pre-K, Intramural, and Camp programs are designed for the younger, developing player as well as older players who wish to play soccer on a seasonal basis. HSC's travel program provides a more intensive, year-round development and competitive experience for the committed youth player.
Volunteerism. Volunteers are the lifeblood of our club, from our committed leadership through to our passionate coaches. HSC strongly believes that volunteer coaches bring emotional engagement to our teams. Simply put, we expect our coaches to care about every player. HSC couples coaches with expert paid trainers, to provide an optimal soccer experience to our players.
Sportsmanship. We live in an era where there is an over-emphasis on winning in youth sports. At HSC, we strive to impart the values of sportsmanship on both our coaches and players. This includes playing the game with fairness, dignity, and respect. We expect both coaches and players to serve as role models.
Having Fun. HSC is a soccer point of entry for thousands of boys and girls. We want this to be an experience that is both challenging and fun. Whatever age or skill level, having fun is essential to loving the game.

As HSC continues to grow its membership and offer more sophisticated soccer programming, we remain strongly wed to our core 'community club' values.