What is a PUMA?


Well, according to Webster it means "cougar", but anyone familiar with professional soccer will first think of the Pumas professional soccer team from Mexico rich in history and committed to soccer excellence as well as higher education through their University. Well, now there's a Pumas soccer club in Texas called the Pumas Futbol Club except this one was created as a non-profit soccer club for the youth of North Texas. Located in Keller, TX, the Pumas Futbol Club was recently formed as a partnership between North Texas parents and Director of Coaches Ruben Munoz (*profile) to be an affordable, yet high quality, alternative for young players and their parents in the area. After becoming disillusioned by the politics, financial issues and peculiarities, negative coaching personalities, and the overriding concern to continually bring in paying members at all costs, a diverse group of parents and players finally decided to join together with Coach Ruben Munoz to create the Pumas Futbol Club and Academy with a commitment to soccer excellence for the young player without the negatives. The intention is stay true to several club tenets:



· Provide high quality coaching from coaches who value each and every player
· No screaming or verbal abuse, just competent coaching
· Recruit coaches who have a positive reputation and a history of success coaching young
players
· Ensure that no one relies on the club for their livelihood so as not to misplace the
emphasis on incoming funds to the exclusion of the real purpose and mission (as a non-
profit organization, the less overhead cost means lower costs to the members)
· Recognize that as a 501 (c) non-profit organization (which soccer clubs are), the paying
membership is the representative owners of the club and the club is NOT to be profit making
entity and must abide by the applicable tax laws and not seek to use this status
unethically
· Use the membership's funds ethically and wisely by providing a high value product at an
affordable cost

Although new, the Pumas Futbol Club has already secured a home field joining with the Keller Lions Club to have exclusive use of the Keller Lions Club fields located on Keller Parkway in the heart of Keller. They have a growing Academy for pre-select players and hope to have several teams having fun and competing in select leagues in Fall 2005.

For more information, visit their website at www.pumasfc.com.




####