Posted by Sheldon Shealer, editor

THE NEWS: FC Lehigh announced this week that it has added Emmaus (Pa.) girls soccer coach Rob Rooney to the club staff. The club also added successful boys high school coach Bob Hartman, from Moravian (Pa.), to the staff.

MY TAKE: Quite often we hear stories of clubs and club coaches looking down on high school coaches and programs. The addition of Rooney to FC Lehigh is a refreshing change as a forward-looking club sought the best possible candidate to serve as girls youth director - and it just so happened that individual was in the high school ranks. Rooney, a former college coach, has been highly successful in his four-year stint at Emmaus with his girls teams compiling a 65-10-1 record and the team has been a frequent visitor to the spring girls FAB 50 the past four seasons.