San Clemente Soccer Club was founded in 1987 by Clyde Best (West Ham) and Martin McGrogan to provide an organization for talented soccer players and benefit local high school programs. In 1993, McGrogan and Best started the Irvine Valley Soccer (IRV) program. McGrogan coached IVC to great success and Best went onto coach the Bermudan National Team from 1997-1999 and was later awarded an MBE for services to football and the community of Bermuda.

Reza Cherif resurrected the club as San Clemente United Soccer Club in 1997 and with the assistance of John Merritt, established a strong reputation of developing local talent. Current Director of Coaching Chris Murray joined the club in 2004 and helped build and evolve a professional development soccer model based on his experiences in professional soccer in Europe. During the next few years, the club had tremendous success. The positive impact on local and neighboring high schools included exceptional talent. A few notable examples include Andy Martinez (69 goals with San Clemente High School) and Roger Downes (L.A. Times and CIF player of the Year.) During this period, the club placed 20+ players with colleges such as LMU, Wheaton, SMU, San Francisco and Point Loma.

In 2011, several San Clemente Club coaches, while working with San Clemente High School (SCHS) Boys Varsity, led the team to win CIF, State, and achieve the historical rankings of No.1 in the State of California and No.8 in the United States. The club also initiated successful community projects under the guidance of Kerri McClellan to promote team building, leadership and giving back to those less fortunate.

In 2014, the club joined Surf Nation as San Clemente Surf Soccer Club. Today, Surf Nation has 50+ clubs across the United States collaborating to create the best opportunities and experiences for our coaches and players. A unique program of Surf Nation is Surf Select. Within this special program, top Surf club players nominated by their respective clubs gather annually for regional and national ID camps at Surf Nation’s Del Mar, CA campus. Select players are chosen to form regional and national teams that go on to compete in prestigious international and national tournaments in both USA and in Europe. In 2024, Coach Tori Phillips led the Girls 2011 Surf Select National team to win the Super Cup in Northern Ireland and was then recognized as the Surf Select National Coach of the Year. Four of San Clemente Surf’s older players also traveled to Spain to compete against top international academies after playing against Brazilian academies and other youth national players the year prior.

In the past few years dozen of our club players have committed to higher education institutions all over the country with college athletic and academic scholarships. Five former San Clemente Surf’s players served as captains of their respective soccer programs between 2018-2023. Under the guidance of our college director Dave Nolan (Claremont McKenna Head Coach) we are looking forward to continuing our great success of placing student athletes with programs all over the country. In 2024, we had another five college commits including recent commit Griffin Blair to Cal State Fullerton.

It’s an exciting time be a part of San Clemente Surf Soccer Club! To learn more about the club, individual teams or programs we offer, contact Director of Coaching Chris Murray at 949-547-0439 or scsurf@outlook.com.