Club History
In the Fall of 1982, Vadim Chernyakhovsky, a Russian immigrant living in Squirrel Hill while attending Pitt, gathered together 32 youngsters from around the city to introduce them to the game of soccer. He entered them as two teams in the Western PA Youth Soccer Association travel league as the Squirrel Hill Soccer club. Vadim would practice both teams together during the week. On Sunday, when they had to travel to different suburbs to play, Vadim would take one team and Larry Solomon, a parent of one of the players, would take the other.
At the end of that season, a group of parents volunteered to help Vadim. On October 7 1982 the Schenley Dynamo Soccer Club was formed; Schenley for the park where the teams played, and Dynamo for Vadim's hometown soccer club in Kiev. In 1989 Pittsburgh Dynamo Youth Soccer Association was incorporated and granted 501 (c) (3) status as a non-profit educational organization, allowing donations and contributions to Dynamo to be tax-exempt.
In the years that followed, thousands of parents and players have done their part to rejuvenate Vadim's dream of sharing soccer with Pittsburgh's kids every Fall and Spring.
We've distilled this mission into the Dynamo Philosophy:
"Dynamo's Philosophy emphasizes the development of fundamental soccer skills, knowledge of the rules of soccer, and good sporting behavior. We seek to minimize competitive pressures on our players. We do not pursue success in competition for its own sake, but only as a by-product of our approach."
The approach of pushing a love of the game was revolutionary in the early eighties, and some days it still seems revolutionary today. It also seems to be working. Dynamo players fill the rosters of the local High School teams, Cup, ODP and professional Academy teams, and a recent alumni was called into the U16 Boys Youth National Team camp. Even better, we're seeing 2nd generation players coming through the club.
All we have to do now is keep it going.
More than anything, we are and always will be driven by the dedication of our volunteers. Our club needs a constant resupply of coaches, team parents, program commissioners and board members. We need one-off volunteers for things like field maintenance days, opening weekend field marshalls, final weekend celebration servers, etc. No matter what you can do, we need you. There are open volunteer positions year round.
Email us at [email protected] and let us know how you're interested in improving our club and growing the game.