Orcas Island
Football Club
Our Mission
Welcome to Orcas Island FC, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to helping young people develop essential skills through soccer. Our select soccer programs are designed to provide both competition and challenges, ensuring that each youth enjoys a positive and rewarding experience. Our recreational programs are a great way to build skills and play the game we all love. We recognize that financial barriers can prevent young people from accessing the benefits of playing soccer, which is why we work hard to remove these barriers. Our mission is to provide a supportive environment that helps our young players grow as both players and members of their community.
Sponsors
partners
Our Team
Baturay Baliç
Executive Director
Baturay also goes by Batu and was born on July 18, 1987, in Izmir, Turkey. Batu is a former professional soccer player with a family history of soccer; his father is coach Gursel Balic, also a former pro and Turkish national team player and his grandfather was coach Beytullah Balic. With that history, soccer was in his blood and Batu started playing soccer early in the streets at around seven years old. Not long after that he joined a club team and played in competitive youth academy leagues at all age categories before he became a professional. Batu has played for the following various teams:
BALCOVASPOR 1998-2000
ALTINORDU 2000-2004
ALANYASPOR 2004-2007
MENEMENSPOR 2008-2009
Due to a rare injury, Batu decided to end his professional career and turned his focus to his education. He went to university to study English and Russian languages.
Batu’s next goal was to be a coach just like his father and grandfather. After he moved to the USA (2014) he worked as a coach in a private soccer school in Washington DC, Virginia as well as Maryland with age groups eight to thirteen. Then he started doing his own youth soccer clinics through the Parks and Rec department on Orcas Island, WA (2015). His soccer program grew fast on the island and became one of the favorite sports of kids and the community.
He also coached the Orcas Island High School Soccer team over the years and helped them to win second place in Washington state in 2018 as well as the state championship in 2021. The Orcas Island High School team finished their league in the first place 6 years in a row and has the longest undefeated record in their league (over 4 years of 60-plus matches ). He has mentored and helped many young players to achieve their goals such as getting soccer scholarships from colleges, winning MVP of the league awards, breaking goal records, etc. Batu's main goal is to help more island kids achieve their goals.
Julien Kos
President
Julien has been playing soccer since 5 years old. He played with Emerald City Football Club, and Crossfire in Seattle, later he played in the Netherlands. He also has fond memories of playing at the camps held on Orcas Island in the summer. He first became a referee in 2013. Since moving back to the island he has been involved in revitalizing the Sunday drop-in games. Now Orcas can boast that it has year round soccer for youth and adults, both outdoor and indoor. Julien has deep passion for the unify aspect of soccer, and has helped foster an environment of cooperation and competition on the island by hosting and officiating inter-island matches and tournaments. Julien is also a youth coach in cooperation with Parks and Rec.
Julien believes that the Orcas Island Football Club will address a need that island has yet to have a solution for. The experiences he had growing up in Seattle and around the world should be available to the youth of Orcas as well, and he is excited to be championing this cause.
jack russillo
Treasurer
Jack was raised on Orcas and played at all levels the island had to offer up until his graduation from Orcas High School in 2014. He then played intramural soccer while at UW, in recreational leagues around the greater Seattle area, and has played in pick up games on five continents. He has been an assistant coach for both the Orcas middle and high school teams. Jack currently lives at his family farm on the north end of the island and works for the San Juan Preservation Trust.
When Jack learned he loved soccer, he sought out more than the few months of casual soccer than the island offered. He attended off island camps in the summer for many years, played for a Bellingham-based club for a season one spring while in high school, and started playing at the island’s Sunday Soccer at the age of 10. It is Jack’s dream to bring year-round soccer to the island so that anybody can play to their heart’s content.
Brian Moss
Secretary
Brian Moss has lived with his family on Orcas Island since 2015. He brings over ten years of youth coaching experience to his role with Orcas Island FC. His passion for player development and ensuring all kids have access to soccer opportunities drives his involvement with the club. Brian looks forward to the continued growth of the soccer culture on the island.
Brian works with the Orcas Island Community Foundation, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the non-profit space.