Shelley Gillwald accompanied by her husband, Pete, winning the UYSA Administrator of the Year Award a few years ago. Photo: courtesy of PCSC

PARK CITY, Utah — Shelley Gillwald, who has been the Executive Director of the Park City Soccer Club (PCSC), has taken a new position with the Utah Youth Soccer Association (UYSA) as the Legacy Fields Program Director.

Tasks in her new job will include identifying opportunities and overseeing the construction of soccer fields throughout Utah and working on grant opportunities, such as those with the U.S. Soccer Foundation.

“Shelley has been a pillar of the Park City soccer community for the past 25 years. As a Park City Soccer Club employee and, ultimately, as PCSC executive director, she guided countless families through our program and helped thousands of young athletes develop and navigate their love for the game,” PCSC Board of Directors member Carrie Sheinberg told TownLift. “We are thrilled that she has found exciting new opportunities to continue working within the sport she loves so much.”

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Today, PCSC has approximately 600 athletes and around 20 to 22 coaches. It has grown considerably since Gillwald began there, when there were approximately 380 athletes and 10 to 12 coaches.

One of the most well know success stories to have emerged from Gillwald’s Club has been that of Sebastian “Bofo” Saucedo, who spent his earliest years with PCSC before his path eventually led him to the RSL Academy. His career began with Real Salt Lake before playing in Mexico and now for Alabama’s Birmingham Legion Football Club.

Shelley Gillwald (center) receiving the Trisha J. Worthington (right) Community Service Award for her work at PCSC serving Park City’s Latino Community. Photo: courtesy of Gillwald Family

“While I am excited about my new position at UYSA, and the opportunity to create a lasting impact on Utah’s soccer landscape, my heart will forever be with Park City Soccer Club. After 21 years building an organization, helping children with over $1,000,000 in financial aid, working with incredible staff and families, I can’t just walk away. I am proud of the soccer community we built, the players who have seen success at whatever level was meaningful for them, and the coaches who helped guide them along the way. I look forward to supporting PCSC and their next club director however I can.”

PCSC has eliminated the position of executive director, opting to create a club director position with a more technical/sport focus. The plan going forward includes a national search. Club director of competition, Joel Person, will be the acting interim director.

In an interview with TownLift Gillwald said she’ll most miss “the opportunity to be so connected with our Park City community, whether with the players themselves and their families, the coaches, incredible staff and volunteers of PCSC, or the broader community, such as Basin & PC Rec, the Community Foundation, and our sponsors.”

She started as a soccer mom turned team manager in 2004 and quickly filled the role as the volunteer club administrator. That role evolved to become tournament director in 2011, and eventually Gillwald was hired as the Club’s first executive director in 2016.

“Team PCSC” Darcy Tsandes (PCSC Business Manager) and Cora Reddan (Extreme Cup Tournament Director). Photo: courtesy of Gillwald Family

In her new position, Gillwald is most looking forward to “the opportunity to make a difference for young athletes across the entire state for decades to come. There are clubs and communities that struggle for field space. I know from my experience at PCSC that there are just not enough fields to meet the demands for growing sports programs and growing communities.”

The Legacy Fields Program, which is funded by an annual $40 registration fee paid by every youth player registering with Utah Youth Soccer Association, works to assess the needs in regions across the state, identify land to purchase or lease through partnerships, and then construct parks with one or more fields. When the program was first established in 2016, it was done with the intent to create a legacy for the soccer playing children of Utah. Since that time, the program has acquired enough funds to actively begin building fields. In March of 2025, UYSA’s first Legacy Fields opened: a five field complex in Southern Utah built in partnership with the Shivwits Band of the Paiutes.

Gillwald has long had a working relationship with Executive Director Bryan Attridge and his staff at Utah Youth Soccer Association. Late last winter, Attridge approached her to assist with the Legacy Fields program. The founding staff member, Michelle Wixom, was moving onto other projects for UYSA, and they needed someone to facilitate meetings and other tasks for the Regional Committees working on the Legacy Fields Project.

As they were looking at next steps for Legacy Fields and the reality of beginning the land development process in Northern Utah, they realized the project needed to transition from regional committee work to a centralized director position. The position became full-time at the beginning of 2026.

Soccer specificity doesn’t define her role in the Park City sports world. Gillwald started at the National Ability Center in 1996 as the marketing and development director with events like the annual Huntsman Cup and many galas. She also helped found the Youth Sports Alliance in the executive director position for it’s first eight years as an instrumental part of JANS Winter Welcome, the Circle of Excellence Awards, and the afterschool Get Out & Play program.

Gillwald grew up in New England and saw Pele play in New York. She was an alpine ski racer, so soccer was cross training for her; though, she played for one year at Boston University before transferring to Colby College to pursue skiing instead.

Park City’s Beano Solomon and the Youth United Fund has been invaluable to the progress and success of the Park City Soccer Club, Gillwald said. She credits past Technical Director, Eli Ulvi with assisting in running the PCSC since 2018, while current board co-chair Lauren Hanley has also been a huge help. She says her family, however, deserves the biggest thanks.