John Schlenker (Meritorious) - Inducted 2024

John Schlenker has been involved in many areas of soccer in Virginia. He has coached in WAGS, NCSL and ODSL. He was the Founder and President of the Fauquier Adult Soccer League and the Warrenton Fields Association. He served as Treasurer and Board Member of the Fauquier Soccer Club, and has served on many Community Service Committees. 

Among all this, over twenty years ago, John Schlenker started one of the first TOPSoccer Programs in Virginia. The Outreach Program for Soccer, or TOPS, is a recreational sports program for children and adults with intellectual, emotional, or physical disabilities.  

He has been the Piedmont Soccer Club’s TOPSoccer Head Coach, a Special Olympics Coach, a Certified US Youth Soccer TOPSoccer Coach, and a VYSA TOPSoccer Chair from 2002 to present.  
 
John, for his years of dedication to TOPSoccer, has received the VYSA Dave Williams Memorial TOPSoccer Exemplary Service Award, and the Virginia Soccer Association’s Circle of 
Excellence Award.  

For athletes with special needs, soccer coach John Schlenker is a superhero.  His nonstop energy is fueled by passion for “the beautiful game” – and a cause deep in his heart which began when his daughter Katie, who has Down syndrome, expressed an interest in playing soccer like her siblings.   

John Schlenker has made his mark in making the game of soccer “the game for ALL KIDS.”