Commentary
Ed Foster-Simeon on the U.S. Soccer Foundation's 'mini-pitch' progress: 'Transforming the USA's soccer landscape'
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Dec 23, 2019
The goal: To build 1,000 small soccer fields -- hard-court surfaces suited for organized soccer programs and pickup games – by 2026 in urban areas and under-served communities that lack playing space. We checked in with Ed Foster-Simeon, the U.S. Soccer Foundation President & CEO since 2008, for an update on the project.
SOCCER AMERICA: What has been the latest progress on the small-field project?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: We recently collaborated with Houston Dynamo owners Jake Silverstein and Ben Guill to create 15 mini-pitches in Houston over the next five years.
SA: How many have been built so far across the nation to reach the goal of 1,000?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: With more than 250 already installed and with funding for 150 more, we’re more than a third of the way there. We’re moving at a fairly rapid pace. In just the last year, we helped bring nearly 100 mini-pitches to communities nationwide and we have plans to create at least 100 more with partners in 2020. We are on the path to transforming the soccer landscape in the United States. That's thanks in large part to the support of major funders such as Target, adidas, Musco Lighting, and Major League Soccer -- and several MLS clubs that are making significant investments in our game and in our communities.
SA: As someone who has coached and reffed in Oakland for nearly two decades and also traveled to many different suburban areas to coach and observe soccer, it's obvious there's a major difference in the availability of space for kids to play soccer in various communities. What is the disparity of playing space across the nation?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: According to the National Trust for Public Land, one in three Americans – more than 100 million people – don’t have a park within a half-mile walk from home. With transportation and safety being major concerns, anything beyond a half-mile is simply too far for many children. That’s why the U.S. Soccer Foundation believes it's so important to build small soccer courts at schools and neighborhood parks a short walk or bike ride from where children in under-served communities live and go to school.
SA: 2019 marked the 25th anniversary of the 1994 World Cup that spawned the Foundation. Obviously soccer's popularity has risen dramatically for several reasons. Has that changed the focus of the Foundation?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: The Foundation continues to consider all the various ways in which it can support the sport. However, we place a special emphasis on creating access and opportunities for children growing up in low-income and poverty households.
From the increasing costs associated with organized team sports to a lack of access, too many barriers stand between children and the chance to play. There is great concern about a future in which large numbers of children miss out on the many health and social benefits of playing team sports. The Aspen Institute’s 2019 Project Play Summit brought much needed attention to the state of play for children in our country, citing that the participation rates for many youth sports are stagnant or in decline.
But there is a particular sense of urgency to bring soccer to children growing up in underserved communities. These children have not participated as fully as we would have liked in the phenomenal growth of our game during the last 25 years. One of the most basic barriers is the lack of safe places to play that are easily accessible.
SA: How hard is that to accomplish that in the inner city?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: One of the biggest challenges is securing the resources to revitalize public spaces and ensuring that we are putting them in the places where community members want them. We have a comprehensive community engagement process to help us accomplish this and we are always gaining feedback on how to make them better. One example of this progress is our partnership with Musco Lighting. The introduction of an innovative new mini-pitch system developed by Musco takes us to the next level. Like our original model, these small, customized, hard-court surfaces are perfectly suited for organized soccer programs and pick-up games.
This new model is complete with lighting, fencing, goals, benches, ADA-compliant access, and lockable equipment storage, providing quality playing surfaces for kids and adults while transforming the look and feel of neighborhoods. The inclusion of lighting extends the hours the fields can be used and increases programmatic opportunities. That's crucial when the number of daylight hours are limited.
SA: How confident are you about the "It’s Everyone's Game" project's success so far?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: Very. It's making a real and measurable impact.
Community members and organizations tell us that the mini-pitches are frequently used and that they are a unifying force in the community. We hear about mini-pitches bringing kids and families from different schools, backgrounds, and neighborhoods together to play, and how the addition of the lighting keeps kids active and having fun past daylight hours.
According to a survey of community partners, 98% say that people in the community are more active and 98% say that their community feels safer because of the mini-pitch. Ninety-four percent also say the mini-pitch serves as a community hub. In addition, nearly one-third of mini-pitch users are new to soccer. That demonstrates that mini-pitches can be used to grow the game and present some communities with their first introduction to the sport.
One day after a mini-pitch opened in the Portland metropolitan area, we heard from the school district that the impact of the new pitch could already been seen.
“Students and staff say that the whole outdoor area looks so much nicer and really brightens their day,” said a member of the school district in a report. “When I left work yesterday, a group of elementary-age girls were out on the mini-pitch playing a game, and it made me so happy to see kids out there using it already just a day after it opened. It’s a great asset that our community will be enjoying for years to come.”
These spaces are also home to our Soccer for Success program and other high-quality soccer programs that teach fundamentals of the game in addition to helping children develop critical life skills. There is considerable work to do as we strive to make soccer everyone’s game. But there's no doubt in my mind that mini-pitches provide an innovative solution that reduce barriers to play and enable the game to played and enjoyed by many more of our nation’s children.
SA: Anything else you'd like to add or address?
ED FOSTER-SIMEON: We can’t do this work alone. It takes a dedicated group of partners, community members, and individuals to do the things we are doing to create more access to the sport. So we encourage other corporations, individuals, and community members to join us in this movement and get involved because, together, we’ll be able to accomplish that much more.
LINKS: The "It’s Everyone's Game" project and the U.S. Soccer Foundation.
I really like what they doing.
my neighborhood in Oakland laurel district have neither a park or anywhere to play.
our school is used for after school program and then locked up. So no where to play on.
this is an issue I brought up before, and this talk about playing in the streets that some talks about is something not feasible or safe.
in the past I took girls to other places that have parks and we booted out from park n rec because we didn’t have a permit to be there.
if we had built small pitch you bet a lot of kids would be there playing.
but somehow we worrying about major league teams having a stadium to play in.
good riddance to Oakland raiders and warriors they left the city with us still paying for them to play here even after they are gone. Imagine the money spent on our youth and what facilities we would have today instead of paying them.
just my two cent on priority.
We need a soccer Revolution in the USA. We need 600,000 futsal courts so kids can play king of the court, 24/7/365, for free and no adult interference. We need a Rucker’s Park soccer environment. We need to create Courts of Dreams. You build them. They will come
https://youtu.be/M7JBcu0MzvI
This sounds like just what we need. I am curious as to how they operate (planned activities, planned age groups, or just first come first serve, always open).
Kent, Pickup soccer is about free and openess, no structure, let the kids decide what they want to do. The court is open for anyone to play...
This is all very nice and I support this but we don't have to wait for these fields to appear everywhere.
What we need first right NOW is a push to establish and nurture a CULTURE of PICKUP soccer. Without a CULTURE OF PICKUP SOCCER you can build all the little fields you want but they won't be used to its fullest for many will remain empty. So lets not place the cart before the horse. We first need to establish a want by the kids that results for a culture of soccer.
Currently, I see plenty of spaces kids can play pickup games, like behind the shopping centers where you also have walls to pass against, empty basketball courts, parking lots, especially on weekends, School parking lots, small unused little fields, there are so many little areas that one creatively employ, etc ,etc... Kids in Amsterdam, a country that is one of the most densest, are always creative in finding space to play.
What we need right now is a concerted effort from the top, USSF, the coaching school, the soccer associations, telling the kids the benefits of playing pickup soccer. Create commercials ,testimonials of great players explaining the benefits of pickup soccer. For example, make Zlatan, who learned his game playing PICKUP SOCCER/STREET SOCCER talk about the benefits of pickup soccer. We need a big effort in communicating to the kids the super benefits of pickup ball. Show a youtube on Brazilian kids, or Argentinian kids playing pickup....Keep bombarding the airwaves, youtube, advertisement during MLS games or cute commercials during the NT games about the merits of PICKUP soccer. Have Joseph Martinez of Atlanta United, talk about PICKUP soccer back in his own country or even show a clip where he learned to play back in Venezuela. We are such a media savvy country and we don't employ this particular aspect to nurture PICKUP SOCCER.
The average American kid has no clue of pickup soccer for there is none around his area to even watch and try it...
Without Streetball then there is no risk taking, peer pressure, creativity, imagination flair style. All you get is continuation of stiff robots. We need to play king/Queen of the Court 24/7/365
Exactly, Cony
You living in the past.
do you live in a big city?
the days of having a field/park for youth to play on is mostly long gone.
schools are locked down and trust me you start playing at a shopping center u get security guard on you before you make the first pass.
when was the last time you took a group of kids to play pickup soccer?
at the very best we can sneak in on a park and park n rec people won’t see you playing.
its not as simple as you make it out too.
the Brazil most likely don’t have lawyers that will tell government/school district and private property that they are liable if something happening.
let me just tell you a small example.
i coach HS we have grass field, when it’s raining we can’t use it, we where going to a indoor facility to play pickup but school district stopped us because it’s not an approved field. So I as the coach would be liable if something happened to a player.
this is the reality.
How many parents you think let their kids go to shopping mall to play or hit against a wall?
i say zero. I grew up in Sweden on the country side and no one cared what I did during day light hours that was in the 60is, it’s very different today.
i bet in Holland it’s very different as well.
Uffe, i’m Talking about today. There were no shopping centers when I grew up. Older kids can play there or at school parking lots after school or on weekends...what about the summer time when there no school or days when there’s no school. How ‘bout basketball courts when not in use, backyards... kids today in Amsterdam can always find space......
The soccer mini-pitch is an excellent start for increased youth participation. This activity is the answer to the pick-up games I used to play at public basketball ball courts when they were available.
Frank
you most living in the suburbs.
oakland/inner city schools have fences around the schools incl. parking and they are locked down.
yes suburb school and community have space to play on. But think we talking about inner city youth that is the forgotten part of what you want to see as in Latino kids mostly. I know you read mike Woitalla all the times and he talks about soccer without borders, I help out with that organization as well and it’s after school program and it’s at the school.
no way would that work unless we have a place to play at. That’s why these organizations does such an important work for inner city youth.
if I had these small pitches in this article I be such happy person, a safe place to play pick up soccer.
but we don’t.
all these things some of you bring up is just not in our neighborhood, tennis courts? I don’t even seen one except the private oakland tennis club.
the only hoops we have is at the school but locked up after the after school program is done.
so tell me where should we play street soccer?
living in the past don’t do me or my youth players any good. It’s all sitting on the liers bench and talking about good all times.
Uffe, I never had a problem finding space to play, only finding people to play with in certain parts of the country. Virtually all of my training over the years was solo. I have played in every kind of space including inside my house. Kind of amazing that while I have broken windows playing baseball, I never broke a window playing soccer.
Bob, the way Uffe explains where he lives reminds me of the movie “Escape from New York”.
i do have to admit though one of the problems playing street soccer was broken windows. Lolol
i mean , it was bad in my days. Realize in Holland many of the homes have very big front windows and when one of those break , you have never seen kids move and run as fast as lightning. Or when certain homes have front yards facing the street, like in Cruyff’s neighborhood, many a ball would end up in a nice planned flowers bush. Sometimes the owner wouln’t Give the ball back and bust it. At times one kid would sneak into the yard and quickly get the ball.
It wish someone would write book in Holland about the old street soccer days, the anecdotes and the happenings of what went on besides the actual playing of soccer. There were so many funny stories...
MERRY XMAS GUYS
Good Grief Charlie Brown! As usual, I've seen that, done this and that and now all I need to say is that "Times They Are A-changing!" vis-a-vis the "soccer in the street syndrome, that I am all too familiar. I too grew up in East Oakland but it was during the decade of the 50's (I left in '62 for the military) I do remember playing in the dirt field of Frick Jr High, and then at times on the Castlemont HS football field, and every now and then on local primary school fields. And now to the second day of the decade of 2020, I can say to you that this topic will never-ever grow old, yet the idea of having the myriad of small playing sites (cf Cony K) or in the street, all I can say is "never happen, buddy) However, I've written about the small si-ded soccer facilities spawned in the UK under the banner of "Goals Soccer Centers" that have been imported and established in So California locations (South Gate Primarily in a Latino community in the South-Eastside of L.A. the others in a more heavily non-Latino populated communities Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, and ...) Really, google the company for additional information, and while they're not as described in the article above, e.g. free accessability, it is a "pay for play" concept, and they even run youth "soccer squirt academies!) Lastly, rumor has it that an EPL team will be or is involved in the system of. I've mentioned it several times in other comments, unfortunately it hasn't grabbed SA writers' attention.
Back to Oakland, I've not lived there other than to attend reunions or visit family since I emigrated to So Cal for grad school, and other athletic/sporting-soccer events, I am all too familiar with the "racial socio-economic divide" of the city, as I worked for the former Oakland Econ Dev Council) and was student teacher/aide Lazear School, Elmhurst, and Castlemont there while going to Oakland JC (Now Merritt College) and Cal State Hayward (now CSU-EB.) As for sports, since there was no college soccer, I was a long distance runner, but did get back into soccer at Hayward - East Bay State and saw the "birth of the old Oakland Clippers, saw Pele Play in the Oakland Coliseum, and became acquainted with college coaches such as Boa DiGrazia (UCB) Julie Menendez (CSU San Jose,) S. Negoesco Univ San Francisco, and Don Batie (Chico State) etc. And then I drifted to So Cal.... PLAY ON!!!
Good Grief Charlie Brown! As usual, I've seen that, done this and that and now all I need to say is that "Times They Are A-changing!" vis-a-vis the "soccer in the street syndrome, that I am all too familiar. I too grew up in East Oakland but it was during the decade of the 50's (I left in '62 for the military) I do remember playing in the dirt field of Frick Jr High, and then at times on the Castlemont HS football field, and every now and then on local primary school fields. And now to the second day of the decade of 2020, I can say to you that this topic will never-ever grow old, yet the idea of having the myriad of small playing sites (cf Cony K) or in the street, all I can say is "never happen, buddy) However, I've written about the small si-ded soccer facilities spawned in the UK under the banner of "Goals Soccer Centers" that have been imported and established in So California locations (South Gate Primarily in a Latino community in the South-Eastside of L.A. the others in a more heavily non-Latino populated communities Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, and ...) Really, google the company for additional information, and while they're not as described in the article above, e.g. free accessability, it is a "pay for play" concept, and they even run youth "soccer squirt academies!) Lastly, rumor has it that an EPL team will be or is involved in the system of. I've mentioned it several times in other comments, unfortunately it hasn't grabbed SA writers' attention.
Back to Oakland, I've not lived there other than to attend reunions or visit family since I emigrated to So Cal for grad school, and other athletic/sporting-soccer events, I am all too familiar with the "racial socio-economic divide" of the city, as I worked for the former Oakland Econ Dev Council) and was student teacher/aide Lazear School, Elmhurst, and Castlemont there while going to Oakland JC (Now Merritt College) and Cal State Hayward (now CSU-EB.) As for sports, since there was no college soccer, I was a long distance runner, but did get back into soccer at Hayward - East Bay State and saw the "birth of the old Oakland Clippers, saw Pele Play in the Oakland Coliseum, and became acquainted with college coaches such as Boa DiGrazia (UCB) Julie Menendez (CSU San Jose,) S. Negoesco Univ San Francisco, and Don Batie (Chico State) etc. And then I drifted to So Cal.... PLAY ON!!!
apologies for the duplication of my comments!!!