Field Dreams

Growing up in east London I was able to play "football" morning, noon and night. There were plenty of parks to play pick up games on but organized games were played on Wanstead Flats, two miles from where I lived. Created as a public park in 1878 the park is a large open area in the middle of inner city London and, to the south of the park at least, home to some of the most economically deprived urban communities in England.

As you can see from the aerial photo on we had access to 36 publically owned fields that charged teams the equivalent of  around $150 a season to play games on. These fields were as good as, if not better than, the Germantown SoccerPlex but a walk or bus ride for tens of thousands of players - mostly boys as girls soccer was non existent in those days.  One local boys club Senrab FC had 20 or 30 players go on to play professional and in many cases international soccer. 

For all sorts of reasons, DC lacks a public park area like Wanstead flats. Partly this is a function of space, partly a land development issue, and partly it is a cultural issue with other competing demands from other more established "National" sports.

The lack of adequate urban soccer fields represents the single biggest constraint to the development of the sport in the US and perhaps to the US becoming a World Cup Champion. 

With the possible exception of Brazil, the US has more youth soccer players than any other top soccer nation. We have some of the best youth coaches and an improving youth soccer set up but without urban soccer fields we have large soccer playing populations who can not play at the highest levels because they do not have access to fields in their neighborhoods and can't afford to travel to suburban complexes like the Soccerplex.

While establishing a field complex like Wanstead flats in DC is unrealistic, we must continue to work with DCDPR and other partners to develop one field at a time so that our kids can play and develop and so that those players in Columbia Heights, and NE, SE and NW that can't afford to go to the SoccerPlex get their chance. If we can do that then I believe the US can be a World Cup contender.     

 

Wet Wet Wet

Last week's hot temperatures are a distant memory as the wet weather is forecast to continue through next week. At least we managed to get most recreational games in on soggy but playable fields. The boys High School Rec Division game I saw at Ft Stevens featured a skillful Muffins team of Wilson HS players take on a team made up of the IDEA PCS students many of whom are relatively new to soccer. The athletic IDEA players, though out passed by the Muffins, kept their shape and discipline and scored the best goal of a six goal game direct from a kick off. Both teams looked like they were having a lot of fun.

Greater access to DC's excellent turf fields would be a big plus as the DC wet season continues. We pay for access to Roosevelt HS, Maret and Georgetownday schools as well as the permitted access to Palisades. With over 50% of our rec players coming from DC and MCPS we need to get a better balance in our field use, with more access to those DC public school turf fields.

Although most travel games were rained out, the wet weekend was capped by good comeback games for DCU and Washington Freedom . The Germantown SoccerPlex looked wetter than a moist Monday in Morecambe but that did not deter the largest home crowd of over 5,000 from enjoying a passionate Freedom rally late in the game led by French international Sonia Bompastor. Pregame, the City FC girls team got to meet the US Women's National coach Pia Sundhage who generously took time to chat to the girls and parents. (Picture to follow)