All across the Street Soccer USA landscape, fall programs are winding down as the days get shorter and colder. We had a fantastic season of the Street League featuring Community Clubs, adult programs and after-school programs. Many cities celebrated the success of the last few months with end of season festivals. Check out a few highlights from some of our cities below!
NEW YORK
On October 26 at Bush Terminal Park in Brooklyn, representatives from all New York neighborhoods came together for a final fall festival to celebrate the season. Teams representing Claremont Village, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Flatbush and East New York competed in tournament matches in u12 boys and girls divisions, u14 and u16s. Younger players played soccer tennis.
More than 100 players and their families showed up, along with SSUSA staff, site managers, coaches and board members. Overall, participants enjoyed the fun experience with focus on sportsmanship and respect over winning.
SACRAMENTO
Fall Cup
On November 23, #Soccermento celebrated their season’s end with a Fall Youth Cup in Oak Park. Five teams and more than 40 kids participated in the tournament. Oak Ridge were the champions, but the players and families enjoyed a day together of good soccer and supportive community-building!
Ongoing Programming
At Dyer Kelly Elementary School, where the above picture shows the first practice, participation continued to increase throughout the season all the way up to 20 kids. In addition, after only having one girl at practice the first week, consistently more showed up, as we continue to support our #LadiesFirst Initiative, creating opportunities for girls and women to play and coach in our programs!
SAN FRANCISCO
As the community continues to thrive and relationships deepen in our after school setting in San Francisco , everyone is rallying behind the growth of SSUSA SF Street League. In partnership with the San Francisco Shared Schoolyard Project and Francisco Unified School District, our Street League engages more than 100 youth and young adults to compete on the weekends and represent their neighborhood. It’s a true celebration of community as coaches, staff and families all come out to cheer on our youth as they battle it out on the SSUSA Park!
We currently run SF programming in six neighborhoods, engaging elementary schoolers and middle schoolers in Richmond, Marina, Western Addition, Lower Pacific Heights, Bayview and Mission.
Here, Arlo from Western Addition is giving a Blue Card to his teammate Saul who represented the Street Skill “Playing with Heart” at our first SF Elementary Street League game this fall. Arlo said that Saul didn’t give up and played until the last second of the game.