Amanda from the Golden Boot Soccer office here. We’re passionate about pickup for all the reasons outlined above and then some, and are actually wrapping up our spring Monday/Thursday StreetSoccer program in Fairfax.

The bi-weekly pickup sessions will return again in the fall, but in the meantime we’ll be running the same program as a summer camp the week of June 28. Please see https://www.goldenbootsoccer.com/summer#StreetSoccer

We know that in a perfect world, “organized pickup” wouldn’t need to exist. But we also know that families are busy and friends/teammates/a guaranteed game aren’t always within walking/biking distance. So we wanted to create a way for kids to benefit from more free-form play, within a more reliable schedule that helps out the Mom/Dad Taxi. More kids finding joy on the pitch is always a good thing.

This looks cool, but the location is a deal-breaker for us (too far). Wish something similar was offered closer by.

Anonymous wrote:was this whole thread to setup this advertisement?

Amanda from GBS again. We don’t sock puppet, and I always identify myself when posting in the Soccer forum. The above is my first and only contribution to the thread, and I posted because I saw the discussion about the problems of finding games, and thought our options might be helpful. Please reach out to Jeff if you feel otherwise.

was this whole thread to setup this advertisement?

Amanda from the Golden Boot Soccer office here. We’re passionate about pickup for all the reasons outlined above and then some, and are actually wrapping up our spring Monday/Thursday StreetSoccer program in Fairfax.

The bi-weekly pickup sessions will return again in the fall, but in the meantime we’ll be running the same program as a summer camp the week of June 28. Please see https://www.goldenbootsoccer.com/summer#StreetSoccer

We know that in a perfect world, “organized pickup” wouldn’t need to exist. But we also know that families are busy and friends/teammates/a guaranteed game aren’t always within walking/biking distance. So we wanted to create a way for kids to benefit from more free-form play, within a more reliable schedule that helps out the Mom/Dad Taxi. More kids finding joy on the pitch is always a good thing.

Arlington used to have drop in soccer before the pandemic. Kids just played the game without any coaching. Coaches were there, but they only said something when they wanted to get kids to take a water break.

I dropped my daughter off at a PWC park all last summer. There were a ton of teens playing pick up every afternoon/evening.

Anonymous wrote:

We have a local "Swim and Tennis Club" near our house in VA, and when we move back I'm plan to try to get the board to resurface the (cracked, not great) tennis courts into futsal courts.

Good business sense--could make pickup futsal free and sell drinks/snacks. Feel free to try to do it before I do.

Is your intent to have it as futsal for the non-tennis season or always? I cannot see kids wanting to play futsal on an asphalt court in 90 degree heat.

Where would I park? Parking in Alexandria is so limited!

Ask Tommy he knows a thing or two about using tennis courts for futsal and maximizing revenue

Nova2Euro wrote:We have a local "Swim and Tennis Club" near our house in VA, and when we move back I'm plan to try to get the board to resurface the (cracked, not great) tennis courts into futsal courts.

Good business sense--could make pickup futsal free and sell drinks/snacks. Feel free to try to do it before I do.

Good luck with that, I'm sure the pickle ball people are 9 steps ahead of you on that one.

Where I live (not DMV) - you don't see any pickup in the suburbs but when we attended some games in the Hispanic semi-pro league the kids all played behind the field during the game and my kid had an amazing time.

A local soccer facility does pickup Fridays at an indoor field and we keep not going because there's always a game Saturday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If people want their kids to develop, they need great coaching, but like any other sport or any other soccer playing nation, these kids needs to play pick up across ages and outside organized play to really take it further. Forget clubs. Who thinks these boards could be more useful as an organizational tool for pickup during the summer?

our club has summer evening drop in games, u8-kids who just graduated. Kids form their own teams and just play. If you want the same, talk to your club

Clearly the point of pick up is NOT ORGANIZED soccer.

there is no organization beyond provision goals and an adult. they don't participate or direct anything other than saying hello to the kids when the arrive

Good question. My local club's courts are surrounded by trees, so there's some shade. And I was thinking, for the summer at least, that futsal would kick off around 5 pm or so (courts entirely in the shade) and go for 4-5 hours.

On weekdays, even the pool isn't particularly busy until evening.

But for me, that's a perfect summer evening. People could bring out their lawn chairs, the club could set up a grill and sell burgers and brats, kids and even old dudes like me taking turns on the futsal courts. Build community, have fun, tell myself that I'm staying in shape (hah)

Anonymous wrote:If people want their kids to develop, they need great coaching, but like any other sport or any other soccer playing nation, these kids needs to play pick up across ages and outside organized play to really take it further. Forget clubs. Who thinks these boards could be more useful as an organizational tool for pickup during the summer?

Agreed 100%. DC has played a lot of pick up with neighbors as a young kid, which we credit for his creativity and skill now. Hoping to coordinate the same during the summer whereby we we walk kids to local ES across the street to play some evening soccer. Should be great fun.

We have a local "Swim and Tennis Club" near our house in VA, and when we move back I'm plan to try to get the board to resurface the (cracked, not great) tennis courts into futsal courts.

Good business sense--could make pickup futsal free and sell drinks/snacks. Feel free to try to do it before I do.

Is your intent to have it as futsal for the non-tennis season or always? I cannot see kids wanting to play futsal on an asphalt court in 90 degree heat.

We have a local "Swim and Tennis Club" near our house in VA, and when we move back I'm plan to try to get the board to resurface the (cracked, not great) tennis courts into futsal courts.

Good business sense--could make pickup futsal free and sell drinks/snacks. Feel free to try to do it before I do.