Delegates from FIFA yesterday toured Loudoun Soccer Park to highlight a new partnership designed to expand access to soccer for underserved youth across the U.S.
The Get on the Bus program this past year received funding from US Soccer and FIFA’s Innovate to Grow grant. The organization’s Loudoun Chapter is slated to begin its services next spring through a partnership with Loudoun Soccer.
It is part of a national goal to reach 10,000 new unregistered players before the start of the World Cup that will be held in North America starting in June. The funding will provide kids with transportation, gear and an hour of after-school enrichment with a mental-health focused curriculum. GOTB operates in 10 states and Mexico.
The organization uses local school buses to get kids from their elementary schools to soccer fields. During Wednesday’s tour, children from Chesterfield County transported by bus to play at Loudoun Soccer Park.
“This is a free program for all the kids,” said Get on the Bus Director of Chapter Management Tim Ryerson said. “It’s about $500 to $600 per kid eachseason. They get the entire uniform. They get a jersey, short socks, shin guards. They get a ball. They get a bag.”
FIFA global’s FIFA Forward program provides funding to its member associations, including US Soccer, which trickles down to organizations like Loudoun Soccer and Get on the Bus. Lead Regional Office Jose Alfonso Rodriguez Alvarez said FIFA representatives travel to the U.S. once or twice a year to see the results of their investments.
“Helping NGOs or programs that work with using soccer or football as a tool for development, it’s one of the unique characteristics that the program has,” Rodriguez Alvarez said. “We try to be in contact with those that are doing what fulfills us.”
He noted that the kids within the program generally don’t have access to recreational soccer leagues.
Rodriguez Alvarez said most people only know FIFA from the World Cup or the popular video game. The organization is doing “so much more than that,” he said. He cited the Women’s World Cup, the U17 and U20 World Cups, the Fustal World Cup and beach soccer.
“On top of that, we have a lot of initiatives,” he said. “Either on sustainability programs, programs supporting member associations to reach development, either by development of infrastructure or programs dedicated to social development. … We are more than 1,000 people across the world working on these types of initiatives.”
Rodriguez Alvarez and the other representatives present yesterday travelled from FIFA’s regional office in Panama.
U.S. Soccer Federation Director of Member Strategy Melissa Radke said her organization has an “unprecedented opportunity” with World Club matches hosted in the United States next year.
“We’ve got this runway where there’s going to be eyes on soccer in the U.S. like there have never been before,” Radke said. “We really want to help our members leverage that and grow their membership and get more kids and adults playing the game.”
She said programs like GOTB have a great impact on their communities.
Ryerson started GOTB seven years ago. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryerson had a conversation with Loudoun Soccer Chief Executive Officer Mark Ryan about bringing the program to Loudoun. Now, he said the time is right.
“Soccer is just the vehicle,” Ryerson said. “We’re teaching these kids life lessons. They get an hour of enrichment after school, and then they get an hour of play and then they play on the weekend in a recreational league. … We just want them to have the same experience anybody else would have that didn’t face those two barriers [equipment and transportation] right?”
GOTB works mainly with fourth and fifth graders.
Loudoun Soccer offers its own after-school programs. Ryan said the organization operates in three schools in the fall and three in the spring. He said the partnership with GOTB and money from FIFA and U.S. Soccer will boost their efforts to the next level.
Learn more about GOTB at gotbsoccer.org. Learn more about Loudoun Soccer at loudounsoccer.com.
