This story is about a week late, and I’m genuinely sorry about that. Last Thursday, the Louisville Parks Foundation announced the grand opening of Louisville’s first ever public five-a-side soccer field at the Beechmont Community Center. Louisville City donated the field turf for the project using remnants of the old infield turf cover that was replaced going into the 2018 season. The Parks Foundation expects to open five more fields in the South End in the (hopefully) near future. The South End, and Beechmont in particular, is home to a significant number of Louisville’s immigrant population, but was without any facilities for the local residents to play soccer. That should change soon if the Parks Foundation is successful raising funds for more fields planned for Wyandotte Park and William H. Harrison Park. If you want to give to the Parks Foundation’s five-a-side soccer fields project, you can do so by following this link and specifying where you want your donation to go on the dropdown menu before you fill in your contact details.

The small-sided/futsal movement is gaining a lot of momentum in the U.S. Several other cities like Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Orlando, Indianapolis and Chicago have used grant programs through the U.S. Soccer Foundation to build futsal or street soccer facilities, set up or partnered with organizations such as Street Soccer USA or Soccer in the Streets, or worked with their local Major League Soccer franchise to do the same thing. One of the problems with soccer in the states, historically, is the lack of places for people (especially kids) to play. Even the expensive, private, pay-to-play clubs here in town struggle to find field space and time. By building public facilities, Louisville Metro Parks is taking an important step toward making the world’s game more accessible to everyone.

The Coopers are working with Metro Parks and the Parks Foundation to raise awareness and funds for more facilities like the one at Beechmont. Since our inception in 2013, it’s been part of our mission to promote the growth of the game among underprivileged and underserved youth in Louisville, and to introduce and promote soccer in general. I can’t think of a better way to do that than to make the safe spaces for kids to play in Louisville for free, and access to coaching or organized games if those kids want to play in a more structured environment.The Beechmont project is a great first step in that direction.