Soccer has officially started. Two out of our three are in soccer. Josh plays for the city of sunrise. His team this year is the strikers. Katie is also playing for the city, her team the ajax. She is also playing for West Pine Middle School.
It is going to be a busy soccer season!!!!!!!!
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Surprise! 200 Kids Show of to Play Soccer in 1978:
Yea Momma. Soccer season . . and I remember all to well back in the summer of 1978, when Fernando, a good friend of mine (owner of the famous Fernando's International Market on Oakland and Federal) and myself where having lunch in his store while Mark and Fernando's two nephews (on vacation from Italy) where kicking a soccer ball around in the parking lot. Mark was around nine years old and the two nephews from Italy were around 10, 11 or so. It was in July around two o'clock in the afternoon--very hot--and the parking lot was empty. It is a large lot, larger then a soccer field. As we sat and ate and chatted about an hour had passed, when we both looked outside the store and were surprised to see that about 14 kids had gathered and the two boys from Italy had organized a soccer game. Fernando and I both played soccer when we were kids and come from families where the kids played serious soccer, even after they became adults. We both looked at each other and said we should get a team together for the kids. Fernando says how about I put a sign in the front of the store to have any kids that want to play soccer come to Holiday Park across from the tennis courts on Friday at 7pm. I said great idea let's do it. Keep in mind this is 1977 and there was no soccer in Fort Lauderdale. South Miami, yes, but not up here.
Surprise! Over 200 kids show up (with their parents) on Friday night at Holiday Park. Ages 5 thru late teens. Boy! were we at a loss. Among total chaos Fernando and I organized the kids according to size and made teams. We had no goal post, so we used trees, garbage cans and whatever for goals; and we marked boundaries by the same method, but with some t-shirts thrown down on the ground to mark the fields. We had plenty of t-shirts because without uniforms to distinguish the teams we had to go with the shirts vs the skins. This meant that a lot of the teams were heavily stacked with girls. I think we marked of five or six fields in the area across from the tennis courts. Thos were the days of Chris Evert. Fort Lauderdale's very own teenage tennis pro. And we were getting a lot of attention from the courts over the invasion that was taking place in what was a very, very quiet park.
It became apparent to us in a very short time that these kids were not going away and every Friday brought more. We were upto 400 kids in just a few weeks. Still no goals or proper fields. And no lights. Organization of all this soccer playing was begging. Fernando was way to obligated in the running of his store to get involved in organizing a soccer club and getting a league together. On the other hand I was fortunate to be working with Nano at Romar Transports (a shipping company in Port Everglades, Florida) as the Director of Operations and we had offices and secretaries (no computers then--all typewriters and telex machines). Everyone in the company were from families with soccer playing backgrounds. So we sat down and mapped out the Broward County Youth Soccer Association and as its first member with enrolled all of the kids we had showing up on Friday nights into the Mariners Soccer Club. Sponsored by the company Romar Transports.
We put it together right. Affiliated with FIFA and governed under all of their rules and regulations. The kids on Friday practices and games kept growing. Eventually, we split into two groups, the other forming the Eastside Soccer Club. By the time school started we had formed several other clubs in Broward County and a few thousand kids were playing soccer. The only problem was foot ball seasons was starting and it was getting darker earlier. We need lit fields and goals. And that meant sharing the football fields that were all nicely groomed, lit and marked. Plus fenced with grandstands. FOOTBALL wanted no part of soccer on their fields. Hence, the "SOCCER WARS."
Somehow I became the lobbyist for the Broward County Youth Soccer Association. By this time I had one full time secretary at Romar doing nothing but youth soccer. And her part of the offices was smothered with player registrations and soccer media. The warehouse has a section devoted to uniforms and equipment. FIFA required proof of age by birth certificate or pass port. The paper work and file keeping was outrageous. Not to mention the phone call organization game schedules and time, cancellations, etc. It was crazy, parents turning in original birth certificates and other originals as proof of age. Can imagine that being a requirement in today with indent theft and all that madness going on?
At first the recreation departments in the various cities in the county were cold to youth soccer. Most opposed the sport and none would provide anything other then an open field. We needed lights and the football field gad them, but were not going to share their fields. Only thing was the fields were not theirs. We organized some of the CEO's of the larger companies doing business in Port Everglades, a few presidents of the local bank and the senior partners of a couple of law firms and we scheduled in on city meetings around the county. The Broward County Youth Soccer Association was on the docket. Once we had our first meetings with the cities of Fort Lauderdale and the city of Plantation--the parents turned out in droves. Standing room only.
By 1980 the Broward County Youth Soccer Association had over 10,000 kids playing youth soccer. Fort Lauderdale had its own professional soccer team, the Strikers. The game was on!
I'll post some pictures and news articles from those times when I run across them.
I get great joy seeing my grandchildren, Katie, Josh and Emy learn, play and enjoy the sport. There dad able to give them tips and pitch in with coaching the team. Mom not afraid to jump in there with the best of them. I see families spending time together, albeit a mad rush for everyone to get to the field on time for practices and games.
It's such a great sport. Shin guards are important!
Love,
Grandpa
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