Leveling the playing field

New soccer academy reaches Latino families on Buford Highway, aiming to address gaps in access.

Jorge Ortiz stands in the middle of a soccer field at Honeysuckle Park in Doraville. Around him, more than two dozen Latino children, between ages 3 and 13, are lined up behind cones, waiting in anticipation. “Ready, set, go!” he shouts. The children run towards him, giggling and panting, and weaving between cones. 

Ortiz is one of the coaches for a new, free four week long Soccer Academy on Buford Highway launched this summer through a partnership with Soccer in the Streets, the Latino Community Fund-Georgia, Amigos de la Comunidad, and Ser Familia. The *goal* is to make soccer more accessible to low income families in the area, and also to provide health and well-being resources to parents and kids alike. The program is in the pilot phase this summer, and organizers hope to secure funding to expand it next year.

Ortiz, who is the Northside Community Program Manager for Soccer in the Streets, is determined to widen access to soccer by making it free —and to integrate lessons around themes like respect and confidence along the way. That’s, in part, because he knows what it feels like to be blocked off from playing because of money.

Before moving to Georgia in 2003, Ortiz played on a club team in Maryland, where, he says, the fees were affordable. When he arrived in Lawrenceville as a teenager, his family couldn’t afford the club payments (these days around $1,000 or more for an academic year), or even the rental fees for the soccer fields at the local parks in Gwinnett County (currently anywhere from $35 to $65 an hour for a group to reserve any of its sports fields). “I got to Gwinnett and all the fields were closed off…I just wanted to play to stay out of trouble,” Ortiz said. 

His parents were frustrated too. “My dad would get upset and say, I pay taxes. I go into a local park and I can’t kick around with you because everything’s locked up.”

To access soccer fields, Ortiz said, “we would jump fences.”

When contacted, a Gwinnett County spokesperson said they did have four parks with soccer fields, as well as other multipurpose fields available for use, for free, “unless they were reserved by other organizations.” So to ensure availability, the field has to be booked and paid for.

Honeysuckle Park, which is managed by Doraville Parks and Recreation, also charges rental fees for its large soccer fields. That wasn’t always the case though, says Pedro Viloria of the Latino Community Fund - Georgia. “This was a community space and community members from the Buford Highway corridor would come here and have soccer tournaments here for free… once the parks started gentrifying, they started asking for fees. It became inaccessible for the community.”

The decision to hold the program at Honeysuckle was part of reclaiming the park, said Viloria. “We wanted to historically bring it back here.”

It’s also easy to walk to for those living nearby. “A lot of community members cannot drive,” said Viloria. 

Access is something that’s addressed on multiple levels by the soccer academy.

While the kids practice drills on the field with Ortiz, many of their parents sit under a pavilion on the other side of the park, listening to Viloria and his colleague Aurora Santana Cortez talk about what health services are available to them, if they don’t have legal residency documents.

Back on the field, Ortiz gathers the kids in a large circle. “This week the word is ‘confidence.’ Can anyone guess what that means?” Several hands shoot up. “Don’t be nervous,” said one. “Believe in yourself,” shouted another.

“Anyone else want to give me another example?” asked Ortiz.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” says a younger boy, in a quieter voice.

Doraville Parks and Recreation hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment on the history of the facility rental fees.