This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

a local breath

before the global exhale

and the emulsifying

late-summer light I love.

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A nightly program for New York City teenagers started by MLK coach Martin Jacobson in 1999, Summer of Soccer aims to give the city’s kids a place to play. Simple just like the beautiful game it promotes, the loose-knit summer sessions run from July to September, offering teenage kids a place to play with just enough structure to ensure it happens–like getting a field permit which like all real estate dealings in the big apple is problematic to say the least. But that is old hat for Jacobson, who’s been hunting fields and delivering them to the city’s soccer-loving youth for decades.

I stopped by last week to check in on the action at the flagship site 103rd St. & Riverside Park in Manhattan. The program is a collaborative effort between New York City Schools, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and Nike (full disclosure: Nike sponsors TIAS) and includes sites in all 5 boroughs of New York City.

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It looks like a pick-up game. I’ll let the coaches and kids tell you why it’s more than that:

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