Pickup soccer for younger players - any good options in San Jose?

S

soccerdad247

BRONZE
Been looking around for a place kids can just go play (after school, evenings, weekends), and it's turning into an impossible task. Lots of options for adults, but it seems there is nothing for younger players. On the other hand, you can easily find drop in basketball options...probably why america produces more good basketball players than soccer players haha!

Has anyone found good options where kids get together and play - futsal, hard court 5v5, pickup 5v5, etc?
 
Very few and far between and you're not going to find them posted on the internet.

School administrators kick off pick up games because they don't want the liability and they want you to pay for insurance. So games are nomadic and move around if they get kicked off of a field. If you can't find one then try and start one yourself.
 
You can try the Street FC app to see if there are any kids games in your area. Also check out Facebook and Instagram as well as there are some groups that organize pick-up in different cities and they only advertise via social media.
 
Not going to find anything, it's the proverbial chicken and egg problem regarding Soccer culture in America.

The one thing that I have also found is that, if any "pick up" becomes even mildly successful, we, as parents can't help ourselves but ruin it. We end up trying to control the pick up environment, who is invited, who isn't, the types of warm ups or games, and it devolves into parent/daddy ball quickly and is no longer player-led pick-up.
 
Yes - we can find pickup basketball any night of the week whenever desired - if there isn't already a formal event with an existing team. Pickup or casual soccer games are much harder to find, and I can count instances of them with two hands over the years we've been involved. It's just not a thing, in this area, at least.
 
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