Fostering growth in Osceola County
MLS installs mini-pitches in Kissimmee
KISSIMMEE — Clarence Thacker remembers when soccer wasn’t something people thought about in Osceola County.
Thacker — who is the Osceola County school board chairman — said soccer wasn’t even an option when he was in high school 40 years ago.
In partnership with MLS, Orlando City SC, the U.S. Soccer Foundation and Target, two new mini-soccer pitches were unveiled on Monday at Neptune Middle School in Kissimmee as part of the MLS Works and Target All-Star Community Day.
The charity event was part of MLS All-Star Week festivities in Central Florida. MLS all-stars Chris Wondolowski, Andre Blake and Nicolas Lodeiro were among the celebrity coaches for a youth soccer match on the new pitches.
Former Atlético Madrid player Diego Forlán also served as a coach.
The two mini-pitches are expected to help bolster the growth of soccer in Osceola County.
“All of this brings recognition the way people know your name,” Thacker said. … “This is phenomenal for all the kids here. We have five other middle schools and I want [mini-pitches] at all of them. There might be a future Major League Soccer player running around here.”
Along with the youth match, kids were able to participate in several drills and games on the Neptune campus. Drills included a penalty-kick shootout and dribbling and passing obstacles.
Orlando City has been involved in community outreach around Exploria Stadium in Parramore and in Seminole County, where the team currently trains.
Lions founder and vice president of community relations Kay Rawlins said expanding into Osceola County was the next step.
Orlando City will be moving to a new training facility in Heritage Park.
“We’ve obviously focused in the initial stages in Orange County because that’s where the stadium is and we wanted to kind of feel it out,” she said. “This is great for us to now start expanding and moving and Osceola County made so much sense because of the [training] facility moving here. It’s going to be really close by.”
Rawlins added community outreach will continue to increase as the team begins its move to the Osceola facility.
The construction of mini-pitches and reaching out to surrounding areas where MLS teams play is part of MLS commissioner Don Garber’s vision for the league.
“For me, this is the most important part of what we do and what we’re all about,” Garber said. “We do play games every week, almost year-round. We’ve got great stadiums, great teams, but the real important legacy we’re trying to create is to establish something permanent in the communities where we have our teams playing and our players live.”