LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The West Louisville Soccer Initiative is a nonprofit dedicated to giving kids in West Louisville the opportunity to access the game of soccer. It breaks down the barriers of cost and location and provides a sense of community families may not have had before.
"I never played a single second of soccer growing up as a kid, but both of my sons grew up playing the sport," Brian Edwards, one of the founding directors of the soccer club, said.
Edwards is also a circuit court judge in Louisville. But after hours, you can call him Coach. He's one of many volunteers who work during the evenings and weekends with close to 400 kids, who have the opportunity to play at a recreational and competitive level, in their own neighborhood.
But that wasn't the case just a few years ago.
"I looked around, and there were basketball leagues here in the West End, there's youth football leagues, there's dance but, other than that, there's not much else; no soccer," Edwards said.
Edwards said the usual cost of soccer can create barriers for a lot of families, and from a transportation perspective, it's the mileage. That all changed in 2021 when Edwards, his friend Marcus Harris and former Lou City player George Davis decided to start a club closer to home.
"We decided we would just go to some of the schools and see if we could help them start a soccer program," Edwards said. "We started at Carter Elementary. We cut the grass ourselves. We had Carter and Wheatley and Kennedy Elementary. We had about 40 total kids playing, and they just came out. And I remember that first Saturday morning we had a game. It was electric. The parents were out. They had the lawn chairs. It was the same level of energy and excitement that you see at any club playing anywhere. And that's when we knew we were onto something."
The program's since grown to more than 360 kids playing at 11 different schools in south and west Louisville.
"We provide the equipment, the uniforms, and it was all free of charge, through donations from friends and family and some corporations here in town," Edwards said. "We were able to provide everything so the kids didn't have to pay a penny."
Recreational soccer is free. Competitive comes with a small fee, though one Edwards says is lower in price compared to other clubs.
"We've got coaches that are in med school, that are lawyers, that played college soccer, and played high school soccer, and just want to give back," Edwards said. "That's important to us, because what that does is it allows our kids to see that the lessons that you learn from soccer can help you be successful in all other areas of life."
He said west Louisville is his home and the "community is personal to me."
"I see all the time a lot of the negative portrayals of what's going on in West Louisville. I see a lot of the byproduct of when kids don't have enough to do and don't have positive things to invest their energy in, and what can happen," Edwards said. "Getting a chance to do something proactively that perhaps can steer kids down a different path, that's something that means an awful lot to me. "
You can help the West Louisville Soccer Club continue its work by giving your time as a volunteer, or money during Kentuckiana's biggest day of online giving.
Thursday is Louisville's biggest day of online giving, with Give for Good Louisville. Just search for the organization of your choice.
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