Pitch to Pro

Stoppage Time Special: Building Soccer Leagues from Scratch

• Ozark United FC

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This Stoppage Time release brings you an excerpt from Episode 6 where we traced the unlikely rise of Arkansas adult soccer. In this segment, we spotlight how late-80s street games grew into a full league by the early 90s, weathered disputes and mismatched divisions, and eventually gained official city backing after a period of chaos and community perseverance.

We walk through the origin, eight teams, one division, and more passion than resources, and the turning point when Parks & Recreation's support faded, leaving one volunteer to hold the league together for four years. Then comes the inflection: disputes escalate, the mayor intervenes, and a formal role is established to oversee adult leagues and support youth programs. That institutional support transforms the grassroots grind into durable infrastructure, providing players with a fair schedule, coaches with a framework, and the city with a civic asset.

From there, we zoom out. The United States still struggles with access: safe pickup spaces, mini-pitches, and affordable routes to good coaching. We make the case for building more small-sided courts in dense neighborhoods, splitting divisions by skill early, and keeping fees low through sponsorships and scholarships. Along the way, we celebrate the volunteer backbone, 95 youth coaches this season alone, captains who lead twenty adults with care, and matchday helpers who keep the experience welcoming. Whether you dream about an Arkansas USL club or simply want more kids touching the ball, this conversation maps how to grow a soccer culture that’s open, joyful, and sustainable.

If this resonates, follow and subscribe for new episodes, share with a friend who loves the game, and leave a review telling us about the pickup field where it all started for you.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Stopping Time edition of the Pitch to Pro podcast. This is a highlight reel of some of the best moments from the show so far, and every other week we will be bringing you a special five to seven minute segment featuring the best stories, tales, and moments of the podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

We started in the late 80s. We started that way. And by early 90s, like three almost four years later, we had uh there was enough teams to do a league. Yeah. And that's how we came to Rogers. Uh I remember going to see uh Parks and Recreations. Uh this gentleman Jeff Barker. Uh he's known as Chileno. Okay. He speaks Spanish, his parents are missionary. Went to see him and like, hey man, can you help us? And he's like, you're trying to give me fire? You get too emotional when it comes to soccer.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, yeah, we have rules, man. We control it. And he helped us. Uh after one season, I was volunteering. He left. He went to work for Walmart. So I was doing that adult league, as my me, myself, and I, yeah, for four years as a volunteer.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

And we started with eight teams. We got to the 2014s and by uh starting in 1993. By 96, we had 24 teams. And I was like, man, this is a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

To run out 26 teams already, I mean, staying list and everything. And by that time, we still only had one division.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

So there's sometimes you have teams that were competitive, and the other team was not really competitive. So that's when you had the problems, if you will. But the skill level is not the same. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was like, okay, being there, done that, got a t-shirt, move on. And I like, because I was working at JB Hunt at that time. By the way, I saw Mrs. Han call and soccer ball, and I was like, oh man, this is gonna happen. I worked for her uh 27 years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

She's such a great lady. I know.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean to me so much for the smoke of the soccer ball, I like it's gonna happen. So, but but anyway, uh so uh the the leave continued, but they had problems at that time. The mayor at that time, he like, Caesar, we had a problem, man. We had a riot, teens didn't agree, whatever.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And you're like, hey, what it would take. And I'm like, uh, if you hire me, yeah, yeah. Basically, John St. Pierre, he was the mayor at that time, and Rogers, he basically went to City Council created a position for me to work in on the personal creation, run the adult league, help with the youth. But now with the years, I'm stuck with both. Anyway, it's not.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, isn't that isn't that though? I mean, it's it's crazy how it always comes back to I think it's just part of soccer culture around the world where it started from pickup. I think so. And that's that's where I think, and now we're going off on a whole other different tangent, but I think where the US still lacks is access to the games and kind of that street soccer, that pickup mentality of constantly out there wherever you can find, you know, a 10x10 space or whatever it is. Um, and so it's space, it's access, it's that pickup culture that just isn't quite there yet, uh, all the way through the US and and kind of the youth structure. It's starting to, it's starting to, and it's starting to get there. You're starting to see some of these mini pitches get involved uh and and placed into communities. And how is, you know, there's a lot of focus on access now because in the US it's so expensive to play the game at a high level, and that removes and cuts you off from so much of your talent. So programs like yours are so critically important that help with allowing for uh others in the community that may not be able to afford that high-level travel soccer to still be able to come up through those ranks and and get exposed to to good coaching and things like that. So I think, but it all the way back even to the start of of your program, it started because you guys were getting together and playing pickup and and then kind of grew from there. And wow, has it grown, right? 40,000 players now over the course of the years.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, and that's what I think it takes I was, I'll say, I mean, to me, I tell people, I mean, like, a volunteer for years, and then they noticed that I was, I guess, good to the community, if you will. Yeah. Keeping people entertaining, you know, and holding accountable.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's what I then they just put it, make it a schedule, hold people accountable for it. I mean, and uh that's what it takes. I mean, worldwide to the sport that that's how it function. Because I mean, if you go to the I see you we're in the you know, Liverpool. I like Liverpool for me. I mean, that's a thing that I like for England. I mean, I follow uh Barcelona, man, I think the arrollo. Uh, but then uh for England, Liverpool that thing that I want to go to the stadium and see the Beatles too.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh it's an incredible experience, let me tell you what.

SPEAKER_00:

But even if you go to the Liverpool level, they have volunteers, um the games. I mean, people the ushers, people they got passion for. And that's what I hope to be with the Arkansas USL team, you know. Because I hope it's somebody they can, hey, yeah, see when he has, hey, I can get my cousin, hey, I have to do this. I mean, it takes all that. It takes people organize the parking, cleaning afterwards. I mean, yeah, telling people what you you see here, you see it there, they say your tickets. It takes all that to make that game, the beautiful game, at that level choose to it's still affordable, if you will. Right. Because I mean, if you pay everybody, if we think the tickets are high right now, it can be higher than that. Oh, it can be way higher. It can be way higher. So it could be way higher. Yeah, I think it takes all that to make it happen. Like in the youth program, this past season we had 95 coaches, all pure volunteers.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

Pure volunteers. Uh in the adult league, I tell them you're not only volunteer, but you're a leader. You have 20 players under you, you know. I mean, yeah, yes, sometimes these players are more crazy than me. But it takes all that to make it happen. That's what it takes. And that's what I say. I mean, this uh I think is really needed. It's about time. And uh Harris, I mean, I hope you really, I mean, and I see you knocking the right doors. I mean, like back again when I see Mrs. Hunt with the soccer ball in the magazine, I'm like, hey, that's what we need. Please invest. Please invest.

SPEAKER_01:

If you're listening. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think you you touched on a lot there. There's um the passion from the community and people that want to see things happen. When you have that common rallying point that people can unify around, it just makes it that much more um fulfilling, I guess, for somebody to help drive their energy towards and and be able to put that to good use in a volunteer capacity. And and, you know, programs like yours and um would and and in other sports would not survive without volunteers. And so um, you know, kudos to you for being able to and and your staff and and and the city for being able to, you know, continue to provide a platform where people can do that and also come and and benefit from. So thank you for joining us for this stoppage time special of the Pitch to Pro podcast. If you've enjoyed the conversation, you can click watch the full episode here. Be sure to tune in next Thursday for a new episode of the Pitch to Pro Podcast, the official podcast of Ozark United FT. Available on YouTube, Instagram, and everywhere you get your podcasts.