Over the past three weeks, the eyes of the world have been on Houston, among other cities hosting the FIFA World Cup. In that time, local children, too, have had their eyes on the sport.
One youth soccer league, HTX Soccer, has seen a drastic increase in kids signing up to play in their clubs across the region. Roughly 300 kids have signed up in just the last two weeks, an increase year-over-year.
"There's been an upswing for sure, in terms of our registration numbers are very positive at this time of the year," Simon Boddison, director of soccer operations at HTX Soccer, told Houston Public Media.
The club, which operates in Houston, Cypress and The Woodlands, among other locations, leaned into the World Cup, putting together soccer camps at the same time as the tournament and hosting watch parties. Boddison said that has translated into an increase in excitement for the sport.
"We have made some additional operational moves behind the scenes to improve and increase our market presence, but there's no doubt about it that the World Cup has brought a lot of questions to the Houston marketplace and increased the visibility," he said. "It's definitely trending very positively, and there is an alignment for sure."
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As Houston prepared to host its seven matches during the World Cup — the last of which was on Saturday between Canada and Morocco — officials also prioritized expanding access to soccer for kids across the region.
The Houston World Cup host committee and the Sports Authority Foundation, a nonprofit, collaborated on an initiative they've called "Freekicks Soccer." As part of that initiative, five soccer clubs across Southeast Texas, including HTX Soccer, will invest $1.5 million annually toward the program and provide as many as 1,200 scholarship opportunities for local kids.
"We wanted to grow the game, and not just grow the interest in the game of soccer, but how do we get people, kids, youth to access soccer in a way that maybe they wouldn’t be able to normally," Ryan Walsh, CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, told Houston Public Media. "Soccer is an expensive sport to participate in anyway. So we wanted to be able to give access to anybody who wanted to play the game of soccer."
Twenty-three new or refurbished soccer fields were placed in communities across Harris County, including at Alabonson Park, Baytown Soccer Park, Blue Ridge Park, George Bush Park, Keith-Wiess Park and Moody Park.
Other parks, like Mason Park in East End, are not part of Freekicks but were revitalized nonetheless. The soccer pitch at the Aramco Arena at the FIFA Fan Festival in East Downtown will also be donated to Moody Park.
Over the past several months as well the host committee and Reliant Energy put together a 7-on-7 youth soccer tournament they called the "Road to the Cup." About 1,500 athletes from 125 teams, ranging from ages 11 to 18, played in a tournament of their own, leading up to final matches at the fan festival.
"It just provided this really wonderful environment for kids and their families, and really created this kind of once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Meghan McConomy, vice president of brand strategy and marketing for Reliant, "all as part of this broader once-in-a-lifetime World Cup in Houston."
It's not uncommon for people to express an interest in something like soccer when they see it on display during the World Cup, a phenomenon researchers call the "demonstration effect." In HTX Soccer, for example, Boddison said he saw similar bumps in interest after previous World Cups.
While HTX Soccer's applications are up, Boddison said, the window to apply is open until September. It's possible, he said, that the surge will slow down after the tournament finishes July 19.
"I definitely think the game is going to grow within the huge Houston marketplace," he said. "I think it's a win-win for all people involved. The game's going to grow. The kids are going to be more involved. And hopefully we're going to reach some of the kids that may not have had an opportunity in the past."
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