About City FC
City Football Club (“City FC”) was established in 2007 to provide District youth with a program combining competitive soccer and first-rate mentorship and college preparation. City FC is organized exclusively for charitable purposes as an educational non-profit. Its objective is to bring together the City’s youth for educational and recreational opportunities, including but not limited to soccer. In 2008, the program merged with DC Stoddert Soccer, giving City FC tax-exempt nonprofit status and helping DC Stoddert fulfill its goals of serving youth in every ward of Washington D.C.
Our History
City FC was created by Dan Driscoll and Roy Kelly, the boys’ soccer coaches at the School Without Walls, a D.C. public high school. The pair – former teammates on a DC Stoddert travel team who both went on to play NCAA college soccer – saw a need to improve the level coaching and academic guidance provided to soccer players in the DCIAA – the D.C. public schools league – and concluded that access, both financial and logistical, was the most significant barrier keeping the District’s talented pool of student-athletes from achieving their full potential in the classroom and on the field.
Coaches Driscoll and Kelly believed a free, volunteer-run soccer program was the solution, and as the 2007 fall soccer season began to wrap-up, the coaches set themselves to creating City FC.
Their efforts began with an informal weekly futsal clinic held each weekend at Turkey Thicket Recreational Center in Northeast D.C. Participation began with a few students that had played on the School Without Walls team and quickly spread through word of mouth to an average of more than 35 students each week. On some weekends, as many as 80 kids turned out for the informal futsal gatherings, where they played side-by-side with each other and experienced adult players who were invited to join by Coaches Driscoll and Kelly. But the coaches knew that more needed to be done.
The kids pushed the coaches to create a formal team, and the coaches were happy to oblige. More volunteers were recruited, and these were not limited to soccer coaches. Coaches Kelly and Driscoll saw a need to provide the kids with mentorship to ensure that players were succeeding in the classroom and guide them through the college application process. More volunteers – a mix of parents and young professionals – were quickly recruited.
Working with Montgomery Soccer, Inc. (MSI), City FC registered its first team in the MSI “Classic” high school boys division in spring 2008. Driscoll and Kelly volunteered as the team’s coaches, sharing the managerial and registration duties with a small group of players. The team practiced on each Friday and played games on weekends in Gaithersburg, Md. The coaches gave players academic assignments, such as drafting college application essays or creating a professional resume, in order to keep the boys on track in their academic careers. Free tutoring was also provided, with students visiting volunteers for one-on-one support with homework and college applications. City FC’s two seniors in spring 2008 are now enrolled at four-year colleges.
Upon completion of City FC’s inaugural season, the coaches organized a six-day training program for the team during the summer of 2008. The summer program combined technical skill development with physical training activities such as weightlifting at a local gym and running in Rock Creek Park. Team outings were also scheduled, including an outing at a local cinema to see “Kicking It” – a documentary about the Homeless World Cup – and trips to watch D.C. United games at RFK Stadium. A resume workshop was also held to assist those players preparing for the college application process. This fall, City FC is again competing in the high school boy’s “Division 1” of MSI Classic and the weekend futsal clinics are set to resume around Thanksgiving at a local DPR gymnasium. A second clinic for high school girls will be added, and City FC plans to enter its first girl team in MSI Classic’s high school age group starting in spring 2009.