New affordable, youth soccer club serves Seven Corners

Falls Church Soccer Association players exchange high fives after scoring a goal.

Ariel Fernandez, a local soccer dad, says youth soccer
clubs are too expensive.

So Fernandez created a new club, called the Falls Church Soccer Association. “My intent is to provide an affordable, comprehensive,
and transparent recreational program for all ages,” he says.

The club is starting this season with four teams – a travel team for girls
under 9, two rec teams for boys in kindergarten and first grade, and one for first-grade
girls. Fernandez
hopes to start more rec teams in the spring.

When his family moved from Arlington to Seven
Corners, Fernandez couldn’t find a soccer club based in his community for his four children and found other clubs charged as much as $2,000 for a travel program, on top of a club fee of around
$2,200. 

“That doesn’t make sense to me,” Fernandez says. “My
main goal is to get all kids to play and enjoy the game.” He’d been a coach in
Arlington for 10 years, so he had an understanding of “the structure and
dynamic to create a well-established club.” 

He
plans to keep the cost for the Falls Church Soccer Association to no more than
$1,000 for a travel team and $100 for a rec team.

Practices
are held at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School. The rec teams compete in the Metro
Development League, which is part of the Alexandria Soccer Association.