Created by soccer players for players: Pickup games in KC build community

The hype for the World Cup builds day by day in the anticipation of Kansas City’s first FIFA game on June 16. Kansas Citians are feeding into the excitement with events, decorations and more adorning the city.

Only two years ago, did the city open the first purpose-built women’s soccer stadium in not only the United States but the entire world. As Kansas City cements itself as a soccer hub in the United States, fans find ways to bring the global love of the sport into their communities.

Pickup Soccer Kansas City, or Soccer KC, provides adults with a group with which to enjoy the game diversely.

“People kind of can sense this is a shared space. You’re going to feel welcome. You’re not feeling judged. That’s always important to me,” co-founder Mike Shorman said.

Hosting soccer games became equivalent to hosting a holiday at his house, he said. He reflected on how his grandmother raised him on how to be a good host.

The games are always connecting people, and it’s all about fun, even when games get heated.

“I want you to feel welcome. I want to ask you how you’re doing. It just means the world to me,” Shorman said.

The connection and community within the group keep players coming back.

“This is cool. Everybody that plays out here, we’ve been playing out here for a long time. So, we’re all good buddies. It’s fun,” player Joe Graham said.

Graham has been a Kansas City resident for four years and has been playing pickup soccer with Soccer KC since he moved to the city.

He discovered the games through the Soccer KC Facebook group, and since that first game, he’s been hooked on the community created through the game.

“I’ve always been into soccer since I was a little kid. My dad’s from England; I grew up watching English soccer,” said Graham. “That’s my number one. It’s my favorite sport.”

He started playing pickup soccer in college and continued after moving around. He prefers the chill vibes of pickup soccer over the competitiveness of a league, Graham said.

“No one’s trying to kill each other. The leagues definitely get super competitive,” he said. “I’m like almost 34 now, so I’m not trying to get like clabbered.”

Soccer leagues and pickup games

The soccer club offers both pickup games and soccer leagues in the spring, summer and fall seasons.

Soccer KC offers both free and paid pickup games. The games and all details are managed through a pickup sports app called OpenSports.

Adult seven-on-seven soccer leagues are open to all genders at three levels of competitiveness: social, intermediate and competitive. It’s free to become a team captain and team members each pay a share of team dues.

In excitement for the Kanass City FIFA games, the leagues competed in a World Cup-themed tournament. The playoffs ended May 16, a month before the first game.

Over the past years, Soccer KC has hosted around 600 events.

“We were the first group to do soccer leagues and pickup soccer,” said Shorman.

The creation of Soccer KC

When Shorman lost his job in 2017 and spent time volunteering in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the idea was born. Playing soccer in the Argentinian streets, Shorman wanted to encourage the same love of the sport back home in KC.

“Anyone can play. It doesn’t take that much work. You just have the ball, yourself; you don’t need that much equipment,” Shorman said.

Also inspired by Sons of Pitches FC, a soccer club founded in Atlanta in 2014, Shorman had a vision to recreate the club’s impact, but in Kansas City.

“We can do this,” Shorman said. “They started theirs and really got big when the World Cup was here eight years ago.”

It all began as just a Facebook group called Pickup Soccer Kansas City. With a group of friends, Shorman bought goals and balls to host pickup games during evenings and weekends.

“What we do is secure spaces and let people come out and express themselves and meet friends,” Shorman said. “We have really grassroots kind of everything. We just literally created everything ourselves.”

Over the pandemic, Shorman saw an opportunity to grow the group into something more.

“Soccer KC kind of turned into a different thing,” he said. They kept up the pickup soccer games but also added soccer leagues in 2023.

By adding official leagues, the organization built relationships with local schools, Pembroke Hill School, and UMKC, using their fields to play. In exchange, a portion of the money collected through the leagues goes to the recreation and athletic programs of Soccer KC’s partner schools.

Pickup soccer was always about connecting with the people, said Shorman. Soccer KC gave an opportunity for Shorman’s brother, who has quadriplegia, to have his first formal job.

“That really made me proud,” Mike Shorman said. “I was able to involve somebody who may not otherwise have an opportunity to have some job experience.”

Coordinating use of those fields, recruiting players and providing equipment allowed for Soccer KC to slowly but surely make its mark on the Kansas City area.

“We don’t plan on going anywhere. We like what we’re doing here. We like the local culture. We think that could be a bigger part of Kansas City,” Shorman said. “If you try to take this from us, we’d be like over our dead bodies.”

They continue to look for field partners to continue growing.